Reviews and Comments

Ian Brown

igb@books.hccp.org

Joined 1 year, 5 months ago

XML apologist. Erlang enthusiast. Currently JVMs & Performance stuff at Netflix. Previously JVMs & performative stuff at Twitter. He/him.

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The Secret Pilgrim (1991, Viking) 5 stars

Smiley's Planet

5 stars

Content warning There are no good guys.

Rum Punch (Paperback, 2011, William Morrow Paperbacks) 4 stars

Ordell "Whitebread" Robbie makes a fine living selling illegal high-powered weaponry to the wrong people. …

Deja Vu

4 stars

I got like 5 pages into the book before I realized that this was the source material for "Jackie Brown". A fun read. About as hard-boiled as hard-boiled gets. I gotta say the movie version of this book doesn't add much. Every clever twist, every violent act, every deadpan line...anyway, Tarantino kinda blows is what I am trying to say. A hack of a director with Leonard's writing doing all of the heavy lifting.

Extremely Online (Hardcover, 2023, Simon & Schuster) 5 stars

Acclaimed Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz presents a groundbreaking social history of the internet—revealing how …

To err is human. To forfeit the battle for the shortform creative video market to TikTok is Vine.

5 stars

A fast (but, at times, suprisingly in-depth) survey of the rise of user-generated content in the age of social marketing, "Creators", and influencers.

@taylorlorenz@mastodon.social shines a light on some familiar faces but also gives a voice and shows the work done by a lot of folks forgotten or ignored by the current narratives around the landscape of attention-seeking platforms, products, and people.

What ultimately sets this book apart from so many others that have also focused on the companies and products that shape our world today is that Lorenz examines the people behind the content, not the technology.

Worth a read.

Starter Villain (2023, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom) 4 stars

Inheriting your mysterious uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might imagine.

Sure, there …

Cat GIF goes here.

5 stars

Another genre-bending romp from @scalzi@mastodon.social. Fast and fun, this book was a great bit of mental floss to kick off another year of reading. As always Scalzi delivers laugh-out-loud lines with clever dialog and banter. Pick up a copy at your local bookstore or at the nearest public library ASAP.

Starter Villain (2023, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom) 4 stars

Inheriting your mysterious uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might imagine.

Sure, there …

Another genre-bending romp from @scalzi@mastodon.social. Fast and fun, this book was a great bit of mental floss to kick off another year of reading. As always Scalzi delivers laugh-out-loud lines with clever dialog and banter. Pick up a copy at your local bookstore or at the nearest public library ASAP.