Book review, Reading

Book Review: Map of Bones by James Rollins

Map Of BonesMap Of Bones by James Rollins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Picking up a James Rollins thriller is a guaranteed good read. He has the knack of providing a solid thriller that moves along at a fast pace.

Now, we aren’t talking Matthew Reilly pace, and not Andy McDermott either. Rollins is in that pacey category with (his good friend) Steve Berry and Clive Cussler. So this is “does my side have air-bags” as opposed to “my parachute isn’t opening”.

Map of Bones is part of Rollins’ Sigma Force series. I like that the heroes are highly intelligent military operatives; it is a nerd’s wet dream. This is the second book in the series and the first to feature Seichan, the nemesis of protagonist Gray Pierce. You know you have a good series when the bad guy is this interesting.

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Book review, Reading

Book Review: Hell’s Kitchen by Jeffery Deaver

Hell's KitchenHell’s Kitchen by Jeffery Deaver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is something about a mystery novel that can be either entertaining or dreary. Ultimately you want the mystery and suspense; but not too much. If the mystery is too simple, then *yawn*. If it is too complicated then you start to think it is all too hard or that the author had finished the mystery and realised they had another 200 pages to fill.

This is my first outing with Jeffery Deaver and I can see why he is so highly regarded with his mystery writing. He treads that fine line between too much and too little with a cool hand. There was much more to this story of catching a fire-bug for hire, with the climax really pulling me in.

Part of the balance came from Jeff’s use of Hell’s Kitchen as the setting and the local residents as layers of story. For the most part the exposition felt necessary and served the larger mystery.

The version I listened to was read by Paul Birchard who did as many accents as an American can in his reading.

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Humor, Science

Why being smart sucks

I like to think of myself as smart. My friends and work collegues would refer to me as that annoying know-it-all. Being smart is not actually as good as you would think. For example, having knowledge and understanding puts you at a severe disadvantage in an argument, as you are trying to be correct, rather than win the argument with made up nonsense. And, lets face it, everyone hates a know-it-all.

So here are 5 reasons being smart sucks (Original article from Cracked.com with some edits by Tyson Adams. Original here).

5) You’re Probably a Night Owl – And That’s a Bad Thing

Recently, scientists discovered a quirky side effect to having a high IQ: You tend to stay up until later hours and get up later in the morning. That’s right – the more intelligent are also much more likely to be night owls. Which isn’t such a surprise when you consider that intelligent people are infamous for burning the midnight oil to cram for tests, write papers, touch up those earnings reports, etc.It appears to just be evolution – the more intelligent members of a species are, in general, the first to change habits. Since humans have been day-dwellers during most of their existence, it’s primarily the smarties who prefer to habitually stay up until the wee hours and to do the types of tasks that are easier to accomplish when you don’t have the day-dwellers hanging around and distracting you.

Of course being a night owl does have some negative side effects, or rather a lot that will screw up your health. For starters, studies have found that “eveningness” is associated with a high degree of emotional instability. That means you tend to be less agreeable and conscientious than the average Joe. Oh, and you don’t just make others’ lives miserable. Thanks to your late-night habits, likely brought on by high intelligence, you’re also three times more likely to suffer symptoms of depression. According to a number of studies, night owls are at higher risk for heart disease and suffer more arterial stiffness than those who go to bed early. People who tend to stay up late also tend to do other unhealthy things at night, such as overeating. Then, once they do eventually hit the hay, they experience more sleep interruptions when those pesky morning larks get up and start noisying about. All this adds up to some nasty artery stress and whacked-out circadian rhythms, a nice recipe for a massive coronary.

4) You’re Less Likely to Pass On Your Genes


Another unfortunate stereotype of smart people is that they’re socially awkward nerds who are doomed to lives of celibacy until they get out of high school hell. Unfortunately, that one turns out to be totally true. But it’s not all bad news. There’s evidence that the highly educated get more enjoyment out of sex than the dumb jocks and that they make the woman in their lives happy. Yes, monogamy.

