K.A. Ashcomb's Blog, page 61
July 29, 2019
Book Review: The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene
Oh, what to think? Fascinating, confusing, difficult, easy, questionable. This book is brilliant how simply it explains some ‘basic’ concepts of physics (quantum mechanics, general relativity, Newtonian gravity, and so on,) going them over and over again through metaphors to make sure one will stick and explain to you what is said, but then again, it’s a book about (super)string theory which many physicists have criticized and rejected.
Maybe I should answer the question if I learned anything...
July 28, 2019
Book Review: The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
I hated this book at first. The first half of the book dragged on, and the recount of the history of genes was too detailed (getting tangled with days, times, and giftshop bunnies), making the book heavy to read. I kept averting the book and hoping there was something else to read, but I persisted. It was a good thing. The book gets better towards the end. It gets more animated and more passionate about genes and the science behind it, asking questions how does this affect humanity, is this r...
July 25, 2019
Writing: Character Sheet: Petula Upwood
Hi everyone! It’s time to introduce another character sheet and this time, our heroine. It was fun to read what I wrote six months ago and to see what I thought about what kind of person Petula should be. There have been some minor changes, but her essence is the same. Now I kind of want to write about Aunt Essie and her bad-ass youth.
Anyway here is:
Petula Upwood
Role in Story: A major character, one whose through the story unravels. Petula is there to tell her dry comments about society, o...
July 24, 2019
Book Review: Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
Maskerade is an amazing book. I loved it not only because of Pratchett keeping so many elements from the musical and from The Phantom of the Opera book but for its own sake. It made both fun of the original story(s) and paid tribute to it. But what makes the book special to me was not the light banter between Granny and Nanny (which I loved by the way, and Nanny’s cookbook made me laugh aloud when thinking ‘banananas’ and Granny,) but because of Agnes/Perdita. She is so well developed charact...
July 22, 2019
Book Review: The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
I saw last year an opera/musical version of The Phantom of the Opera and fell in love with the macabre tale. The story is hauntingly romantic, and disturbing in so many levels it is no wonder it keeps living on stage and screen. What differs from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s interpretation is that while the musical/opera has Christine as a central character with action, she is only narrated through others (male characters) in the book. The book is a recount of the events what happened at the Opera...
Book Review: Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan
I kept bumping into this book, and when I saw it was available on the audiobook service I use, I had to listen to it despite not being a great mystery buff. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is a great mystery novel those who love books and enjoy low-moderate violence. I’m not sure what I thought about the book and its plot and characters. They were okay, but not distinguishable anyway. The book felt like an old comfortable shoe which doesn’t hold any surprises. Which is sometimes a good...
July 18, 2019
Gone Hiking!
Hello! There won’t be a blog post today. Only this message, saying I’ll go hiking as it’s my eleventh wedding anniversary (taking the husband with me. He insists.) Have a nice day! See you next week 
P.S. My second book is being edited by an editor and my cover artist just contacted, and said she is up to working with me again. Yay! Thought, fretting the idea drawing up a better marketing plan and trying to follow it through. Oh, the horrors!
P.S.S. The cover picture is taken by me
July 16, 2019
Book Review: Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty by Roy F. Baumeister
Evil is in the eyes of the beholder, and it’s relative to the circumstances. Baumeister looks evil through the eyes of the perpetrator to understand what leads to violence and other horrendous acts which cause suffering to others. He writes that to understand evil and cruelty, we need to abandon the notion that evil acts are one-sided and that the perpetrator is this mythical evil with inherited badness. He goes on explaining that circumstances affect our actions, and also, that nothing is un...
July 15, 2019
Book Review: Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life by Helen Czerski
This is a feel-good physics book, which sounds all wrong and like a lie. But I’m not kidding. The book is full of personal anecdotes which bring alive the physical laws being introduced, ranging from how gas behaves to the old favorite gravity to thermal dynamics to tension, to name a few. And all of those are brought up with examples of how they influence and work in our daily life.
The book is wonderfully written. It’s funny and intelligent and draws the reader in. It’s a kind of book you a...
July 11, 2019
Writing: The Fear of Finishing
I’ve been thinking lately about what it feels like to finish a book. While the thought is liberating after spending a year (or more) with the text and kind of being sick and tired of it, yet letting go of editing and moving on is hard because of all the questions going on inside my head. What then? I know my life suddenly doesn’t turn into some fairy tale, and there’s a happily ever after. Life doesn’t work that way. Happiness is the process, and not some goal far away. Or it’s so to me. So,...
