Book Reviews
Reviews of things I've read.•Back to Reviews Page
Sir Lewis • 2025 • Michael Sawyer Look. Lewis is an actual role model, and he's also a true legend. This book was just a little too willing to bypass nuances in a couple cases and overstate its case. It did not need to do that, because Lewis' life and work speaks for itself. • Liked It 
Sleeping Giants • 2016 • Sylvain Neuvel • Mech stories are nothing new, but this is a fun twist on the genre. Would read again. • Loved It! 
Snow Crash • Neal Stephenson • 1992 • This has to be one of the classic cyberpunk novels. It's dumb AND cool, silly AND serious. It's also a fascinating look at how language controls thought and vice-versa. • Loved It! 
The Circle • 2013 • Dave Eggers I found this book very clumsily written. It could have been a very skillful skewering of the worst of tech. Instead, it made me find it all completely unrealistic and therefore useless as relevant commentary. • Didn't Like It 
The Diamond Age or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer • 1995 • Neal Stephenson • Unique and engaging world-building, wonderful protagonist in Nell, and thought- provoking mix of Chinese and English Victorian cultures as the dominant societies of the future. Very original picture of the future. • Loved It! 
The Friendly Orange Glow • 2017 • Brian Dear • It's no secret I love computer history stories, and this really captures the era it covers. A must read. • Loved It! 
The Ministry for the Future • Kim Stanley Robinson • I enjoyed this book when I read it, because they captured the climate change disaster headed our way. What they didn't foresee, however, is just how insane governments all over the world would go before we even get that far. Not dystopian enough after all. • Liked It 
The Silo Series Collection • One of the best dystopian series ever written. Kind of hard to read in early 2025 though. • Loved It! 
The Vanished Birds • 2020 • Simon Jiminez • A very unique sci-fi and somewhat haunting story of individualism, loyalty, corruption, and the greed of corporate power. • Loved It! 
Things Become Other Things • 2025 • Craig Mod Craig is a fascinating guy, not least because of the fact he's ingrained himself into the culture of Japan, a country I grew up in, but because he's an artful storyteller and photographer. In this book, he brings the reader along on one of his long walks through the Japan countryside as he ties the pieces of his past together with his present in a way that few people can. • Loved It! 
Sleeping Giants • 2016 • Sylvain Neuvel • Mech stories are nothing new, but this is a fun twist on the genre. Would read again. • Loved It! 
Snow Crash • Neal Stephenson • 1992 • This has to be one of the classic cyberpunk novels. It's dumb AND cool, silly AND serious. It's also a fascinating look at how language controls thought and vice-versa. • Loved It! 
The Circle • 2013 • Dave Eggers I found this book very clumsily written. It could have been a very skillful skewering of the worst of tech. Instead, it made me find it all completely unrealistic and therefore useless as relevant commentary. • Didn't Like It 
The Diamond Age or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer • 1995 • Neal Stephenson • Unique and engaging world-building, wonderful protagonist in Nell, and thought- provoking mix of Chinese and English Victorian cultures as the dominant societies of the future. Very original picture of the future. • Loved It! 
The Friendly Orange Glow • 2017 • Brian Dear • It's no secret I love computer history stories, and this really captures the era it covers. A must read. • Loved It! 
The Ministry for the Future • Kim Stanley Robinson • I enjoyed this book when I read it, because they captured the climate change disaster headed our way. What they didn't foresee, however, is just how insane governments all over the world would go before we even get that far. Not dystopian enough after all. • Liked It 
The Silo Series Collection • One of the best dystopian series ever written. Kind of hard to read in early 2025 though. • Loved It! 
The Vanished Birds • 2020 • Simon Jiminez • A very unique sci-fi and somewhat haunting story of individualism, loyalty, corruption, and the greed of corporate power. • Loved It! 
Things Become Other Things • 2025 • Craig Mod Craig is a fascinating guy, not least because of the fact he's ingrained himself into the culture of Japan, a country I grew up in, but because he's an artful storyteller and photographer. In this book, he brings the reader along on one of his long walks through the Japan countryside as he ties the pieces of his past together with his present in a way that few people can. • Loved It! 