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François

FrankAuLux@outside.ofa.dog

Joined 1 year, 6 months ago

Retired linguist/law/IT. Avid reader in all languages (see polyglot.city/@FrankauLux/), both paper and ebooks. Mostly fictions these days.

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Success! François has read 103 of 52 books.

finished reading Chindi by Jack McDevitt

Chindi (2002, Ace Books) No rating

The universe has been explored--and humanity has all but given up on finding other intelligent …

Number 3 in the series, and I believe the last one. Not bad at all, but I can't help feeling it's a good thing it's finished. I have the impression that each book is just a tiny bit less good than the previous (I avoided worse on purpose, because it's not that bad). Still worth a read, loads of twists even if sometimes a bit predictable.

@futzle Quite nice, thanks. As said, the first one has a kind of RDV with Rama flavour which I liked a lot. (I won't insult you and we'll take RDV with Rama as read :-) An absolute masterpiece in my eyes, much better than the "other" book that made him famous thanks to kubrik). The second was ok, but then end kinda lost me with the rescue details. Third (and last I have) ok so far. You could certainly do worse than re-reading them :-) Sorry late reply, didn't see I had comment. There is no specific bookwyrm client that I know of (privacydragon doesn't work on my phone) unfortunately, so no notification :-(

finished reading Deepsix by Jack McDevitt

Deepsix (Hardcover, 2003, Tandem Library) No rating

In the year 2204, tragedy and terror forced a scientific team to prematurely evacuate Maleiva …

Second instalment of the Academy/Hutch story. More adventures, still very nice even if the end seemed a bit confused to me. Maybe a tad below the engines of gods, but still worth a read :-)

The engines of God (1994, Ace Books) 4 stars

A group of xeno-archaeologists, together with interstellar pilot Priscilla Hutchins, attempt to unravel the mysteries …

Excellent book - hard not to think about RDV with Rama, even if the plot is very different. Well written and really thrilling. The only thing I regretted was the end, which seemed a bit precipitated, it could easily have been delayed over another chapter or two :-) Definitely recommended.

Hello World (Paperback, 2018, Transworld Publishers Limited) 3 stars

Would you let an algorithm determine your fate? Hannah Fry lifts the lid on the …

Excellent book, and I'm tempted to say mandatory reading for anyone not familiar with the subject. I was, having been in IT for more years then I care to recall, but it was still an interresting book, if nothing else because it gave flesh and example to things I've always thought without being sure. 2 things to keep in mind: The book is written from a UK/US point of view, so many of the things said are not valid in the EU. The author recognizes that, but obviously didn't fully grasp the amount of differences. The book was written in 2018. That's almost 7 years ago, and in computerland, it's like a century. Many things have changed, and it is funny to see some of the declarations and predictions made then... But all in all very recommended.