Snowulf - Books

Wishlist for a "Kindle 3"

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0800

There have been a number of rumors recently as to what the Kindle 3 is going to be and when it is going to be out. This time last year there was a bunch of rumors about the "Kindle 3", most of which involved a larger screen. As it turns out, that was the Kindle DX, and that came out. As of late the rumor mill seems to have started up again with new talk of a Kindle 3 being released/announced at some point this month. The Kindle 2 was released in February of 2009, so if Amazon plays by the Apple rules and releases a new version around the same time each year, we're looking to have the Kindle 3 here shortly.

I was surfing about looking at Kindle 3 rumors, most of which were from last year (and for what turned out to be the DX). I have combined these along with some thinking of my own and put together what I'd like from the Kindle 3. I kept it to the "big" items, meaning I'm not bitching about the desire for a new browser, enhanced MP3 player or other software tweaks. Yes, I do desire all those "niceties", but they can be firmwared at anytime. If I'm gonna wish for something, I'll wish big(ish), and hope that it is still reasonable.

Continue reading "Wishlist for a "Kindle 3""

Review: StarCraft Ghost: Nova

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0800

Before you start, No, this is not the video game. I read StarCraft Ghost: Nova the book. It is supposed to give you some back story on the character "Nova" who was to be the heroine of StarCraft: Ghost (the video game). The book release was supposed to coincide with the game, but alas the game never materialized. Fortunately for us, the book was still written so they still went ahead and published it (way back in 2006). I realize this review is a wee bit late, but I read it and enjoyed it and thought it was worth sharing.

So the first thing that I must say is that this is not the first video game series gone book that I've read. I've read and enjoyed all of the Halo books, when I started with Halo: Contact Harvest which I've previously blogged about. This was my first book in the StarCraft realm though, and it was most definitely enjoyable.

(No Plot Spoilers)
Continue reading "Review: StarCraft Ghost: Nova"

Review: Flashforward (book)

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0800

This fall the new series "FlashForward" premiered on ABC. I'd seen the previews of it and thought it was an interesting concept. It didn't catch my attention as a good concept for a TV show, but more from a "What if this were real?" scenario. What would you do if you saw the the future? How would it effect you? If it was something bad, would you try to change the outcome? If it was something good, would you try to hasten it? Is our destiny predetermined?

All of these questions sprung to mind, which made me curious and interested to see how the the TV show would handle all this (and more). So far, it isn't great, but it isn't bad. I know the review's aren't terribly positive, but I'm sticking with the "wait and see". During that "waiting" period (re-enforced by yet another mid-season break), I found out that there was a book by the same name (not that this should surprise me). Over the holidays I had time so my kindle.

Overall, I'm not terribly enthusiastic about the book. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. Now, the TV show is based on the book, but there are some major differences. First off, in the book the FlashFoward is 21 years, not 6 months. The second major change is that in the book the FBI isn't involved at all, the protagonists are Lloyd Simcoe and Theo Procpides, who work at CERN (just like the TV show). The third and final major difference is that there is no major conspiracy (as there is in the TV show).

(No major plot spoilers)
Continue reading "Review: Flashforward (book)"

Review: High Fidelity - Book and Film

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Recently, I read High Fidelity on my Kindle.

I had watched the movie a while back and remembered it fondly, so I decided to read it on my Kindle.

After reading the book, I thought it seemed a bit different than what I recalled form the movie, so I netflixed it and watched it on Wednesday.

Warning: Potential Spoilers Abound - I'm comparing a book and a movie so that should be fairly obvious.
Continue reading "Review: High Fidelity - Book and Film"

Review: Heat Wave

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0700

For those of you living under a rock, the ever awesome Nathan Fillion (of Firefly fame) is back at it again. This time he plays "Richard Castle", a novelist, on a TV series called Castle. As previously stated, Nathan Fillion is awesome, ergo, Castle is an awesome show. Well, props to ABC because not only do they have an excellent show, they are releasing books for it. Not just a book about the series, the book that Richard Castle (the character) is writing while on the series. The book, Heat Wave, is written entirely by "Richard Castle" (the character). All the way down to the dedication being made out to 'KB' (Kate Becket, the character in the show) and the acknowledgments in the back talk about his mother and daughter (also characters in the show). It is really... unusual, but super cool. So, about the book.

