Book review - "The Wavewatcher's Companion" (Gavin Pretor-Pinney)

Another random grab off the library shelf, mostly because t was non-fiction and also beecause I luvz waves, I do. Then when I got it home, I was prepared to be disappointed as it seemed to be a whistle-stop tour of everything wave related, and I was already pretty sure I knew everything it was likely to tell me about waves. Theoretical chemist here, thanks!

And it is a whistle-stop tour of everything wave-related, from sea waves through biochemistry to traffic related phenomena. But it's done in a good way – explained well for those who don't know it already, explained interestingly for those who do. And with an overly of wry and sarcastic humour that really did it for me. Mostly when science things try to be humorous, it's just about as painful as dad-dancing. But this made me laugh. It also reminded me of the best of Alain de Botton. Yes, there is such a thing IMO, shoot me if you like.

Anyway, recommended. I'll probably put the cloudspotting one on my library list.

Book review - "Cryptonomicon" (Neal Stephenson)

Hahaha. This was awesome. It was recommended to me as a good Neal Stephenson book to read, so it was likely to be enjoyable, but I wasn't prepared to enjoy it as much as I did. Basically a reasonably good novel involving a really interesting part of history and some delicious nerdy maths stuff to rub thighs over. Again, it was nerd-stuff that was actually funny, rather than toe-curling. The dinner-party conversation Randy ends up having with his girlfriend's academic buddies is just wonderfully affirmingly word-perfect to every time I try to talk to humanities graduates, and the division of Randy's grandmother's goods up by his nerdy family manages to convey the absolute emotional dysfunctionality of oven the most apparently rational family when it comes to chattel-grabbing. I guess a lot of the observations just appealed to my predominately male and geeky brain.

Anyhoo, if the South Gloucestershire library system every release my other two Neal Stephenson reservations from the limbo of non-collected books, hopefully they'll be as good as this.