• Old Man’s War
• The Ghost Brigades
• The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master
• Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
• How to Succeed in Anything by Really Trying
• Iphone in Action: Introduction to Web and SDK Development
• Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World
• EventMachine documentation
• Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide

Of these, I managed to complete Old Man’s War in about a day (awesome book). The Ghost Brigades took about two days (another awesome book). Luckily, I haven’t been able to find the third book in the series in a look bookstore.

The rest of them, well it’s been a fairly random ride. I’ve been enjoying all of the books I just haven’t had the attention span to give a push all the way through any of them. I think this is more a side effect of not having found a project to work on yet. We use EventMachine a lot at work, so that would be interesting to poke at, I also have a few iPhone app ideas I’d like to kick out. Or, maybe, I’ll got play Fear 2 instead.

I was Tolvan an Eladrin Rogue. We also had a Dragonborn Warlord, a Dwarven Figher and a Tiefling Warlock. One character short of a full party but we scaled the monsters down as needed. As I mentioned, this was a learning game, there were a lot of combat rules referenced.

So, how did it go? The campaign went well. We accomplished the required quests (although I was an hour late leaving to visit my parents.) I think we got a feel for the game played with a strict adherence to the rules and I think we all got a feel on what we thought of 4th edition.

Now, I know you’re all chomping at the bit to know what I think but, one more interlude. These comments are based on playing with the real rules. Like I said, we never play with the real rules as we’ve house-ruled everything. We’re going to give this another shake at some point to see how it feels with our custom changes attached.

That aside, I was a little disappointed in how the game played. It has been mentioned in several places that 4th gives DnD an feel similar to a massively multiplayer online game. I’d have to agree with this statement. They’ve done a lot of work to simplify things (which, in some cases, makes it more convoluted) and changed the game a lot to cater to new players. Some of this served more to distract me then to add to the game.

What did I like? Well, I like the new skill combinations. Makes everything a lot simpler and makes a lot of sense. The idea that you just have Perception instead of Search, Spot, Listen and who knows what else is a good abstraction. The fact that you’re either Trained or Un-Trained I’m not so hot on. As well, the fact that you can only learn new skills though a feat? What the duse? (Yes, I know, re-training, but we’ll get to that.) I think the concept of skill points and ranks wasn’t too bad. It let me put points into things that aren’t necessarily combat related (yes, one of my characters has ranks in profession sailing) and the removal of the craft related skills takes something away from the game.

Powers are an interesting one. I’m on the fence about these. I like the idea, I think they add flavor to the game. The fact that I have to make every attack use a power or I’m gimped drives me up the wall. Whatever happened to good old fashioned, I’m hitting that guy? Now it’s I’m using my Sly Flourish power to hit that guy. Damn it, sometimes I just want to hit things and I don’t want to get gimped for it. (I’m also a little bitter in that every time I used my Daily power I missed so it didn’t have any effect.) The other side of powers that I both like and dislike is how they work. Your power will tell you what to roll and what’s used for defense against the power. Say, Dexterity vs Reflex. This is good, this is kinda cool. This gives me a way to hit the fighter with an armor class of 21 but a Reflex save of 10. This also kinda sucks in that it’s a pain in the ass to remember what modifiers you’re adding and what the defense is for that role.

What’s the deal with feats? There aren’t very many and even when you dig into them so many are class specific that there is a very small pool to choose from.

I said I’d get to it, so here we go, re-training. Similar to powers I both like and dislike re-training. Why is it good? Well, there have been several occasions where I get high enough level, pick a prestige class (yes, yes, 3.5 reference but it’s my reference point) and realize I’m missing a simple skill pre-requisite. I then have to wait until I’ve got enough skill points I can use to raise that skill. This always kinda sucks. (I guess if I was really anal I would plan out my character from first to 30th before I start to play but I’m just too lazy. I like the more random approach.)

In this situation re-training would be helpful as I can move the training from a more minor skill into the needed skill.

This also doesn’t make any sense. What, I magically wake up one day and forget about Religion and learn everything there is to know about Nature? Same argument for feats. What, I suddenly forget how to stab someone in the back so my Sneak Attack damage has decreased?

Re-training does make sense for powers as I still think of them similar to spells.

Speaking of spells, personally, I think wizards got gimped. Sure, they get twice as many powers but they still have to pick the same number as everyone else at the start of the day, they just have a wider selection. You can’t memorize the same spell twice, so I can’t cast fly on two characters in the same day? Suck.

As Deacon said, I can’t play this game, there’s no 10 foot pole.

Concluding, I’m going to give 4e another shake. We’ll see what happens when we house rule a few things. I’m leaning towards preferring 3.5 but who knows.

I picked this one up while on my hunt for the Watchmen last week. It’s pretty short, so I started reading it on the subway on the way home. I finished it off this weekend.

Wanted is excellent. The writing, art and execution are all very well done. Although, if you don’t like mature content, I’d say skip this one.

