20. Midnight Library by M. Haig. A “many lives” story that uses a metaphysical library as the framework. Definitely not as story-driven as Harry August, Replay, 11/22/63 etc. It’s more an emotional and philosophical journey. Really enjoyed this book. Ending fell a bit flat for me but overall great.

19b. Easy read, fun story and fun to read in October. The short chapters make it a bit hard to keep the characters straight because you’re only spending a minute or two a day with them but thats more on me than the book.

19. A Night in the Lonesome October by R. Zelazny. Thirty one chapters labelled for each day of October that I read in sync. A fun story about mysterious people planning for occult ceremony/battle on the 31st.

18. The Planet Buyer by C. Smith. A book on how to write a book. I’ve read similar work in the past but nothing so complete. This is a guide to: pacing, characterization, plot, grammar, efficiency and lots more. Best way to procrastinate when you want to write a book. Recommended.

17. Stein in Writing by S. Stein. A book on how to write a book. I’ve read similar work in the past but nothing so complete. This is a guide to: pacing, characterization, plot, grammar, efficiency and lots more. Best way to procrastinate when you want to write a book. Great book. Recommended.

16. Neuromancer by W. Gibson. A classic. The ideas of cyberspace, body modification, corporate rule. The idea is hackers/cowboys going up against security in a virtual reality is cool. The story does have some slow spots but is still a must read for any sci-fi fans.

15b. just long historical accounts of various people. They were interesting enough but didn’t seem to be there for any reason. Skip this.

15. The New Leviathans by J. Gray. What was the thesis of / point to this book? I just finished it and I don’t know. It might be, bad things happen so liberalism is bad? It makes a few statements and then goes on long history summaries. Not supporting examples…

14c. that Hegel says every modern man thinks he is the last man and thinks all history before him leads to himself as the conclusion. Makes me want to find a modern discussion of thymos in the context of the politics of the last 9 years specifically. Really enjoyable book.

14b. The more interesting parts are focused on the human need for recognition, thymos. How it appears in different forms from war to capitalism and just every day life of the labour force. Author talks a lot about the end of history/the last man and references Hegel extensively but doesn’t mention…

14. The End of History and The Last Man by F. Fukuyama. Longer review here because this is a very dense book. I can see why it is popular and controversial. It certainly oversells the stability, inevitability and positivity of modern liberal democracy mixed with capitalism.

13b. Talos of the Night Lords is the similar here. Worth a read to get a new take on traitor legions but ends on a very clear cliffhanger for future stories.

13. Soul Hunter by A. Dembski-Bowden. A WH40K book. Normally I am not a huge fan of books that focus on the traitor legions but this one is more interesting. One aspect of Abbadon that I like is, although he hates the Imperium, he does not pledge allegiance to any specific chaos god.

12b. Each story tries to close with some clever line and fails — leaving you confused about the attempt. I must have missed something here because all these stories are incoherent.

12. Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Z. Gardner. One of the worst books I have read in a long time. I read reviews saying this was cutting, clever satire. Maybe it was just better in a small moment in 2011 when people were loving Coupland?

11. Double Star by R. Heinlein. Found this rather dull. It’s is fairly short book but a slow read just because I kept losing interest. I think it is a novella or short story stretched out a bit too much.

10. Humankind by R. Bergman. Great book that goes through commonly known experiments/stories that show humans as evil by nature (veneer theory) and exposes them as false. Humans are mostly kind and helpful to each other. Wish it was twice as long. A breath of positive fresh air.

9. Too Dumb for Democracy? By D. Moscrop. Outlines the reasons people make bad political (and all) decisions. Decent book but I think it would have been better to focus on the last part about what we can do to make it easier for people to make better decisions. Maybe that could be a follow up book?