The State of the Art

Iain M. Banks.

 

TSOTA is collection of short sci fi stores from Banks. Several of them take place in the Culture universe.

 

Some of them don't. A few of them end with very weird twists. The titular story—"The State of the Art" is a prequel of sorts of the novel "Use of Weapons" There are a two other Culture stories in the book, though they are disconnected from the other Culture novels. This seems to confirms my theory that when Banks wants to write a sci-fi story, he uses "The Culture" as background. So he doesn't have to invite a whole new universe. He doesn't write about the Culture because he has a grand end to end vision.

 

 

 

Tools of Titans.

By Tim Ferris.

 

I think that Tim is the near the peak of infotainment. I always enjoy reading him. I even get the feeling that I'm learning things that will help improve my life. But, every now and then, I get the feeling that I'm being sold self-help with celebrities.

 

None the less, this is a good read.

 

Look To Windward

By Iain M Banks.

This was a satisfying Culture Novel. The were fewer diversions and extraneous characters than usual.  The store was interesting and straight forward. For some reason Banks loves to alternate between back story and the main story. In this case it made physical sense as the lead characters was regaining his memory of the past.

I think the whole dirigible megasaurus storyline could have been excised and the whole novel would have been better off for it.

 

 

 

I spent two days now and 1000 bucks on Day labor, all to get the stuff out of the house. It's all garbage. I repeat that over and over again. It's all garbage. Sure there are things in the mess that aren't quite garbage, but the time it would take to get it out, clean it up and find a buyer just isn't worth it.

Interesting quote from "Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers"

Hi – I'm reading "Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers" by Timothy Ferriss, Arnold Schwarzenegger and wanted to share this quote with you.

"The Battle of Algiers."

Start reading this book for free: http://a.co/2ji51UI

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Interesting quote from "Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers"

Hi – I'm reading "Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers" by Timothy Ferriss, Arnold Schwarzenegger and wanted to share this quote with you.

"If This Is a Man and The Truce (often combined into one volume) by Primo"

Start reading this book for free: http://a.co/5OxbCBu

--------------

Read on the go for free – download Kindle for Android, iOS, PC, Mac and more
http://amzn.to/1r0LubW