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I’ve had a chance to read a few books this year. The Seattle Public Library is a good resource to get all my books. You can reserve them online and they will ship them to the branch of your choice. Amazon works well in finding new books i might want to read.

If you want, take a look at the books that were read in 2005. Mainly hard science fiction, some science and history non-fiction, a little fantasy, and a little surrealistic fiction to top it off. I enjoy faster than light travel, shunting personalitities/brains in new bodies, and deciphering new life forms.

Richard K. Morgan - I’ve read a majority of the books he has written during the course of 2005. The main character is Takeshi Kovaks who plays and ex-UN Envoy who goes around solving crimes and destroying things. I’d never expect that from a sci-fi book. wheeeee. The Envoys are highly trained/skilled muscle for the UN in a future land. People are shelved for various reasons and can be brought back intothe future in another body. Excellent sci-fi/crime novel material. Altered Carbon. Broken Angels. Woken Furies.

Simon Singh - I read the book on the Big Bang, he provides a good informative background on all the advancements, controversies, and mistakes that led to our current understanding of how the universe was supposedly formed. His other two books before this also provide a good explanation of the advancement of code making/breaking and the solving of fermat’s enigma

haruki murakami - One of the more exciting authors I had the joy to discover this year. A Japanese author who writes about ordinary lives and the extraordinary things that can happen. The stories are often set in this world and in a world closeby that most people can’t see. The storylines don’t take straight paths but leap back and forth on top, over, and under one another. I know, not really a good explanation of what it is. The easy excuse is that its surrealistic fiction on the lines of pynchon. I’m also interested when I read these books if the true meaning is fully realized. They are originally written in Japanese and translates to other languages (english being the one I can read). But regardless, I have found all the books to be a joy so far. Here are a couple to try out - kafka on the shore. sputnik sweetheart. the wind-up bird chronicle.

charles stross - another fine addition to the sci-fi world that i read. a little bit more difficult for me to put an exact finger on what i likes about him. I enjoyed his hardcore books more after reading the two fantasy books he put out. I’m always a fan of multiple earth interactions. This one is intergalactic - singularity sky and this one is dual earth, the family trade.

Overall, most of the books on my list were quite entertaining or educational. Most of them I would read again if given the chance on a deserted island. The one to read last would be Ringworld’s Children. It was slow to start and there had been a big time lag since I’d read the other ringworld books making getting up to speed in the book a little bit more of a challenge.