Monday, May 01, 2006
Just Read: April
I seriously considered holding off this months post until I finished my current book. But then I realised that would be cheating. So again, it's a fairly short list. As it turns out, reading 1100 pages when you're working 55+ hour weeks takes a while.
Dogs in the Vineyard by D. Vincent Baker
Discovered: A friend bough a copy a while ago, and then for some reason got sent a second one. Rather than pay to ship it back, he gave it to me (to pay for if I felt it was worth it).
About It: Okay, it's another RPG. But it's just as awesome as Game of Thrones. The best way to describe it is you play a gunslinger bringing God's Law to the wild west and you get to make up God's Law as you go along. It's fairly obviously based on the Mormans in Utah around 150-200 years ago. While it seems like a fairly narrow premise, it sounds like an awesome game to play.
My Rating: 4/5
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Discovered: The last of my January Amazon books
About It: Cryptonomicon follows several individuals during World War II and their descendants in the late 90's. As the name suggests, the book is filled with cryptography - code breakers of the Second World War, hackers of today and crazy mathematicians. It's also fairly heavy on the technical detail - there's chunks of code, details on various pieces of hardware and technological snooping.
I've never read a book with this level of technical detail that played into my skill set. For someone not from a computing background, it probably would have been quite boring, but for me it was fantastic. I wish someone had handed me a copy of this book when I started my undergraduate degree.
Every page of this book was a pleasure to read. Every time I've had to buy a birthday present over the past three months, I've had to fight the urge to buy a copy of Cryptonomicon. This book was fantastic.
My Rating: 6/5
Dogs in the Vineyard by D. Vincent Baker
Discovered: A friend bough a copy a while ago, and then for some reason got sent a second one. Rather than pay to ship it back, he gave it to me (to pay for if I felt it was worth it).
About It: Okay, it's another RPG. But it's just as awesome as Game of Thrones. The best way to describe it is you play a gunslinger bringing God's Law to the wild west and you get to make up God's Law as you go along. It's fairly obviously based on the Mormans in Utah around 150-200 years ago. While it seems like a fairly narrow premise, it sounds like an awesome game to play.
My Rating: 4/5
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Discovered: The last of my January Amazon books
About It: Cryptonomicon follows several individuals during World War II and their descendants in the late 90's. As the name suggests, the book is filled with cryptography - code breakers of the Second World War, hackers of today and crazy mathematicians. It's also fairly heavy on the technical detail - there's chunks of code, details on various pieces of hardware and technological snooping.
I've never read a book with this level of technical detail that played into my skill set. For someone not from a computing background, it probably would have been quite boring, but for me it was fantastic. I wish someone had handed me a copy of this book when I started my undergraduate degree.
Every page of this book was a pleasure to read. Every time I've had to buy a birthday present over the past three months, I've had to fight the urge to buy a copy of Cryptonomicon. This book was fantastic.
My Rating: 6/5
# posted by Simon Dugard @ 9:10 am 
