Roy Tang

Programmer, engineer, scientist, critic, gamer, dreamer, and kid-at-heart.

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All entries tagged books.

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Jan 2020

Nov 2019

Sep 2019

  • My Personal Reading List
    I recently imported my old reviews from Goodreads into this blog as posts. These days I generally prefer just writing my book reviews here anyway, so I will likely stop using Goodreads as a service completely. To facilitate tracking of my read/unread books (and perhaps to inspire me to read more, as I really should), I’ve published an old file which I’ve been using as a sort of “to-read” list since 2010.

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    Posted by under post at #books #goodreads
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Aug 2019

  • Book Review: Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman
    I forget where I got this book recommendation from, but it did go on sale for Kindle a while back so I got a copy. The full title is “Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World”. Summary: I really like this book, though I think it falls short in providing concrete steps for how to get from where we are to the idealized utopia he presents. Still, in this world of ever-increasing bad news and crises, the optimism of this book is a welcome respite.

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May 2019

  • Game of Thrones
    After a much-maligned eighth and final season, HBO’s Game of Thrones is done. Unmarked spoilers follow. The eighth season was so notoriously bad, we got petitions asking for rewrites. Here’s how I explained it to a friend after the notorious episode 5: It’s not about characters being killed, it’s about bad writing because they’re cramming. The writers were determined to finish the show in 2 smaller seasons so they’re skipping a lot of necessary character development and characters just do stupid things because the plot demands it.

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    Posted by under post at #pop culture #tv #books
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  • Wheel of Time: Eye of the World
    Continuing with the Wheel of Time re-read! I devoured Eye of the World much more quickly than I expected, finishing the book in less than 3 days. It helps that I had already read it before of course, but I think there’s also a part of me that enjoys escaping into this fantasy world when the real world outlook seems dire. Anyway, the book shows a lot of Tolkien-esque plot influence, especially near the start: Some kids from a backwater village are visited by a magic user and after some troubles are forced on the run from black riders?

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    Posted by under post at #books #pop culture #wheel of time
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  • Wheel of Time: New Spring
    Since I was going to be taking a long trip in a month, I was looking for some books to read on the plane and in airports and whatnot while waiting. I settled on a re-read of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, a pretty good time for it since by next year we may have a TV series from Amazon (hopefully better than Game of Thrones). Side note: Wheel of Time is also why I’m not optimistic that GRRM can finish ASoIaF in just two more books - Jordan took forever and died before he could finish WoT and even Sanderson who took over needed an additional three books to finish the saga.

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    Posted by under post at #books #pop culture #wheel of time
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Jan 2019

  • Hardy Boys
    Between the ages of 10-12, my reading diet consisted almost exclusively of the teenage-targetted detective series The Hardy Boys. For me, the term invokes the names Frank and Joe before the Matt and Jeff of WWE fame. We had a fairly wide collection of the blue-hardcovered books of those days. And I believe I made the effort to read every single book in that particular series, through borrowing and such. I think I was successful, but I can’t be sure.

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    Posted by under post at #books #Pop Culture
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  • The Quezon City Public Library
    I pass by the Quezon City Hall every so often, and I’ve always been curious about the QC public library they have there. It got a bit of press a while back about how it was a nice place to hang out (for a government institution at least), so I had a todo list item about checking it out. Well, last week I did! I passed by on a weekday afternoon about 4pm after running some errands.

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    Posted by under post at #quezon city #books #Philippines
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  • Konmari
    I don’t know much about this Konmari thing. I think it’s been around for a while, but got a boost recently due to a Netflix special. I think I agree with it in principle, or at least what I know of it from secondary social media commentary. Minimalism is a worthwhile goal, and so is getting rid of things that do nothing for you other than take up space. Some people aren’t reacting well to the idea of throwing away books though:

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    Posted by under post at #books #Self-Improvement #Pop Culture
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  • Form good habits and become their slave
    New year’s resolutions are hard to maintain, so much so that people will make jokes about opening a gym that only runs during January, since most gym NYRs run out of steam by then. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve found regarding acquiring new behaviors comes from the first motivational books I ever read - The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino, which for some reason we had a copy of in our house when I was young.

