Books

Delta-v

Near future tale of commercial deep space asteroid mining.

It takes its time getting up to speed, but once it hits its stride, it’s a lot of fun. 

This book hit my radar in the course of a conversation with July about the practical realities of space commerce. Like that exposition, this book is gratifyingly grounded in both physics and economics. Reading this book or talking with July, you get the feeling that this kind of thing is achievable and all that’s missing is imagination, will, and a few billion dollars in funding. 

My main gripe with the book is that entirely too much time was allocated to Rochat the space lawyer. His chapters felt bland compared to those of Tighe the protagonist. Suarez could use a better, more persuasive editor. 

But it’s worth it to go with Tighe and his smart, tough, high agency friends on an adventure into deep space. 

Recommended for fans of sci-fi, especially grounded, near future sci-fi. But also for anyone who enjoys Chricton style adventures.

Cryptonomicon

Slow-burn technology thriller set in late 90s (present day) and WWII that takes its time explaining the tech (and science) at each step and turn. More cypherpunk than memecoin, it feels simultaneously dated and timeless.

I picked it up as both my first Stephenson novel and a right-of-passage having joined Farcaster and crypto last year. Finishing it has predictably moved my 2x2 placement more towards decentralist, but perhaps not as much as I had expected.

Having stopped at entry-level college Calculus, I couldn't intuitively grok the significance of the cryptographic methods that were so significant in the book, but feel the desire to learn more about them afterwards

I internally rate books like this for their entertainment value and their impact on my world view, and though it's and at times slow (and perhaps under-edited), but I'm glad I finished it.

I'm certainly more crypto-aligned than I was when starting.

Recommended if you naturally align with the themes. 
Probably hard to get through if not.

Building /streme. Wanna be the very best. ゼニゼニ

this was a strange one, even by Stephenson standards. Fun though.

Digital Media Producer. I like particles and waves too. I like art.

Same. Excellent book. Time to revisit it for me. I think

oh good, that's the other one available in my library