Roy Tang

Programmer, engineer, scientist, critic, gamer, dreamer, and kid-at-heart.

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Mar 2018

  • Book Review: 11/22/63 by King, Stephen
    11/22/63 by Stephen King My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was my first Stephen King book outside the Dark Tower series. Before reading the Dark Tower, I had pegged King as a writer of “scary” books because of his early works, and I wasn’t too interested. This book is none of that. It’s a nice, informative, well-written time travel story that wraps up nicely. I actually had no idea it was a time travel story when I started reading (you’d think the title would have given that away.

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Aug 2017

Mar 2017

Feb 2017

Jan 2017

Dec 2016

Nov 2016

  • Book Review: The Amber Spyglass by Pullman, Philip
    The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman My rating: 3 of 5 stars Pros: - I liked having the bear back - Diamond-legged creatures with wheels! - An honest effort to tie up all the loose ends and give each character decent endings - A decent read, at least Cons: - allegories aren’t very subtle - people get miraculously redeemed, even Mrs Coulter who was such a great villain - build up of Asriel’s awesome plan to take the War to Heaven only to find out he didn’t really know what he was doing until he found out he had to somehow help two kids find their pets

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  • Book Review: The Subtle Knife by Pullman, Philip
    The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman My rating: 3 of 5 stars Well, the knife may be subtle, but the allegories are not. I can see why some religious folk might find the trilogy’s themes controversial, but as far as I can see they’re still just fantasy stories. We’ll see how things ramp up in the last book. I kind of miss that bear though. View all my reviews
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Oct 2016

Aug 2016

  • Book Review: Hyperion by Simmons, Dan
    Hyperion by Dan Simmons My rating: 4 of 5 stars I randomly decided to start reading a new book the other day and picked up Hyperion completely blind. I knew it was sci-fi, but that was about it And it turned out to be some really good sci-fi too. Simmons introduces new concepts and the history of his universe and human society quickly and unapologetically. Even the prologue bandies around the terms Hegemony and Ouster with little explanation save what we can glean from context.

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  • Book Review: Equal Rites by Pratchett, Terry
    Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett My rating: 4 of 5 stars I bought a used copy of this book a while back and finally decided to read it, it wasn’t particularly long. I’d found however, that I’d already read it before lol. Anyway, I still managed to read through it a second time, it was pretty good. I like the Discworld books, they’re ridiculous, popcorn fantasy reads, and this one was no exception.

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  • Book Review: The Trading Code by Cam, Jason
    The Trading Code by Jason Cam My rating: 4 of 5 stars Pretty informative and helpful stuff for beginners to stock trading, although I reckon it will still take time and experience to get the hang of stock trading. I was interested in the math so I’m happy that the book discussed the formulas for most of the indicators used (with the exception of the ADX) View all my reviews
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Jun 2016

May 2016

  • Book Review: The Making of Karateka by Mechner, Jordan
    The Making of Karateka by Jordan Mechner My rating: 4 of 5 stars The book is literally a collection of journal entries detailing young Jordan Mechner’s days as a university student at Yale at the same time working on what would be his first published game. I found it both inspiring (though some might consider me the wrong age to be inspired by it) and amusing as a look into the life of a young man in the early 80s.

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  • Book Review: Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds by Berkun, Scott
    Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds by Scott Berkun My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve been following and reading Scott Berkun’s blog on and off for the past 5 years or so, so I already have a passing familiarity with this work. Mindfire collects some of the best essays from his blog into an easy-to-read format that you can digest in one-to-two sittings. Berkun writes about a number of diverse topics such as how to think critically and how to interact with other people and how to spend your attention.

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  • Book Review: Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut, Kurt
    Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut My rating: 5 of 5 stars Cat’s Cradle is only the second Vonnegut book I’ve read, after Slaughterhouse Five. I find myself fascinated with how he unveils his narrative in short, seemingly disconnected bursts, something much more obvious in this book. Like S5, CC’s plot starts close to normal ordinary fiction and ends in a completely different place that’s strictly in the realm of sci-fi. A great read, and very easy too given the structure of ridiculously short chapters View all my reviews
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Apr 2016

  • Book Review: The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, J.D.
    The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger My rating: 2 of 5 stars This book was painful to read really. I might have received it better had I read it when I was younger, but reading it now, Holden just feels like this whiny entitled angry kid that has no idea what he’s doing or how the world works. The story doesn’t really go anywhere interesting; I understand that it’s not that kind of book, but what it is doesn’t really appeal to me too much.

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  • Book Review: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character by Feynman, Richard
    Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman My rating: 5 of 5 stars After reading this book, I’m quite envious of Feynman’s life haha. He’s lived a very interesting life and the stories are told with a general down-to-earth tone despite the fact that he often has to explain the math and theoretical physics which may be less accessible for laymen. For science-oriented people, this may be one of the best biographies to read View all my reviews
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  • Book Review: A Briefer History of Time by Hawking, Stephen
    A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking My rating: 5 of 5 stars I’ve restarted reading this book (and the original) a few times since I was still in school. In fact, when I opened my iBooks copy that I’ve left alone over the past few years, it was at around halfway through. I started over again and managed to finish it this time. Not sure why I had trouble finishing it before, it’s a fairly short book and the subject matter is interesting to anyone who has even a passing interest in science.

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Mar 2016

  • Book Review: Perdido Street Station by Miéville, China
    Perdido Street Station by China Miéville My rating: 3 of 5 stars Perdido Street Station is a difficult book to read, which is why it took me a lot of time to get through it (and this was my second attempt too! I had to restart because I did not even get very far the last time and did not retain anything). Not because the plot is convoluted or anything like that.

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  • Book Review: John Dies at the End by Wong, David
    John Dies at the End by David Wong My rating: 3 of 5 stars 2016 book #12: John Dies at the End by David Wong. This book is all kinds of weird. It’s a bit like the author tried to think of as many weird things as he possible could then ties them together with an impossible plot that he doesn’t even fully resolved. It’s like the author was on crack while he was writing most of this (apt, since he’s apparently and editor at cracked.

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  • Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek by Ferriss, Timothy
    The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss My rating: 3 of 5 stars 2016 Book #11: The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris. Pros: - useful tips on reducing unnecessary work, remote working, automation, travel tips, etc Cons: - not for anyone who dislikes lying to people or some other form of “salesmanship" - not for anyone who doesn’t have an idea for something to sell that can be easily mass-manufactured and distributed to the potential buyers

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Feb 2016

Jan 2016

Nov 2015

  • Book Review: Steelheart by Sanderson, Brandon
    Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is my second Sanderson book after The Way of Kings, which made me a fan of his world-building. Given that this book is set in a dystopian near-future, the scale of the world-building here isn’t as large as that fantasy epic, but still gives Sanderson enough room to carve out a unique setting in the city of Newcago. Newcago, yes, that name is ridiculous.

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