Some Short Book Reviews

It's time for more short book reviews. These cover the books that I read since the beginning of August. I'll have another post soon discussing some of the anthologies I've been reading.

Biological War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen. Her book, Nuclear War: A Scenario, was the scariest thing I've read in a long time. Her new book is just as scary, but the scenario didn't feel as well developed as the nuclear war book. 

The Cobra Event by Richard Preston: Unlike Preston's The Hot Zone, this is a novel. It posits a biological attack by a lone attacker. There's a lot of info dumping that tends to get in the way of the story, but it's still gripping and chilling. 

Station Eleven by Elizabeth St. John Mandel. I figured, as long as I was reading disaster novels about plagues, I should tackle this. I had planned to read it years ago, but then the pandemic hit, and I lost the urge. I'm glad I finally read it, as it's an excellent novel, grim yes, but also hopeful. I'm reading her new book Exit Party, now. 

Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear: I reviewed the first two books in the White Space trilogy in August. I gave up on this one about a hundred pages in. It just didn't click with me. I liked her setting and world building but the third book didn't have enough tension in the plot to keep me engaged. 

Slow Gods by Claire North: If it had been nominated, this is the book that I would have pickeId for the Hugo Award this year. It's a space opera, with elements similar to Elizabeth Bear's White Space series, but IMHO it's much better. I thought the ending was somewhat weak, but otherwise a brilliant book. I will be looking for more by her.

Machine Vendetta by Alastair Reynolds: This is the third and possibly final book in the Prefect Dreyfuss Emergencies series. (The other two are Aurora Rising and Elysium Fire.) It's not quite as good as his Poseideon's Children Universe series, but it's still very good. I recommend the series if you like SFnal mysteries. 

Will He Learn His Lesson?

CJ is the younger of our two cats; he's ten and one year younger than McGee. He has a bit of an attitude sometimes because he figures he should be top cat. He's not, and both we and McGee have let him know that, several times.  He's also bonded to me and turned into a devoted smuggler. 

CJ

Recently, he's developed a habit of closing the bedroom door when I get up in the morning. Usually he's out in the hall the last part of the night (either because he likes the tower or we've kicked him out for jumpning on us) but slips into the bedroom when I open the door. Then he pushes the bedroom door closed, hopefully not waking Nancy. 

Last night we had come upstairs from an evening of watching TV and heard piteous mewing. Some nights he comes downstairs with us; sometimes he doesn't, so we hadn't missed him. He'd been locked in our room for four hours. There's water but no litter box; we were lucky, this time.

I wonder if he's learned his lesson and will stay away from the door in the future. My experience with McGee, our other cat, makes me doubt it. 

McGee

McGee likes to go outside, whenever we open the patio door, and whether  or not we want to let him out. The backyard is safe enough during the day (it's separated from the neighbours' yards and the park at the back by a hedge and fences.) But there have been reports of coyotes prowling the neighbourhood at night.

A couple of months ago he managed to get out around 2:00 a.m. when I let our dog out to pee. I have terrible night vision and didn't see him get out or in the yard. I closed the patio door when the dog was done and went back to bed. Sometime around 5:00 Nancy woke up and heard a cat crying outside. She checked and there was a cold, somewhat wet and very unhappy McGee sitting on the patio by the door. 

He still tries to get out into the backyard every time we open the patio door.

So will CJ keep locking himself in the bedroom? I wouldn't bet against it. 

Photo of the Week - October 18, 2026

This week's photo is off the shore at Bluffer's Park in Toronto. I used Adobe PHoto Express to remove a rather annoying sign and a couple of trash bins, then tweaked the contrast and colour in Windows 11 Photos. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro. 

The shore at Bluffers Park

Saturday Sounds - Richard Thompson - Hippies, Thugs and Heroes

Richard Thompson is one of my favourite musicians, so a new album from him is always a cause for celebration. That's especially true when it's an electric band album, as is his new release, Hippies, Thugs and Heroes. 

The album just dropped yesterday, so I haven't had the time to give it the repeated listens it deserves, but on first listen I have to say that I like it. There's nothing here that jumps out like "Cooksferry Queen" or "Beeswing" but nothing that will put you to sleep either. "Sorcerers Apprentice" and "Stringer" are probably the strongest songs and should be stunning live. 