It all starts with the smart ladies. A 2008 national census reported that women who had dropped out of high school had the most children on average. And the more education women achieved, the fewer children they were likely to have, with the fewest children being born to women who had finished graduate school. Good news for overpopulation, bad news for picking up. Well, unless you want a dumb chick, who is likely to trap you with an unwanted child, as research found that women with lower IQs are less likely to know how to use birth control properly, leading to more unplanned pregnancies. Looks like Idiocracy was a startling insight into our future society.

 3) You’re More Likely to Lie

Tyson note: I’m not sure I agree with this point because it assumes we are manipulative bastards. From my own experience managers are moronic manipulative bastards and they are usually following the Dilbert  Principle.

The problem with being the smartest guy in the room is that you usually know you’re the smartest guy in the room. For some people, that’s not a big deal. They can relate to others just fine and know how to navigate around everyone else’s deficiencies without being complete pricks. Others, however, know they have an intellectual edge and can’t help but abuse it.

In order to lie and get away with it, you also have to keep the truth in mind and manipulate it, and you might even have to cover up your lies upon further questioning. All of this involves integrating several brain processes in much the same way that you would solve a complex calculus problem. This means that the age at which you start lying, and the effectiveness with which you do it throughout your life, are controlled by how smart you are.

In one study, scientists put people in brain-imaging machines and found that the regions of the brain that light up when a person metaphorically sets his pants on fire are the same that control “executive functioning.” These are high-order thinking and reasoning abilities that include working memory, which, you guessed it, is the single biggest component of your IQ.

2) You’re More Likely to Believe Bullshit

We’re sure that at some point, someone has told you that you can’t get anywhere without an education, and for the most part, they’re right. And you’re much more likely to pursue that education if you’re starting out with a high IQ. According to renowned intelligenceologists who painstakingly measured every goddamn thing that you can associate with IQ, test scores were “the best single predictor of an individual’s years of education.”

The problem is that education leads to one overall inaccurate belief: You think you’re smarter than you are. Three studies have found that people who fall for investment scams are better-educated than the average person but don’t seek advice because they think they’re immune to making mistakes. In one study, researchers found that 94 percent of college professors think their work is superior to their peers’. These fellows fail to realize that intelligence doesn’t always translate to real-world ability, and thus they tend to overestimate the quality of their work.

Via Smartiq.com
Whoa! Sure is getting crowded at the smart end of the bell curve. Right, guys?

It seems to go back to the old saying about how the wisest man is the one who realizes he knows nothing. Or, as Michael Shermer, the author of Why People Believe Weird Things, puts it: “Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons.”

That’s why the more education you get, the more likely you are to believe in, say, ghosts and the supernatural. One study found that 23 percent of college freshman believed in the paranormal, compared with 31 percent of seniors and 34 percent of graduate students. Which leads us to wonder … what the fuck are schools teaching these days?

1) You’re More Likely to Be Self-Destructive

On one hand, it seems like the smarter you are, the greater your ability to know the dangers of, say, shooting heroin. So self-destructive habits are traits of the low-class and stupid, right? Eh, not really…

The thing is, the great minds have something in common with proverbial death-prone kitties: curiosity. Researchers have finally begun to understand the link between curiosity and intelligence on the molecular level, thanks to scientists from the University of Toronto and Mount Sinai Hospital who discovered a protein in an under-explored part of the brain that controls both traits.

Via Wiredtowinthemovie.com
It’s always in the last place you look.

Makes sense. Weird shit like monkey-powered time machines can be invented only by people with enough brain smarts to make them work and enough curiosity to want to see such awesomeness in the first place.

So extra-curious people are also extra-likely to be substance abusers. British scientists published the results of a long-term study showing that smart people were more likely to be drunks. People who fell into the “very bright” category (IQs of 125 or greater, that’s me) were not only more likely to experiment with alcohol but also were more likely to drink excessively and binge drink than their dimwitted counterparts. And they found the same link between high intelligence and psychoactive drug use. It also turns out that intelligent people are much more likely to indulge in illicit substances such as marijuana, Ecstasy, cocaine and heroin. The smarter you are, the more likely you are to be tripping balls at any given moment.

As for why, remember when we said earlier that smart people’s brains seek out novelty and thus are the first to experiment with any new habit? Well, one theory explaining the link between substance abuse and intelligence is that both alcohol and drugs are novel substances, in evolutionary terms. Humans have been consuming alcohol for only about 10,000 years, and the earliest recorded drug was only 5,000 years ago. So when something is novel, the curiouser and most intelligent among us are more likely to want to try it out.

