Rancid

Origin by Dan Brown My rating: 4 of 5 stars Origin by Dan Brown. Most of Dan Brown's "Robert Langdon" novels are considered to be thrillers, this particular book falls into the Genre of Science Fiction. I found the book fascinating because it has to deal we would we all call the singularity. The plot can be found of course on the internet. Wikipedia or Goodreads. Why one may consider this book to be science fiction? Let's talk about the technical singularity. At this point, I will go into spoilers if you haven't read the book and if you're planning on reading it please stop here. The technical singularity deals with the ability of machine intelligence that can become self-aware. As of now, many companies are already using expert systems. In other words artificial intelligence. But are these artificial intelligence or AI self-aware? Michio Kaku a renowned physicist has mentioned once in his many talks that the most advanced AI system has less intelligence th...

Gateway by Frederik Pohl My rating: 2 of 5 stars Gateway by Frederik Pohl As usual, I won't get into the storyline and plot much and I'm really interested in the technology more than anything else. I can say that some of the storylines remind me of the novel Eon. As with many such a story, go technology used is technology borrowed from an alien race. Well maybe using the word alien is not politically correct anymore let's say an advanced species that seem like it disappeared. I always wonder about stories where we run into advanced Technologies and yet The Originators of the technology cannot be found or have disappeared. The Fermi Paradox really comes to mind. You have a civilization that is gone but the tech that remains is fully functional and it's not affected by entropy in the least. I guess that was the thought of the day when he wrote the book in 1977. Many other stories, one may see in sci-fi TV series touch this subject, for example, Stargate and it's se...

Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds My rating: 3 of 5 stars Redemption Ark This novel is in the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds. As usual, I won't go into the plot because it can be found on the internet. However, I would like to share some observations that I noticed in the book or in the novel. In one of my reviews, I mention Chasm City and I called it Total Recall on steroids. In this book, we see how the revelation space universe evolved. The concept is not new. Humanity develops the ability to merge with his technology to live longer. They have a hive mentality similar to the Borg but with a difference. The Borg in Star Trek is directed by a queen or primary individual and all Borg are subject to the queen forcefully. There is no independent thought among them except that of the queen. The Conjoiners is also a collective but the members have a certain degree of independence it is almost like having the internet wired to your brain. Knowledge is shared but your ...

Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds My rating: 2 of 5 stars Let us talk about Chasm City. For me, this was a hard read. As I mentioned before in a book club I am on Facebook the plot or the storyline reminds me of Total Recall. What Memories belong to who? It is an interesting story I have to agree. But I did find some contradictions that did not follow. I am not going to write a synopsis of the story anybody can find that on the internet. But I am interested in requiring help on trying to understand some of the inconsistencies or contradictions that I found. For example, in the story there is a flotilla of ships, that is traveling to a specific location. I think they're about 6 ships heading towards a place called " Journey's End". These ships are carrying individuals who are in stasis. These individuals are unique when they come out of stasis their life spans will be much longer than the average human being it is hinted that these lifespans are immortal. But there is...

I, Claudius by Robert Graves My rating: 4 of 5 stars Every so often I read a book not related to science fiction or science, among other literature that I like its history. The book that I have finished reading just called 'I Claudius'. As you know Claudius was an emperor. A Roman Emperor the book is in form of an autobiography. And of course, it was written as fiction by Robert Graves in 1934. After I read the book I made a mental note to myself, never to claim Roman Imperial royals. I can tell you that Robert Graves had a good imagination. I actually laughed and some parts, and many of you know me I am not prone to laughing at all me being of the intj collective. But I am only human just that these emperors were even though they thought they were gods. Please read the book in a very quiet place and let your imagination run wild how you believe the Roman empire used to be at the very top. View all my reviews

Tales of the New Gods by John Byrne My rating: 2 of 5 stars Jack Kirby's artwork and stories, has always been unique. He has many other story line for comic books under his belt. One may have enjoyed his Kamandi series, the Eternals, and of course the new gods. He works both at DC Comic and Marvel. Many of the comic books are based in science fiction. The new gods are no exception. This particular book annoys me in the sense that even though it is tales of the new gods, the book deals more with background stories of Apokolips than New Genesis. It would have been more interesting if there would be a balance between both of the fourth world. View all my reviews

