http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/ 2026-05-10T00:20:42+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/ http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/lib/tpl/minimal/images/favicon.ico text/html 2022-11-11T00:17:29+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:3am_series&rev=1668122249&do=diff ISBN: 9798503950120 Amazon ID: B01C2GFP5Y Oh dear me, where do I start? This book is bad in so many ways. I'm going to completely overlook the ridiculous implausibility of someone having a disorder which means he falls asleep at 4:00am every day, in whatever the local timezone happens to be, and remains asleep for 23 hours. text/html 2020-09-26T12:10:53+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:84_k&rev=1601115053&do=diff ISBN: 9780356507408 Amazon ID: B076PBVSWV The outline for this story sounded (to me) pretty interesting, so I bought it on Amazon (fortunately as a special deal of the day, so I didn't waste much money or effort). Unfortunately, the author can't write. She has no sense of grammar, or continuity, or even how to correctly construct a sentence. Okay, that's not completely true; some of her sentences are grammatical, and some bits of the story follow on from each other, but so many of them don'… text/html 2022-10-29T22:05:12+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:all_the_light_we_cannot_see&rev=1667073912&do=diff ISBN: 9780008138301 Amazon ID: B00G1TOJ7Y A deeply unpleasant and non-linear story about injustice, evil people who achieve positions of power, and children struggling with life during world war II. I managed about half of the book before one of the chapter headings, telling me that yet again the narrative had jumped back several years in time (for no meaningful purpose; it serves only to confuse and irritate the reader) proved simply to be one too many, and I abandoned the book. text/html 2021-08-14T11:37:19+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:armada&rev=1628933839&do=diff ISBN: 9780099586746 Amazon ID: B00UR2SJZY Ready Player One started off from the premise that a large proportion of the population spends their time in a virtual reality environment, and this is where the majority of the story takes place. Armada starts from the premise that what people think is virtual reality is not in fact virtual after all. text/html 2024-07-10T13:04:18+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:beyond_broadhall&rev=1720609458&do=diff ISBN: 9781543146080 Amazon ID: B01MZHD9DS This is the follow-up to The '86 Fix and is a good enough story in itself, although significantly darker and more depressing (especially at the start) than its predecessor. The proof-reader who took a while to get their act together for the first book seems to have pretty much given up on this one. The spelling errors in particular are quite off-putting in places. text/html 2021-10-13T01:06:20+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:bumfuzzle&rev=1634079980&do=diff ISBN: 9780615220338 Amazon ID: B003DTMSMS What do you get if you ask an administrative assistant, and a financial trader, who live in Chicago and know absolutely nothing about boats, to come up with a name for a boat which means "to bewilder or confuse, to describe something you don't understand"? text/html 2020-12-01T23:18:28+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:cloud_atlas&rev=1606861108&do=diff ISBN: 9789999976350 Amazon ID: B002VHI8J0 If anyone has the slightest clue what this book is trying to be about, congratulations to them. (I do wonder whether what they think it's about matches up with anyone else's idea of the same thing, though.) text/html 2021-12-04T11:57:05+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:contacts&rev=1638615425&do=diff ISBN: 9780008346997 Amazon ID: B07YXBL15S Part One Part One (chapters 1-10 of 34) is a mish-mash of different people's thoughts and recollections about the central character, James. It really is a mish-mash, though - there's no coherence to it, no continuity (other than timeline), and no feeling of progress in the story as you read more of it. text/html 2021-03-02T16:41:28+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:cyber_seed&rev=1614699688&do=diff ISBN: 9781482704396, 9781508599838, 9781522948063, 9781541201897 Amazon ID: B07ZKR5XG5 It's a quadrilogy: * Sycamore * The oh-so-inventively-named Sycamore 2 * The slightly-more inventively-named Sycamore X * The less-again inventively-named Sycamore XL text/html 2021-08-01T22:17:59+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:denial&rev=1627849079&do=diff ISBN: 9781409181231 Amazon ID: B004BDOK3K Reviews Some of the reviews of this book make it sound as though it's going to be quite good: * A thought-provoking menacer that's completely technological and