You know. For science.

Humor, Writing

Doing good

Book review, Reading

Book Review: Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly

Hover Car RacerHover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m very tempted to give this book five stars, but I’m not sure I can give a young adult audio-book like this such a high rating.

Eleven CDs kept me entertained while I was on the road for work this week. Matthew managed to keep me wide awake despite the long hours on the road. On many occasions I found myself holding my breath and gripping the steering wheel, hoping that Jason and The Bug were okay.

Hover Car Racer is essentially Matthew Reilly for tweens and teens. This is Matthew Reilly we’re talking about, the King of fast paced adventure that never lets up until the final page. He makes sure that every teen angst and tragedy befalls Jason Chaser, to the point that you hate all the bad guys for being so mean. Yes, I’m probably too old to be calling characters meany-pies.

This isn’t really a book for adults, despite how much I enjoyed it. My wife found it a little too childish in language use for her liking, were I was able to ignore that issue, as the pace rocketed along. As such, give this to any young boys you have in your family, especially if they aren’t big readers. Hover Car Racer is likely to be one of those books that hooks kids on reading.

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Fun Articles, Humor

A guide to bigotry in the 21st century

A lot of things have changed in our modern society. I’m writing on the internet, you could be from just about anywhere in the world, and we can all agree that the US government should tactically nuke the Kardashian residence. Bigots are no longer able to say the things they used to be able to. In this modern age they need to know who it is okay to insult.

Former Targets

Racism, sexism and the like are no longer cool. We’ve realised that everyone has the same colour blood, that women and men are two sides of the same coin and that religions are all saying roughly the same thing – hell, Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

It has to be said that gay people, especially men, still suffer as a target of bigotry. I’ll leave it to Steve Hughes to point out the flaws in the bigot’s statements.

Line Call

Fundamentalist religious kooks

Yes, kooks. Even I can’t help myself. The reality is that there are extremists out there hiding under the banner of religion. It is a pity they are giving religion a bad name, especially with the promotion of anti-science. As a result it is only okay to be bigoted against idiots who are giving religious people a bad name.

New (acceptable) Bigotry Targets

Fat people

Between the double chin and the ability to eat a weeks worth of groceries in one sitting, fat people are one giant target for bigots. There is no end of insults available and doing so only makes them an even bigger target, as they seek comfort snacks. Plus, it is easy to justify the insults out of love and concern for their health. And the laughs.

Racists

It’s about time racists got a taste of their own medicine.

Sexists

This group are so popular that you don’t even have to be a sexist to have been accused of being a sexist. All you have to do is be part of the demographic that used to be sexists a generation ago.

Scientists

Where do scientists get off anyway? They just don’t understand the world like normal people. With all of their study into how the world works, they have lost touch with all the people who don’t know about the world. Snooty bastards!

Politicians

This group have always been a bigotry target and they will remain one of our favourite targets until society dispenses with them for good. Fuck ’em.

Reality TV Stars

If they are going to be attention whores, then at least let the attention be negative. The person who flour-bombed Kim Kardashian recently got their bigotry target right.

People who are sick but come in to work anyway.

You know who you are. We all hope you burn in hell next to the rapists, child molesters and people who talk on the phone in the cinema.

People who talk on the phone in the cinema.

These people rightly deserve every ounce of hate they receive. Hopefully it comes in the form of Terry Tate.

Humor, Science

Reason Rally – Adam Savage

As a fiction author I am rather disturbed by the anti-science trend that appears to be occurring in society. If the real world treads into fictional territory all the time then fiction authors will have to start writing non-fiction. I think we can all agree that science is a good thing and that fiction should remain in the books that we read and movies/TV that we watch.

Adam Savage gave a good speech at the Reason Rally on the weekend, check it out.

Humor, Uncategorized

A gripping scene

Reading

Coolest bookcase ever!

In some of my spare time I like to make things out of wood. I’ve already built and filled up one bookcase and am working on finishing a second. I suddenly feel the need to scrap the project and copy Hannah’s fantastic design.