Tarkin by James Luceno My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Star Wars book: Tarkin This is a similar book to the one I mentioned and blogged about called "Thrawn". I think we only see this Tarkin once in the movies which the first movie simply called Star Wars, He may have been in other books and comics, but I don't recall. One always ask the question of what shapes the personality of a person or a character. In the real world is it nature or nurture?. When one reads this book one may come to the conclusion that is a little bit of both. Like all my other reviews I am not going into the plot. These can easily be found on the internet or Wikipedia. If you haven't read the book you may want to stop here. That being said let me continue now. Is Tarkin a villain? If we saw the movie Star Wars we might come to the conclusion, yes, he was. Was he a villain because he served the empire? Or was he a villain simply because of the way he was raised? Was he a villain at all? That is th...

Doctor Who Psychology: A Madman with a Box by Travis Langley My rating: 4 of 5 stars Over the years there has been much supplementary literature or hard science literature on science fiction books and shows, for example, there are books on the science of Star Trek, on the science of Dune, on the science of Battlestar Galactica. I think I read one on the science of Krypton or Superman but that was a long time ago. I really enjoyed these type of books. During the last wizard World Comic in Philadelphia, I ran into a new type of book. Is a series of books that's called the psychology of..., for example, the psychology of Star Wars or the psychology of Doctor Who. In fact, I have one of these books and the whole title book is, "Unauthorized Doctor Who psychology A madman with a box" edited by Travis Langley. Before I bought the book my wife and I had an interesting conversation with him, and he then signed the book for us. These books are a collection of papers written by ...

I am going to review both Ringworld Throne and Ringworld Children. I must admit right from the start, these follow-up books have left me disappointed. That's why I thought I should lump them together in one review. In another post, I mentioned the importance of reading Larry Niven's book "Protector". Understanding that concept of what a Protector is will eventually help one understand the follow-up book Ringworld and the short stories. Let's begin with what I understood. The follow-up books to Ringworld it's more about what is occurring on the Ringworld in a cultural sense. Apparently, all the species of hominid that live on The Ringworld are related. In fact, they're all descendants of the Pak breeders that evolved for millions of years on the ring world. What I couldn't get from these books is what forced the evolutionary change. If I understand correctly the Ringworld was developed specifically for the Pak breeders. all in all the plot of th...

Protector by Larry Niven My rating: 3 of 5 stars The Novel Protector of The Ringworld Series. "Protector" it's an interesting story or a side Story for The Ringworld Series. If anyone is interested in reading the whole series I would recommend reading Protector between Ringworld and Ringworld engineers. I would say that Protector can also stand out on his own. One thing about reading science fiction books it's all stories can repeat an idea; their plots are similar. This particular book is about humans coming from another star system and of course end up on Earth. To be honest it is not humans as we know it but if you believe in the theory of evolution this colony arrived as Homo habilis, just to evolve into the present-day humans. While the concept immigration from another star system is not new, at least for me the concept of arriving as one species of humans to evolve into another is unique. Another unique feature of the book is that Homo habilis is a larval sta...

Eon by Greg Bear My rating: 3 of 5 stars On the novel of EON by Greg Bear. This is the third time I have read this book. I have also read the sequel "Eternity" twice. There is a saying:" the third time is the charm". With the advance understanding of today's technology in relation to the Multiverse or alternate universes and timelines, reading this book was easier. I can now repeat the phrase without fear: "I Get it". I think this will would have a more impact today then the date that it was written. Maybe even a mini series? The first time I read this book I had difficulty understanding the concept of the Multiverse or alternate timelines I just couldn't get it. In my mind I thought that the technology was so advanced that's thistledown travel through time in our universe. That's "the way" what sort of like the TARDIS. However, I went on and continue to read " eternity", which is the second book in this series. Then ...

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie My rating: 3 of 5 stars I read another book from Agatha Cristie it was called the Blue Train. It is a classic detective novel starring Hercule Poirot. I think I mentioned before someplace that I read all of her books before when I was a teenager. I started reading them again and I can find some items to compare to even in today's modern age. For those who use the internet to contact and talk to individuals who may be total strangers, we are constantly warned about giving out private information because it could get us into trouble. But after I read the Blue Train I realized that the internet does not provoke that type of behavior. This behavior seems to be innate. Sufficient to say that in the novel, two wealthy women get to meet in the dining car of the train. One woman is wealthy because she is the daughter of a wealthy man. The other Woman inherited her wealth, she was a paid companion to an extremely rich woman who was a penny...