genuinely frightening about the power of future communications. * Time Out text/html 2021-09-29T23:37:03+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:do_they_know_it_s_christmas_yet&rev=1632951423&do=diff ISBN: 978 Amazon ID: B08Q5W1S4T Somehow, or perhaps because, so many of them are introduced all at once, I found it a bit difficult to work out "who's whom?" so here's a summary (no spoilers involved): * Dot is "Grandma" * Her husband was Ernest, now deceased * George is their son * Andrea is George's wife * Natasha (Tash) is George and Andrea's daughter * Jamie is Natasha's brother * Lucan (not his real name, but he's only a baby and hasn't been given one yet) is Natasha's son text/html 2021-06-20T17:18:39+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:dreamer&rev=1624202319&do=diff ISBN: 9781409181248 Amazon ID: B004BDOJZY This is another one of Peter's early books, before he developed the Roy Grace series of "Dead" books. It's written well and has a good story to it, but the central character is just so much one of those people who I could not stand to be around in real life that I did find it a bit hard-going. text/html 2021-01-12T11:41:20+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:enigma&rev=1610448080&do=diff This is the fourth book in The Belt series, preceded by Evolution. In chapter 4, "she could feel the infinitesimal current it radiated". Hm, a current might cause an electromagnetic field to be radiated, but you can hardly radiate a current... Later on we learn that "Dr Rayman had strictly forbade it". I think "forbidden" is the word for that sentence. text/html 2021-01-12T11:44:45+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:entanglement&rev=1610448285&do=diff This is the first book in The Belt series. In chapter 5, a binary asteroid system is described - two asteroids of almost equal mass, "both locked in an eternal dance around each other". They both have a diameter of more than 90 kilometres. A spacecraft is then described as being "in a low orbit around the larger of the two". Now, I'm not an astrophysicist, but I didn't think it was possible for an object to orbit just one of a binary system like this - it would have to orbit the common centr… text/html 2021-01-12T11:41:47+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:entropy&rev=1610448107&do=diff This is the second book in The Belt series, preceded by Entanglement. This book picks up a couple of years after Entanglement ends, but with the same major characters aboard the same spaceship. One of the "characters" is the ship's "Quantum Intelligence", named Aria, who has on several occasions declared that its primary duty is to protect the safety and well-being of the ship's crew. text/html 2021-01-12T11:41:32+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:evolution&rev=1610448092&do=diff This is the third book in The Belt series, preceded by Entropy. At the end of chapter 1, we are told that "there isn't another living thing for a radius of a million square kilometres". Talking about a radius and then specifying it as an area just sounds weird. text/html 2024-02-11T16:13:59+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:executed&rev=1707664439&do=diff ISBN: 9781611099324 Amazon ID: B01N0QQWCL This is the second book in the Extracted trilogy, and is the one where the story starts. The first book is simply a confusing introduction, where nothing happens other than three disparate people being brought together for no adequately explained reason, by someone whose motives and intentions are never revealed. text/html 2022-01-15T12:35:49+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:exit_west&rev=1642246549&do=diff ISBN: 9780241979068 Amazon ID: B01LXKLSQ0 This is an ideal book to take if you plan to get marooned on a desert island. It's the only place I can think of where you'll be so bored that you decide to finish reading the book. I managed to get 30% of the way through (3 chapters out of 12, page 40 of 137) before deciding that if a book hasn't got a story to it, and nothing of any interest has happened, by that stage, I'm not going to waste any more of my time waiting to see whether the author ha… text/html 2024-02-21T21:46:01+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:extinct&rev=1708548361&do=diff ISBN: 9781503902459 Amazon ID: B077XBML85 This is the final part of the Extracted trilogy, and I was looking forward to it mainly because it meant the story would be over and done with, and I could get on with reading things which actually get somewhere and make progress, instead of reading page after page of pointless and/or mystifying activity. text/html 2024-02-11T16:09:56+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:extracted&rev=1707664196&do=diff ISBN: 9781503941861 Amazon ID: B01HIKCA52 Quite