The Gun Counter

Fiction: The Swarm (The Second Formic War, Book 1) by Orson Scott Card

Non-Fiction: The Soul of Battle by Victor Davis Hanson

One thing I haven't quite figured out with Card's Ender-verse: in the original Ender's Game book, the aliens are called Buggers by the humans, because they evolved from ant-like insectoids. Somewhere along the line, Card stopped using that nickname, and started calling them Formics. The first book I noticed it in was in Ender in Exile, which takes place in between chapters of Ender's Game in the story time line.

Now in the First and Second Formic War series, they're still (already?) being called Formics instead of Buggers. I need to do some searching and see if there's an interview or something where Card answers that question.

Listening to Hard Magic by Larry Correia. Read years ago.

MiddleAgedKen wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:08 pm Fehrenbach is a lot more sympathetic to ... Woodrow ****ing Wilson than I am).

Not a very high hurdle to clear in my case.

randy wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 11:34 pm

MiddleAgedKen wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:08 pm Fehrenbach is a lot more sympathetic to ... Woodrow ****ing Wilson than I am).

Not a very high hurdle to clear in my case.

Yeah, same here. Fehrenbach is an actual Wilson admirer, though -- a UN/LoN true believer...or maybe, given the evidence of the book, more a believer in Realpolitik. Not particularly surprising considering it was published in '63.

SoupOrMan wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:50 am Euler's Elements of Algebra.

I loved math as a kid but stunk at both it and time management to study. My teachers wouldn't explain a lot of these concepts to non-AP students. I wish I'd looked for this in middle school.

Now I'm a little better at time management, I might be able to enjoy the pursuit of more math subjects.

I love math, too. Look on ABEbooks.com for older textbooks - say 60's and before. Better instruction with fewer cartoons.

Netpackrat wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 5:48 am No. Was I supposed to? I didn't find much guidance on what order one should read any of them in.

Most of the known space stuff is either self contained, or part of miniseries. The Ring world books are probably the biggest series in the setting. Like others have said the prequel series is pretty dull, and I suspect it was a cash grab by Niven. The first Ring world book is pretty good, the second is decent, and it goes downhill from there.

Recently read 'Valley of Shadows' by Mike Massa, set in Ringo's zombieverse. I enjoyed it a great deal. Looking forward to reading more of his stuff.

Apparently the next book in that story arc, River of Night, was released 11 days ago and I somehow missed it.

Dammit, Ringo! I'm still catching up with Orson Scott Card!

Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill. Most enjoyable.

Norman Friedman's Fighting the Great War at Sea.