Category: Books

How to Teach Physics to Your Chinese Dog

Got a big box in the mail today, which included author copies of two Asian editions: the Japanese edition, which I had seen before, and this: That is, obviously, the Chinese edition of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. I say “obviously” mostly because I know that edition was about ready to roll out–… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Chinese Dog

Short Story Club: “Elegy for a Young Elk” by Hannu Rajaniemi

Hannu Ranjaniemi’s The Quantrum Thief has generated a lot of buzz, but doesn’t seem to be available on this side of the Atlantic (not without exorbitant shipping charges, anyway). As a result, I haven’t read anything of his, so I was happy to see “Elegy for a Young Elk on the Short Story Club list.… Continue reading Short Story Club: “Elegy for a Young Elk” by Hannu Rajaniemi

Short Story Club: “A Serpent in the Gears” by Margaret Ronald

I do intend to keep reading and commenting on the stories for Torque Control’s Short Story Club, but I missed last week’s because I couldn’t really think of anything to say about it. The story was nicely written, and all, but it’s just kind of… there. This week’s post was delayed by my annual day… Continue reading Short Story Club: “A Serpent in the Gears” by Margaret Ronald

Hugo Awards 2010

The 2010 Hugo Award Winners were announced on Sunday night. Of course, this being a science fiction award, it’s only appropriate that they be announced from THE FUTURE, so the results were available early this morning, US time. It turns out that I voted for 1.5 of the fiction award winners: China Mieville’s The City… Continue reading Hugo Awards 2010

What to Tell Your Dog About Einstein

“Hey, dude, whatcha doin’?” “Signing these contracts. I’m not sure why they need four copies, but they do.” “Contracts for what?” “The new book. Remmeber, the one we’ve been talking about these last few weeks? Sequel-of-sorts to How to Teach Physics to Your Dog? About relativity?” “Oh, yeah, that’s right! We’re doing another book! Where… Continue reading What to Tell Your Dog About Einstein

Short Story Club: “The Things” by Peter Watts

Over at Torque Control, Niall Harrison is doing a Short Story Club, hosting discussions of SF short fiction. As I always vaguely regret not reading enough short fiction to make sensible nominations for the Hugos, this seemed like a good opportunity to read a selection of stories that a smart person with pretty good taste… Continue reading Short Story Club: “The Things” by Peter Watts

Scott Pilgrim

So, I blew off stuff I should’ve been doing, and went to see a matinee of the Scott Pilgrim movie this morning (it’s very much not Kate’s sort of thing, and I would feel guilty ditching her with SteelyKid to see it during the evening or on a weekend). Actually, first I went to Borders… Continue reading Scott Pilgrim

Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik [Library of Babel]

Tongues of Serpents is the nth book in the Temeraire series started with His Majesty’s Dragon (in the US, anyway), and another “Meh” review from me. In this case, this is probably less to do with the book itself than with the fact that I am not really in the target demographic for this book.… Continue reading Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik [Library of Babel]

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold [Library of Babel]

I don’t believe the actual book is out yet, but you can get an electronic Advance Reading copy of the Nth Miles Vorkosigan book, Cryoburn already. Kate picked up a copy, and while she hasn’t gotten around to it yet, I read it this week while putting SteelyKid to bed. The book is another “Lord… Continue reading Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold [Library of Babel]