Callum Valentine

• Rated 5 stars

“Embassytown is probably my top 2011 read. The creativity and sheer ingenuity which goes into creating a truly alien race is astonishing. Mieville's obsession with language, and the nature of communication is brilliant, engaging and uncompromising. While it take a while to adjust to all of the concepts, just like the Wire or any other fully realized world, it is very rewarding once you do. ”

Callum Valentine wrote this review Tuesday, December 20, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Makers is a fantastic novel about the near future. Doctorow has the uncanny ability to blur the lines between research and speculation, and has an acute understanding of exactly how social forces will interact with the promise of new technologies.

The Fatkins diet was a highlight, I can just imagine a whole race of horny, newly beautiful gluttons having the time of their life while still ruining their bodies.

This book also launched my quest to find out more about 3d printing. ”

Callum Valentine wrote this review Tuesday, December 20, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Jasper Fforde used to work as a focus puller in the movie world. He has obviously grown tired of focus, because very little of it is used here. The eyre affair is packed full of endlessly interesting ideas smashed into a surrealist mess that is none the less entertaining.

It is like a much more accessable version of Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, where occasional islands of meaning rose up from the sea of incomprehension.

With this being Fforde's first novel, he may gain more focus and develop his ideas better in the next books. ”

Callum Valentine wrote this review Tuesday, December 20, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

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• Rated 3 stars

“Mitnick is an unrepentant selfish prig. He is a smart man, but he hacked all those companies for no purpose aside from his own amusement, and then acts as though the over-reaction by law enforcement was somehow unjust. That aside its a fascinating read, but in the end his main skill was as a nerdy con man - someone who had studied the systems he was dealing with enough to sound legitimate on the phone.

His strange addiction to hacking for no purpose other than to feel bigger than everyone else makes for a pretty riveting tale. ”

Callum Valentine wrote this review Tuesday, December 20, 2011. ( reply | permalink )