UltraNurdage

Category: Reviews

  • The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet

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    The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Bought this with an old gift card at the Harvard Coop last week. I’ve long enjoyed Neil deGrasse Tyson’s hosting of NOVA scienceNOW (a show I DVR), as well as his various guest appearances on The…

  • Smoking Ears and Screaming Teeth

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    Smoking Ears and Screaming Teeth by Trevor Norton My rating: 3 of 5 stars I checked this one out from the library at work. It’s a basic collection of science anecdotes, mostly from the Enlightenment period up through WWII. The author is a British marine biologist, so most of the scientists mentioned are British, and…

  • How I Internet

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    Reading Online Looking at my recent blog history, you’ll find that it has been rather book–centric. This is largely a function of a quick book review being easier to write than a longer, more personal post; however, it belies how much of my time I actually spend reading books. I sometimes bemoan the fact that I…

  • REAMDE

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    Reamde by Neal Stephenson My rating: 5 of 5 stars Neal Stephenson is my favorite author, so it is probably no surprise that I tore through this book in just a couple of days and gave it five stars. I remain in love with his overly verbose writing style, and his nerdy asides. I’ll echo…

  • Steve Jobs: A Biography

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    Steve Jobs: A Biography by Walter Isaacson My rating: 3 of 5 stars I think the main feature of this book that I would emphasize is that it is, in fact, a biography about a flawed man, and not so much a history of his technical achievements. As a computer geek and long-time MacAddict, I…

  • iPad First Reactions

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    Author’s Note This post was originally drafted in April 2010, after I got the first generation iPad. For some reason I never posted it and it’s been sitting in my draft for 14 years. With the May 2024 iPad event I thought it would be fun to dig it out. Looks like I never linked…

  • Avatar

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    Spoiler-Free Comments Avatar is visually stunning. It has precisely all of the elements you would expect from a modern science fiction epic. I give major credit to James Cameron for an original idea, although the plot itself is a pastiche of mostly unoriginal classic memes. My snarky tweet-length review is “a visually stunning remake of…

  • Two Kinds of Flaky

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    In March, I bought a pair of Logitech Cordless Trackman Optical trackballs. I love the ergonomics on them, even for FPS gaming. It only took a week or two to adjust from a mouse, and some minor forearm and elbow strain that came with extra long days at work went away. Unfortunately, my work looked…

  • Moon

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    I saw the film Moon at the Somerville Theatre this afternoon. It is everything you want from a classic sci-fi story, in terms of addressing the human experience, using a futuristic setting. It also has modern production values, but without any of the empty action sequences typical of a major sci-fi motion picture. Sam Rockwell…

  • Star Trek is Awesome

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    OMG AWESOME Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek There is no subtext Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek!!! Something resembling a coherent review, and with the Trekkie fanboy slightly restrained, will come tomorrow. For now, sleep.