We'll be in the minority, but I agree with you. I never even finished the first book in that series.

^ Funny, me too.
I only read SF that is captivating! And there's plenty of that.

I read Dune many years ago. I never had any desire to read any of the author's other works.

I'm currently (re-)reading Too Many Women by Rex Stout in preparation for the next virtual book discussion of the Wolfe Pack.

I have been a big Rex Stout fan since I first read Some Buried Caesar in the back seat of the car as my parents were driving the family to visit my grandmother in far northwestern South Carolina.

> I read Dune many years ago. I never had any desire to read any of the author's other works.

Don't judge Herbert by the Dune series of books. He did write a couple sci-fi books prior to Dune that weren't too bad at all. One that I remember in particular is The Green Brain.

Greybeard by Brian Aldiss

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/669100.Greybeard

1960s sci-fi/apocalyptic

A bit of a hard read but worth persevering with

I'm having trouble focusing on anything at all. Dune feels too much like the Grateful Dead for my fiftysomething self, i.e., yet another boat I missed.

Greybeard sounds perfect. ��

But right now I am reading about the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash and simultaneously trying to reread Dmitry Orlov.

If that doesn't work, I have a rather alarmist screed about how the record industry might stop releasing singles as soon as 1983 and all of the societal implications of not hearing our favorite songs on the radio any more.

/dork

« The Dissidents - A Year in the Conspiracy Bubble »

Adds facts and historic background to what I knew. Inspires new doubts and questions that I leave unaddressed until I can relate them. Do not read this book if your life lacks spectacle as it will not add any.., but then again. It is in French.

Philip K Dick - Confessions of a Crap Artist

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confes..._a_Crap_Artist

not much sci-fi in here. A straight thriller about some unpleasant people

Interested in the Lynryd Skynryd book/article though.

I read a lot of sci-fi when I was young. Asimov was without question my favorite author. I drifted away from the genre when it started turning dark in the 1970s and 80s. Real life is dark enough.

The last science fiction I read was Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, which I can quite happily recommend.

I just finished The French Powder Mystery and started The Dutch Shoe Mystery.

You quit at a good spot. The quality of the series fell off a cliff after that.

I remember my dad having Asimov books around but I have never tried him. But I have just bought the first book (I think) in the Foundation series

I'll have a look for "Beyond the Blue Event Horizon" as well. Thanks for the tip

I really haven't found a newer author that I really like. Modesett Jr Recluse series is a good read though. I recently finished the latest there. He has generated some good series and stand-a-lone works. But on the whole, not much I've seen that grabs my attention anymore. Always enjoyed Peirs Anthony's books, Andre Norton, Christopher Stasheff, Terry Brooks books. Of course the original Star Trek series 1-10, and the logs 1-10. I have my favorite Western writers, but they have all passed on years ago. Modern Westerns don't cut it like the old authors. Only a couple books lacking of the old Doc Savage books too on my shelve.

I liked the older Tom Clancy books. But the newer ones... not so much. Also the Clive Cussler Novels were good. Problem with these books is they are a 'one' time read. Like them, but I just can't re-read knowing the solved mysteries -- unlike some other books that you can read again in a few years. Like the books by Alistair MacLean you can re-read once in awhile.

Believe it or not my latest books I've been reading are technical books, like the C# Primer, and ARM 64 assembly, and mathematics .... Go figure.

The Foundation Trilogy a tour de force.

My favorite was Pebble in the Sky. I'm not saying it's his best, necessarily, just the one I remember best.

The robot short stories collection is also excellent. I also liked Heinlein's Starship Troopers. The recent movie of that claimed to be based on it was an insult to the book.

Speaking of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" the made for (Apple) TV version is decent. It was good enough I also watched Arthur Clarke's "Childhood's End" whichj was good enough to prompt me to re-read the book. It was even better than I remembered.

Next I think I'll re-read the "Ringworld" books.

The Alan Turing Cryptic Codebreaking Puzzle Book in a French translation « Le livre d'énigmes d'Alan Touring ».

The name of Alan Turing is there, only to make the connection with the Turing Trust and Sir Dermot Turing, as the trust will benefit from the sales revenues. And anyway...

I do not understand the assignments. Sure, there are hints in the title of each puzzle and there are hints in a later chapter of the book.., but this is a little too cryptic for me, as the riddle oftentimes depends on a simple choice of words.

Example: Move 2 ciphers in this equation to get a more powerful equation. The question is explicitly: “which ciphers do you have to move?”

2592 = 2592

• The hint is that you do not have to move them too far away.
• The title of the puzzle is “The variable equation”

The solution is 2^5 9^2 = 2592
So you have to move '5' and '2' to the exponent. Super.

I still try to get into the mood of the book, but do not give it much hope.