a good introduction. I don't mean that this book has a good introduction; I mean that it is one. Unfortunately, being an entire book, this means you keep waiting for the story to get going, and it never does. text/html 2022-04-13T16:48:26+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:future_adventures&rev=1649861306&do=diff ISBN: Not available in printed format (and, after reading it, I can understand why) Amazon ID: B07Y6S953C This is a collection of 8 entirely separate stories from 8 different authors: * Watcher’s Web by Patty Jansen * This book is all middle, with no beginning to set the scene, or any end to draw a conclusion. A story without a purpose. text/html 2021-05-06T01:09:25+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:host&rev=1620256165&do=diff ISBN: 9780575056190 Amazon ID: B004BDOJYU This is one of Peter's earlier books (published in 1993, well before before the well-known Roy Grace series) and while it's a pretty good story, there are some things which one wouldn't expect to encounter in the later books he's done. text/html 2021-08-23T23:06:07+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:interference&rev=1629752767&do=diff ISBN: 9781542020374 Amazon ID: B07Z3NFQPD Gets off to a good start. Has good characters. There's a good pace. It's a good story. It's a good book. I didn't think much of how easily someone's conscience gets the better of him at the end of the book; it was distinctly out of character and felt unrealistic. text/html 2021-01-21T22:28:24+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:just_ignore_him&rev=1611264504&do=diff ISBN: 9780349144368 Amazon ID: B083XP5P67 You might think "Ooh, Alan Davies - he's really funny on QI", or maybe you liked him in Jonathan Creek, or you've seen him doing stand-up comedy, and therefore an autobiography might seem like a welcome insight to the world of an entertainer. text/html 2021-10-18T16:56:49+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:keep_on_keeping_on&rev=1634569009&do=diff ISBN: 9780648533054 Amazon ID: B07VLF3XQL This book (and its three successors) was available as a free download on Amazon.co.uk, and I have to say it was worth every penny. It is not worth spending any time reading, however - it is complete drivel. text/html 2023-03-06T00:08:47+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:left_to_die&rev=1678057727&do=diff ISBN: 9781094350202 Amazon ID: B084T89JJK Very uninspiring. An FBI investigator behaves very unprofessionally, is surrounded by French police who behave even more unprofessionally, and spends a large part of the story in Germany, in a town we are not even told the name of, or given any street names from. text/html 2020-09-26T12:22:53+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:life_of_crime&rev=1601115773&do=diff ISBN: 9780008144760 Amazon ID: B073Z3Z55D This is a well-written and very unpleasant story about very unpleasant characters who behave very unpleasantly, selfishly, anti-socially and frequently illegally, and most of whom have no interest in or care for anyone but themselves, and are not in fact any good at looking after themselves either. text/html 2021-10-13T01:11:33+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:meeting_mungo_thunk&rev=1634080293&do=diff ISBN: 9781983388200 Amazon ID: B07FJL5RYD This author has done a good job of creating and describing two characters who are total tossers and a complete waste of space. So, bear with him during the first 12 chapters (of 47) while you have to endure their personalities and behaviour being described very well and therefore (I hope, at least) impossible to identify with and feel any sympathy for. text/html 2021-07-22T22:29:20+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:no_safe_house&rev=1626985760&do=diff ISBN: 9781409120353 Amazon ID: B00JV1W2FA The second sentence has a mis-spelling of pyjamas. The author is Canadian, not American, so should be able to get this right. The Prologue (correctly spelled) and the first four chapters are all a bit random and confusing, but given that this is a detective thriller, that's okay - it works for the genre. The next two chapters start to tighten things up, and we get into the story. This works well. text/html 2022-01-26T18:04:26+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:notyetread&rev=1643216666&do=diff These are the books I've bought from Amazon and not yet read, excluding some collections such as H.G. Wells, and "classics" such as Grimm's Fairy Tales. Note that the price shown if you follow a link is correct at the time you follow the link. This does not necessarily reflect the price I paid for the book when I bought it. Amazon's prices can fluctuate remarkably. text/html 2022-01-23T16:56:10+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:notyetreviewed&rev=1642953370&do=diff