This is the description from the email I got announcing the album and tour. 

A spiritual inquiry disguised as a rock record — a meditation on the towers we build and the ruin that follows when we invest in them too completely. Thompson doesn't fully understand every song here, and that's exactly the point. Hippies, Thugs and Heroes is proof that after sixty years, the joy of not knowing where a song will take you hasn't faded one bit.

Speaking of live, he's just announced a tour and will be coming to Toronto in January, but unfortunately he's playing The Concert Hall, which is a general admission venue,. I might have taken a chance on it in the summer, but heading into Toronto at night by myself in the mid-winter with no guarantee of a decent seat is not happening. 

So here's the album. Play it loud.  

WordCraft: An Open Source Microsoft Word Clone

I posted a while ago about using Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word. At this point in my life, I don't need all of Word's features and Docs serves well for my reduced needs.

But that won't be the case for many others.

WordCraft, by ArtCraft, is an open source clone of Microsoft Word, completely rewritten in Rust. It looks very much like Word and has many (but not all) of Word's features. 

I haven't had time to dive into it so I'm just including a link to this article from XDA that offers a good first look at WordCraft. 

As you may or may not have read, a team of developers led by Brandon Thomas used AI and Rust to reverse-engineer Photoshop into an app called PhotoCraft, and it’s outstanding. However, they didn’t stop at Photoshop; they took their crafty approach to Illustrator, Premiere, Lightroom (not Classic), Acrobat, After Effects, and InDesign.

Also, they reverse-engineered Microsoft Word into, you guessed it, WordCraft, and it’s become my new default word processor.

Also: Linus Torvalds is using AI to develop Linux kernel code now

It’s not perfect, but it’s a brilliant start, and it works incredibly well for an alpha release.

My own first impression is that I could use it but that I still don't need it. If I have the time, I'll try to put together a more detailed review in a month or so. 

I've also downloaded their PhotoCraft and LightCraft programs, which are clones of Adobe's Photoshop and Lightroom. These seem somewhat more advanced and polished than WordCraft. Whether I need them is an open question at this point. 

Sometimes You Just have to Pull the Plug

 Sometimes you just have to pull the plug.

Yesterday afternoon I went downstairs to fold laundry, and as I usually do, watch a couple of videos on YouTube. Turned on the TV and receiver and got a "No video signal" screen.

After some fiddling (turn everything off and on, disconnect and reconnect the cable pod), I had the following:

•  Cable TV: audio but no video
•  Blu-ray player: worked with video and full surround sound
•  Chromecast: black screen, no audio
•  LG TV:  home screen worked and apps played with video and surround sound

Nancy checked cables and all appeared to be fine.

So we went nuclear and turned off the power bar, waited a bit, and turned everything back on.

Everything worked as it should. 

I have no idea what caused the problem in the first place. 

We had a similar problem with our new IONIQ 5 and its infotainment screen. Disconnecting it from the battery fixed it, though Nancy lost all her customizations, so hopefully that doesn't happen too often. 

My Windows 11 PC has been admirably stable for the last year or two. Fingers crossed it stays that way. But if it doesn't, I know where the plug is. 

Happy Thanksgiving, Eh!

It's Thanksgiving weekend up here in the Great Yelow and Red North, so I'll be taking the weekend off from blogging (not that I've been here a lot, sorry). It's time to plant the garlic and have a big meal with the family. I'll be back here on Tuesday. 

I think the swans have the right idea.

Swan feeding time

Carney's Building Canada Strong Policy is Building Canada Wrong

I'm becoming increasingly concerned and more than a little disturbed by the Liberal government's current emphasis on fossil fuel development. In the rush to disentangle the Canadian ecomony from its reliance on the United States, we're emphasizing fossil fuel production and sales instead of weaning ourselves off of greenhouse gas-producing industries.

I'm not the only person who's concerned about this.

