January Recap

In January, I finished three books:

"A Man Called Intrepid" - this was a fascinating look at the secret war behind World War II, particularly focused on British work in the United States in the period of American neutrality. It centers on the work of Bill Stevenson, code name Intrepid, who ran the British Security Coordination activity in New York. Officially, it was unacknowledged, but in fact it was a British effort to put their secret warfare activities somewhere outside England in case Hitler invaded. They also tried to influence America to enter the war on the side of the Allies. I didn't realize the extent to which the Nazi sympathisers were involved in US politics, even at very high levels. The Brits ran an incredible spy operation right out of New York City, and also helped birth the OSS, which was a precursor to the CIA. Fascinating book, and looooooong, but worth the read.

"The Quantum Thief" - good hard science fiction. The author is a theoretical physicist, specializing in string theory, and you can tell. The narrative is convoluted, the technology is crazy, the story is fantastic. It's kinda nuts, but it's also very good. There are spies, quantum artificial intelligences, interstellar wars, and bizarre references to video game culture. Worth a read if you like the genre.

"The Hobbit" - I can't believe how long it has been since I've read this. It's not as good as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it's good in its own right. We saw the movie in December, so I had to reread it to remind myself of the real story. The movie is faithful enough to the book, but actually makes the dwarves out to be more heroic than they are in the book. If you haven't read this, it should be high on your list.