These are the books I've read but didn't write a review of at the time. * Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian * Stone Cold by David Baldacci * The Winner by David Baldacci * Total Control by David Baldacci * The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz * The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz * The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz * Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale * Wrong Victim by Helen H. Durrant * Science of Discworld III: Da… text/html 2022-01-26T18:05:37+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:once_upon_a_river&rev=1643216737&do=diff ISBN: 978 Amazon ID: B074MBSM37 ---------- Go up Return to main index. text/html 2021-09-05T23:17:44+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:passenger_23&rev=1630876664&do=diff ISBN: 9781838934514 Amazon ID: B082NZW94G Sebastian is a German author, but German books are ridiculously expensive (due to anti-discounting laws), and even Amazon.de sells the English-language versions for far less than the German-language editions. text/html 2021-06-20T17:23:45+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:pines&rev=1624202625&do=diff ISBN: 9781612183954 Amazon ID: B007FG9LIE Pines is the first book in the Wayward Pines trilogy. It gets off to a slow start, up to chapter 4 (of 18), and then in chapter 5, things start to get weird. Then, in chapter 6, they get really weird, and in chapter 9 (of 18, remember), the story starts to come together into something you can identify with and follow. text/html 2021-06-20T17:20:44+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:prophecy&rev=1624202444&do=diff ISBN: 9781409181286 Amazon ID: B004BDOJKY So many unpleasant and frankly unlikely things happen to people within the first 7 chapters (of 33) in this book, that it starts to feel more like a fantasy story than a thriller. It's just not plausible that this many bad things happen to such a small group of people in such a small period of time. text/html 2023-06-02T23:02:14+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:put_a_wet_paper_towel_on_it&rev=1685739734&do=diff ISBN: 9780008474218 Amazon ID: B0931YYY8C According to someone at The Times, the authors are "Education's answer to Adam Kay ... Lee and Adam Parkinson are doing for teaching what he did for medicine." The difference, in my opinion, is that Adam Kay tells a lot of funny stories about his life as a doctor, as well as having a well-earned grumble at the way the UK health system works. text/html 2020-12-31T14:47:30+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:q&rev=1609422450&do=diff ISBN: 9780008440602 Amazon ID: B07YLC2QJN This is the author's second book, following up on Vox, which I thought was pretty awful. I got this book, too, as an Amazon Deal of the Day, for 99p - that's the most I was prepared to risk, considering what the first book was like. text/html 2021-08-22T22:05:06+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:quantum&rev=1629662706&do=diff ISBN: 9781503905092 Amazon ID: B07BN2WGGJ Don't be fooled by the title of this book. It's not a hard science, deeply involved story about quantum mechanics, or quantum cryptography, or quantum physics, or for that matter anything to do with "quantum" at all. text/html 2021-10-19T10:38:09+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:robot&rev=1634632689&do=diff ISBN: 9780241485118 Amazon ID: B08G842W83 What? A confusing book, about a character who is confused. We are told at the beginning that what the character does will have a purpose, but the character will not find out what it is, and it seems that we won't either. text/html 2021-08-06T13:08:37+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:spore&rev=1628248117&do=diff ISBN: 9798650056935 Amazon ID: B08DCR4DC5 Don't give mustard to dogs. I think this is quite a good book with a solid story and pretty good characters. A proof-reader or editor should have picked up on "the facility was originally a Confederate prison, abandoned after the Battle of Cedar Creek in 1964. It was renovated in 1908 for reuse..." text/html 2025-03-13T16:37:19+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:start&rev=1741880239&do=diff I have always read a wide variety of books, from an early age. I am no longer at what anyone would call an early age. These days the main themes of these books are (in no particular order) crime thrillers, science fiction, biographies, fantasy, cryptography, and travel. text/html 2023-04-20T21:37:53+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:storm_portal&rev=1682019473&do=diff ISBN: 9781976904523 Amazon ID: B078XJ94C2 The first six chapters (of 21) of this book are so American that it's a challenge to get through them. There are so