As is customary, I’ve been reading a lot during my vacation:

• Kotlin Brain Teasers

  Found it via Lukas Mathis’ recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed it, did even learn something new.¹

  Big fan of PragProg as a publisher in general.

• Ra

  qntm’s work is always an interesting read. Started this book two years ago and only now found the time to finish it.

  At the beginning it is weird to read through the setup, as it tries to connect “magic” and “science”, especially with various jumps in times and storylines. But once you are past the “suspension of disbelief” threshold, it gets easier and all these loose threads are masterfully connected to a coherent whole.

• Ball Lightning

  After having read Cixin Liu’s famous masterpiece Three Body Problem trilogy way back, I had set out to read some of his other works and had read Ball Lightning. But since the Three Body Problem still occupied my mind at the time, I did read this book but didn’t fully grasp it back then.

  When I scrolled past it in my library and it said “read” but I couldn’t remember a single thing, I re-read it and it was worth it.

• Head On

  Being a huge fan of Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series, naturally I had to read his other works.

  I devoured this entire book within a day and a half, attesting to its ability to capture the reader. The story involves a lot of characters and their interactions, but each are distinct enough that they are not confusing.² And in the end it all resolves neatly.

• Fine Structure

  Classic QNTM, you have to keep at it to be able to keep up with the plot, memetics naturally present. Overall I did enjoy the book, but the end feels a bit rushed for an otherwise good book. It all happens on a few pages, and does not resolve some of the plot strings.

• Hands-on Rust

  Another one I picked up at the PragProg Black Friday sale. Didn’t yet finish, but learning a new language isn’t as easy as finishing a book front to back, so 🤷

39C3 Talks

Apart from reading I watched a lot of interesting talks from the congress. Interesting to me as a potential buyer of a Steam Frame, was the Fex-Talk. But my pick for the best one so far goes to the Deutschland Ticket one.

Read before my vacation

These I had read before my vacation, during summer or fall but still want to list them somewhere for completeness’ sake:

• Die with Zero

  Bill Perkins makes the case from various angles that one should re-evaluate how wealth and posessions are used in ones lifetime. He makes the case using various parables and sheds light from various angles. Worthwhile cause, even if the target group seems to be US citizens. Interesting read nonetheless, though it repeats very often recounting the same concepts.

• Read Team Blues

  Cory Doctorow writes less outlandish SciFi more grounded in the real world, thinking ahead of technalogy that already exists and takes it to new places, diving into the consequences they have for us by telling a compelling story around it.

  This book is no exception where it delves into Cryptocurrencies and the Silicon Valley. Nice and cozy read.