Mark's books

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page updated: 2008.07.12

books I'm reading or have read recently

reading

god is not great another look at the inconsistencies and other problems of religions.
not even wrong a look at the failure of string theory to provide a theory of everything.
graffiti woman graffiti and street art by women all over the world.
the road to reality by roger penrose. An ambitious summary of all of physics. Waited a long time for the paperback version.
The size of a house brick (even in paperback), 1000+ pages, and the 1st 16 chapters (of 34) are pure maths that you need to follow the rest - hmmm.
io. An autoscatto (autobiography?) by gianna nannini

read

almost like a whale a retelling of darwin's theory of evolution with what we know now. Lots of good stuff in here, despite the annoying style of the "stamp collector" variety of scientist. Sometimes more about geology than evolution. Worth a read.
the fabric of the cosmos. A reasonably up to date (2004) look at what we know about the universe. Not bad, but it is frustrating that string theory has not progressed more in the last few years. We are still waiting for something that integrates spacetime, gravity and all of the sub atomic particles, force carriers etc.
the god delusion At last in paperback, and only £4.97 from tesco. Dawkins can be rather annoying, and this book is no exception, being rather rambling, with no proper beginning or end. Early on he tries to name drop, including einstein, who as far as I can tell, was a deist by his own definition. His attempt to disprove existence by showing that it is very unlikely misses the point. He himself seems to have a great faith in parts of science that he knows less about, trusting that it has all been rigorously proven. In fact there are lots of things which are still mysterious eg. quantum theory, gravity, dark matter etc. Even so there is lots of interesting stuff in there, and it seems well referenced.
consider phlebas I've not read any scifi for a long time. Recommended as the 1st of the culture books. A bit of our hero does space opera, but the plot whizzes about all over the place impressively, the ringworld scenery is nice, and the 1st person AI view of things is interesting. Ultimately all a bit pointless, but I guess that's the point.
the saga of hawkwind. Some history of the characters behind the music. Misses some of the references in the music. Very little on captain lockheed. Otherwise very detailed and told with a nice style. Lots of peripheral characters get their life story told at the time they most impact the band, while others go right through. Lots of detail, but it gets a bit much later on. A lot of the 2nd half is just aruguing over money.
wall and piece graffiti - see banksy.co.uk.
herodotus - histories. The 1st real history book in the world, from about 450 BC, starting with the origins of the wars between the Greeks and the Persians. I get lost in all the names and geographical detail, but it is entertaining. In particular the heroic stand of the spartans at thermopylae and the story of sea power being a key factor.
Read it for free online (a different translation) here.
the end of time. Time doesn't exist, or at least it doesn't flow. It's all out there at once, or something like that. Actually, all rather specualtive, with no testable predictions. Not convinced. Infuriating, especially the last chapter, which just waffles on about art.
the da vinci code. Great fun, and a nice ending, despite the endless conspiracy theories and weakly coded puzzles. Difficut to separate the fact from fiction. It is really a rather contrived action thriller plot allowing a quick tour around the various theories on its subject.
If you only read 1 book about science - make it this 1 galileo's finger. Not actually about galileo - I think that's just the marketing people. Anyway, 10 big ideas of science.
This is such a good book, explained in an entertaining, clear concise way, leading to new insights into stuff that you thought you already knew about.
If you only read 1 popular science book, go for this 1.
about time. What it says on the tin. A good round up of all the mysterious aspects of time. A bit suspect when it gets to human perception and observation, rather like roger penrose, whom it mentions quite a lot.
durham red - the vermin stars. Continues from The Scarlet Cantos. Similar excellent computer assisted artwork. Some big ideas, mixed with the usual fighting.
wolverine snikt. Logan gets dragged into the future to save the planet. Very japanese feel to it. Nice artwork. Not much of a plot.
it must be beautiful. A look at some of the most elegant equations of science. A bit of a mixture, with several authors. Good bits on quantum particles and general relativity.
joe bar team 5. Latest of the comic strip about bikers centred on joe bar.
witchblade - prevailing Ian has the witchblade, and Sara decides to take it back, but doesn't quite work out that way. Interesting switch to different artwork style in the middle section.
witchblade - distinctions The story of the other bearers of the witchblade. Including the arrival of the witchblade. Some rather trivial, others rather good, with usual high standard of artwork.
x-men the ultimate guide. A useful tour of the x-men universe. Gives some background to the 2 films. It is very confusing, with alternative futures, pasts etc.
