Ever since I heard a Google Author's Talk by Daniel Suarez on YouTube, I have been dying to read the novel-Daemon. First of all, it's not available in India. None of the book shops have it in Bangalore. They offer to get you a copy - if you order for one, pay an advance and wait for 10 days. And after all this, the cost of the works out to be 1.5 times the price.
So, I resigned myself to wait for the book to get really famous and land in Bangalore in paperback version when Y decided to delight me and bought the through a friend who visited US. A gift! :) (I know, I know. Y is a gem and all! Can't love him enough:) )
I finished the book within the day he gifted it to me.
It is an un-put-down-able book. Very well written and believable. Scary but believable. The details related to technology are described so well. I have never ever read any book thats gotten technology so right. Hell, this must be the first!
Its a great book and must read. The rest of the reviews and 'about' the book is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(novel)
I tend to think of myself as the perfect listener. Tell me a story and I will listen - however fantastical... it will make 'sense' to me. I will connect to any well thought out, well formed and well told narrative. Stories have this 'soul' and I believe people can touch it. There is this thread of narrative... listeners can follow it. Listeners to a tale, will diligently follow the thread while it jumps through any hoop of imagination.
A story doesnt work - when the storyteller breaks this thread, jumps threads, doesnt tie ends neatly etc etc.
When I think of Daemon in these terms, I lost the thread towards the end. I felt the book was labouring to some sort of close. And the end is not satisifying at all - which makes sense - cos apparently Suarez is getting ready with a sequel for the book.
The other thing is that - though the book is peopled with all these wonderful interesting characters, they didnt seem true. They seemed more like mere tools... they could have been etched out better. The whole human emotion, state of mind, ebb and flow in the human interaction could have been better, I thought. Is that what makes for great literature?
Towards the end, the chapters turned out to be scenario descriptions - very interesting read of course but from my 'thread' angle, doesnt work too well.
On the whole, still a great book. People who work in the technology area will simply love it. Its so wonderful to see a writer who 'gets it'. Like I read on the net, this writer just earned himself some serious geek credits.
Monday 27 April, 2009
Thursday 9 April, 2009
ringa ringa ringa .....ring!
That's my life - going in circles. The things that matter to me are spinning out of orbit. The past 4 weeks have been crazy. I am part of these somewhat high profile 'task forces' @ work. And in these TFs, I am the rookie.
Being a rookie started as an interesting thing - especially considering the last time I was a rookie was a good 10 years ago. That was a different ball game altogether and deserves a separate post.
Anyways, the current rookie-joy lasted about 2 hours into each of the TFs - till I realised how everyone wants to just 'review & manage' while there are very few who build the actual work products. We will call them work horses and I am one of them.
During an average work day, most of my 'seniors' in these TFs go from one meeting to another. For every 4 such people, only 1 contributes at a more relevant level than the other three. These people live in villas, drive nice cars, globe trot & hob nob with the CxOs of the company.
How aspirational it can be for the work horses... and so dangerously misleading too ( I am thinking ). How easily the goal can be - to just somehow get to that place where all that's needed to be done is to 'review & manage' (that too badly) and get paid for that! WTF?!
OK - enough rambling in a tune that's dangerously close to 'grapes are sour, grapes are sour'..
As for the rookie experience - its OK. Except that it's a lot of work on my plate and interesting situations. Like getting reviews done when the work is not read at all by the reviewers, differences in language use that goes into long mind-numbing debates. And getting a sense of what consensus and 'getting people on board' really mean.
Right now, I could do with a couple of extra hours in a day. Miss reading, YTubing, regular home cooked meals, 8 hour sleep cycles, mental meanderings.
Most of all I miss not being continuously connected to Y. We are off-sync right now. Sleep @ different times, go to work @ different times, lost in separate thoughts.
Like I was saying..my life's going ringa-ringa-ringa, ringa-ringa-ringa, ringa-ringa-ringa ring!
Being a rookie started as an interesting thing - especially considering the last time I was a rookie was a good 10 years ago. That was a different ball game altogether and deserves a separate post.
Anyways, the current rookie-joy lasted about 2 hours into each of the TFs - till I realised how everyone wants to just 'review & manage' while there are very few who build the actual work products. We will call them work horses and I am one of them.
During an average work day, most of my 'seniors' in these TFs go from one meeting to another. For every 4 such people, only 1 contributes at a more relevant level than the other three. These people live in villas, drive nice cars, globe trot & hob nob with the CxOs of the company.
How aspirational it can be for the work horses... and so dangerously misleading too ( I am thinking ). How easily the goal can be - to just somehow get to that place where all that's needed to be done is to 'review & manage' (that too badly) and get paid for that! WTF?!
OK - enough rambling in a tune that's dangerously close to 'grapes are sour, grapes are sour'..
As for the rookie experience - its OK. Except that it's a lot of work on my plate and interesting situations. Like getting reviews done when the work is not read at all by the reviewers, differences in language use that goes into long mind-numbing debates. And getting a sense of what consensus and 'getting people on board' really mean.
Right now, I could do with a couple of extra hours in a day. Miss reading, YTubing, regular home cooked meals, 8 hour sleep cycles, mental meanderings.
Most of all I miss not being continuously connected to Y. We are off-sync right now. Sleep @ different times, go to work @ different times, lost in separate thoughts.
Like I was saying..my life's going ringa-ringa-ringa, ringa-ringa-ringa, ringa-ringa-ringa ring!
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