“The Disciple of Las Vegas” by Ian Hamilton
This is the second book in Hamilton’s Ava Lee series of novels. As you may recall, I wasn’t a big fan of the first book. I liked this book a little better. Ava Lee is a forensic accountant who works with “Uncle” in retrieving stolen money. She’s Chinese-Canadian and is an accomplished practitioner of Bak [...]
“Pandora’s Star” by Peter F. Hamilton
This thousand-page tome is the first of two novels in the Commonwealth Saga. It’s apparently popular in Calgary because I had to keep returning it to the library because of holds. It took me three attempts, but I finally got through it. Overall, Hamilton is a good writer. The story is fast moving and even [...]
“The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
This book was a disappointment. It started off OK, but it became apparent quite quickly that Taleb is—how should I say this?—arrogant and a bit of a jerk. The main thrust of the book (in itself interesting) could have easily been conveyed in a short 20-page essay. The book just goes on and on and [...]
“Water Rat of Wanchai” by Ian Hamilton
Yawn! This has to be one of the most boring “action stories” I’ve ever read. I hate to break it to you, but this story about a forensic accountant is exactly as exciting as it sounds. I get that Ava was conceived as a continuing character, and you have to set her up somehow, but [...]
“Networks, Crowds, and Markets” by Easley & Kleinberg
I really, really enjoyed this book. I learned so much. As far as textbooks go—I’ve read my share—this one is very well organized. I thought the progression of topics was perfect. The book is divided into seven overall parts: Graph Theory and Social Networks Here they introduce the basics of graph theory and how it [...]
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Profiles
Affiliations
- Editors' Association of Canada Member; Chair of IT Committee for Prairie Provinces Branch
- Energy Resources Conservation Board of Alberta (ERCB) Editor
- International Abstract Games Organization (IAGO) Chair of Standards and Technical Committee
- Super Duper Games (SDG) Creator and maintainer
