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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136181
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| Posted: 11 May 2026 at 9:19pm | IP Logged | 1
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When I moved into this house, I started donating a lot of my books to a nearby library. Books I’d bought on impulse and not read, or books I knew I was not likely to read again.Then the library started to make it difficult to donate books. Only on Wednesday, for one hour at lunchtime. So I shrugged and stopped trying. Of course, I kept all my reference books. Didn’t have a smart phone yet. Now, I just never seem to use them.
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Evan S. Kurtz
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 04 July 2022
Location: Canada
Posts: 315
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| Posted: 11 May 2026 at 9:55pm | IP Logged | 2
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The problem with our amazing pocket computers is that they have the tendency to negatively affect our attention span as time goes on. The term I’ve read for it is “popcorn brain.” There have been times in the past where I’ve struggled to read anything because of a propensity to jump from app to app to app - reading physical books again really helped me mitigate that habit, at least to some extent.
I still mostly read via epub - there are definite benefits to either option - but I’ve also found it’s easier to become engrossed in a book when my hands are occupied by holding one. My wife’s solution to the conundrum of distractibility was to buy a dedicated e-reader.
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 8493
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| Posted: 11 May 2026 at 10:09pm | IP Logged | 3
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I find I read best if I get my app scrolling over with and then start to read.
I can go a much longer session then.
Current reading/listening:
Cast audio of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. An astonishingly long
audio - over 26 hours. I have really been enjoying the production of this
series, having never read Potter.
It is incredible just how much is cut from the books for the films. Especially
with this one. I think I’ve mentioned that the first q3 chapters are just
ignored by the films, but there are whole characters, sub-plots, months of
story missing throughout the book.
I’ve just got to the scene where the film ends and there are still TWO
HOURS left.
I have no idea what this will be.
In comics I continue to make my way through the STAR WARS old EU
comics in chronological order. I’ve finished the Dark Horse Brian Wood
comics, which had some terrible art, and am about to start on the
REBELLION series.
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Evan S. Kurtz
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 04 July 2022
Location: Canada
Posts: 315
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| Posted: 11 May 2026 at 10:49pm | IP Logged | 4
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James, I may take a spin with the Zahn books at some point in the nearish future.
I also keep thinking about re-reading Stephen King’s “The Wasteland,” the third book in the Dark Tower series. The way he wrote the climax to that story is, in a word, cinematic. It’s nearly impossible to read the last third of that book in anything but a single sitting.
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 980
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| Posted: 12 May 2026 at 5:27am | IP Logged | 5
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I'm now close to finishing off THE HUNTER by Tana French, the second book in her mystery trilogy set in modern day Ireland and featuring Cal Hooper, a retired Chicago detective who moves to a small Irish town to get away from his troubles only to find that the Emerald Isle has plenty of its own to share.
The first book in the trilogy (The Searcher, 2020) was very good. And this second one is excellent so far. It's easy to see why it was a finalist for the U.K. Gold Dagger Award as the best crime novel of 2024.
The final book in the trilogy was released in March and there are already so many backlogged holds for it at my local libraries that I think I may just have to buy a copy instead of waiting in line for months to read it.
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 980
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| Posted: 17 May 2026 at 5:14am | IP Logged | 6
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Now about a quarter of the way through SOUTHERN MAN (2024) by the late Greg Iles, the final book in his mystery/thriller series set in modern day Mississippi and featuring attorny/novelist Penn Cage.
A good portion of the book so far has Penn Cage facing the same physical and emotional challenges that Iles himself confronted before losing his battle with cancer in 2025. It also dives deeply into the racial hatred and political corruption that continue to plague his home state.
Rest in peace Mr. Iles. You and Penn will both be missed.
Edited by James Best on 17 May 2026 at 5:15am
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William Costello
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 August 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 800
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| Posted: 17 May 2026 at 7:48pm | IP Logged | 7
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"If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies" (Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All) - Eliezer Yudkowsky & Nate Soarer
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Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17825
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| Posted: 17 May 2026 at 9:39pm | IP Logged | 8
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I just finished Tom Turner’s THE CHARLSTON-SAVANNAH VICTIMS CLUB, and am about to read his PALM BEACH FAKE next. After that, it’s back to Jeffery H. Haskell’s FULL METAL SUPERHERO series until David Sedaris’ THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE is released later this month.
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Doug Centers
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 February 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 5789
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| Posted: 17 May 2026 at 10:12pm | IP Logged | 9
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Just finished; ALCATRAZ FROM INSIDE by Jim Quillen.
Really reveals the fate of an inmate as determined by micro-decisions and pure unadulterated coincidences.
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