Thrawn by Timothy Zahn My rating: 3 of 5 stars Thrawn it's an interesting "origin" book. I like his character when he first showed up years ago. Of course in the Star Wars series, one is either a good guy or a bad guy when it comes to politics and everything else is in between. His first appearance in " Heir to the Empire" he held the rank of Grand Admiral and was one of the few non-humans that the emperor trusted. In his first appearance, the character gave the impression of being a villain, but everybody who serves in the Imperial forces can be called a villain if they're hunting down or fighting Rebels. In retrospect is the Empire that bad? In the real world an Empire it's just a political machine and as with all machines they serve a purpose; it all depends on who is using the machine at the time. In Star Wars The Empire is bad because it is run by a Sith. Which of course is part of the plot. Enter the origin story of Thrawn. A Chiss from the oute...

Anathem by Neal Stephenson My rating: 4 of 5 stars I had to read this novel twice. It attracted my attention because the author while writing about a fictional world in a universe that doesn't contain us, created a whole way of thinking that is out of this world, eh...Universe. It is impressive because of the culture of the characters in his book has a language that is unique to their culture. One gets to see at least two languages. One language is called Orth and the other is Flucish. And yet for us to really understand what's going on of course the novel is written in English. So what makes the language unique? in fact one may ask, what makes the book unique? One needs to understand the scientific background where the story takes place. First of all, one must think in the Multiverse. And if one is versed in physics or astrophysics, there are different thoughts about what is a Multiverse and what does the Multiverse contain. I am not going to dive into this subject per se. ...

The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin My rating: 4 of 5 stars Once again I must say that my mind was blown reading the second book that belongs to "Remembrance of Earth's Past Series". The First book, "The Three-Body Problem", start off the story with an unusual concept. The Human race will be at war with an alien civilization known as the trisolarians. Why is it in a usual concept? This is a war of wits in the beginning. There are a lot of reviews about the first book out there on the internet. And of course, you can find a plot and a summary on Wikipedia. The second book brings in a new concept, how does one defeat an opponent where the opponent can see everything one does but one cannot see everything the opponent does? And the opponent lets one know that he or she has that ability? And that ability will be more refined as time progresses. It is almost like the Anti-Moore's Law. When one reads the second book, one will find out how it is done And the hero is no...

Hello to everyone who is addicted to science fiction. :-) I am now reading the Dark Forest which is book 2 of the Three Body Problem. In between readings, I think about books like Rama series and later on constant on Ilium. I am also reflecting on the different writing styles when it comes to hardcore science fiction, fantasy science fiction, and books that are between both of them. What comes to mind is the Rama series. The first book which is written completely by Arthur C Clarke, the story is science-based. In other words, he uses known science theories to write the story. Many may actually find the book boring if one is not familiar with known science theories. "How does Rama spin?", " how do the biot function?", " there cannot be any Raman's because of...", "this is how the dragonfly works". I hope you get the idea. Basically, you read a lot about physics, chemistry, and biology In the other Raman books, there is a collaboration betw...

The Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven My rating: 2 of 5 stars Ringworld engineers by Larry Niven This particular novel had me thinking. At first, I thought that this particular book would not be related to the first one as a sequel but instead will go back into the past to actually see The Ringworld engineers in action. I was kind of disappointed. While the novel does describe more details of the Dyson ringworld functions, it really didn't fit my expectations. Now that doesn't mean that I did not enjoy the book, but it was a bit bizarre. Apparently, The Ringworld is much bigger then I thought it would be. Another surprising aspect is that let me know when you're ready I have one p do we have I don't want to still Advanced civilizations on the Ringworld. I just wonder why the advanced civilizations on Ringworld were stagnant. The floating cities seem to be a mix from "Judge Dredd" and "Escape From New York" ( the original). I guess the buildings o...