many weird expressions used (I can tell that some of them come from baseball, but I have no idea about others, or quite what they're supposed to mean) that the story loses meaning. text/html 2022-08-19T11:10:38+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:summer_frost&rev=1660900238&do=diff ISBN: Not available on paper Amazon ID: B07VHMRYPR Blake can clearly write very good books - see Dark Matter, Recursion, or even the Wayward Pines trilogy. Summer Frost is a short story, and it's good that it is - not because of the quality of the story, but because of an intensely irritating (to me, at least) aspect of the writing style - consistently referring to a singular entity (an artificial intelligence as one of the central characters) in the plural. text/html 2021-02-10T10:21:03+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:sycamore&rev=1612948863&do=diff The main character seems to find a remarkable amount of time in the first few chapters to make soup while he's supposed to be catching a bus, but once we get to the end of chapter 9, the story seems have settled down into The Circle, and the reader is left wondering whether it's then going to turn into 1984, The One, or The Warehouse. text/html 2021-02-18T22:11:07+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:sycamore_2&rev=1613682667&do=diff Sycamore 2 follows on (not entirely unsurprisingly) from Sycamore. The story sets off in (quite literally) a totally different direction from the first book, and we get far more character development from one or two characters we've met before but not learned much about, some who we've heard about but know almost nothing of, and some who are completely new. text/html 2021-03-02T11:00:08+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:sycamore_x&rev=1614679208&do=diff Sycamore X follows on from Sycamore 2. However, it's at this point that you find out (or at least, I did) that Cyber Seed quadrilogy is not a quadrilogy. It's a two-part story, and you've read it. You discover that "Sycamore X" is ideally pronounced using Roman numerals, as "Sycamore ten", because it's actually a collection of 10 short stories. text/html 2021-03-02T16:36:29+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:sycamore_xl&rev=1614699389&do=diff Sycamore XL follows on from Sycamore X and is the final part of the quadrilogy. The title of the previous book turned out to be written in Roman numerals, as "Sycamore ten", however this one is not "Sycamore forty". Sycamore X was a collection of ten (well, actually eleven) short stories taking place in the same timeframe as Sycamore and Sycamore 2. text/html 2024-07-10T12:49:08+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_86_fix&rev=1720608548&do=diff ISBN: 9781543145397 Amazon ID: B01M3QFCQA This is a time-travel story, of sorts. I won't explain quite what I mean by that because it would give away too much of the plot, but suffice to say it's a good book. I don't often use the term "page-turner" about books I read, but this one is - the story moves on well, and you're always looking forward to "what happens next?" text/html 2022-01-26T22:07:28+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_back_door_man&rev=1643231248&do=diff ISBN: 9780983915034 Amazon ID: B005Q0X6C8 If you know nothing, or almost nothing, about computer networks, cybersecurity and data centres, then you can probably enjoy this book. It's not a bad story, but the author's ignorance of technical details (which are important to the story), and the lack of a competent proof-reader (both technically and linguistically) make it difficult to overlook these faults if you know enough to notice them. text/html 2021-06-20T17:15:36+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_belt&rev=1624202136&do=diff ISBN: 9781983567292, 9781982934750, 9781729083581, (Trilogy: 9781999328672) Amazon ID: B08JQN6D7Z The very start of the book is rather marred by the phrase "comprises of" on the copyright page. It should be "comprises" or "comprised of", but "comprises of" is just wrong. text/html 2023-06-04T19:23:25+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_code&rev=1685899405&do=diff ISBN: 9781952481000 Amazon ID: B085ZGGYZ3 A nice enough story based principally on the fact that the date 12/3 means different things to different people from different places. Whether this is plausible in a scientific / IT environment, I'm not so sure, but that's where the author's artistic licence comes in. text/html 2021-07-18T13:58:49+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_dark_forest&rev=1626609529&do=diff ISBN: 9781784971618 Amazon ID: B00U7G0UYI This is the second book in the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. I think it's the first book I've read where I've found the (reasonably short) Prologue pretty heavy