Have to love a TARDIS inspired bookcase!

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Humor, Reading, Uncategorized

Bram Stoker is Rolling Over in His Grave

We all need to take book reviews with a pinch of salt. In this case people seemed surprised to find vampires don’t sparkle.

Fun Articles, Humor, Science

Guide to becoming an omnivore

The internet is filled with guides on how to go vegetarian, and increasingly how to go vegan. Of course the reality of these diet changes is that at some stage vegans and vegetarians are going to have to come back to eating meat, as they discover they lack energy, are anemic and their B12 and calcium levels require them to eat real food.

In an effort to help my malnourished friends before their bones shatter, I thought I would put together this quick guide to becoming an omnivore.

It isn’t as easy as just starting to eat real food again. If it were that easy, vegans would be jumping back on a normal diet all the time. The problem is that the human digestive tract changes so that your body doesn’t starve without meat in the diet. As a result it stops making the digestive enzymes that help you digest meat. Changing back to a meat diet would then mean there is a shortfall in pancreatic secretions required to digest the meat in the short-term. The changed flora in the gut would also be affected. The “sick” feeling is just your body getting used to eating properly again.

Step 1:
Go to your local butcher and purchase meat.

Step 2:
Start off small. The longer you have been unhealthy the smaller the amount of meat you want to start eating to become healthy again. Remember, you are restarting your body, so you need to be consistent and gradual so that you can adapt.

Step 3:
Increase the portion of meat in the diet gradually until you are eating normally again. This will take time, as pointed out. The end goal is to avoid all the problems of not eating meat, so stick at it.

Step 4:
Make sure you are still eating your vegetables, they make a great side dish to meat.

Step 5:
Congratulations on becoming normal again. As an omnivore you are now able to keep up with the kids, won’t have the nutrient deficiencies, will be eating complete protein sources with a good balance of amino acids and will have lowered that osteoporosis risk.

FAQ:

How soon should I make the change to eating meat again?
ASAP.

Will I be healthier as an omnivore?
As long as you eat right (meat+vegetables+fruit+cereals = right) without going all Hurley on the food you will be much healthier.

But I heard meat gives you cancer?
And I heard Elvis is still alive. Most foods contain carcinogens, that’s why you are meant to eat a balanced diet and not get fat. All of the studies that claim you will die of cancer from eating meat are lying, as they forgot to mention you also have to be inactive, fat, not eating vegetables, smoking and drinking like a fish as well.

Will I be sexier eating meat?
There is nothing sexy about salad.

But won’t I be hurting animals?
No. Animals like sheep and cattle have been bred for thousands of years to enjoy being your food. They even try to eat as much garnish as possible to make themselves tastier.

But aren’t animals farting too much for the environment?
Animals fart and burp, that’s natural. Digging up coal, oil and gas to burn for energy is damaging the environment. Plus animals are cuter and friendlier than oil executives.

Uncategorized

Nothing is impossible

Book review, Reading

Book Review: Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Double DexterDouble Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dexter, how I love thee.

It hard to find some reading time these past two weeks. When I did find the time, what better way to spend it than reading a Jeff Lindsay novel.

If there are authors I would like to emulate, Jeff Lindsay and Robert Crais – with their wit, humour and thrilling plots – would be at the top of my list. This outing sees even more of the witty insights into Dexter’s world, my favourite being the final exclamation by Astor, Dexter’s step daughter.

I can’t give this book five stars, because it isn’t as strong as the others in the series. Crunch time hits in the plot about page 200 and is the taut and witty Dexter we know and love. I don’t normally say this about books I read – as I object to it myself – but sticking with this Dexter outing is well worth it.

Also worth mentioning is that Jeff signed my copy of Double Dexter. I asked him about the difference between how Dexter sees himself as “big brained Dexter” and yet exhibits traits that counter this statement. Jeff had some very interesting insights into the psychopath mind that he shared with me on this topic, summarised as “They are never as smart as they think they are.”

Read and enjoy.

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Humor

I saw you coming

As a scientist I am often dismayed at people’s gullibility to believe some of the rubbish that is out there. I find Harry and Paul always cheers me up.

So the big question is, do we try and protect the gullible or just make sure the gullible’s opinions are ignored in public discourse?

