Kangaroo Too is the yearlong-awaited sequel to Waypoint Kangaroo. There is science-fiction thrilldom; there is wise-cracking. There are folks figuring out how to act humanely amidst the paranoia of a military intelligence community after a war and some Philbyesque revelations… but that sounds serious, and really the wise-cracking is very good and should be sufficient to earn your enjoyment.
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It's a book about advanced battery research in the USA. I learned that this field is favored by "charismatic thieves, swindlers, who are tricking people." Not all such researchers are charlatans; some are merely dupes wondering why they're having trouble making progress on their research (building upon what turns out to be false experiments by charlatans, whoops).
At one point, the book points out that Elon Musk, the Tesla car guy, "thumbed his nose" at cutting-edge battery researchers by choosing some tried-and-true battery technology. But after reading about what passes for business-as-usual shenanigans in this field, I'm thinking maybe he wasn't "thumbing his nose" so much as carefully backing away from a horde of confidence tricksters. Well… maybe only 25% confidence tricksters, but who knows which 25%?
I hoped to learn some History of Science, and was pleased. Fans of the True Crime genre might be surprised how much they find to enjoy in this book as well.
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Book Report: Medusa's Web
It's one of those Tim Powers novels in which a carefully-researched history conceals magical conspiracy. What if the set designers and costumers involved with the silent movie Salome were transcendin...
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Concert Report: The Glowstick Story
In theory, this web site has a concert report section. It's OK if you didn't remember that. I haven't written down any concert stories since... since 2001, apparently. (Except I guess last year I m...
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Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, Even Russia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Ukraine
According to an article linked from the Pervasive Games blog, Dozor is a Russian team-based game that sounds Game-like. You'd think I'd be glad to hear about it. Except I'm not so glad. Because--why...
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Book Report: The Next Catastrophe
I'm going to Jury Duty today. Oh, gee. What if I get picked for a trial that goes on for three years? What if I'm sequestered? Does that mean no internet? What a catastrophe that would be. Oh h...
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Book Report: Against the Day
Long.Labels: book, explosions, mining...
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Book Report: First in Space
I am back from the No More Secrets Game, which was pretty excellent. I think it was excellent. My memories are pretty hazy. Since coming back, I've sent one piece of email and left one voice mail ...
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Book Report: The Man Who Was Thursday
People keep telling me how great G.K. Chesterton was. So I read one of his books, The Man Who Was Thursday. It had some fun sentences, some witty banter, some good paragraphs, but the book overall ...
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Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, Including the Googleplex
I am not a hardcore puzzler. I found out that even if the puzzles are great and fun and elegant, I go stir crazy if I try to sit in a conference room and solve puzzles for 24 hours. Now some folks a...
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Link: We have Metonymy and They Are Ours
The Brain Fist webcomic is often funny.Labels: comic, explosions, urban morphology...
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Book Report: The Winter Queen
Ah, winter. Cold, snowy, icy, windy winter. What a great time of year for sitting inside and reading. The Winter Queen doesn't really have anything to do with the season, through. This novel is b...
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Book Report: The Making of the Atomic Bomb
I've read several books about the Manhattan Project. They all had a focus. New documents that had come to light. Focusing on one of the minor players. Family life. Now I realize why all of those...
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Book Report: Krakatoa
Krakatoa was a volcano that got bigger and bigger until it blew up. Krakatoa was a book that got longer and longer until I just didn't want to hear any more about volcanoes, the Reuters news service...
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Book Report: A Secret Life
This book by Benjamin Weiser has interesting ethical choices, history, and spycraft. A Polish navy officer became a traitor to Soviet-controlled Poland; which is to say that he arguably became a her...
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Book Report: Smoke and Guns
Women in short skirts fire guns at each other. But it works. When does the movie come out? Tags: comics | cigarettes | violence |Labels: comic, explosions...
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