going. It is also very clearly the second part of a trilogy. It would make no sense at all if you started reading this without having read The Three Body Problem first. text/html 2022-01-29T15:18:09+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_defence&rev=1643465889&do=diff ISBN: 9781409152316 Amazon ID: B00O13O1TI This is a fast-paced, action-packed thriller. It's a good story. However, it's a little too action-packed from time to time. The premise is that a lawyer has 48 hours to get his client acquitted; the challenge is that he's never met the client before and has no prior knowledge of the court case which starts on the following day. text/html 2020-12-31T16:57:34+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_descent_series&rev=1609430254&do=diff ISBN: Not obviously available in print form Amazon ID: B07L98FKVN Very close to the start of the story, there's a page which starts with "Elise woke up five days after James found her..." and then 300 words later (on the same page) he tells her "I found you three days ago." text/html 2021-04-05T00:40:54+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_escape_room&rev=1617576054&do=diff ISBN: 9781250797148 Amazon ID: B07NLCJMK3 The premise (see the Amazon description) seems intriguing. The chapter list tells you "oh no, this is going to be one of those tedious books with interleaved but dissociated storylines". It's even methodical about it: every odd-numbered chapter from 1 to 47 is entitled "The Elevator"; every even numbered chapter from 2 to 48 is entitled "Sara Hall". There are only 3 more chapters after that, and the titles don't change, it's just that chapter 49 dis… text/html 2021-05-12T23:33:58+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_girl_friend&rev=1620855238&do=diff ISBN: 9781509821525 Amazon ID: B01M1ENASA Timing The book starts with a Prologue, which takes place on Monday 2nd March. It's only a couple of pages, and is followed by Chapter One, which is set nine months earlier (Saturday 7th June). Then, Chapter Two starts two days previously, on Thursday 5th June. text/html 2020-09-26T12:19:21+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_girl_on_the_train&rev=1601115561&do=diff ISBN: 9781784161750 Amazon ID: B00NOPQU2K This book seems to start out well enough, about a girl who travels every day by train (the clue is in the title, it seems), and she sees a couple called Jess and Jason who live in a house overlooking the railway line, and the story starts discussing their lives. text/html 2020-09-26T12:04:17+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_last_astronaut&rev=1601114657&do=diff ISBN: 9780356512297 Amazon ID: B07KPK1ZWV In the chapter "Excursion (1)", Jansen and Stevens are travelling along a rope which is attached to the inside of a rotating spaceship. They started at the centre of the ship (which is the axis of rotation) and are moving towards the outside. text/html 2021-06-20T17:26:49+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_last_town&rev=1624202809&do=diff ISBN: 9781477822586 Amazon ID: B00GUU9262 This is the final book in the Wayward Pines trilogy, following on from Wayward. By the time I got to the end of book 2, I was thinking "oh good, the real story can actually get going now". The third book (aside from a couple of flashbacks) tells disparate stories of various people from the first two books as they deal with the events at the end of book 2. It all feels quite disjointed, right until you get to the end. text/html 2020-09-26T12:16:24+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_life_of_pi&rev=1601115384&do=diff ISBN: 9780857865533 Amazon ID: B002RI9UBS This book can be summarised as "when is something going to happen?" Nothing happens. A boy is in a boat, with a tiger. You might think this could be interesting, but it isn't. If you keep on reading, by the end of the book, you realise that nothing happens. text/html 2021-10-09T16:04:20+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_man_who_died&rev=1633788260&do=diff ISBN: 9781910633847 Amazon ID: B06ZYW8BS3 An interesting premise for a story (a man discovers that he's being poisoned over an extended period of time, and determines to find out who's doing it to him). The story is good for most of the book (parts one and two), but then in my opinion goes totally off the rails in the final (and relatively short) part three, where the explanations for what has been going on in the rest of the story just turn out to be ridiculous (and in my opinion, simply to … text/html 2024-02-24T00:52:12+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_other_side_of_the_wall&rev=1708732332&do=diff ISBN: 9781781998328 Amazon ID: B072J3DQWJ Anachronism. ---------- Go up Return to main index. text/html 