Archive for the Books Category

a journal of the plague, &tc, year

Posted in Books, Travel, Wines with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 18, 2026 by xi'an

From the Hugo Award package (leftover), I read the fifth and sixth volumes in John Scalzi’s Old Man War, namely The Human Division, and The End of All Things, the former a rather loose collection of short stories, and the later not even pretending. Efficient writing but nothing exciting. (Still part of his Hugo Award 2026 for series!) In the plane to Tokyo, I finished a new Kingfisher novel, Swordheart, set in the same universe as the Paladin series, which is similarly efficient but overly delayed by witty exchanges (in the least appropriate situations) and endless inner thoughts about romantic feelings! I also read a French BD, Tourner la page by Zep, whose drawings of Greek islands are nice but whose thriller scenario is rather conventional and predictable.

Watched at high speeds the Korean TV series Teach you a lesson (참교육), which addresses the woes of the Korean education system (bullying, teacher burnout, campus violence, gambling, gang links, teachers’ corruption, parents’ harassment, drug trafficking, suyeongsaeng) but is deeply flawed in supporting violent interaction with and generally extra-legal actions against delinquent high school students.

Nature tidbits [20 Aug 2026]

Posted in Books, Mountains, pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2026 by xi'an

In this 20 August edition, a wealth of data analysis papers, with many highly informative graphs. A call for China to better balance recognition for its junior scientists, another call for (US?) universities to treat bullying complaints in-depth rather than as a public relation exercise. The “compulsory” current status of the Trump 2.0 wreckage of US science with the Senate blocking the appointment of politicians for grant reviews. And with the absurd, ungrounded, health threatening split of the MMR vaccine.  Another “compulsory” entry on climate change with a scary graph on the ocean surface temperatures rising way way above the confidence band represented by the previous measurements over 50 years. An interview (why?) of a CEO of the startup QED Science that claims an ability to automatically rank preprints and select the top 1% (why?!). Coïnciding with me receiving an email with a review by Claude of our Bayesian Adversarial Privacy paper! A report on the (defunct Starmer) UK Government cutting on fundamental physics projects. An article featuring the predicted rise in the use of exoskeletons, which I read on my way back from the lodge on Mount Fudji that was renting an exoskeleton to help with the climb! With an optimistic view on the consequences on people’s health and muscles. A short book review on Slobodian’s and Tarnoff’s Muskism, concluding that Musk(ism) lacks a coherent philosophy. (A Musk-read according to the Economist!) A long comment on the sleepless summer of the heatwaves, which led me clearly more tired than usual at the end of the summer break. (With a lot of should. And a focus on methodology.) Another one on the Middle East prospects as a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) hub, which sounds paradoxical in the current geopolitic situation. It made me wonder how sustainable are these SAFs? True, they recycle oils, gases and biomass, rather than extracting “new” oils, but they still pollute the air. And, true, they can fill empty returning tankers, but they divert investment and research from more renewable and less polluting alternatives. Among the actual scientific articles, a long review on the safety and security of LLMs in healthcare (but useless pictures). One on the massive floods that occurred in Europe in 1342-1343, possibly caused by volcanic eruptions plus Arctic sea ice retreat, nothing that could occur today of course! With massive socio-economic consequences. (And a great graph, except I do not see the point for the 2D projections. Or for modern state borders.) An analysis of intergenerational mobility in Europe with the unsurprising conclusion that it impacts innovation. (Go, Erasmus!) With a multivariate regression I did not investigate (using NUTS but not Andrew’s NUTS!). And graphs of intergenerational mobility per European country, with too many colours to be readable (and the regression line to make sense?). Another data analysis of the Pakistan Genome Resource, with distinctive traits of the many ethnicities of Pakistan. And the discovery of many clinically relevant genes (with a massive avalanche of p-values!).

renascent

Posted in Books with tags , , , , , , on September 15, 2026 by xi'an

Hugo Awards 2026

Posted in Books, Kids with tags , , , , , , , on September 13, 2026 by xi'an

Here are the winners for the Hugo Awards 2026. Still undecided at repeating the voting experiment next year…!

Best Novel
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK) [a Locus Awardee 2026, which I did not like, esp. when comparing it to A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett]

Best Novella
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK) [nice fairy tale I rather enjoyed]

Best Series
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (Tor US; Tor UK) [the easy way out, although I voted for the Chronicles of Osreth instead]

Best Graphic Story or Comic
A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel, written by Ursula K. Le Guin, adapted and art by Fred Fordham (Clarion Books; Walker UK) [my choice, by default]

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Sinners, screenplay by Ryan Coogler, directed by Ryan Coogler (Proximity Media, Warner Bros. Pictures) [not seen!]

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Murderbot: “All Systems Red”, written by Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz, directed by Roseanne Liang, based on the book All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Apple TV) [reasonably enjoyable, my choice]

a journal of the North year

Posted in Books, Running, Travel, Wines with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 12, 2026 by xi'an

Read a surprisingly enjoyable book, Pagans by James Alistair Henry, taking place in an alternate Britain, split into three warring ethnic nations, the Celts, the Saxons, and the Norse. Where Christianity is a fringe sect, The Norman Conquest never happened, and the Industrial Revolution (first) took place in Africa. The ethnic traits and enemities are rather overdone, the evil one(s) are as too often too omniscient but the building of the alternate World and of the collaboration between Saxon and Celt police officers work out well. I just wonder at the title since there are several pantheons attached to the different ethnicities. The part inspired from the January 06 Capital storming is riveting and terrifying. I also read The Black Loch, by Peter May, which mostly supports the general theorem that trilogies should never exceed three volumes! The trilogy takes place on Lewis, Outer Hebrides, with cases always related to the traumatic childhood of a group of school friends. This more recent addition is set ten years later and involves the same (surviving) characters, but the frequent returns to (yet undisclosed) events of their youth feel reheated and improbable, while the cliffhanger episodes defy any flavour of plausibility. The many mentions of the island geography and beauty would fit a Lonely Planet guide, for a while, but are quickly annoying here. A good point, though: the book will put you off from farmed salmon!