The year-in-review notifications that various social media sites provide can be quite fun.  This year's year-in-review for xbox is a custom made snowball (too bad you can't order one!) based on the various statistics from your gaming preferences. It seems like 2018 for me was the year of Assassin's Creed, with over 200 hours logged into  Origins Syndicate, and Unity.  While this

Well, with 2019 here, and 2018 gone I've bid adieu to Academia.edu. There isn't one thing that really made me quit, but a variety of factors that really combined to make the network feel "sleazy".  When Academia.edu kicked off it felt like a good idea: a social network for academics to see what each other is working on, to share pre-publication versions of their work, heck even ask for feedback

Χρόνια πολλά και καλή χρονιά σε φίλους, οικογένεια, και αναγνώστες  :-)

Strange Dogs by James S.A. Corey My rating: 5 of 5 stars I wasn't sure what to make of this at the start of the novella, but it's an interesting point of view. Seeing the exploratory expedition on a ring world turn into a new home through the eyes of a child. This novella also points to certain protomolecule properties that I am not sure we've seen yet.  I do wonder how these

Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well, Earth and Mars aren't doing so well. the "Free Navy" has taken over the Rocinante crew is back at it, saving this corner of the galaxy. Some quick thoughts: Anderson dying as a result of system shock during high burn. Plausible, but seems like a rather small way for the "butcher of Anderson station" to go. New alliance

Χρόνια πολλά και καλά Χριστούγεννα σε όσους διαβάζουν ακόμα το μπλόγκ ;-) Ώρα να αρχίσουν λίγο οι χειμωνιάτικες διακοπές (εαν όχι διακοπές διακοπές, λίγο ρεπό)

Chariots of The Gods by Erich von Däniken My rating: 4 of 5 stars I feel a bit weird giving it 4 stars given the subject matter, but the book was rather entertaining, and not as 'out there' as Ancient Aliens as I expected - the TV show has gotten even more out there over the years. "by why?"  or "ancient astronaut theorists say 'yes'" beg for a drinking game. If you read this

The Expanse: Origins by James S.A. Corey My rating: 5 of 5 stars An interesting mini collection of origin stories for the main cast of the Rocinante. I think the Amos one was the one that was most out there. It would be interesting to see some of these mental gears going on screen. View all my reviews

The Vital Abyss by James S.A. Corey My rating: 5 of 5 stars An interesting short story from the perspective of a protogen researcher. All throughout I was trying to figure out if this is someone who will be (or was) in one of the main novels, or if it's just world building and expansion (no pun intended). In the end (once I was done reading) I read through the summary on the wiki

Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey My rating: 4 of 5 stars And here I thought that this was going to be a 'simple' version of: crew goes on holiday while the ship is in dry dock so that they can take care of personal stuff (and of course learn some personal stuff from the past). Did that happen? Of course, but around half-way ... BAM! all hell breaks loose! The final line of the