While I don't normally read mystery and detective books, I really enjoyed this one. While I'm not an expert, I thought it was very well written. It seems to me that it was probably written by or in close cooperation with the team that writes Castle, the TV show. It has the same tone and humor that the show utilizes, which is a good thing. I think the show is awesomely hilarious, and the book keeps that humor and wit up. Also a really cool continuation of the show is the fact that you can find certain scenes from the show being translated into the written book. For example in one episode Richard Castle asks what they call "bad guys" and the crew lists a bunch of names in an amusing fashion. The book has a very similar scene which, I'm sure if I checked, used most (if not all) of the same terms. Of course the book isn't just "another TV episode", it does have a story of it's own and certain events take place in the book that aren't in the series. For example, Jameson Rook (Richard Castle's character) and Niki Heat have sex. Now, I know someone who hasn't read the book might be a little miffed that I "spoiled" it, but... uh... they talk about it on Castle (the show, talks about the book). Anyways, it probably doesn't have much to offer in terms of being a ground breaking mystery/detective story, but I thought it kept up well with enough twists and turns and the slow release of clues to keep the reader guessing. More importantly, it keeps you interested and reading for things other than ~~Nathan Fillion~~, sorry ~~Richard Castle~~, sorry... Rook being awesome.

The entire thing of a real book being written by a fictitious character from a TV series seems very confusing, but it really isn't. It doesn't really matter, because if you like the show Castle, you'll like the book Heat Wave. So stop reading my dribble and go buy the book.

Review: The Lost Symbol

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0700

It's hip, it's new, it's popular, it's Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.

The Lost Symbol once again features Robert Langdon, whom we first met in Angels & Demons and followed closely in The Da Vinci Code, which by the way was the correct order. The movie chronology has The Da Vinci Code occurring before Angels & Demons, but that's the way things go. Da Vinci Code was a much more popular novel, which is why it got made first.

Given how much money both of those made, it is only a matter of time (and I suppose Tom Hanks' inclination) before The Lost Symbol is made into a film as well.

This review will be spoiler free with regard to specifics.
Continue reading "Review: The Lost Symbol"

Review: Mass Effect: Revelation

nospam@example.com (John) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Mass Effect: Revelation takes place before the video game. In it we mostly follow the adventurous David Anderson before he becomes Commander Shepard's CO.

There are a number of items inside the book that should remind readers of the game. For instance, in general when they mention someone's weapon they mention the manufacturer (Alliance personnel generally use Hahne-Kedar weapons); and (almost) all the weapons mentioned are all found in the game (and are in fact likely weapons you picked up during the course of your play through).
The only weapon mentioned that was not in the game was the flashbang grenade, which to be fair, I wouldn't have used even if it was (why throw a flashbang when you can throw something more explosive?). Omni-Tools were also brought up a few times in the book, but never by name.

The First Contact War is mentioned briefly, slightly more in depth than as was in the game. Saren, the antagonist of the video game, is also mentioned in the book and the mission that Anderson went on that was to prove him worthy of being a SPECTRE takes place in the book. We get to see how it really went (from both Saren and Anderson's POV). We meet biotics (who are apparently a rare phenomenon; at this point there aren't any natural human biotics), aliens (including the batarians, who we only found out about in the 1st DLC: Bringing Down the Sky), and the Council.

Commander Sheppard is not mentioned at all in this book, so if you were looking for some more info on him/her, this isn't your book and it is doubtful there ever will be one, since you as the player pick his/her background. The next book, Mass Effect: Ascension, however does mention Commander Sheppard. It takes place post-Mass Effect and mentions the events that occur at the end of the game in vague enough terms that no matter what you chose it still makes sense.

