Mi volumen de lectura en el 2019 disminuyó a 8 obras. Una tendencia que busqué revertir durante el 2020. Varias obras abandonadas intentaron ser retomadas. Un año atareado el 2020, especialmente los primeros meses, algo caótico pero estancado en lo que fue el resto de éste. A mitad de año apenas dos libros habían sido terminados. Costó trabajo adaptarse a las condiciones que nos vimos forzados a adoptar, y descubrimos lo frágil que nuestra economía y sociedad pueden ser; cuán rápidamente podemos perder lo que otras generaciones tardaron en lograr. 2021 pinta que será mucho más complicado.

Al final, esto es lo que logré leer en el 2020.

«Luz Estelar«:- Este año inició retomando esta saga. Dando continuidad a la lectura a la «nueva profecía», continuamos leyendo como se van instalando los cuatro clanes en el nuevo territorio que encontraron tras la desaparición de su bosque a manos de la urbanización. Una lectura entretenida, pero que está ya siendo repetitiva (enero-febrero 2020, 320 pp.).

«El Mundo Perdido«:- Este es un libro que no sólo dio origen a in género sino también a toda una industria (aunque tomó varias décadas hacerlo). Esta es una historia muy victoriana que explota esa idea o sentimiento de encontrar algo aún sin explorar en nuestro propio planeta, que quizás permita descubrir a algo olvidado por el tiempo. Una muy romántica idea pero algo que ya es inverosímil (febrero-mayo 2020, 269 pp.).

«Crepúsculo«:- Pese a que Erin Hunter parece estar estirando una fórmula vendedora a más no poder, este libro trae de vuelta a un personaje que en la saga previa fue un dolor de cabeza. La historia empieza así a volverse interesante pero parece algo predecible. Ya veremos como conluye esta historia (junio-julio 2020, 320 pp.).

 

«Atardecer«:- Definitivamente Erin Hunter está estirando una fórmula vendedora a más no poder. Si ya se notaba una cierta repetitiva narrativa en la primera saga, ésta se ha tornado molesta en la segunda.

Adicionalmente, y muy en particular para este sexto libro, hay una enorme serie de evasivas narrativas que sólo buscan alargar y alargar la historia. Lo peor del caso es que esto lleva a esperar un desenlace elaborado y sorprendente pero no. Se presenta un final alargado en tres capítulos que describen una situación que no honra la mística que la autora ha creado alrededor de sus mininos.

Para leerse una vez (agosto-septiembre 2020, 300 pp.).

«Las Batallas en el Desierto«:- Una muy entretenida historia de una época ya olvidada de la vida en México, pero que aún refleja una etapa por la que todos pasamos, hombres y mujeres, pero que dados los roles sociales y cultura en México es una descripción significativa para todo aquel miembro del genero masculino (septiembre 2020, 70 pp.).

«Pandora’s Star«:- Peter F. Hamilton is the author of numerous novels. Critics have compared his space operas to the work of Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert. It seems that the novels of Peter F. Hamilton are multivolume adventures.

This particular one sets in year 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth contains more than six hundred worlds, interconnected by wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, an astronomer observes a star vanishes. It simply «disappears». The conclusion: a Dyson star. Later a ship, named «Second Chance«, is dispatched to investigate what has occurred and whether it represents a threat.

In the plot, opposed to what «Second Chance‘s» mission represents, they are the Guardians of Selfhood, a cult that believes the human race is being manipulated by an alien entity they call the Starflyer. They are who think the Guardians are crazy, who think they just terrorists, and who think they’re right.

If the Starflyer does exists or not, is something that is not in this book, but a really and imminent threat is discovered, or maybe wake up by the «Second Chance» and a war start.

A very good book, despite its length. To read more than one time (Jan – Dec 2020, 3052 pp.).

«HP-16C Owner’s Handbook«:- Most of my time this year was dedicated reading articles and parts of some technical books. I don’t usually review articles, and I think I’ve only done one or two reviews of technical books in this blog (partly because I use those books only for reference, they are not a story that unfolds and reaches a conclusion).

However, in this case, this manual was read much more for historical reasons. As I wrote in October, I found an HP-16C advertised on eBay that claimed to be «new» and it was. A rarity that any collector would appreciate.

I read this manual both to learn what this calculator was trying to offer and to get an idea of what was going through the minds of those who would be computer engineers and computer scientists in the early 1980s.

Actually, there has been little of what this calculator offers that I have needed in my professional life as a computer scientist, but the truth is, it would have saved me a lot of time. It is also true that many of my colleagues with whom I have interacted professionally avoid having to deal with binary arithmetic, base conversion and bit manipulation and resort to less elegant or impractical solutions making use of other things than utilities or programming languages provide today. But this is something that, despite the advanced state of current development tools they provide, could save time, space and the use of computing resources. Some of this I hope will be a future blog entry (Oct – Dec 2020, 133 pp.).

«Rebuilding Reliable Data Pipelines Through Modern Tools«:- Well, despite the forecasts, I managed to read one more book last year. A technical book, certainly, but one on a subject that in the past two years has interested me and, to some extent, obsessed (mainly because of a professional work that has been very important to me in that time).

As I indicate in the individual review, many things are said about this book from which it can be downloaded for free (things that are said will be learned) but the truth is that it is mere marketing. The book is just a compilation of certain knowledge that appears to be empirical, which although that does not detract from what this book provides, it is not what is advertised around it.

One piece of advice about this book is that it should be read by a data scientist, machine learning engineer, or DevOps / MLOps engineer with some knowledge of the issues the book is about in order to appreciate the amount of knowledge poured into it. despite its short length. You need to have experienced the operational problems and design difficulties of a data pipeline to understand the author’s advice and solutions.

To read and read again as needed (Dec 2020, 91 pp.).