Asimov published two books named Nightfall 1 and Nightfall 2 which are collections of short stories. I have both of these books in a single volume named “Nightfall’, which is not to be confused with the novel of the same name by Asimov and Silverberg. I was getting quite confused about which robot short stories…
Month: August 2008
The Rest of the Robots
This is an Asimov short story collection about robots, where the stories are entirely contained in The Complete Robot, although in a different order. These stories are similar in vein to those in I, Robot, although it is odd that not all of the hyperspace development stories are present (perhaps some weren’t written yet?). This…
SSL, X509, ASN.1 and certificate validity dates
I was curious about how SSL certificates store validity information (for example when a certificate expires), so I ended up reading the X509 specification (excitingly called “Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and CRL Profile”), as well as the ASN.1 information for UTCTimes. This is all new to me, but I am sure lots of…
Stainless Steel Visions
A collection of Harry Harrison short stories that I read on the flight back from Australia to the US. Includes a Stainless Steel Rat story, as well as a story using the Deathworld characters (I haven’t read any of the Deathworld books yet). Excellent read. [isbn: 0099925605]
Books read in July 2008
Utopia The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted The Stainless Steel Rat Sings The Blues The Stars, Like Dust The Currents of Space Pebble in the Sky The Stainless Steel Rat Prelude to Foundation The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World
I thought this was quite weak — certainly the weakest Stainless Steel Rat book. It was ok, but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who hasn’t read any of the others first. Frankly the time travel premise is hard to believe, and the resolution at the end of the story is a total non-resolution. [isbn:…