In general, I think fans of the game will enjoy the book. It is a quick read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm in the middle of the next one currently and it seems to be oriented on Cerberus (a pro-Human/anti-Alien criminal organization from the game, not the 3-headed dog) which seems to play a decent role in the upcoming Mass Effect 2.

Review: Storm Front (comic) by Jim Butcher

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Earlier this week, my copy of Storm Front, Volume 1 - The Gathering Storm arrived. This is the comic book adaptation of a book written by Jim Butcher about 10 years ago (currently available in paperback as well as on the Kindle) and recently put into comic book form by the Dabel Brothers, the same group that is also handling the comicization of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time.

I was first introduced to this series by a friend of mine in the form of the short lived TV series. After having watched (and thoroughly enjoyed) the TV show, I decided that I wanted to read the series; fortunately, I had gotten most of the series when a friend upgraded his library to ebooks (Why, yes, I will take a bunch of free books off your hands...). After reading through all the current books, I wanted more, so I checked Amazon for more Dresden Files stuff and found Welcome to the Jungle, a Dresden Files Comic that isn't based on any book that had been written thus far, and in fact takes place before the series starts. After having procured and reviewed this book, I found out about the subject for this article and resolved to pre-order said subject.

The comic includes the first 4 "chapters" (aka 4 issues) of the story. When I originally ordered it, I was under the impression it was the whole story, but alas it changed into just the first volume, with a second one coming later this year (currently listed as October 27, 2009), which will hopefully wrap up the story.

The artwork is wonderful and very true to the books (a fact Jim Butcher stresses in his introduction); Ardian Syaf did a wonderful job with all of the artwork. Various parts of the story are accelerated, but that is to be expected in any adaptation; thus far I have no complaints about how Mark Powers has adapted the story and hope he gets to continue the adaptations for the rest of the series.

Bottom line: if you are a fan of The Dresden Files, you should get your hands on this little gem.

Thoughts about the Kindle DX

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:00:00 -0700

So last Wednesday, the brand spanking new Kindle DX was released. As has now become usual (considering the 2 previous announcements of the Amazon Kindle), the "cat was out of the bag" before the show even started. Amazon doesn't have nearly as good information control as Apple, or they realized that it drums up interest so they don't try to cap it; my belief is the latter. The DX is very similar to the Kindle 2. The major changes are: bigger screen (9.7" vs 6"), more memory (3.3gb vs 1.4gb), Rotation detection (like the iPod, you tilt it on it's side, and it rotates the screen to match - oh and unlike the iPod you can disable it), and built in PDF support (versus the previous need to submit it for conversion). Other than that the two units are very similar in look physically (excepting the obvious size difference) and run the same UI.

So is the Kindle DX the "next great device"? Well... it really depends on who you ask. It seems a good portion of people are upset by the fact that Amazon announced the KDX just 3 months after they announced the K2. A fact that does not get lost on many of the Engadget editors in their editorial on the KDX. Thankfully, it seems there are at least 1 or 2 editors that have some sense left in them. I'm sure you'll find just as many people angry at Amazon and the KDX for one reason or another, as you'll find people excited about the KDX (and of course loud, angry people stand out more than the happy ones). What do I think? I think that these 2 devices are targeting very different groups and purposes. On top of that I think it is worth pissing off a few people in order to put out multiple devices quickly in order to snap up a bigger segment of the market (a market which is still considerably small). You can look at the KDX and the K2 as being just like the iPod versus the iPod Nano, they serve typically different markets. Yes, there is some overlap in markets for the KDX/K2, but unless you're company only makes a spoon and a space shuttle, you'll probably have market crossover too.

Continue reading "Thoughts about the Kindle DX"

Jim Butcher LIVE right now on BittenByBooks.com

nospam@example.com (John) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:51:13 -0700

BittenByBooks.com is currently (as in right this second) conducting an Interview with Jim Butcher. In the comments section the interview continues with Jim Butcher is responding to the fan questions. Heck he might even answer my question! If/when he does, I'll post an update to the article.