Responding to the news, on the eve of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, that the LNG Canada Phase II project is going ahead, Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section, said:

“The science is clear: we cannot build more fossil-fuel projects if we want to have a livable planet. LNG Canada Phase II is a major setback for climate action and puts everyone’s right to clean air, water, land and the fragile ecosystems we all rely on to exist, at risk.

“Our world is in a state of climate emergency. Canada could be part of the solution; regrettably, it has chosen to be a major part of the problem.”

My own take on it is that, instead of giving fossil fuel developments priority, we shold be going all out on eliminating the use of fossil fuels as quickly as possible. We need a Manhattan Project-scale approach. 

In a recent article, Stephen Levy described the National Emergency Briefing held in the UK last November. I highly recommend  looking at the presentations that were given and areading the associated briefing material.  

“It’s not thousands, it’s not hundreds of thousands, or millions of lives that are at risk – it’s billions of lives that are at risk,” if we fail to tackle climate change and preserve nature.

That’s a statement from the first National Emergency Briefing held in London, UK, at the end of November 2025. Ten experts warned of the risks posed by climate change and biodiversity decline.

Starvation, economic collapse, civil unrest, and wars are just some of the risks we face, they warn.

“We risk sliding into a state of permanent crisis management.”

We know how to prevent this grim future; we’re simply not taking these risks seriously.

Photo of the Week - October 4, 2026

This week's photo is of a display of garden mums at a local supermarket. I was struck by the vibrant yellow colour. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro. 

Mums for sale

 

Saturday Sounds - Kamasi Washington - Lazarus

Today's musical treat is a 2025 release from the great saxophonist, Kamasi Washington. Lazarus is the soundtrack album for the Adult Swim original series of that name. I haven't seen it so I don't know how well Washington's mix of jazz, blues, funk, and prog rock fits into the show, but I like it. I'd probably watch it just for the music, but it's on a service I don't subscribe to. Enjoy. 

What Would Happen If Yellowstone Erupted

Although the risk is low, volcanologists continue to monitor the Yellowstone caldera for signs that an eruption might be imminent. That's because the scale of such an eruption would be unprecedented in human history. Phys.org has published an article that describes the effects that such an eruption would have. It wouldn't be pleasant. 

 Despite the scale, no known human witnessed the cataclysm. As far as we know, early humans had not yet reached the continent. Across oceans, perhaps early humans wondered at the hazier skies and unusually vivid sunsets. Volcanic particles circulating in the sky cooled their climate and likely affected their weather patterns and lives. Whether they noted these changes—or connected them to any distant event—is unknowable.

Today, humanity would certainly notice. We already know that a super-eruption on this scale would threaten civilization as we know it. So what exactly would we experience if Yellowstone erupted? We are experts in disasters and volcanoes, and what follows is a thought experiment into what might happen in the worst-case scenario. We've based our hypothesis on research and an examination of how countries have dealt with disasters in recent years.

If you want a fictional portrayal, check out Harry Turtledove's Supervolcano trilogy (Eruption, All Fall Down, Things Fall Apart). I read this a few years ago and it' matches the phys.org article quite closely.  

 

Movie and TV Reviews - September 2026

Short reviews of movies and TV shows I watched in September.

Movies

• Mayday: Jingoistic silly junk riding on the coat tails of Top Gunn. (Apple TV)

TV Shows

• Silo (season 3): We finally learn more about the origin of the Silos, but the rest of the storyline was muddled and hard to follow. I lost interest halfway through. (Apple TV)
• Gone: A tight-lipped school headmaster is accused of murdering his wife. It's reasonably well done, but never quite takes off. (BritBox)
• A Woman of Substance: A period drama that jumps between the 1910s and 1960s following the life of a housemaid with big ambitions. Worth watching just for the performance of Brenda (Vera) Blethwyn. (BritBox)
• Reacher (season 4): Nothing new here. I think they've pushed the invincibility of Reacher about as far as they can take it, and it's getting a bit silly. (Amazon Prime)
• The Gentlemen (season 2): The second season escalates the mayhem even further. If you like Guy Ritchie, don't miss this. (Netflix)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (season 4). It's well past time to retire the Star Trek franchise. Out of the 10 episodes this season, only three were watchable. (Paramount+)