I have several books on the go at the minute:  

A lengthy Alan Turing biog
The Escape Artist - true story of the man who escaped from Auschwitz at 19 and told the world.
Anthology of Martin Luther King's speeches.
Cacophony of Bones by Kerri ni Dochartaigh  (diary / prose / poetry / memoires of living in an Irish cottage over a year during lockdown).

The Escape Artist is the extraordinary story of an extraordinary man, Rudi Vrba (formerly Walter Rosenberg) who as a teenager lived in Auschwitz and escaped after 2 years - at 19 - in order to tell the world about the activity there, only to meet a wall of indifference , disbelief and bureaucratic resistance from Jewish community leaders, other religious leaders and the allied leaders.

Even with his intelligence, guile, mental strength and superhuman powers of memory (which he used to document his story and put to use in the war trials), his survival and escape were dependant upon multiple events of good fortune - his existence being on a knife edge during his entire time spent in the camp and during the escape.

An incredible tale, told clearly and succinctly by Jonathan Freedland who patched the story together many years after Vrba's (and his escape partner's who he wrote an initial report with) death.

Night Boat to Tangier - Kevin Barry

I loved this, probably my favourite random pick-up for years (nabbed it to make up the numbers in a charity shop haul).  Two ageing, faded drug dealers wait for one of their daughters at a ferry terminal as the story hops through various points in their past.  And they certainly have a past.  Dialogue is key here, and it's absolutely glorious in places.  Easily the best thing I've read for ages.  

I'll have to find something else by the author now, and will probably settle on a short story collection I spotted online yesterday to start with.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. Hefty account of the creation of the atom bomb, starting from the first concept of a chain reaction (which struck a Hungarian theorist as he crossed a London street), through to the bombings of Japan.  Extremely well written and describes the science very well while telling the human story of all involved.

It's a masterpiece.

Egan’s shorts are much better than his long novels.
His short collections are up there with Ted Chiang’s Exhalation as the most consistently quality short sci-fi I’ve read.

I enjoyed Permutation City, Quarantine and Distress - but didn’t get on with the Orthogonal trilogy books (think I only managed 1 or 2 of those - way too mathsy for me). But the shorts in Axiomatic are up there with Philip K Dick’s best. Luminous and Ocenic have some great ideas in as well. I need to grab the latest 2 collections as haven’t read them yet.

The Hyperspace Trap by Christopher Nuttal.

Scifi hokum. An entertaining if at times pulpy read. A bit like an extended Star Trek episode - a large space cruise ship gets caught in some sort of warp/trap set by an alien race. Good holiday reading.

Fat Chance by Dr Robert Lustig

A book about sugar, obesity and the obesity pandemic.
Absolutely fascinating look at how our digestive systems handle what we eat. Totally changed my diet over the past few weeks in response. That said its much more of a science book than a diet book. It wont promise miracles or try to sell you a range of health shakes oiff the back of it.

It also covers real medical issue that can result in obesity, not just eating shite. The industry. What governments can do and why they arent doing it. What an individual can do. Finally what can be done when the correct things have been tried and failed.


Only a couple of downsides.
Firstly its a decade old. Which makes it a bit depressing knowing nothing has really change. Also a few things are out dated but not the core issues, it doesn't cover these new injections that are all over the news at the moment as they didnt really exist. I'm sure Lustig would hold an opinion on them and cover them if they were such is the thorough nature of the book.

Its written by an American with America in mind. 90% of this translates over the pond. The main difference there being there is no NHS to protect so nobody is really fighting in the corner of preventative medicine, there is no money in it to lobby with. Here at least some MPs will fight for actual health over profit.

Anyway, for me it has been brilliant. I don't know why but I don't response well to straight should and shouldn't rules. If its still on me to choose I really need to be told why, in detail. This fills that gap.

edit: and more broadly speaking for society. I think we are totally fucked on this.

I’ve not been doing reviews, just updating my list, but I’ll make an exception for this one:

Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov - I’ve been enjoying Foundation on Apple TV+ and fancied reading some Isaac Asimov but I didn’t want to read the Foundation books themselves as I want to enjoy the TV series as it’s own thing without comparing it to the books. So I read this instead, which is first in publication order of the Galactic Empire series, which depicts the Trantorian Empire thousands of years before the Foundation books kick off. In this book, a 20th Century man is transported thousands of years into the future by a freak scientific accident. He finds that a Galactic Empire now rules the Galaxy and Earth is an irradiated half-forgotten backwater that is no longer even remembered as the birthplace of humanity. But the religious zealots of Earth look upon the Empire with jealously and over the course of the book the protagonist gets gradually wrapped up in a conspiracy that could threaten the entire Galaxy…

This was one of Asimov’s first books and was much softer sci-fi than I was expecting. It’s more of a loosely science-fiction-themed adventure story and doesn’t really explore any science fiction themes in a way a modern reader would find interesting. That said, as an adventure story it is pretty decent, if dated, and it managed to hold my interest to the end. Perfectly cromulent, might be worth a look if you’re interested in an inkling of what might be going on with Earth in the background of the Foundation TV series.

★★★☆☆

Will Save The Galaxy For Food by Yahtzee Croshaw.

This is my second time through the audible version and I'm enjoying it all over again immensely. It's a rollicking space adventure with Yahtzees typical level of snark and sarcasm. Witty and snarky writing, very fun relatable characters and genuine laughs. Love the whole idea of swearing being outlawed so the star pilots create a whole replacement set of slang using mathematical terms.
"What the 'plying hell are you on about you utter Doint? Stop talking so much 'tract and go forth and multiply."

It's lots of fun

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair tells the tale of the rollercoaster fortunes of a Lithuanian immigrant and exposes the extremes of capitalism in the meat industry at the start of the 20th century. Its socialist agenda which comes to the fore later on is no surprise given that the author worked on the killing floors of the industry as part of his research and witnessed the inhumanity of the industry's leaders.

It becomes a bit of a burden to read as the hero's long descent is described - it becomes almost a tragic comedy as one tries to guess what could possibly go wrong next. But when he does hit bottom it's almost a relief and the true adventure really begins.

Created a furore when it was published, but disappointedly more about the quality of meat products than the working conditions and wage slavery and it still packs a punch today - one can see how far we have come but it's also a warning how far back we could slide if unfettered capitalism had its way. Recommended.

This book came to my attention reading one of Christopher Hitchen's essays in Arguably which I'm reading in bursts.

14. The Bear & The Serpent (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
Second in the Echoes of the Fall fantasy trilogy by my favourite author, continuing the story of the shapeshifting clans facing an ancient existential threat from times of myth. This part introduces new clans in a new part of the world, as the Champion of the North (sort of based on North/Native American legends) travels to the Sun River Nation (sort of South/Central American/Aztec legends) to act as bodyguard to their boy-king who is facing challenge to the throne from within his own family. All the while, the Plague People land on the shores of the North and slaughter all of the clans they meet. A great story, full of great characters and ideas - looking forward to the final part.

15. Homage to Catalonia (George Orwell)
Goddamn, George Orwell was a fucking badass. His account of fighting alongside the Communists and Anarchists against Franco's fascists in the Spanish civil war. Brilliantly written, as you'd expect, but also tragic, funny and moving. You can feel Orwell's frustration and passion in every chapter and his genuine love for the Spanish people and country. His accounts of his actions under fire are very typically British and self-effacing but as terrified as he describes the experience as being, you don't charge a machine gun nest with a shitty gun that isn't likely to work when you want it to and take it out with hand grenades that are as likely to kill you as the are the fascists without being a genuinely courageous person. Legend.