Fun Articles, Humor, Reading

Magazines and Newsletters that never took off

Our local bookstore is actually the newsagent, so you have to walk past the magazines to find the book (yes, not pluralized). I can’t figure out why some of these magazines never took off with readers.

Particle Physics for the Left-Handed Extrovert

A big field, from what I hear.

American Jihardist Today

The contacts and personal pages must get a lot of attention.

Better than your Neighbour’s Home and Gardens

I believe this has been renamed to Better Homes and Gardens.

TV Shows You Missed

Nothing like hearing about the stuff you missed while you were busying doing something important.

At the Movies with Ben Stiller & Adam Sandler

Why are they still allowed to make movies!?

Outdoor Activities for Agoraphobics

The equestrian edition would be very interesting.

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Humor, Reading, Writing

How to use apostrophes

Uncategorized

Good things come to……

Truth is not usually this simple.

Humor

The news can be funny

Usually the news does little to inform us, but sometimes it can bring us laughs.

Reading, Writing

Perth Writers’ Festival 2012

I can’t believe that it was over a week ago that the Perth Writers’ Festival finished. This year was a much bigger and better affair, showing Perth is worth flying to, despite being out-of-the-way, from everything other than Perth. What better time to present a recap of my highlights than now. Warning, this post doesn’t contain my usual sarcasm, satire, humour and insults directed at the author James Patterson.

Publishing Seminar

An entire day on how to get into publishing: sounds like a good idea. One hundred and forty of us were in the comfort of an air-conditioned tent to listen to publishers, manuscript assessors, agents, lawyers, union (yes, Australia Society of Authors, I’d call it a union) and booksellers. Hard to sum up an entire day of information in a few words, so I’ll make some general comments. The industry is still generally a positive field, but don’t give up your day job. There was a lot of talk about the industry having declined – 17.5% in December, 21.5% January, 29.5% to the second week of February – and the usual memes were rolled out (E-books, etc), although it was good to hear some realists talking about overpricing and particular market segments. I got a lot out of the day, like having my need to write poetry stifled for good, with the realisation that Penguin compiled a “best-loved” Australian poetry collection and sold 700 copies. But it has to be said, it is good to see the gender balance in writing, being one of thirty men in the room of one hundred and forty. It is also amazing that, for a group of writers who are supposedly skilled at expressing themselves, there was a lack of ability to orally express opinions and statements (I’m biased, having a background in extension). I’d also like to acknowledge the guy, who is at every writers’ festival, by quoting him “I have a bestseller” with the caveat “not quite finished yet.”

Pants on Fire

This session was all about writing perspective. Who wants to read an honest character? Every character is lying to themselves about something, creating that flawed and unreliable narrator that people love. Is the writer really lying to the reader by keeping them in suspense? Probably, but I’d like to think of it as telling the truth at a certain pace.

Sex, Lies and Literature

I love sessions that end up, inevitably, discussing censorship. This is topical, given the recent PayPal directive made to Smashwords. My general opinion on censorship was upheld by the presenters and assembled crowd, even if we were having a reading of octopus tentacle bestiality as a prelude to the discussion. An interesting article from the 1930s was read, apparently women at that time had worries about the same body issues they have now.

Banality of Politics

Combine a respected reporter, a biographer and a politician who actually has something worth saying, and you have the recipe for one statement. Politics has become about distracting the general voting masses with shiny objects. George Megalogenis provided his usual erudite insights, and Andrew Robb proved he is still one of the few politicians worth voting for (Lindsay Tanner having retired).

Reading In An Age of Change

Book stores are going the way of the literate high school graduate. This session was all about what the future holds for booksellers and how the market will change. Alan Sheardown made some very poignant points about the industry. Running an indie book store he understood what was actually happening with book sales and how to keep the customers. I also became a Kobo fan after hearing Malcolm Neil’s thoughts and comments. There have already been rumours starting about Kobo being the other e-book market after Amazon, after this session I have little doubt. Malcolm didn’t pull any punches.

Enigmatic Individuals

All I really have to say about this session is that Western Australian authors are alive and well, especially in crime fiction. Keep an eye out for us, we’re awesome!

