Today I finished reading Eric S. Nylund’s Signal to Noise. I’ve had somewhat of a love-hate relationship with the book, but, in the end, love prevails and I’d recommend it to any cyberpunk fan. Although it’s not your average cyberpunk. I think of cyberpunk as generally being placed in a sci-fi setting, but not focusing much on the actual science fiction. And, of course, cyberpunk has your post-apocalyptic/dystopia themes, too. Signal to Noise is leaning more toward normal science fiction – they have aliens! – and ends with the apocalypse, instead of taking place in it. It ends in a cliff-hanger, too. Bastard.

All in all, a good book. I think Eric Nylund spent a tad too long at Microsoft, though. The whole book revolves around corporations and business.

A few weeks ago I finished reading Timothy Leary’s The Politics of Ecstasy. It’s an ok book. Less attention on the philosophical/mystical side of the psychedelic experience, and more on the real-world stuff. You know, politics.