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    Posted by under post at #Books #Self-Improvement
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Dec 2018

  • Book Stores
    The other day I was passing through the QC memorial circle (as is my wont) and I decided to walk around the tiangge/flea market that’s often there. It seemd larger than usual that day, so I figured I should finally take a look. And in the process I remembered what I dislike about local flea markets: 90% of the stalls are selling some form of clothes (which I have no interest in browsing - maybe if these stalls sold something my size for once!

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    Posted by under post at #books #Pop culture #Philippines
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Nov 2018

  • Shogun, and the rest of James Clavell's Asian Saga
    Shogun was the first novel I ever read outside of required school readings and it remains one of favorites to this day after many rereadings. It had it all – the age of exploration, religious conflict, language barriers, duty, honor, love, betrayal, war, sacrifice, samurai, ninjas, guns, cannons, etc and it still influences my thinking to this day. One of my favorite quotes from this book: Toranaga: “Tsukku-san says that the Netherlands were vassals of the Spanish king until just a few years ago.

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Oct 2018

Jun 2018

Mar 2018

  • Book Review: 11/22/63 by King, Stephen
    11/22/63 by Stephen King My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was my first Stephen King book outside the Dark Tower series. Before reading the Dark Tower, I had pegged King as a writer of “scary” books because of his early works, and I wasn’t too interested. This book is none of that. It’s a nice, informative, well-written time travel story that wraps up nicely. I actually had no idea it was a time travel story when I started reading (you’d think the title would have given that away.

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    Posted by under post at #books
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Aug 2017

Mar 2017

Feb 2017

Jan 2017

Dec 2016

Nov 2016

  • Book Review: The Amber Spyglass by Pullman, Philip
    The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman My rating: 3 of 5 stars Pros: - I liked having the bear back - Diamond-legged creatures with wheels! - An honest effort to tie up all the loose ends and give each character decent endings - A decent read, at least Cons: - allegories aren’t very subtle - people get miraculously redeemed, even Mrs Coulter who was such a great villain - build up of Asriel’s awesome plan to take the War to Heaven only to find out he didn’t really know what he was doing until he found out he had to somehow help two kids find their pets

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    Posted by under post at #books #dark materials
    Also on: goodreads / 0 / 124 words

  • Book Review: The Subtle Knife by Pullman, Philip
    The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman My rating: 3 of 5 stars Well, the knife may be subtle, but the allegories are not. I can see why some religious folk might find the trilogy’s themes controversial, but as far as I can see they’re still just fantasy stories. We’ll see how things ramp up in the last book. I kind of miss that bear though. View all my reviews
    Posted by under post at #books #dark materials
    Also on: goodreads / 0 / 69 words
  • Reply to 'I am Terry Goodkind, author of NEST (11/15/2016). AMA' on /r/books:

    Hello, I hope you find the time to answer my questions :)

    I read the Sword of Truth series (up to Confessor - I have not read any of the later books) perhaps a decade ago. I enjoyed the series for the most part, but I always felt that the first few books were the strongest, and towards the end of the series (starting around Faith of the Fallen) I felt that the characters had become a bit too…shall we say “preachy” about their particular worldviews.

    My questions are:

    • Did you initially plan the series to be so many books?

    • Was it originally your plan to introduce philosophical themes such as Objectivist ideas later on in the books?

    • Which parts of the series would you say are the strongest and you are most proud of?

    • Any technical advice you would give to an aspiring fantasy writer trying to get a book sold?

    Thanks!

    Posted by under notes at #books
    Also on: reddit / 0

Oct 2016

Aug 2016

  • Book Review: Hyperion by Simmons, Dan
    Hyperion by Dan Simmons My rating: 4 of 5 stars I randomly decided to start reading a new book the other day and picked up Hyperion completely blind. I knew it was sci-fi, but that was about it And it turned out to be some really good sci-fi too. Simmons introduces new concepts and the history of his universe and human society quickly and unapologetically. Even the prologue bandies around the terms Hegemony and Ouster with little explanation save what we can glean from context.

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  • Book Review: Equal Rites by Pratchett, Terry
    Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett My rating: 4 of 5 stars I bought a used copy of this book a while back and finally decided to read it, it wasn’t particularly long. I’d found however, that I’d already read it before lol. Anyway, I still managed to read through it a second time, it was pretty good. I like the Discworld books, they’re ridiculous, popcorn fantasy reads, and this one was no exception.

