Tom Fotherby’s Blog

Fiction, 7/10 - July 2008

Global-warming is a conspiracy! If you don’t believe me, read this book - it even has the references to relevant scientific research papers in the biography. It is full of interesting environmental information all bound within a semi-interesting action story - a bit the same way as Dan Brown’s Da Vinci code contains lots of religions ideas inside an action plot.

I ran out of reading material in Stockholm and was complaining when a guy offered me this book - I jumped at the chance because I was about to spend an entire day on the train to Copenhagen. Some people are so kind. The start is a bit boring but it builds and builds into something I found really interesting.

Romantic Si-Fi, 5/10 - July 2008

Quite a ridiculous book, my first (and hopefully last) romantic si-fi. Even if the story wasn’t great I still find futuristic things interesting because they make me dream. For example, her ship, SIMON (Sentient Integrated MObile Nanoessence) is like a futuristic brain embedded Google. This kind of book is brain candy for me, nice but no good for me. The book isn’t just sci-fi, it also has a touch of Fantasy e.g. mageline sorceress. I’m not sure I like the si-fi/fantasy mix. I like the science in sc-fi to make as much sense as possible.

Is being a goddess by accident funny/interesting? Maybe a little funny for example her drunken bar-crawl ramblings have become like religions commandments but the fallout from the ‘revelation’ of the ‘goddess’s’ true nature is never explored properly so it makes the whole thing a bit pointless? A further weakness is the ending, there’s almost no show down at all.

Fiction, 4/10 - June 2008

Perhaps this book was a bit too clever for me? I found following the several different characters hard and always assumed the relationship between them would either be explained or inter whine at the end. I was also aware of some more complex literature techniques being used that I’m sure my old English teachers would love - I got a bit of the symbolism and metaphor but probably missed the “greatness” of it. Anyway, I found it hard work to read. I enjoyed learning a bit about old Chinese customs and also a bit about how older people might view younger people.

Fiction, 8/10 - June 2008

Firstly, I realised with a shock that this book wasn’t going to have a hint of mathematics in it but I got over the disappointment because I liked learning about Zoo keeping and I found a boy wanting to be in 3 religions funny.

The extreme situation that the boy found himself in was an interesting read and a powerful story but because it wasn’t a true story I felt the factual nature of the book could be deceiving - a tiger would not necessarily behave as described in the book! It’s like a adult fairy tale. The make-believe island comforted me because it reminded me this was a work of fiction - I wonder if this is what the author intended?

I liked the ending an awful lot - Which version was the truth? It puts another spin on the potential fictional aspects of the tiger.

Sci-Fi, 7/10 - Apr/May 2008

I didn’t know anything about US politics until I read this book. I’m not much interested in politics let alone US politics but the book did an excellent job of hiding any potential boringness in character descriptions, a fast plot and a single super interesting sci-fi concept which any cyberpunk fan would enjoy thinking about (e.g. Imagine Google in your head).

It was quite topical because there is a US political fight going on for real at the moment, Hillary Clinton vs Barack Obama for the democratic candidate and I think it helped me enjoy the book. The book focuses on media manipulation tricks that politicians try - puppet mastery I guess. The book wasn’t particularly about computers and didn’t have a broad sci-fi scope, it was more focused on a single sci-fi idea which was explored in depth. I enjoyed it quite a bit (I enjoy anything with powerful characters that demonstrate a strong will).

Northern Lights

Children’s Fiction, 8/10 - Dec/Jan 07/08

I love reading children’s books, you know you’re in for an adventure. I watched the movie at the cinema the same day that I finished the book - I can understand why they sweetened the ending because it’s horrible in the book. I find doing the comparisons interesting, for example for me, Iorek Byrnison was a much stronger character in the book but Lee Scoresby was a stronger character in the film.

My Thoughts:

• I found the companionship of the daemons a lovely idea.
• It was brilliantly eerie in the Arctic experimentation centre.
• Excitingly dark ending

The Subtle Knife

Children’s Fiction, 7/10 - Jan 2008

The magical world that was created now gets rationalised a little with science (dark matter) and, as expected from the beginning, our own world is linked with the world from the first book with a new character, Will Parry.

