Monday, November 12, 2007

A fascinating history of the keyboard...

...written in comic book form. I highly recommend it. It's got me considering making the switch to Dvorak from QWERTY.

http://dvzine.org/zine/01-toc.html

Reading More Again

Yesterday I read an entire book in one day. It has been years since I have done that. Other than the fact that by the time I had finished, I realized I hadn't eaten in 5 hours and was starving, it was an extremely enjoyable way to spend the first half of my day. The book was one that many of you out there have already read. An important hub of the science fiction canon, which I myself am only now reaching (having just gained an appreciation for sci-fi a few years ago). The book is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

I know, I know. I should've hit this one a long time ago, but to my credit, I do already have under my belt: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I Robot, Snow Crash, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Slaughterhouse Five, A Wrinkle in Time (in my mind more like fantasy but included anyway on many top 100 sci-fi lists), Cat's Cradle, Timequake, and several others. Some clearly screaming holes in my experience author-wise include Asimov (I Robot being the only of his offering I have read), Heinlein (haven't read any), Bradbury (haven't read any), Arthur C Clarke, and from the old school Jules Verne. Some other canon I clearly have to hit book-wise (and plan to soon) includes: Dune, Foundation, Neuromancer, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Martian Chronicles, Cryptonomicon, and Hyperion. Anyway, the point is, I'm working on it.

As for Ender's Game itself. Well, clearly I enjoyed the book and found it to be an engaging page-turner (or I wouldn't have gone 5 hours without food!) You know what? Gotta get back to work, more on the book later. A sneak peak to my reaction? Speaker for the dead = SILLY.