I've managed to knock out a few good reads lately and wanted to share with you.
From the founder of Lonely Planet, a book about visiting the countries no one is supposed to go to. Actually, the stories are benign and nowhere as evil as your local fearmongering politicians would like you to believe.
From the world of internet news and keeping an eye on the media (not to mention a tongue in cheek), comes the following book from the founder of Fark.com about how the news is the way it is today. Sadly, nothing encouraging, but at least I have a better look on what to look for.
S.M. Stirling's Emberverse trilogy really interested me and I've recently gotten around to giving them a re-read. The first of the second trilogy follows the journey of many of the children of the protagonists of the early books as they grow into adults. A great alternate Earth concept and good writing to boot. Pick up the first three books (I linked to them awhile back, just check the Books category) and then pick up this one. Also, head over to the fan site for Stirling and start reading the early sample chapters for Dies the Fire if you want to try-it-before-you-buy-it.
Last up is William Gibson's latest book, Spook Country. The godfather of cyberpunk literature finally comes back even closer to our modern, post-9/11 paranoid world and gives his take on meta events as only he can. Don't just take my word for it, read Josh Ellis' review in last week's City Life.
Barnes & Noble changed their affiliate program and their link setup frankly sucks hard these days, so I'm now using Amazon and likely will turn to Borders once they cut the cord with Amazon, whenever that will be.
