Finished up "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow on the commute this morning and the sequel, "Homeland" just as the work day was winding down. "Little Brother" (a play on words paying homage to Orwell's Big Brother) is about the aftermath of another major terrorist attack (San Francisco's Bay Bridge gets destroyed), the government's response and the how the people react to the government clamp down on fucking everything. It's a realistic, and quite frightening, look at where we are as a nation and what we could easily become if we give in to fear. Or, just as bad but more likely, give in to the fear mongering of our government.

This is the first I've read from Doctorow, but "Little Brother" was easily the best book I've read this year. "Homeland" was more about the corruption of the government sworn to protect and uphold the constitution and the people it protects and was very good as well.

I'm currently reading "Information Doesn't Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age," also by Doctorow. It's more a collection of essays and thought experiments on the themes of copyright, the "protections" they put in place for it and whether it's really a good idea to put digital locks on media content or if it's counter productive. Doctorow is adamantly against DRM because while it protects the middle-men, it hurts the artists and alienates the consumers. His audio books aren't available at audible.com, the worlds largest audio book seller, because they refuse to offer audio books without DRM and he refuses to sell a book with a digital lock on it.

I'm reading the SGU's book. It's good so far, definitely on the introduction side of skepticism but still good to brush up on this sort of stuff.

Finished "Information Doesn't Want to be Free" today and I recommend it as a must read to anyone to anyone who has concerns over personal privacy and security. What's been done already in the name of security is frightening. What can happen if we continue to allow intentional exploits to be added to all forms of software in the name of security is terrifying.

Just finished "The Big Picture" by Sean Carroll. Very good book for a layman's understanding of quantum theory, how it relates to other scientific disciplines and how it relates to everyday life.

Started the Pure Trilogy by Julianna Baggott for the drive home and will abandon it immediately. Her obvious lack of scientific knowledge and unwillingness to research the basics make the book unreadable. Note to Julianna: If you want to write post-apocalyptic, after the nukes fall fiction, you really, really need to research how it will affect humanity and not just throw shit at the wall hoping it'll stick. No, people and buildings cannot "fuse" and continue as a living creature. No, humans and animals will not hybridize as the result of a nuclear explosion nor would they breed true even if they did.

Time to read this book

I've read "The Chain"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42779092-the-chain

And it has a very iridium ending.

'Shutter Island'.  Absolutely terrific psychological thriller.

Boru

I recently re-read The Good Book.

It told me the answer was "42."

Amen.

But what was the question?

Who cares.