Review: The Kassa Gambit, by M.C. Planck

"You should totally judge a book by its cover." That was the advice of a friend back in college when recommending fantasy and sci-fi novels. This was in the days before the ubiquitous blogs, review sites, Amazon recommendations and tweets helped us to pick out our next read (I'm severely dating myself, aren't I?)

At Long Last, I'm Back

Nope, this isn't a real post, sorry. But it's a preview of a post? It's been a long time, lots of things in life have been getting in the way. Now I've started a new job. Ironically, this might actually improve my output, depending on how hard they work me. So stay tuned. Coming up first, a new review, of a sci-fi book no less.

Ideas: The Wonderful World of Content Moderation

Here's another item sitting around for a while in my "to post" list. A few months ago, Wired published this look at the wonderfully icky world of content moderation, one of the tech industry's biggest sources of employment. The workforces at these places dwarf even companies like Google.

Ideas: Artificial Intelligence is Scary

In recent news, computers can now beat us at video games they're not even programmed to play. I think we can now officially begin the countdown to the robot takeover.

Review: Ghost on the Throne, by James Romm

When reading a book on true history, I find that the notes sections are often what makes the overall quality of the work shine through. If I feel compelled to read through the notes, this tells me a few important things. It usually means that the work is well researched, and allows the notes to present a clear basis for the author's statements, as well as alternative interpretations of the evidence. Well written notes give enough context that I don't feel the need to annoyingly flip back and forth between sections. Most importantly, if I'm spending time reading through the notes, it means I didn't want the story to end.

The best non-fiction works have a strong narrative without sacrificing academic rigour. My favourite work of this kind, Batavia's Graveyard, by Mike Dash, is an excellent example of a book I did not want to put down, even while reading the notes. Ghost on the Throne, by James Romm, also passes this test and is easily the best non-fiction book I've read this year. 

Ideas: Bitter Harvest

So with the return to activity, I'm introducing a new category, called "Ideas". This is a catch-all, really, just to put out a lot of thoughts and things I've learned that have been percolating in my head during the hiatus.I will give this an underlying structure, however, by saying that these are mostly stories I've come across in the world at large that I want to incorporate somehow into my writing.

The Star Wars Prequels = Nickelback

When I heard that JJ Abrams was being handed the reins to the next Star Wars trilogy, I think like many others, I felt encouraged by his previous effort at helming a major sci-fi franchise: Star Trek. Personally, I felt that the first new Star Trek movie (not so much Into Darkness) managed to walk the incredibly fine line between catering to devotees and being accessible to neophytes. It was clear he had respect for the source material without being slavish to it.