scientific blunders. How even distinguished/famous scientists can hold fast to outrageous ideas in the face of the evidence. In places it is badly/hastily written with some factual errors eg. at 1 point it says absolute zero is -275.15 degrees C. Still I learned some new stuff.
the book of nothing. Nothing is important. The various aspects of nothing. Err... the language can't really cope. Very good. It deals with various mathematical aspects of zero, nothing, ending up with the quantum vacuum and the origin and fate of the universe.
a history of britain. The companion to Simon Schama's BBC TV series. probably a bit too short for such a big subject, but it is nice to get an overview. More detail than the TV (mostly rather gory). All the history I did at school seemed to be done out of sequence.
cor baby, that's really me ! John Otway's autobiography. Rock and Roll's greatest failure. Quite funny in places, but I find it hard to feel sorry for him. Nice to get some of the history behind the songs.
witchblade deluxe collected. The same stuff as in the Tomb Raider crossover.
witchblade/darkness. A crossover between Witchblade and Darkness. Plot's not up to much, but the artwork is cool as ever.
galileo's daughter. The follow up to Longitude. Finished at last. It's been a long job, sitting on my desk at work. the idea of using Suor Maria Celeste's letters to Galileo (without the opposite correspondence) seems a strange way of telling his story. The letters mostly go on about health and various small birds and material supplies. The best bits are the story of his work and persecution by the church. The last page contains a revelation that gives some meaning to the approach, though.
witchblade cauldron Latest instalment of the Witchblade story, with a Tomb raider linkup tacked on.
moab is my washpot. Stephen Fry's autobiography. Finished this on the boat, on the way to Portugal. Rather difficult to know what to make of it, as bits are fictionalised to protect identities, and he admits to being a liar and a thief. Only actually goes as far as being accepted at university. Still waiting for the next 20 years.
brave new world. I had to read 1984 at school, but Aldous Huxley's warning of the future didn't make the syllabus. Like many books and films set in the future, it really says far more about the time that it was written. It was a bit slow until the savage came on the scene. I couldn't quite work out whether Huxley was for or against all the social engineering. I thought the whole thing was run without money for most of the book, but it suddenly got mentioned near the end. From today's point of view, the technology is laughable.
eric. The Pratchett version of Faust. A pretty thin and poor effort, as they go. At 1 point he criticises books that have the author's name in raised gold letters on the cover, bigger than the title. Yes - you've guessed it.
taking wing. The story of the discovery and interpretation of the Archaeopteryx fossils. The style is a bit tedious, as the author adopts a scientific approach and insists on using the "proper" scientific terms for things. Most of the book is history (pun intended), and the most interesting bits are in the last few chapters which discuss pterosaurs and bats, and the latest discoveries of "feathered" dinosaurs (without wings) in China. Still, worth the effort. Some decent photos of the fossils would help.
moving pictures.The 9th Discworld novel from Terry Pratchett. Not bad. I'm getting a bit fed up with Terry Pratchett. Having said that, I have bought Eric.
pyramids. The 7th Discworld novel from Terry Pratchett. I read Guards! Guards! and Hogfather out of sequence, but I've now gone back and started from the beginning.
sophie's world Basically a whistle stop tour of all philosophy ever, wrapped up in thin but mysterious story about Sophie. The lack of depth to the philosophy is annoying. The understanding of physics around the big bang and celestial mechanics is weak. The unlikely events of the story are explained (sort of). 1 of the characters reads the book that they are in - very recursive !. Gets a bit silly towards the end, then just stops - a bit like real life I suppose.
durham red - the scarlet cantosThe Strontium Bitch herself. A collection of the 2000AD story. sci fi Vampire babe in red and black.
witchblade ceremony Next instalment of the Witchblade story, with a Tomb raider linkup tacked on. No sign of what comes next...
under the tuscan sun. A pair of rich American academics buy a bit of Italia and do it up. A summer house for 3 months off a year. It's a hard life. The endless food details are tedious. The local detail about somewhere that I've been is interesting.
witchblade covenant Despite the Tomb Raider linkup, which I think is basically a marketing exercise, this mainly covers the start of the Witchblade story ie. how Sara Pezzini acquired the Witchblade. Gorgeous artwork. There seems to be quite a lot going on in the story. To be continued in October.
impossibility. Another popular science book that I bought to take on holiday (Crete). Finally finished reading it. It's a bit out of date as it doesn't mention the recent surprise discovery that the rate of expansion of the universe is accelerating. However it has some good stuff in it that I didn't know before eg. even a totally deterministic system like a computer can not predict its future.