I have been trying to think of new ideas for things to add to this blog - so I thought I would try adding book reviews. I tend to read a lot of books (on the train to/from work) and this will provide a lot of material (also it moves a little bit away from IT stuff).
So to start I am going to look at Halting State - by Charles Stross. The book is set in the near future and is a sci-fi/espionage book. The main characters find themselves trying to solve a complex plot in a world where everyone is online, and MMORPG's have grown into games that overlay on the real world. It is full of the usual stuff you expect in such a book - government agents, quantum computers, odd programmers etc.
The writing style is one of the most interesting aspects of this book. The author is not scared of technical terms (it shows he was once a software engineer) and seems to have a strong grasp of what is likely to be possible (no crazy concepts here). He also tends to show the limits of technologies (e.g. cabs being driven by remote control rather than automatically, CCTV being everywhere but face recognition still not working). I found this a refreshing and engaging read - and a notch above your usual sci-fi books that often have very similar views of the future.
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