Adam

2nd Book in Asimov's Empire series, and probably the last I'll read. I see why Asimov called this his “least favorite novel”. I only wish I knew that beforehand.

First book in Asimov's Empire series. Interesting to learn how everything was setup for Foundation, the characters and the story were slow and painful to finish.

The 4th book in Asimovs Robot series. Somewhat awkward in it's sexuality, but a decent detective tale on its own. Less technical than the other books in the robot series.

Short take on enjoying the pleasures of travel.

This was the first book I read in 2013 by a female author – after reading 36 other books. After finishing it, my initial reaction wasn't altogether positive. The more I reflected on the book, I came to realize how amazing a world Atwood created in this dystopian tale. Not one of my all-time favorites, but still great storytelling.

Very similar to Caves of Steel, this is the 3rd book in Asimovs Robot series. Fun detective novel in a space setting. I was a bit disappointed by some of the answers, but overall it was satisfying.

Even though I respect Ive, I felt this biography only hit skin deep. It went over all the major events in his life, his passion for design, awards he achieved – but that's really it. I don't feel I know him anymore than before reading this.

Most useful takeaways? Give people problems to solve. Show what they'll be building. When students are wrong, ask them questions rather than telling them the answer.

This 2nd book in Asimovs robot series after I, Robot. It is more a detective novel than a serious sci-fi story, but it does set the stage for the world.

Reading this reminded me of The Daily WTF where a weird problem is presented, and eventually solved. That's much of the format of this series of short stories. The book is a combination of various parts of these 9 stores, which are considered the beginning of Asimovs Robot/Empire/Foundation series.

Being an amazing writer on religion led me to reading everything Dawkins has written. This biography details his life and inspiration that drove him towards a life in science. Interesting subject, but reading about years in boarding school and all about academia wasn't that interesting to me. His background in coding was the most interesting part, but covered quickly.

Both biography of Salman Khan, and the start of Khan Academy, and a look at Khan's ideal world for education. If you're curious about changing education, with the help of technology, this is a definite must read. Even though the education target is different from something like Code School, many of the ideas work in both settings.

As last books in a series go, this was the most rewarding ending I've ever read. Topics introduced at the beginning of book 4 are handled. Topics that other authors might spend entire chapters on are only touched on briefly, and left for the reader to expand on.

Expanding on the Hyperion universe while introducing new realistic and thoughtful characters.

Not a sequel, but the second half of the first book. More conventional storytelling than Hyperion, but in the same tone.

When I learned that Steve Jobs re-read this book each year and the autiobook is read by Ben Kingsley, I knew I had to check it out. It proved to be more religious than I expected, relying on faith to explain much. Reading this helps to understand how Jobs could persue alternative medicine when diagnosed with cancer.

I'd heard the Sci-Fi channel was in the process of making this book into a mini-series and decided to give it a shot. Being an inspiration for Halo also tipped my interest. This one follows the idea of a Dyson Ring, which has always been an intriguing topic to me. The idea that one Dyson Ring could have the habitable area of 3 million earth-size planets is mind-blowing. The world was more interesting than the characters, unfortunately. There is some controversy about the minimized role of women in this book, which I'd also agree with.

Another Neal Stephenson story following 2 story lines: one following code breakers in World War II, another a group of dot com entrepreneurs. Featuring fictionalized versions of names from the time including Alan Turing made it easier to identify with the characters. The first half of this very long book was tough to get through, with most of the payoff towards the end. The detailed descriptions of cryptography and theories about a digital currency were the most interesting part.

Fight Club is my favorite movie. The book was all over the place — like the movie. Somehow the format fit the screen better for me.

Good story, although predicitable at times. Sets things up for part 3 of the series in a solid second book in a trilogy, in the same ways you'd expect from a part 2.

Part 3 of the Foundation trilogy. I wasn't as emotionally attached to some of the characters in this one as the others, but at least the ending payed off.

When looking into Sci-Fi books that I should have already read, this trilogy kept coming up. It won the Hugo award for “Best Trilogy” - an award created just to give it to this series. It was short, but lived up to the hype. The premise relies on “psychohistory”, a way of mathematically predicting the future. The first book was actually based on a number of short stories and parallels the fall of Rome. I enjoyed the series, but not enough to read the other 11 books in the series.

The first 3 chapters of this one were my favorites.

Ken Jennings is hilarious. Back when he was on Jeopardy I would watch everyday (and still do occasionally). If you want to get a dose is his humor, check out his Reddit Ask Me Anything. I've always loved maps, so this book hit a sweet spot for me. I remember being the navigator on road trips as a kid, winning the “Pride” award for geography in elementary school (whatever that is) and hacking on Google Maps before they put out an official API. Somehow this book tied into everything I love about maps and exploration. Highly recommend it.

Pizza delivery by the mob, a character named Hiro Protagonist, Motorcycle riding, samurai sword wielding characters - I'm not sure this story ages that well. Reading it as a teenager would've been better, but for now it was tough to make it through without rolling my eyes repeatedly.