Not Everyone Gets to Eat Like We Do

As much as I love intellectual discussion, I really do wish more intellectuals would give some credit to agriculture. Tim Costello, David Rieff, Tom Keneally, Katie Smith Milway and Carmen Lawrence spent this session discussing various aspects of the food demands of the world. Unfortunately, Katie was the only one that had any agricultural knowledge. Despite this, the discussion made some good points about the need for a shift in government focus and how poorer nations need support, not handouts.

Crime Writing for Dummies

The Saturday morning writing seminar was not actually for dummies. Felicity Young took us through a few activities, including a group plotting exercise. Our group killed off Jo Nesbo with a hardcover edition of his first novel, Redbreast. His body was discovered by one of the class after the white peacock on the grounds was seen covered in blood – Redbreast: we were hilarious! I think the team has a bestseller in the works after this session.

It Just Feels Real

Lauren Beukes needs to give up coffee. She destroyed her laptop prior to the writing workshop. I know that computers always say coffee resistant on the label, but I bet they only test it on espressos. Lauren took us through a few different exercises and examples of good and bad prose. She also gave me some good feedback on my writing, so I feel like I’m on the right track.

A Glass of Wine and a Good Book

David Whish-Wilson interviewed Felicity Young whilst the audience relaxed with a lovely wine or three. David ran the workshop I attended on writing last year, so it was two of my writing tutors in one session. It was a good discussion, but the wine was even better. Check out Lamont’s winery, their white was the perfect end to the day.

Phantom

Take one international bestselling crime novelist, known for his talent and wit, not to mention a former career as a successful musician, and you should have a great evening. Pity the interviewer wasn’t up to the challenge. Either way, I got my novels signed by Jo. I remember having heard of Jo Nesbo as a result of his awards for crime writing. You would think that stores would stock his books as a result, but they didn’t. I ended up ordering Nemesis online (Booktopia rocks) only to find all of his novels in an indie store a week later. Another reason the big stores are dying.

I Believe In An Open Mind – But Not So Open My Brain Falls Out

If I had one highlight of the festival it has to be this Sunday session. The speakers were Misha Ketchell, Stephen Lewandowsky, Alom Shaha and James Paterson, and had a hearty discussion about science, communication, the media, think tanks (of which James is an editor of the notorious IPA) and climate change. Alom was someone I hadn’t heard of before and it was great to hear his contributions. It was also great to meet Stephen and Misha in person after the session.

Northern Lights

This was the second session I went to with Jo Nesbo featuring. This time he was joined by Johan Harstad, and a decent interviewer, Mark Naglazas. The discussion was around how fantastic the Scandinavians are at converting oil wealth into societal wealth, which trickles down into supporting the arts. Both authors had interesting things to say and Mark got the best out of them.

Truth In News

The media are a funny bunch. It was only in the previous day that George Megalogenis was discussing how poor a job the media did, yet this session was all back-patting. I admire the journalists that take the time to really dig their teeth into a story, do the hard yards and learn about their subject. There will have to be more of it in the future, well, unless we just want to know celebrity gossip.

Congratulations to the organisers for putting together a great event. I look forward to next year’s event.

Book review, Reading

Book Review: Raylan by Elmore Leonard

RaylanRaylan by Elmore Leonard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Raylan: “What did he want to know?”
Art: “Whether you’d shot anybody this week.”

I remember reading Elmore’s rules of writing and fixing upon his rule “leave out the stuff people skip”. This novel is a testament to that rule; there is nothing you want to skip in it. This is one of those books that feels like you are immersed in a world, something that Elmore has been widely praised for.

This novel, Raylan, is not really a novel. Think of this work as three novellas held together with some overlap, like, say, a TV series. I think it is fair to say that you can see entire plot and character arcs from seasons two and three of Justified in this book. Clearly this isn’t a coincidence, with Elmore joining the writing team for Justified in the second season.

Far from being a criticism, the similarities between Raylan and Justified actually makes this book a cool compendium companion to the series. Just be warned, Boyd is not quite the devious and intelligent character you want to see succeed, as you do in Justified.

For fans of Justified, you will no doubt have your Morgan Freeman and Sean Connery moment, as you read all of the book with the character’s voices.

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