2021-09-09T21:27:09+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_perfect_couple&rev=1631215629&do=diff ISBN: 978 Amazon ID: B07QJDT8SX Seldom have I come across a character whose frenetic activity and irrationality irritate me quite so much, quite so quickly, at the start of a book. However, she seems to calm down during the first few chapters (although she still has her moments, throughout the story), and she's worth persevering with. text/html 2021-06-20T17:08:29+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_perfect_wife&rev=1624201709&do=diff ISBN: 9781640296626 Amazon ID: B07JYC69YM [Note: not the same title by JP Delaney; read that, it's excellent.] Several words in the English language start with "psycho" (my copy of the OED lists 113 of them). Some of the possible endings relevant to this book (in alphabetical, rather than significant, order) are: text/html 2021-06-20T17:07:27+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_signal&rev=1624201647&do=diff ISBN: 9781999893408 Amazon ID: B07FDZ5LJ8 In chapter 6, two radio astronomers are discussing a signal which has been received. One asks "what was the power of the signal?" and the other replies "in excess of 200 gigahertz". I'm sorry? What!? Power measured in Hertz?? By scientists??? Bah. text/html 2020-11-01T10:57:44+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_silent_patient&rev=1604224664&do=diff ISBN: 9781409181637 Amazon ID: B07G17DR4X This is an interesting story, except for the enormous question "why would someone in this (good, safe) position choose to put themselves in that (dangerous, unwise) position?" It makes no sense whatsoever. text/html 2022-05-08T16:42:37+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_simulation_hypothesis&rev=1652020957&do=diff ISBN: 9780983056904 Amazon ID: B07M81F1KG This is a well-researched and fascinating book about whether the world we live in (tea, uranium, planets, dolphins, galaxies, etc) is actually a computer simulation along the lines of The Matrix. The scientific background and investigations are excellent, religions are also given their due in backing up the author's assertion that, in fact, we are, and overall it's a very thought-provoking book. text/html 2023-07-13T22:00:01+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_sleeping_gods&rev=1689278401&do=diff ISBN: 9780992907785 (Part 1 only) Amazon ID: B08TTKTM5C There's a lot of book here, but I'm not convinced there's quite as much story. The Sleeping Gods comprises two books - Endeavour, and Erebus. It's not at all clear to me how or why they form a series. text/html 2021-07-08T10:15:38+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_three_body_problem&rev=1625732138&do=diff ISBN: 9781800246683 Amazon ID: B00S8FCJCQ This seems like a pretty reasonable science-fiction story, provided you can overlook the excessive quantity of Chinese communist socialist political oppression and interference with the science (and the scientists). text/html 2020-11-14T20:28:47+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:the_warehouse&rev=1605382127&do=diff ISBN: 9780552176057 Amazon ID: B07HBTSLC1 The two main characters in this are called Paxton and Zinnia. That's it. We have no idea whether those are supposed to be first names or surnames, although the way they get used in dialogue, they appear to be first names. Paxton? Hmmm. text/html 2022-05-01T14:11:53+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:time_is_not_infinite&rev=1651407113&do=diff ISBN: Not available as a paperback (unsurprisingly, I think) Amazon ID: B07RLQZ6CH The full title of this book is "Time is not Infinite: 12 principles to make the best use of your time", and in this (thankfully short) book, the author presents 12 topics about being efficient, effective and (mostly) about being a successful business leader. text/html 2021-07-26T10:43:07+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:to_sleep_in_a_sea_of_stars&rev=1627288987&do=diff ISBN: 9781529046526 Amazon ID: B0855R6PLR This is a long book, partly simply because of the big gaps between chapters. One chapter ends, it's followed by a blank page with merely a short vertical thin line on it, then there's a page with the next chapter number and a row of seven dots, and then there's a page bearing the chapter title, and the story continues. All a bit redundant, really. At least I don't own a dead tree edition of the book. text/html 2021-04-20T23:55:20+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:twisted&rev=1618955720&do=diff ISBN: 9781409170709 Amazon ID: B07G19CB1N This book has its ups and downs. Overall the ups win, definitely. It's a good book. Biggest case in point: about half-way in, you suddenly find out "What?? This person isn't who they seemed to be all along?", and for me, that was enough to actually stop, read something else completely