The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Three-Body Problem (novel) Definitely, this book is for readers who understand science specifically particle physics. There is no Technobabble like Star Trek or other well-known shows where science while mentioned is not that important to the plot. In my opinion, you really need to know science as it is taught today. I am not going to bore anybody with the plot because it can be looked up on Wikipedia and web pages. I can tell you in addition to the plot that the novel handles a First Contact situation between two civilizations in a brand new an interesting way. This is why it is good to sometime read novels or books from other cultures. It opens up one mind to various viewpoints even though the science may be the same. The physical constants of the universe just don't change however it becomes better understood. It is also refreshing to read a novel from a modern-day writer that excludes the typical violence and sa...

Chronicles of Atlantis: The Age of Immortals by Chris Paras My rating: 3 of 5 stars Another book that just mixes all the ancient legends from Greece, Egypt, Libya, Israel, India, etc. I can say the author has potential. He needs to develop his plot as well as logic. View all my reviews

Iron Dragoons by Richard Fox My rating: 3 of 5 stars I will consider the book okay. It falls into the Mecha category. Where one is implanted into a mechanical robot or tank. Something similar that you would see in Japan animation. It does have hardcore science. No fantasy involved. The way science fiction is supposed to be. There are new aspects of this type of Mecha story. For example, the candidates for the armor unit are trained to live in amniotic fluid. While they are inside their machines the pilot compartment is called the womb. This makes absolute sense. Since the soldier may be in different combat situations their survival rate is better living in the fluid than breathing gas. The amniotic fluid is the protective liquid contained by the amniotic sac of a gravid Amniote. This fluid serves as a cushion for the Pilot but also serves to facilitate the exchange of nutrients, water, and biochemical products. The pilot, of course, is attached to his armor via a plug at the base...

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson My rating: 3 of 5 stars It was a very interesting book, obscenities aside, adjusted to the cyberpunk noir era. Little by little I am going to become a Neal Stephenson fan. I am already reading his book Anathem for the second time. I am fascinated by the manner that he writes. No doubt he has a very vivid imagination. In his book Snow Crash, I think the bottom line is language. Language can actually control humans if you consider humans a biologicals machines that run on a wetware biological code. View all my reviews

Rama Revealed/ and the rest of the series. The Rama series seems very close to the Space Odyssey series from Arthur C. Clark. Both series, in my opinion, had to do with aliens who are superior to human beings. Rama alluded to God or a god. But the question would be why use mechanical constructs (biots) to do so? were the biots some sort of cyborgs? I can't recall their physiological construction. Maybe I missed something. A few interesting items I observed beyond the obvious. The characters Katie and Galileo seem to have bad blood from birth. The Mother of these children dealt with these difficulties differently. One Mother was permissive the other was not. In all, It does throw humans in a bad light. By the way, what did Nicole understand when she drops dead?

Hello everyone, sorry I haven't posted for a few months in the Epilepsy Support Forum on G+. I have been busy wasting my time in college. As you know the government sent me back to school to be retrained. That failed and I was removed from the program because with epilepsy it was recently discovered that I also have a math learning disability. I wasted 2 years of my life and pursuing something that physically I am unable to accomplish. On top of that, the neurologist has placed me on Lexapro. The reason for this is various. I had a neuropsych testing. And it did reveal that because of the medication and the onset of the seizure activity which is under control my IQ has dropped down in a sense. It is now 88, which is low average. On top of having a problem with the temporal lobe and parietal lobe, there may be a problem with the subcortical circuity, and an undiagnosed learning disability in regards to math. This just does not get any better. This may hamper my ability to find...

So I went to my neurologist, and she said I was doing better. When she says that, I already knew she's going to give me more medication and she did. Now I have to take Lexapro on a trial basis. She mentioned it is the minimum amount. Something about increasing serotonin in the brain. Well, she has no problem for me searching for work. If I decide to go back to school. At that point, I will deal with the math disability. No need to worry now because in the real world everybody uses calculators and computers for mathematical work in systems. As for disability, I can work, my seizures are under control. The myoclonic jerks and IBS-d, I have to live with. What happens now? 2018 moving forward. That is simple, now I wait to die. No more plans, no more nothing. I will probably keep on reading books because that is really the only thing I am good at. Nothing else. Whatever I have not accomplished up to this point serves as a good indicator that most likely I won't accomplish anythi...