Wanted is a story about villains. Super-villains to be exact. It’s the story of one mans rise from the drudgery of modern day to being the worlds greatest killer. There are a lot of little references and nods towards real comic book heros and villains but none are mentioned straight out.

I really liked the concept for this book and I’ve always had a soft spot for the villain as the hero (see Villains by Necessity for a great villain as hero novel) so this book appealed to me.

I’ve you’ve read a few graphic novels, maybe cut your teeth on some Preacher, give Wanted a go. You maybe pleasantly surprised. Or, you’ll throw the book across the room, burn it and say 100 Hail Marys to purge yourself after.

One or the other.

It seems that at some point in the past, I loaned my copy of Watchmen to someone. I have no idea who. I have no idea how to get it back. Obvious solution, buy a new copy. (If you, gentle reader, are in possession of said copy, merry birthday, jerk.)

Anyway, it seems I’m not the only person attempting to procure the Watchmen now that the trailer has been released. While downtown enjoying the magic meat kingdom of Korean Bar-B-Que Stacy and I wandered over to the Silver Snail. Sadly, closed. Bugger.

Ok, no problem, Chapters carries comics, up to the Eaton Center. Sadly, sold out. Bugger. Ok, no problem, The Worlds Biggest Bookstore is just two blocks north. Sadly, sold out. Bugger. That’s ok, I have to come downtown tomorrow anyway.

Next day, downtown, ok, Harry Tarantula, gaming and comic shop. Sadly, sold out. Bugger. Fine, back to the Snail. Sadly, sold out. Bugger. (At this point I realize I’ve walked past Grey Region, another comic shop, twice and didn’t think to stop in.)

In desperation, Pages an independent bookstore. Ah, finally, one copy remaining. Watchmen I’m watching you.

On the plus side, I also got a copy of Wanted which is the comic the new movie is based on but in the comic everyone is evil. How can you go wrong?

As an amusing aside, I think I went to more places trying to buy the Watchmen then Stacy and I did buying a car. Stacy thinks I have a problem.

Snuff is a pretty quick read. I finished most of it on the flight to Seattle, I think I had about 20 pages left when I landed to get through. The book felt really similar to Rant in terms of how it was written and the way the story is presented.

Which was good, as I like the way Rant was written, heh. Snuff was good, it’s the typical tale of a woman trying to set the world gang bang record. Wholesome sunday reading at its best. There are a few twists and turns but the story is pretty straight forward.

I’d say, if you liked Palahniuk’s other works, you’ll probably like this one so go give it a read.

First up, I purchased a copy of RubyCocoa in beta book form. I read through what’s currently available in about a day. Well written, easy to follow and a really interesting topic. I’m waiting impatiently for the next beta release so I can get some more of that Ruby + Cocoa goodness. (Well, besides doing a bit of ruby cocoa programming when I get time.)

Next up, for those long flights, I discovered the magic of screencasts. I purchased three series of these by The Pragmatic Programmers. The list of all screen casts can be found in their Screencasts section.

I grabbed the current videos for: Creating a compelling interface with core animation, Everyday Active Record and The Ruby object model and meta-programming.

As I suspected, it’s best to watch from the start even if you know the stuff they’re talking about. Makes it easier to follow along with the examples in the later versions. All three of these series are well written, well produced and, overall, well done. I’m going to be keeping up with them as they go along.

Wizards released Dragon #364 and Dungeon #155 as PDF downloads. I’d read a few of the articles over the month but I must say, both of these downloads were really well done. Lots of interesting information, well laid out, well written. Both turned out to be really good reads.

In terms of movies, I managed to keep my plane movie time down. One full length and ten minutes of another. The full length was the new Bank Job movie. This one was actually pretty good, Stacy would probably hate it, but it’s good for a few hours on an airplane. The second was 10,000 BC. I started this on a lark and thankfully the plane was landing 10 minutes later so I didn’t have to watch any more. Sweet god, talk about wooden. The mammoths looked cool, but that’s about all I’ll give it.

I’m glad I did.

This is the first novel by one of Stacy’s fellow Clarion West 2007 class mates. Stacy had picked it up when it was first published and mentioned I’d probably like it.

If you’re looking for a good sci-fi book, lots of action, interesting plot lines and can get over the short sentences, I’d say give it a whirl.

There are a lot of changes in this edition. We’ll have to give a play to determine which are good and which are bad. Some will be missed out of nostalgia I think. I liked rolling my hit points even though I rolled a lot of 1s. It made the leveling that much more unique.

But then, some of the changes make sense. In fact, I specifically said fuck, that just makes sense at least once. Which greatly confused Stacy to which I had to explain that 3.x D&D has the knowledges as specific skills where D&D 4 bundles the knowledge with the other skills.

I’ve also got a copy of Keep on the Shadowfell which I’ve been reading through and am hoping to run once I can gather a few of our group together.

I’m talking to you, go.

Fine, you don’t want to pay for it, go read it for free (legally even). Just go read it.