My Thoughts:

• I thought the soul-eating Spectres were a bit weak (certainly not as chilling as the Dementors from Harry Potter).
• It turns out the golden compass is programmable on a computer and it’s possible to write a speech-to-dust-to-text plugin in one evening. P! Technology these days is so advanced.
• There’s a funny section of sexual innuendo between Mrs Coulter and Sir Charles.
• There’s a gruesome fight with the kids on the stone tower. Kid’s fighting other kids to the death is disturbing.
• The ending is completely disappointing. It’s a cliff-hanger like an episode of Eastenders - not a fully rounded story!

The Amber Spyglass

Children’s Fiction, 6/10 - Jan 2008

For me, the Trilogy has weakened and is not so hard to put down anymore. The land of the dead and the Harpies didn’t work too well in my opinion but I guess “Live life to the full” is a nice message to give kids.

My Thoughts:

• I liked the concept of the Mulefa even though it’s really hard to imagine an animal on wheels. They are good green role-models for the kids.
• I liked the gruesome part where Iorek Byrnison feasted on his friend, Lee Scoresby’s dead body.
• Childhood love is hard to pull off. “Their just teenagers, what do they know about love?”
• The ending is sad. It’s also an anti-climax because Lyra should be treated as a queen now? and won’t Will just go to prison?

All in all, a wonderful trilogy, something I’ll be reading my kids along with Narnia and Harry Potter.

Fiction, 7/10 - July/Aug/Sep 2007

This novel is about the relationship of two children growing up in Afghanistan just before the Russian invasion and the rise of the Taliban. The distressing event that occurs on the day of a bitter sweet victory in a local Kite fighting tournament haunts both of them and marks the end of the happy period in the book (the majority being very dark). Mimicking his conscience, war and the associated horror invade the life of Amir, the main character.

From child to adult, Amir bears an emotional scar which he eventually “pays for” even though he and his father manage to escape to America.

A very moving, sad book, rich in emotion. The author is from Afghanistan and I hope for his sake, none of the writing is autobiographical, for it is disturbing. He has a huge talent for irony, something that he explicitly points out as being an important skill of writing.

Kite fighting sounds like a fun sport. I’d love to go and see a real tournament.

Programming, 9/10 - Aug 2007

This book should really be kept a secret because if everyone read it before a programming interview, all the good jobs would be taken. It’s an excellent refresher to put you back to fresh-out-of-uni programming knowledge level. It covers Programming Problems, Logic Puzzles and Knowledge based problems with a very good explanation after each question.

For me, it would be good if the code examples were in C++ (over C).

Programming, 8/10 - Aug 2007

The chapters on algorithms and efficiency (performance, code tuning and space tuning) make this book brilliant. The explanation and benchmarking of the different sorting and searching technique’s (especially quicksort) are almost fundamental reading for anyone that has a programming interview with a top company.

Beware, in amongst the pearls there are some poos (some parts are a little dull) - In fact, on one page, it actually says: “Warning Boring Material ahead”.

Fantasy, 8/10 - July 2007

I was dreading the possibility of a dark close to this series but I was delighted with the happy fairy tale ending (Harry Potter is a children’s book after all). I’m going to miss Harry, but I’ve decided if I ever have children, I’ll definitely read it to them.

Harry is a hero but not through talent, skill or intelligence. He triumphs through determination, bravery and most of all, luck. Harry is unbelievably lucky. I was thinking that as the series progressed and Harry got older, he would start becoming more skilled and powerful and beat Voldemort in a fair fight at the end. It was not to be - It was luck all the way. Poor Voldemort must be feeling a bit hard done by really. It seems in the Potter world, wands are not well understood by the majority of Wizards and Witches. It is not the case that a Wizard is the master of a wand, in fact it’s quite the opposite. I would have liked wand law to have been explained a bit better.

In conclusion, Magic is Magical.

Fiction, 8/10 - June 2007

I had heard of Jeffrey Archer from various political scandals in the news and I was curious to read one of his books. Kane and Abel considerably raised my opinion of him because I really enjoyed it (apart from the monstrous death of Wladeks sister in the castles prison which was so disturbing that it nearly made me put the book down for good).

I enjoyed the drive and determination that was shared by both characters. I also liked how the book spanned 60 years rather than most books I have read that only focus on a small chapter or event in the characters lives. It’s nice reading about how people grow up and change as they mature.

