Disaster relief

Like everyone else we were shocked by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. I don't think we know anyone involved, but our sympathies go out to anyone affected.

This is looking like the largest natural disaster I can remember. It's hard to comprehend the scale. A lot of people are going to need help in the coming months.

We'll be donating to Oxfam.

Things Can Only Get Better

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Biographies & Memoirs
Author:	John O'Farrell

A very well written, humorous account of 17 years in the political wilderness by a lifelong Labour supporter. John is a comedy writer (Spitting Image, Have I Got News for You), but also wrote material for Gordon Brown. As someone who lived through the Tory years I can imagine how he felt, even if I was not that political. A great book.

His 'The Best a Man Can Get' is a very funny piece of fiction.

Bag of Spoons

http://www.bagofspoons.net/
My personal site. It's my little playground to try out various web technology

Digital Fortress

Rating:	★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Mystery & Thrillers
Author:	Dan Brown

Mr Brown seems to be doing quite well these days on the back of The Da Vinci Code. I read that a while back. It's a fairly typical mainstream thriller with a bit of conspiracy theory thrown in. I then read Angels and Demons, which is a similar sort of thing, but maybe not as well written.

I was short of something to read when my dad handed this book onto me after his holiday. Now I am well into the whole encryption thing, but this book is distinctly lacking in that area. It puports that the NSA (US secret code breaking department) can crack any coded message with their massive computer. There's plenty of maths that proves that cannot be the case. Apart from that it's the usual formulaic stuff. Beautiful female cryptographer and her handsome, athletic language professor boyfriend try to save the world. Brown really likes to glamorise accademics, but the characters are too shallow and perfect for my liking.

Well I read it through to the end and I won't tell you if the good guts saved the day at the last possible moment. That would spoil the surprise.

If you want good techno thrillers then try Neal Stephenson. As for Mr Brown, he's well overrated.

Anyone want to buy some 2nd hand books?