This was one of those books that at 1am I’d say, fuck, just one more chapter. At 2am I’d crawl into bed as my eyes were drooping too much. This is by far one of the best books I’ve read so far this year (and one that stepped up my sleep deprivation a notch).

On recommendation, from the excellent bibliography in the back of the book, I’m thinking of heading down to the used book store to try to pick up a copy of On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

So, in conclusion, kudos Cory. Another excellent creation.

Didn’t I just tell you to go read it? Go, damn it.

To that end, I picked up a copy of The Algorithm Design Manual which I’d heard a few people mention as being a good book. I have to say, I agree with them.

This book works really well. The first half is a discussion of different types of algorithms and contains war stories which discuss actual instances where the author needed to call upon the previous topics. The last half the book is a reference manual of algorithms. These can come in quite handy when you’re looking for information on a specific topic.

I found it quite easy to sit down and read through the first half the book. Although, I admit, dynamic programming and backtracking still trips me up. The author has a writting style that works. As a bonus the book comes with a CD containing the information in the book. Much easier to search and carry around with you. A great addition by whoever thought it up.

All in all, if you do programming work this is a good book to read.

Well, wrong is where I went.

I had a lot of trouble getting into this one. I only really finished it because I had a flight to Seattle and back that needed filling (along with some time flying to Pasadena). I struggled through but even at the end I just thought, that’s the end? I didn’t get engaged with any of the characters and felt no desire to stay up until 2am at any point to read just one more chapter.

So, now the problem I’m trying to solve is, do I go back and re-read Neuromancer? Is it going to get crushed under the weight of how I remember it? I think it was grade 9 English (or was it 10?) that I first read Neuromancer. That’s a long time ago now.

So, instead I’m moving on to Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. I’ve read a bunch of Doctorow books lately and have loved them all so I’m looking forward to this one.

Anyway, I finished reading the book just before leaving for Seattle and I must say, I quite enjoyed it. It’s well written and everything seems to have made sense. There are really good introductions to transitions and keyframe animations in there. If you’re interested in doing any work with Core Animation and are looking for a good introduction you might want to pick this one up.

Hopefully I’ll be able to leverage off of Core Animation for OS X to start doing some cool Core Animation work. We’ll see how it goes.

Too much stuff to really catch up on here. Hopefully I’ll be better at this in the new year. Tho, I wasn’t doing so bad last year I don’t think.

Anyway, been playing a bunch of video games. Just finished Jericho. Was pretty fun, you don’t get many achievement points on the normal setting but that just means I’ll need to play parts of it again. Spent a good chunk of time the last few days reading Black man by Richard Morgan. Good book so far, I’m almost at the end. That said, I’d recommend his other stuff over this one, Altered Carbon was fantastic.

Not quite sure what to expect in the new year. But, it should be fun.

So, instead of following someone elses list I’m going to make a couple of my own. Feel free to follow along at home, or in your blog, or in the comments.

Away we go. There are three lists, Currently Reading (only one, not really a list, but who’s getting technical?), Top 10 books you’ve read, Top 10 you want to read (no re-reads). Ordering, at least for me, is random. I also list some trilogies as single book sets.

Currently Reading

1. Principia Discordia

Top 10 Books I’ve Read

1. Lord of the Rings — J.R.R Tolkien
2. Ender’s Game — Orson Scott Card
3. Sandman — Neil Gaiman
4. Fionavar Tapestry — Guy Gavriel Kay
5. Microserfs — Douglas Coupland
6. Starship Troopers — Robert A. Heinlein
7. Blindness — Jose Saramago
8. Midsummer Nights Dream — William Shakespeare
9. Fight Club — Chuck Palahniuk
10. Altered Carbon — Richard Morgan

Top 10 Books I Want to Read

1. The Illuminatus! Trilogy — Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
2. Foucault’s Pendulum — Umberto Eco
3. Godel, Escher, Bach — Douglas Hofstadter
4. Spook Country — William Gibson
5. Black Man — Richard Morgan
6. Ulysses — James Joyce
7. Tao Te Ching — Lao Tzu
8. Holy Blood, Holy Grail — Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln
9. The Children of Men — P.D. James
10. Dune — Frank Herbert

Those are my three lists. Now, lets have yours. I’m always looking for new books to add to my shelves. Just don’t tell Stacy I said that.

I like all the technical stuff and mathy stuff in this book. Makes it a lot more interesting to read. Also an interesting exercise to figure out what he’s making up and what’s real (if any). It’s certainly worth a read, even if you aren’t into the more geeky details of the book. I got a bit bored in the last 100 pages or so. I’m not sure if this is because I’ve read it before and know how it ends or if the ending is a bit draggy.

So, what’s next? I think I’m going to give the Principia Discordia whirl with the hopes of leading into The Illuminatus! Trilogy which I’ve tried to read before got didn’t make it all the way through.

Maybe if I conqueror the Illuminatus I’ll wade back into the world of Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid where I’ve never made it past Bach.