Robopocalypse

Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson is a slightly chilling book (which I should have guessed with a quote by Stephen King) about a war between robots and humans. Ok, this is not an original idea but this book does not claim it is, in fact there are plenty of historic quotes to show this idea has been around a long time.


The book starts off at the end of what appears to be the end of a war between humans and robots; then looks back at how it all came about. There are many great characters in this book and not all the heroic characters are people who would probably want to know.


I enjoyed this book, it is well written and the different perspectives work well.


More details can be found at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Robopocalypse-Daniel-H-Wilson/dp/0857204149/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Starman

Starman by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony is an affectionate tribute to Yuri Gagarin; the warts are there (adultery for one) but overall a very positive image come across. What I found interesting is the interviews they managed to get with family and other cosmonauts; the quite open views that were expressed and the criticism of the system fifty years ago. The space race is not that a strong element in this book compared to the consideration of the soviet system (the race to the moon gets relatively little mention). 

I know there are a lot of these space biographies around but this is well written and relatively short. There was not a lot of extra background (this is a feature I like about this book) about his childhood and his family, though there are some stories from his childhood under Nazi occupation. The issues surrounding his death, in my opinion, are handled well and not indulging in the all the conspiracy theories that surround Gagarin's death.

I enjoyed this book and Yuri Gagarin comes out of this book as a hero. It is worth reading and another book to accompany this I would also recommend is Two sides of the Moon by David Scott and Alexi Leonov.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline --- just read this book. This is an excellent book it has been described as "Enchanting, Willy Wonka meets the the Matrix" (USA Today) but if you were a teenager in the 80s and Geeky this book will probably please you with all the references to 80s computers, films, TV programmes and games. The character Wade Watts is a star, if this is Ernest Cline's first book then I look forward to seeing what follows!