reading books
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Thin characters and plotting. Repetitive info-dumps to keep you up to speed when the story failed to provide enough juice. However, the point is in the what-if conceit and that is fun. Could have used a little more work but it wasn't bad.
Comment by Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Guardian's website: The Left Hand of Darkness …
Mildly dated but clearly written and well thought out
"The galaxy has seen great empires rise and fall. Planets have shattered and been remade. …
At its best, kind of a bizarre inside-out Treasure Island. The only thing is, it feels like someone who doesn't write YA decided to write something from a couple of memos about what teenagers would like to read. The result is off putting. Not his best, but I did finish it.
When a time-travel lab suddenly cancels assignments for no apparent reason and switches around everyone's …
I was totally stressed out by this book, so I can't say I enjoyed reading it, but it has stuck with me for years. Very impressive work.
A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life and threaten to rip …
"Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri turns her satirical eye on her own life in this …
Comedy books are never all that good because the timing is just not reliable and the patterns are so predictable... still, this one was better than usual and I finished it. There are some genuinely funny and touching essays in here.
"The Laundry Files' 'fast-paced blend of espionage thrills, mundane office comedy and Lovecraftian horror' (SFX) continues as Hugo Award-winning author …