Also, in case you've been living in a cave without internet or access to a library, Jim Butcher is the author of (thus far) two wildly popular book series:
The Dresden Files and Codex Alera. He also did a little work with a superhero you might have heard of called... Spider-Man.

UPDATE: Jim just posted his goodbye message at 3:02 pm PDT and didn't happen to get to my question, alas. Got some interesting Q&A in there, though.

Review: Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

nospam@example.com (John) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:00:00 -0700

A while back Jon recommended that I read Diamond Age, which is unusual as I'm usually the one doing the recommending.

This review will be spoiler free, so if you haven't read the book feel free to read on without worry.

This last weekend, I finished Diamond Age while I was in the Vegas area. Jon had warned me ahead of time that the ending was poor, though not on the same level as Titan by Stephen Baxter.

One of the main reasons I decided to read this (other than Jon's recommendation) was that I had really enjoyed Snow Crash.

Anyways... the book takes place over about 10 years and introduces a plethora of characters, most of whom eventually fade away, with the lucky ones getting another mention once or twice more before disappearing completely. This was slightly annoying, but you can't really expect an ending for every character.

The main problem as I saw it was that the book just ends. Yeah we have a bit of a climax, but it just wasn't particularly satisfying. It sort of reminds me of the ending of the first Matrix movie; while that had a much more defined climax it definitely left it open for the sequels. Now, Diamond Age on the other hand... the book could have used an extra chapter or two. And possibly a sequel.

After having written this, I checked wikipedia and learned that Diamond Age is sort of a sequel to Snow Crash. A better way to say it, might be that they are in the same universe, although apparently at least one character from Snow Crash makes an entry into Diamond Age (see wikipedia link for more info).

So while that is nifty, I'm still not overly impressed with the novel. I don't regret having read it, but I highly doubt I will ever read it again or give it much of a recommendation to anyone.

In summary, read it if you don't have anything better to do.

Contact Harvest (Halo) - Book Review!

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:01:00 -0800

I know, the idea of a book review coming from me is terrifying. After all we've already established that many 6th graders have a better grasp of the English language than I do. Digressing from that...

Contact Harvest is a fun book. Its the first book I've managed to finish in a long time (probably a year). I really did enjoy reading this book. What can I say, Avery is a GREAT character and learning about his early years was very interesting. As a fan of the Halo games, the book also reveals a lot of little piece of how things came to be. For example the book covers where the prophets Truth, Regret and Mercy come from. Oh, and it explains where choppers come from - and maybe explains why they are so damned OVER POWERED (at least in Halo 3). If you are also a Halo fan, you'll enjoy the book - almost guaranteed. If you aren't a Halo fan, or at least a scifi fan - you won't enjoy the book.

My major problem with the book is that the author uses the proper names for the Covenant races, instead of the short hand from the games. Some of the descriptions weren't clear enough to figure out who was who was first. I should have looked it up, but I never at my computer when I was reading. If you are going to read this book, I suggest you look it up first - especially since it tells you a little bit about the races that weren't in the games.

That being said, the book was awesome. Read it!

Books for gun training

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 10:40:54 -0700

So after I talked to my boss Friday, he suggested that I buy a few books (By suggested I mean he said "You _need_ to buy these two books" and proceeded to watch other my shoulder as I surfed the site to buy them. Though - My boss knows what he's talking about. He's got a separate wallet just for CCW permits). The books are by Massad Ayoob who is supposed to be one of the best instructors in his field. The two books that were "suggested" were: In the Gravest Extreme and Stressfire. I ordered them and they should be in this week. I may write up a little mini review on them - I'm sure they will be excellent books though.

Also, as for my Walther P22, I previously stated on Snowflakey that I thought the mag ejector was a bit weak. Well I think it was just the particular gun I was playing with. The P22 I bought has a pretty good ejector (though sometimes it seems to get caught and not kick out much) which I am happy with.