author: John Summers

name: Steev

average rating: 4.18

book published: 2016

rating: 5

read at: 2016/05/15

date added: 2016/05/16

shelves: politics, fun, own-it

review:

author: Ellen Ullman

name: Steev

average rating: 3.58

book published: 2003

rating: 5

read at: 2016/12/01

date added: 2016/12/03

shelves: novels, own-it, fun

review:
Excellent read. Ullman really captures well both the technology and the mental lives of people in the software industry. The story also has a narrative arc that's relatively non-standard and unexpected - it's not one of those stories where I'm constantly thinking "oh I bet I know what will happen now."

(Also, parenthetically, the short tryst between programmer and system administrator is one of the most erotic sexual subplots I've read in a while.)

Really good, expertly written, and covers such a range of concerns: the social trends involving computers and human-computer interfaces, the personality types of programmers, the economics of startups, the "geek pride" that makes computer people go a little (or a lot) crazy, existential philosophy, alcoholism, sex, love, dashed hopes for life... the list goes on...

author: John Scalzi

name: Steev

average rating: 3.82

book published: 2012

rating: 4

read at: 2016/08/04

date added: 2016/08/04

shelves: fun, novels, own-it

review:
A worthwhile read, if you're a science-fiction fan with the ability to laugh at the cliches of the genre. This is not great literature, but it was never billed as such. It's a light satire of sci-fi television, but it also gets a little bit heavy and touching during the 3rd act.

The writing quality is a little hit-or-miss. Scalzi is clearly proficient, but the dialog is often straight out of the playbook for bad situation comedies, the kind where every character can't let anything be said without some dumb comeback. Despite this, I found the concepts and the emotional content to be compelling enough to keep me going.

author: Summers, John

name: Steev

average rating: 4.27

book published:

rating: 5

read at: 2016/11/18

date added: 2016/11/18

shelves: politics, own-it, fun

review:

author: Ali Almossawi

name: Steev

average rating: 4.01

book published: 2013

rating: 5

read at:

date added: 2017/01/02

shelves: fun, to-re-read, own-it

review:

author: Peter Mendelsund

name: Steev

average rating: 3.69

book published: 2014

rating: 5

read at: 2016/10/01

date added: 2016/10/12

shelves: art, fun, to-re-read, wishlist, spirit-self

review:
When I first saw this book I thought, maybe this guy is the new John Berger. He may not be the new Berger, but this book may almost be the new Ways of Seeing. He isn't quite as radical or subversive as Berger, but the book definitely blows my mind in a similar way, about the way we look at things, the way we read things, the way writers make things that we read, and the odd, secret ways our eyes and brains work.

Really really good. and a ridiculously fast read, as it is mostly pictures, diagrams, and large print.

author: Chris Lemann

name: Steev

average rating: 4.23

book published:

rating: 5

read at: 2017/04/11

date added: 2017/04/11

shelves: fun, own-it, politics

review:

author: Neal Stephenson

name: Steev

average rating: 3.69

book published: 1988

rating: 4

read at: 1993/04/22

date added: 2017/04/22

shelves: novels, fun

review:

author: Connie Willis

name: Steev

average rating: 3.34

book published: 1994

rating: 5

read at:

date added: 2017/04/14

shelves: art, novels, to-re-read, wishlist

review:

author: Neal Stephenson

name: Steev

average rating: 3.65

book published: 1994

rating: 0

read at: 2000/04/22

date added: 2017/04/22

shelves: novels, fun, politics

review: