As Seen Elsewhere

Charitable Getting, by Sam Starbuck (aka Copperbadge)

From lulu.com

Charity in the twenty-first century is a game. The players are artists, salesmen, and idealists, all working together to get something for nothing. At the center of the game stands Bo Sparks, charismatic CEO of SparkVISION Consulting, which runs campaigns for the charities under its care. Surrounded by the wealthy and the desperate, Sparks just wants to do a little good in the world. But this holiday season he has more than his fair share of worries, between a secretive blogger who might be one of his staff, a journalist determined to uncover who it is, and a client who not only doesn’t want to pay their fee, but wants to sue Sparks for telling the truth. Sex scandals, embezzlement, gossip, clandestine love affairs, and one misplaced cake: it’s all in a day’s work for SparkVISION.

This is a fun, happy book with lots of good characters.  I mean it in the nicest way when I say this could be a regular sitcom (and there are plenty of office comedies).  It’s a character driven book that’s get bumped about a bit by the plot, which is mostly small dramas and “Who is NonPhrophet?”.

betterbooktitles:

Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Ok, now I want to read this book.

I really want this book to exist as non-fiction.

(My 4000th “like”.  I think that makes me about a mid-level procrastinator.)

(via neonstorm)

The Dresden Files: Changes, by Jim Butcher

Wow, just about all the descriptions are spoilery, though I suppose it shouldn’t be a concern for things that are revealed in the first couple chapters.  Let’s just say:

Harry is given some new information that sends him off on another sleep deprived adventure where he attempts to save the day, right wrongs, not die, and not get too many others killed.  In no particular order because his life is complicated like that.  What has driven him to push so far beyond his limits (even for a Dresden Files book) that he’s lost sight of them over the horizon?  Find out!  In the first couple pages.

Drama, explosions, snark, betrayal, saccharine moments layered with angst, death, secrets, more explosions, emotional tension of every flavor, larger explosions, intrigues, geo-political bullshit, fighting of all varieties, snark, spectacular explosions with monsters and monster gore*.  It’s a literary roller coaster.  

Takes about a day to read if you have a day, two to three if you’re busy.  Then hang on for about a year for the next one to come out**.

The title is apt since so much changes.  But in the end, I have the feeling the formula won’t change much, nor will the themes.  It’s still Harry against the world.  La, nothing changes.

* But wait! There’s more! Monsters made a Star Gate! Blood and rituals! Things that are bad must always die! Considering a deal with the Devil…again.  Or maybe that other devil would be better! …OK, I’ll stop now.

** …Is it April yet?

The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier, by Bruce Sterling (Amazon, Legit!Free ebook)

Book Description (C&P’d from amazon*)

Sterling begins his story at the birth of cyberspace: the invention of the telephone. We meet the first hackers—teenage boys hired as telephone operators—who used their technical mastery, low threshold for boredom, and love of pranks to wreak havoc across the phone lines. From phone-related hi-jinks, Sterling takes us into the broader world of hacking and introduces many of the culprits—some who are fighting for a cause, some who are in it for kicks, and some who are traditional criminals after a fast buck. Sterling then details the triumphs and frustrations of the people forced to deal with the illicit hackers and tells how they developed their own subculture as cybercops. Sterling raises the ethical and legal issues of online law enforcement by questioning what rights are given to suspects and to those who have private e-mail stored on suspects’ computers. Additionally, Sterling shows how the online civil liberties movement rose from seemingly unlikely places, such as the counterculture surrounding the Grateful Dead.

It took me forever to finish this book.  It is terribly interesting, insightful, and offers a view of the early internet and communication systems that has dropped almost completely out of the spotlight.  This is the story of the events that inspired the creation of the EFF.  But this is also the story of people cracking hardware, software, and messing around on other people’s equipment from a thousand miles away.  While all this is going down I’m still a few grade school years away from being introduced to M-DOS at my elementary school, where I wondered why anyone would bother with these machines even to play games**.

This book readily illuminates the early attitudes of the internet and the resultant subcultures that evolved.  The fore-bearers of your crappy work email are here, pirating, digital libertarianism, AOL, and 4chan*** are all in there.

There’s a specific thread that the author continually weaves back to about Operation Sundevil and the E911 document.  The technological and social histories of the first parts flew by, the legal drama that took up the final quarter were draining.  And dull too by that point because the outcomes seem foregone from the present timeline.  But there are some great interview segments towards the end, and a whos-who of techno-geeks have cameos and sound bites (ex: Steve Wozniak)

TL;DR: Anybody who’s on the internet for more than checking facebook should read this.

* Just plain making a habit of it now.

** The only worthwhile one being a memory card game.  Later on we got a Monster making game! But it made the same 5 monsters so… =/

*** In retrospect those are not exactly excellent accolades to bestow…

Current Reads: Packing for Mars, by Mary Roach

Description (again, C&P’d from amazon)

Despite all the high-tech science that has resulted in space shuttles and moonwalks, the most crippling hurdles of cosmic travel are our most primordial human qualities: eating, going to the bathroom, having sex and bathing, and not dying in reentry. Readers learn that throwing up in a space helmet could be life-threatening, that Japanese astronaut candidates must fold a thousand origami paper cranes to test perseverance and attention to detail, and that cadavers are gaining popularity over crash dummies when studying landings. Roach’s humor and determined curiosity keep the journey lively, and her profiles of former astronauts are especially telling. 

This is a very fun, though occasionally horrifying, and accessible book on the relentless “activity analysis” that involves sending live things into space.  One point was particularly telling: an astronaut quips that he’s been one for 6 years and only spent 8 days in space.  There’s a lot of prep work involved in shooting things into low earth orbit and beyond.

I’ve also learned that parabolic flights (aka: the Vomit Comet) where mere morals can experience weightlessness do sell tickets to the general public.  They just cost between $5,000 and $7,000 (plus travel and accommodations as needed).

Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about our Everyday Deceptions by Stephen L. Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde

Description (C&P’d from amazon):

Now magic can reveal how our brains work in everyday situations. For instance, if you’ve ever bought an expensive item you’d sworn you’d never buy, the salesperson was probably a master at creating the “illusion of choice,” a core technique of magic. The implications of neuromagic go beyond illuminating our behavior; early research points to new approaches for everything from the diagnosis of autism to marketing techniques and education. Sleights of Mind makes neuroscience fun and accessible by unveiling the key connections between magic and the mind.

I want to read this book.  Just what I need, really, another ostensibly wacky neuroscience book.  Dammit, I have pirate and samurai (and dragon and spy*) books to finish.

* - All non-fiction, mind you**.

** - Don’t even get me started on the fiction.  I’m so far behind I’ve been lapped.