Wed, 28 Mar 2007
Marooned In Realtime - Short Review
Marooned In
Realtime was the first Vinge book I read and it has prompted me to
start looking for all his others.
A small number of time travellers (that can only go forward) awaken to find out humanity is gone. Amid a plan to gather all the other travellers together and kick start the human race one of the more powerful techs dies in odd circumstances, a 9000 year old traveller returns, aliens might be waiting to finish us off and an ex-detective is ordered to lead a manhunt to find out just what happened to the projects architect and biggest supporter (who may have been murdered by old age). Oh and people of different backgrounds don't get on. So some of it is familiar :)
It's also worth noting that this is actually a sequel to The Peace War (which I've yet to read) but it stands alone as a riveting read. The combination of sci-fi and detective story is a favourite of mine and this one is a top notch example of how to do it right.
Summary: humanity is almost finished, a few of the survivors have all too powerful technology, a possible murder might have been committed and one of the lo-techs is roped in to find it. If I had a checklist this book would tick most of them. 7/10.
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Posted: 2007/03/28 23:32 | /books | Permanent link to this entry | This entry + same date
True Names - Short Review
This is more like it, True
Names by Vernor Vinge is a great mix of sci-fi and fantasy.
Technical wizards join forces in cyberspace to oppose the "Great Adversary". When one of them is compromised and turned in the real world a hunt for the most dangerous of the online personas is launched, leading to a great chase and some nicely described online battled. I'm not doing it justice, just click the above link dammit.
Summary: an enjoyable, expertly paced story that was one of the first to introduce some of the most common themes in modern sci-fi. It has aged surprisingly well and is more than worth a read. 7/10.
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Posted: 2007/03/28 23:08 | /books | Permanent link to this entry | This entry + same date
Blood Music - Short Review
I've been on a sci-fi novel kick again recently and despite its short page
count Blood Music by
Greg Bear was the one I found slowest to finish from my first batch.
A rogue biotechnologist starts his own experiments in to biological computers based on his own lymphocytes while on the company clock. He gets caught, ignores all precautions and injects himself with them. They then become intelligent and start spreading. If you're interested in the genre it's nothing you haven't seen before. Just (probably) slower moving and with less interesting characters. Blood music just never grabbed me.
Summary: an OK story of an Earth changing grey goo incident. Not very exciting, dull characters and the pacing felt very slow. 3/10
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Posted: 2007/03/28 22:53 | /books | Permanent link to this entry | This entry + same date
Bonded | Teamed Network Interface Challenge
Here is another one for the sysadmins in the audience:
How ...
... many of your servers have multiple network ports in the back?
... many of them have bonding (teaming for the Windows people) enabled?
... do you know when one interface goes down if the machine stays connected?
... long does it take for you to be notified?
... do you know if they start flapping?
... many have their bonded interfaces plugged in to different switches?
... how do you know if some one mistakenly plugs both in to one switch?
I've got a fun week ahead.
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Posted: 2007/03/28 00:06 | /sysadmin | Permanent link to this entry | This entry + same date
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