When we cease to understand the world

Benjamin Labatut

A historical fiction offering that provides a storytelling version of some historically significant discoveries and findings. Labatut gives us insight to the people, including all of their angst, like Schroedinger, Heisenberg, Haber and Grothendieck. I hadn't heard of the latter two, but their work is both beautiful (development of the color Prussian Blue) and tragic (gas chamber gas). It is not a "fun" read, but definitely recommend as insight to the process of development and unintended impact that every scientist/engineer should at least have on their mind.

4 stars (out of 4)

The Lost Fleet: Relentless

Jack Campbell

Geary and the fleet are only a few jumps from home but the alien intervention gets more complicated. As do the internal mutinous politics in the fleet and the supply issues. It is not clear how this will all play out... well, it kind of is since there is another book after this. But I sure do enjoy the journey.

4 stars (out of 4)

Empire of Gold

S.A. Chakraborty

Book 3 of The Daevabad Trilogy

Finally this becomes a fantasy epic. For the first time, we are following 3 different storylines that are enticing. The pacing is perfect. When we are switched to a new storyline, we are ready and each switch pushes all three stories forward. We get enough origin history to finally understand character motivation and everything resolves. The basic plot summary follows Ali and Nahri as they find a way to return to Daevabad and rescue the city. There is a cost for every character as they choose redemption, either for themselves or for their people or their city. But there is also payoff in these choices. This final volume is so good that I fully recommend the entire series. 

4 stars (out of 4) 

Infomacracy

Malka Older

Book One of the Centenal Cycle

Set in a near future world where global politics has dramatically changed. Political organization is based on 100,000 person Centenals who vote each decade for a government. No longer are governments based on geography, so a city like Tokyo with millions of people will be represented by 20 different sovereign governments. There are over 3,000 registered governments globally, and the government that wins the most Centenals is considered the "super-majority" government that comes with some additional legislating power. To make all of this work, Information is a global organization that makes all data available to all people. It is a non-partisan, transparent NGO (probably akin to the GAO in the US). The plot of the book takes place during the 3rd election, and follows our protagonists Ken (a campaign worker for Policy1st) and Marissa (an 'operative' for Information). Suffice it to say the election does not go as smoothly as everyone hopes, and there are still rogue individuals and governments who have a hunger for power. This is the kind of book that an only be recommended based on the strength of the series, but a good start.

3 stars (out of 4)

The Lost Fleet: Valiant

Jack Campbell

Geary dives back to the scene of a loss and mops up. The fleet is limping along, needing supply and for the first time, detractors are starting to actively resist his leadership. And the alien theory is gaining steam.  The battle science in this installment is particularly good, albeit a bit drawn out. And the discussion of how effective the AI is based on Geary not matching the patterns of the last 100 years is fascinating. Can't wait to get full alien involvement... 

4 stars (out of 4)

The Lost Fleet: Courageous

 Jack Campbell

In this installment, Geary leads the fleet back toward Alliance space, trying to get to a system with a hypernet gate they might be able to use. They are still one step ahead of the Syndicate and sowing seeds of discontent with the civilians (simply by not wholesale murdering them). They run into a massive roadblock while trying to take a hypernet gate, and are starting to suspect alien influence. After a big loss, do they retreat, or continue to attack? 

4 stars (out of 4)

The Lost Fleet: Fearless

Jack Campbell

John Geary continues to lead his fleet trying to get back to Alliance territory. He is teaching the military how to be disciplined again, teaching new tactics and dealing with internal strife as rival captains question his every move. In the end, his legend keeps growing as he keeps winning battles (here he helps destroy a Syndicate shipbuilding system) in this military science fiction. I particularly like the battle story telling as we are treating battles of massive distances accurately. The biggest skill that Geary has is that he can direct a battle with "time-late" information. That is, what he is seeing is "old information" since distances are so big. His fleet is spread across portions of a light hour, so he can't give real-time instructions. That strategic barrier alone, treated well, makes this series worth reading. 

4 stars (out of 4)