Why Can’t Elephants Jump?
This is another fun book from New Scientist's Last Word column and I enjoyed it. A good read, and I actually learnt some stuff (some of it possibly true) along the way.
Books read in November 2010
Breakfast of Champions Old Man's War The Ghost Brigades The Last Colony Ender's Game Snow Crash The Sagan Diary Zoe's Tale Broken Angels
Multiple file support with scp
Paramiko doesn't provide a scp implementation, so I've been using my own for a while. http://blogs.sun.com/janp/entry/how_the_scp_protocol_works (link now unfortunately dead) provides good documentation about the scp protocol, but it missed out on one detail I needed -- how to send more than one file in a given session. In the end I implemented a simple scp logger to see what the protocol was doing during the copying of files. My logger said this: >>> New command invocation: /usr/bin/scp -d -t /tmp O: \0 I: C0644 21 a\n O: \0 I: file a file a file a\n\0 O: \0 I: C0644 21 b\n O: \0 I: file b file b file b\n\0 O: \0 >>>stdin closed >>> stdout closed >>> stderr closed It turns out its important to wait for those zeros by the way. So, here's my implementation of the protocol to send more than one file. Turning this into paramiko code is left as an exercise for the reader. #!/usr/bin/python import fcntl import os import select import string import subprocess import sys import traceback def printable(s): out = '' for c in s: if c == '\n': out += '\\n' elif c in string.printable: out += c else: out…
Broken Angels
This book is very different from Altered Carbon, as noted by many other online reviews. I found it very slow going, for a few reasons: it is quite long; it is very different from Altered Carbon in a way that almost feel like a bait and switch (Altered Carbon is a film noir detective novel, this is a hard core combat book with an alien influence); and Morgan has an annoying habit of providing emphasis with. periods. in the middle. of sentences which makes his work sometimes hard to parse. Overall and ok book and I like the alien stuff, but not what I was expecting and not as good as Altered Carbon. [isbn: 9780575081253;0575081252]
The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat
This is an omnibus edition, containing: The Stainless Steel Rat, The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge, and The Stainless Steel Rats Revenge. [isbn: 0425095312]
Zoe’s Tale
This is a retelling of the events of The Last Colony from the perspective of Zoe, the teenaged adopted daughter of the colony leaders. The story makes the teenaged female narrator quite believable, although that is a little annoying at times. There is a lot of introductory material, and then a relatively rapid wrap up of the story line, which is common across all of the Old Ma's War books that I have read. Overall I enjoyed this book, but not as much as Old Man's War or The Ghost Brigades. [isbn: 0765356198] [awards: nominee hugo 2009]
The Sagan Diary
I think I'd be a little bit peeved if I'd paid the recommended retail for this book, because its a 100 page book (in an unusually large font), and they want $45 for it. Sure its a limited edition, but that's a lot of money for what is basically a short story. I paid $18, and I still think that's a lot of money for this much book. This book is a series of reflections on the life of Jane Sagan. These are beautiful, but if you're expecting a book in the same vein as the rest of the Old Man's War books you'll be disappointed. [isbn: 9781596061033;1596061030]
Snow Crash
I'd read this book before, but a long time ago and I decided it was time for a re-read. Its a good book, although the exposition about Sumerian history feels like a first attempt at the style of exposition used in later books like Quicksilver and I think its not as well done here. The story is pretty good sci-fi, even if the plot feels a little dated today. Overall a good book, but not Stephenson's best. [isbn: 0140232923;0553562614]
Ender’s Game
I've read this book before, many years ago. I figured I should re-read it, given how much I love the short story. Unfortunately, I think the short story is better than the novelization. The novel tends to try to explain too much, although the last chapter is a worthy addition. I'm sure I'll still read the rest in the series though, as there is more to see in this universe.
The Last Colony
All of the Old Men's War books (Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades) have started slowly and built up to a climax. That's been good because its given some time for background which makes the second phase of the book all the more fully formed. This book is the same, although I think the introduction is more long winded than previously, and the whole thing gets wrapped up surprisingly quickly. Overall a good book, but not as good as the previous two.