different, and then come back to re-read Twisted from the beginning again. text/html 2021-10-13T00:17:23+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:unthinkable&rev=1634077043&do=diff ISBN: 9781542022606 Amazon ID: B08BZJ6VJ5 A decidedly gripping story, well-paced, and written with a good timeline (ie: one thing happens after another). Chapters alternate (approximately) between his actions and hers, and this works well. Chapter 25 in particular is very well done. In fact, the whole book gets even better from that point on - the story and the pacing take another step up, even from the level they were at before. text/html 2020-12-28T21:30:17+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:vox&rev=1609187417&do=diff ISBN: 9780008300678 Amazon ID: B079YGW2RQ A nice enough story, I'm sure, if you like reading about the Nazis and the Holocaust, or earlier years and the repression / subjugation of women in society, but otherwise this is not something to enjoy. Also, even if you regard this as a morality tale, or a reminder of what society used to be like and "let's not return there", the end of the story is just so trite and simplistic that it casts the rest of the depicted timeline into such a pathetic and … text/html 2022-01-06T21:58:12+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:waiting_in_the_sky&rev=1641502692&do=diff ISBN: 9798455146015 Amazon ID: B09CL1XGF9 This is a deeply disappointing book, especially if you have read any of the author's good books: * Meeting Mungo Thunk (excellent) * The '86 Fix (not bad, worth reading) Compared to those, Waiting in the Sky is a very disappointing novel, and also a complete let-down if you believed the summary on the Amazon sales page: text/html 2021-06-20T17:24:59+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:wayward&rev=1624202699&do=diff ISBN: 9781477808702 Amazon ID: B00C1IPQZ8 This is the second book in the Wayward Pines trilogy, following on from Pines. The book is in five parts (comprising 27 chapters in total), and at least up until chapter 15, quite a few things have happened, but the story just feels rather slow. Some of the characters are "developing" fairly interestingly, although given the situation that they're in, there aren't that many ways in which they can show this. text/html 2021-03-30T22:19:51+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:wayward_pines&rev=1617135591&do=diff I liked Recursion by this author, and I really liked Dark Matter, so I bought the Wayward Pines trilogy as well. This comprises: * Pines * Wayward * The Last Town The grammar leaves something to be desired (the author specifically seems to have an aversion to using verbs from time to time in book one, and then switches to leaving out nouns in books two and three, and just refers to things using adjectives), and some of the Americanisms are a bit jarring (such as, in chapter 7 of Pines, … text/html 2021-10-21T23:39:51+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:web_of_lies&rev=1634852391&do=diff ISBN: 9788577488307 Amazon ID: B08PYQWJV5 Beginning The book gets off to a bad start, with the main character being an irresponsible idiot who can't even tell when to stop being an idiot, after he's realised that that's what he's being. It is nowhere near as good as the author's Spore. text/html 2021-12-04T11:32:51+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:what_holly_s_husband_did&rev=1638613971&do=diff ISBN: 9781786813909 Amazon ID: B07B4DYKSX Funny? Amazon lists this book as "A laugh out loud romantic comedy with a twist!", mainly because that's what's written on the front of the book cover. * Romantic? * I suppose it counts, given that the story revolves around the (mostly sex) lives of three women and their husbands (and occasionally others, who aren't their husbands). text/html 2025-03-13T16:51:17+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:when_you_disappeared&rev=1741881077&do=diff ISBN: 9781611097511 Amazon ID: B01MR4XQL6 Do not read this book. Read The One by all means, but do not read this one. The story is mainly about one appalling person, but several others get involved as well. The story is disjointed, totally not helped by the writing style of "this happens now; that happened 24 years ago" in different chapters, and made all the worse by flashbacks to even earlier happenings in the "24 years ago" chapters. text/html 2023-04-17T00:24:05+02:00 http://retinal.dehy.de/docs/doku.php?id=miscellaneous:books:winter_world&rev=1681683845&do=diff ISBN: 9781789543223 Amazon ID: B07N32K12H Part one of the Long Winter trilogy. The narrative in this book starts out alternating chapters between two characters James and Emma, who are in very different places and doing very different things, but who fairly soon join together in a single storyline.