I guess that some people are on Abel’s side and others on Kane’s. I desperately wanted them to be friends but I think I’d choose Kane’s side if pushed.

Any book that you can’t put out of you mind in between reading sessions and for a few days after you finish is a good investment of time by my judgement.

Fiction, 3/10 - April 2007

It’s a light-hearted read about the temptation and pain of infidelity. Tom Cartwright, a ghost-writer living in Edinburgh, throws away his girlfriend of 5 years, to chase a unrealistic dream. The characters in the book have a number of brilliantly described personality flaws which I could laugh at but otherwise, there didn’t seem much point to the book. In fact, God makes several appearances just to remind us that love is just chemistry and chemistry that he isn’t proud of at that.

The parts I liked:

• I liked all the excuses and quick-thinking that Tom had to do when trying to cover up his affair. e.g. “How did you get that bruise?” “I fell over a tramp”.
• I thought the book conveyed Sara’s hidden intelligence very well.
• I thought the description of pain that Tom felt when he realised how much a fool he had been was vivid and imaginable.
• Toms agent, Ami the drunk, was entertaining.
• I thought the ending was satisfying.
• I liked Saras cooking. e.g. ice cream and fried eggs.

Fiction, 6/10 - February 2007

If you can get past how ugly the site is, www.thingsmygirlfriendandihavearguedabout.com is pretty funny. So funny in fact that I randomly decided to buy this book by the author.

‘… You, for example, are stupid and self-pitying, but what civilised observer would censure me for mentioning that you have a big nose too?’ ‘I don’t have a big nose.’ ‘See? That’s my point. The efficacy of an arbitrary personal attack is that it clears a path for the important issues. You have allowed “stupid” and “self-pitying” through unopposed, because they were riding on top of your big nose.’

Love And Other Near Death Experiences is about a guy trying to sort his head out because he’s confused after having a close-encounter with death which he avoided because of a random decision that didn’t seem important at the time. Now he puts more thought into seemingly random decisions in case the wrong choice leads him back to a tragic situation - in fact, he just can’t make some simple decisions any more (e.g. it sometimes takes him 3 hours to decide which leg to use to get out of the shower in case the wrong choice will cause him to slip and fall). Nearly all the characters in the book have mild to strong (and morbidly entertaining) mental problems.

It’s not really a chick-flick, in fact it is sort of an anti-love story in a way. I found it funny on the whole (sarcastic humour) with a few pages that went a bit over the top. My favourite characters were the witty but suicidal Elizabeth and the grumpy and insulting boss, Keith.

Historical Thriller, 8/10 - November 2006

After reading Snow Crash, I was initially disappointed in this not being in the same genre. But I needn’t have worried - It managed to be an exciting thriller as well as a history book and a science book on computers and cryptography. I really enjoyed the math characters like Alan Turning and Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse. Lawrence’s mathematical analysis of horniness made me laugh especially when you realise his son is called “Randy”. The birth of computing during World War 2 is a interesting subject for me. Bobby Shaftoe, the bloody-minded gung-ho US Marine provided some heroic action scenes which offset the scientific calmness rather well.

The Enoch Root character is a bit weird. On p541 it is clear that he dies: “When Enoch Root dies, the only other people in the room are Rudolf von Hackelheber, Bobby Shaftoe, and the Swedish doctor. The doctor checks his watch, then steps out of the room.” Then he appears 55 years later with Randy. Either he has faked his death to get out of his recent marriage or, more interestingly, the Enoch Root that appears later is not the same man, but the same character (since, different people can become “root” on a same Linux system)? I’m wondering whether there’s a bit of sci-fi in the book after all?

Thriller, 5/10 - September 2006

The notion that all codes are breakable (the make believe “Bergofsky’s Principle”) caused me to laugh out loud and continue to laugh the whole way through the book. What if the thing TRANSLTR is trying to decrypt is a random piece of junk? The fictitious scalability of TRANSLTR (i.e. can crack a 64 “character” key in ten minutes and a 10,000 bit key in an hour lol hahahaha ) together with the ridiculous hacker attack at the end are pure humour.

Then I felt kind of bad ridiculing the books encryption facts because I guess any piece of fiction can’t live up to scrutiny from someone fascinated with the subject matter. The book was kind of fun actually.