Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ann McCaffrey's death last week got me thinking about Pern again, so I'm re-reading Dragonsong, the first book in the Harper's series which was my favorite part of the Pern saga when I first read it back in the 70's when I was in HS.

It's a very fast read, not very fleshed out but a decent intro to the more detailed second and third novels.



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Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I wonder if JK Rowling read Dragonsinger before she wrote the Harry potter series. Dragonsinger reminds me of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. The protagonists are each regarded as inadequate by their families, in Harry’s case an Aunt and Uncle in Menolly’s by her biological parents. Harry however when he reaches Hogwarts finds that he has a special talent for Quidditch and is infamous as the child who survives an assassination attempt as a baby. Menolly not only has her song writing skill and musical ability she’s also the owner of nine fire lizards. Both are protected by the head of the school, Professor Dumbledore and Masterharper Robinton. Both by they’re very existence rub certain teachers and students the wrong way and both are the objects of both envy and prejudice.

For the reasons stated above I’d recommend the Harper Hall series to fans of Harry Potter who may never have heard of the series I’m sure they will find a lot to like.




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DRM is Bad for Books

I think eBooks with drm should be free, they should be given to the people who buy a dead tree version of the book like a digital copy of a movie often comes on the DVD. The free eBook would be for the customer's convenience a searchable easy to carry library. The paper copy would be to insure the customer always has a readable copy even if Amazon goes out of business or decides to upgrade it's readers, like VHS/Beta to DVD and you wind up buying the same movies over again and to a lesser extent DVD to BD. I still have copies of paper books I bought in the 1970's that I still read, will Kindle or Nook or Sony drm eBooks still be readable in 2050 (not that I'll still be around to find out). So before you pick an eBook reader ask yourself if you really want to keep a readable book for life, and go download a .txt non drm book from Cory Doctorow.

Interesting post from Author Charles Stross

The Twitter Book

The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I don't get Twitter, after reading this book I understand it a little better but still don't really see the attraction to the service that because of it's limitations (160 characters, no RSS feeds anymore) forces users to learn or guess at abbreviations to understand what people are talking about. I'm not a facebook user either but that's more about privacy concerns then obections to the service. I'm on Google+ because Google already had my info through gmail, blogger, docs, calendar. But I wanted to understand Twitter and this quick read helps with that and to be fair to Twitter and Tim O'Reilly I'm going to try his guaranteed method. Been at it 3 days now and while I not as confused, I haven't really been entertained or as informed as G+ has in the same time frame.

This is from the first chapter

Try it for three weeks or your money back—guaranteed!
People often say that they dip into Twitter once or twice and don't get it. Which is
understandable since the real value of Twitter becomes evident only after you've followed
a few accounts for a while and have absorbed their rhythms.
If you're having trouble seeing what all the fuss is about, try this tactic:
follow at least a few promising accounts, and then for three weeks, log into Twitter daily
(ideally using one of the life-changing programs we describe in Chapter 2), catch up on
messages and click around for five to ten minutes. Every few days, make sure to check the
trending topics (described in Chapter 2). Finally, spend 30 minutes one day running a few
searches (also described in Chapter 2) to see what you can learn from the discussions on
Twitter.
At the end of three weeks, you'll have spent five hours total giving a fair shake to the most
important new communications tool we've seen since email. (If it still doesn't work for you,
pass this book along to a friend.)

If your interested in learning about social media in general or Twitter in particular I'd recommend this book



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Google+ For Dummies

Google+ For Dummies by Jesse Stay

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Informative book would recommend to anyone new to social media and Google + in particular. However because G+ is so new and changing so quickly much of the information has changed since the publication of the book, the author points this out himself through out the book.



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The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a more satisfying ending that the first Flavia novel and more great fun as the 11 year old protagonist again uses her wits to get even with her sisters, solve a murder and describe in detail the 1950's small village life.



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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I absolutely fell in love with Flavia, from getting revenge on her sisters to solving mysteries as no other eleven year old could. She reminds me of TV's Temperance "Bones" Brennan, as smart but with better social skills, at least a little better.



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The Paladin

The Paladin by C.J. Cherryh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read this after I voted for it in the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club poll for December, it looks like it doesn't have much chance of being picked and I a huge fan of CJ Cherryh, Asian culture and ancient warfare. This book didn't disappoint, it really could have been split into two books the first a master/apprentice tale and the second an action packed war story. I'd recommend this book highly to fans of The Tales of the Otori series by Lian Hearn.



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Anansi Boys

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The more Neil Gaiman I read, the more he reminds me of Douglas Adams, not the subject matter or style, rather it's how I feel when I read either one them, just extremely happy. Seeing how Douglas can't write me a new novel I hope that Neil hurries and writes another soon.

Anansi Boys was a terrific followup to American Gods, a bit lighter and with a story web that was extremely interesting and that's what I want when I read, something interesting.



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