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  • Book Review: The Trading Code by Cam, Jason
    The Trading Code by Jason Cam My rating: 4 of 5 stars Pretty informative and helpful stuff for beginners to stock trading, although I reckon it will still take time and experience to get the hang of stock trading. I was interested in the math so I’m happy that the book discussed the formulas for most of the indicators used (with the exception of the ADX) View all my reviews
    Posted by under post at #books
    Also on: goodreads / 0 / 70 words

Jun 2016

May 2016

  • Book Review: The Making of Karateka by Mechner, Jordan
    The Making of Karateka by Jordan Mechner My rating: 4 of 5 stars The book is literally a collection of journal entries detailing young Jordan Mechner’s days as a university student at Yale at the same time working on what would be his first published game. I found it both inspiring (though some might consider me the wrong age to be inspired by it) and amusing as a look into the life of a young man in the early 80s.

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  • Book Review: Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds by Berkun, Scott
    Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds by Scott Berkun My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve been following and reading Scott Berkun’s blog on and off for the past 5 years or so, so I already have a passing familiarity with this work. Mindfire collects some of the best essays from his blog into an easy-to-read format that you can digest in one-to-two sittings. Berkun writes about a number of diverse topics such as how to think critically and how to interact with other people and how to spend your attention.

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  • Book Review: Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut, Kurt
    Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut My rating: 5 of 5 stars Cat’s Cradle is only the second Vonnegut book I’ve read, after Slaughterhouse Five. I find myself fascinated with how he unveils his narrative in short, seemingly disconnected bursts, something much more obvious in this book. Like S5, CC’s plot starts close to normal ordinary fiction and ends in a completely different place that’s strictly in the realm of sci-fi. A great read, and very easy too given the structure of ridiculously short chapters View all my reviews
    Posted by under post at #books
    Also on: goodreads / 0 / 88 words

Apr 2016

  • Book Review: The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, J.D.
    The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger My rating: 2 of 5 stars This book was painful to read really. I might have received it better had I read it when I was younger, but reading it now, Holden just feels like this whiny entitled angry kid that has no idea what he’s doing or how the world works. The story doesn’t really go anywhere interesting; I understand that it’s not that kind of book, but what it is doesn’t really appeal to me too much.

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  • Book Review: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character by Feynman, Richard
    Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman My rating: 5 of 5 stars After reading this book, I’m quite envious of Feynman’s life haha. He’s lived a very interesting life and the stories are told with a general down-to-earth tone despite the fact that he often has to explain the math and theoretical physics which may be less accessible for laymen. For science-oriented people, this may be one of the best biographies to read View all my reviews
    Posted by under post at #books
    Also on: goodreads / 0 / 85 words

  • Book Review: A Briefer History of Time by Hawking, Stephen
    A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking My rating: 5 of 5 stars I’ve restarted reading this book (and the original) a few times since I was still in school. In fact, when I opened my iBooks copy that I’ve left alone over the past few years, it was at around halfway through. I started over again and managed to finish it this time. Not sure why I had trouble finishing it before, it’s a fairly short book and the subject matter is interesting to anyone who has even a passing interest in science.

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Mar 2016

  • Book Review: Perdido Street Station by Miéville, China
    Perdido Street Station by China Miéville My rating: 3 of 5 stars Perdido Street Station is a difficult book to read, which is why it took me a lot of time to get through it (and this was my second attempt too! I had to restart because I did not even get very far the last time and did not retain anything). Not because the plot is convoluted or anything like that.

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  • Book Review: John Dies at the End by Wong, David
    John Dies at the End by David Wong My rating: 3 of 5 stars 2016 book #12: John Dies at the End by David Wong. This book is all kinds of weird. It’s a bit like the author tried to think of as many weird things as he possible could then ties them together with an impossible plot that he doesn’t even fully resolved. It’s like the author was on crack while he was writing most of this (apt, since he’s apparently and editor at cracked.

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  • Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek by Ferriss, Timothy
    The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss My rating: 3 of 5 stars 2016 Book #11: The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris. Pros: - useful tips on reducing unnecessary work, remote working, automation, travel tips, etc Cons: - not for anyone who dislikes lying to people or some other form of “salesmanship" - not for anyone who doesn’t have an idea for something to sell that can be easily mass-manufactured and distributed to the potential buyers

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Feb 2016

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