December books

Unemployed = more time to read.

Things to Make and Do in the 4th Dimension: A Mathematicians Journey Through Narcissistic Numbers, Optimal Dating Algorithms, at Least Two Kinds of Infinity and More by Matt Parker

I think that title just about explains it. Matt Parker is a funny Brit who makes Youtube videos about "Maths". I read this right after "How Not to Be Wrong" by Jordan Ellenberg. While Ellenberg's book is much more about the usefulness of math in life, Parker focuses on math that is interesting simply because it is interesting. At this point, many people would say, "math isn't interesting," to which I reply, "don't read this book". Even for me, the chapters describing higher dimensional geometry got a bit long, but Parker is a funny guy, and I like math, so I still liked his book.

The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher
The back cover of this book describes this fantasy world as "steampunk pirate blimps" or something like that, which I thought was the perfect description, though apparently not perfect enough for me to remember the exact wording. It's your classic Sci-Fi/Fantasy set up of some young adults being in the wrong/right place at the right/wrong time, and getting mixed up in the start of a war, and being sent on a secret mission now that they're involved. This is the first, and thus far only, book in a series. It was pretty interesting. There are sentient cats that can talk - though they only speak Cat, of course, and no cat would ever stoop to learning to speak human, so if you want to talk to them, you'll have to learn Cat. There are also a few wizard-types whose sensitivity to "the force" (if you will) has the side effect of making them very batty. Worth reading if you're into that sort of book.

Children of the Fleet by Orson Scott Card
Not worth reading, even if you are into that sort of book. Apparently Card has decided to write yet another book in the Enderverse. I suppose he needed to buy some more dark chocolate and bird seed. The book takes place a handful of years after the end of Ender's Game, where Battle School has been re-branded as Fleet School. The kids aren't quite as young, and it isn't training kids for combat, but for leading fleet colonization expeditions. It's also exclusively for the kids of people who are in the IF, or at least live in space, not the earthbound folk. Ender Dabeet Ochoa who was so unmemorable that I had to look up his last name despite finishing the book less than a week ago. He's super smart, but also arrogant and oblivious to the fact that he's arrogant and the no one likes him. He's been raised on earth by his mother, who won't tell him anything about his father other than that he's in the IF. (Surprise, it's end up being just who you'd guess!) Anyway, of course he gets caught up in an elaborate plot and has to work with other kids to save the day. From the start, I found the plot uninteresting and was literally waiting for the initial problem to be resolved or shown to really be about something else. Nope, turns out that's really what the plot was. Dabeet was in danger, but I didn't care enough about him, or anyone else, to care about the plot. Huge portions of the book are just Dabeet by himself trying to figure out how to get along with humans, or perhaps discussing the same with at most one other person.

I give Card a lot of leeway on books, particularly Ender related books. I like most of his Enderverse books (Ender in Exile, for example) more than many. But Children of the Fleet just isn't very good. It's not funny, and it's certainly not action packed.

The Lost City of Z by David Grann
In the early 20th century, there were few places on Earth left to explore. The North Pole, the South Pole and the Amazon Rain forest (remember Teddy Roosevelt going down the River of Doubt?). Englishman Percy Fawcett was one of the premier jungle explorers, who managed to explore his way through places no one else had ever been, and do it quicker than ever expected. He believed in small expeditions, non-violence toward natives and keep up a grueling pace. Over his many years in the jungle based on stories from natives and early explorers he became convinced that the Amazon had the remains of a great civilization and great city (which he simply called 'Z'). Essentially, he was looking for Eldorado, but not as a mythical city paved with gold, but as real ruins (which would probably have some gold, too). Of course, his story ends with him disappearing into the jungle never to be seen again. Given his unparalleled ability to get in and out of the rain forest unscathed, and never getting sick, people waited for years for him to emerge. Then they started searching for him. But no remains were ever found. In addition to telling the story, the author, of course, also heads to the Amazon believing that he finally has enough information to figure out what happened to Fawcett and his two companions. The book was pretty good. At the end the author finally gets around to giving a some current academic analysis of some of the things that lead Fawcett to believe there was an ancient city to search for, and I wish there had been a lot more included. The book was made into a movie which was going to star Brad Pitt, until it wasn't, and then was going to star Benedict Cumberbuffle, until it didn't, and finally did star someone I've never heard of. Evidently it got good reviews, but no one actually went to see it. As a final comment, my copy of the book (won at the monthly trivia night) includes the typical snippets of reviews from newspapers - 6 pages and 40 reviews worth! As if I wasn't convinced about whether or not I should read the book until finally after 5 and a half pages of reviews, I saw that someone from the Toronto Dispatch called it "enthralling!".

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Are there books out there about botanists getting kidnapped and ending up on world altering adventures? I don't think I've ever read one. But here is another one where it happens to a physicist. (Remember Influx from last month?) It's difficult to talk much about this book without giving away huge portions of the plot. But mild-mannered physics professor man is kidnapped by a masked man one evening, drugged and then wakes up in a world that isn't his own. Suddenly he doesn't seem to be married, have a son, or teach physics. Instead he is involved with a private research company and a bunch of people that he has never met. After deciding that he isn't completely crazy, he sets about to find out what happened to his world. If you're looking for a science fiction book that isn't afraid to go deep down the multi-verse worm hole, this book is for you. It is at times action packed, but at other times very introspective about what makes you, you, and how we both define our actions and are defined by them.