Theft of Fire offers a plausible and realistic universe. The characters, Marcus Warnoc and Miranda Foxgrove, are not mere archetypes; they are complex, flawed, and deeply human. Their struggle to trust one another and overcome their own demons is a powerful allegory for the modern human condition.
A review of a self-published science-fiction novel. He notes in the post that the author's wife handles marketing and "is the one who reached out to me and suggested this review."
The novel is very good. The author writes with good scientific rigour. The writing is supported by repeatedly introducing new mysteries in every chapter... to keep you coming for more. The characters are believable and well drawn.
A pros-and-cons review of the Hugo-winning novel; he lists several complaints alongside the praise.
I spent the last few weeks reading Template Metaprogramming with C++ by Marius Băncilă. It is currently 50$ on Amazon. Though, technically, the book is about advanced 'template' techniques, it is much more broad and practical. It is one of the 'good programming books'. If you are an experienced C++ programmer, you should give it a peek
A review of a C++ templates book. He discloses at the foot of the post: "I got a free copy of the book from the editor in exchange for a promise that I would do a review if I liked the book," adding that he was not paid and did not promise a positive review.
The book is colorful and ludic which is a good idea for a "Beginner's Guide". The layout is attractive, there are many detailed examples. I like the pedagogy: the author wants you to learn by doing. However, the book is poor as a reference: the coverage is limited despite the 300 pages and the chapter summaries are strictly non-technical.
A review of a beginner R book. He discloses: "I got a free copy of the e-book from the publisher with the expectation that I would publish a review."
Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.
The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.
A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.
What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:
Hardware, services4 years
Software5 years
Podcasts, courses, other8 years
Books25 years
Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.