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from the I-hope-I-can-get-this-story-break-right dept.
toygeek writes:
"'John Watson, PhD student, husband and father to be, struggles to keep his research and career goals on track as he discovers strange anomalies in his artificial intelligence system. His dreams begin to unravel when the system becomes targeted by malicious hackers, greedy corporations and someone inside the university. John and his expecting wife Sarah must protect their future as his research professor threatens to pull the plug on a decade of work when the system begins behaving in ways that John can't quite fully explain.'
Just released in December, this first novel by Fisher Samuels was thoroughly enjoyable."
(Read More for the full review)
It's probably fair to say that I am right smack in the middle of the target audience of this book. I'm a dyed in the wool geek in his late 30's, and an IT professional since my teens. One thing I'm not though is a programmer. The book spoke about programming, but it's very light on technical details, which I was quite glad for. If I wanted those, I'd be picking up a different kind of book, most likely with a camel or llama on the front. While a bit more technical than your average mystery thriller, the areas it touched on were not overwhelming, and to be blunt if someone didn't understand them, they would be able to infer their meaning from context. The most important parts of the story were non-technical in nature for the most part. Even contextual idea of the subject would be enough to allow someone to keep going and still enjoy the story. And enjoy the story I did!
John Watson is very likable and easy going. He is also a consummate geek; so much so that I encouraged my wife to read the book because it so well describes what it's like! I felt an immediate camaraderie with the character, and was able to relate to his emotions and fears easily. The story had some very good twists, turns, and delights. The end came, and I was quite satisfied with how it all turned out. I am very much looking forward to Mr. Samuels's next book!
(Score: 1) by demonlapin on Friday February 21 2014, @07:22PM
Please leave canonical works out. If they're dead, and you can still find their books in a bookstore, they're not the sort of author I want to talk about here. If they've made any of their books into a movie, same thing.
I got suckered in by the strangely compelling Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality [hpmor.com], which is a rewrite of the Harry Potter series that starts with a twist: Harry's mother gave her sister a beauty potion, and as a result she married much better - in this case, a biochemistry professor at Oxford. And being childless themselves, they dote on him. Harry proceeds to march through Hogwarts with a scientific mind. Warning: there's a huge amount of text there. Based on recommendations from the author of HPMOR, I also found:
I usually read nonfiction books, but all of these have been pretty enjoyable. Anyone else?
(Score: 1) by ezekielsays on Friday February 21 2014, @07:53PM
Unfortunately I have far too little time for reading fiction lately, but I would put forth Alif The Unseen by G willow Wilson as an interesting read.
Go ahead and play the blues if it'll make you happy.
(Score: 1) by visaris on Friday February 21 2014, @08:13PM
(Score: 2) by WildWombat on Friday February 21 2014, @09:20PM
That Harry Potter link is freak'n epic. Thanks for the heads up on that.
One of my favorites that I don't see mentioned too often is Elizabeth Moon's trilogy The Deed of Paksenarrion. I feel like in an objective sense its not the highest quality of prose but I've always loved them. I've read that trilogy at least half a dozen times.
Cheers,
-WW