# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - September 2024 edition
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** comic-books-manga, books-writing-myths
**Created:** [August 30, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488 "2024-08-30T21:49:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2024, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/21 "2024-09-11T12:57:12Z")
I finished “reading” Douglas Preston’s **Extinction** on audiodisc. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs (together or separately) are, like Clive Cussler’s collaborators, my guilty pleasure in thriller reading. They’re all better than Dan Brown, but it’s bubble-gum comic book stuff. That’s not to say it’s badly written, or not researched or thought out. But there’s an undefinable something about it that screams out “blockbuster movie material” (although precious few of Preston, Childs, or Cussler’s stuff has been turned into movies)
_Extinction_ superficially resembles _Jurassic Park,_ as the book itself admits, only with Pleistocene animals rather than Mesozoic ones. Instead of using DNA recovered from mosquitos preserved in amber, they use surviving strands of fossil DNA, selective breeding, and gene manipulation with CRISPR to re-create mammoths, Irish Elk, what used to be called Baluchitheriums, Megatheria, and other such creatures. They’re kept sterile (no BS about “frog DNA”) and only relatively harmless herbivores are “de-extincted” (no Saber-toothed tigers, cave bears, or dire wolves). So everything should be fine, right? Well, no. If that were the case there’d be no book. Og _course_ there’s a prehistoric fly in the ointment.
And now I’ve got to spoiler the rest. Sorry.
They de-extincted Neanderthals. You’d think the moral implications would be serious enough, plus the fact that Neanderthals aren’t harmless herbivores. Plus they let them breed. Th resurrected cavemen turn out to be far smarter than people think, and awfully hostile. Oopsy!
I could buy that, as a premise, but Preston does several things that annoy me. One is that he usually treats these Neanderthals as if they weren’t “de-extincted”, but plucked as if by time machine from the prehistoric world. So they know how to organize and hunt and stalk in groups. They know how to make primitive camouflage. They know how to make spears and other weapons and and damnably proficient with them (they hit three people – two of them wearing body armor – lethally and from long distances in the dark. They know how prehistoric neanderthals cooked and ate food and were cannibals.
Yet at other times he shows them as if they were modern humans, dressing in L.L. Bean clothes and playing chess and playing the violin and using the internet.
I’m sorry, but I can’t buy it. Making knives and spears from raw materials is a highly developed skill. Throwing them (with atlatls? He doesn’t say) with lethal accuracy under difficult conditions requires monumental amounts of practice. Researching exactly how your predecessors did their hunting and stalking requires huge amounts of study. His neanderthals don’t ring true.
Ad to this a huge case of “stacked the deck in their favor”. His neanderthals know how to operate drones, to disable GPS trackers, how to steal and wire up dynamite and detonators, how to shiut down redundant safety systems, and just happen to be in the right plce at the right time. You can’t explain it all on Homo Sapiens underestimating them, or on their greater strength or tracking ability (tracking is another of those things you have to learn by long experience or study).
The change of heart of the neanders at the end comes way too abruptly, and their success far too complete and easy. But it’s clear he wants to write a sequel.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/22 "2024-09-11T16:48:10Z")
I’m most of the way through _To Turn the Tide_ by S.M. Stirling. And I’m a little worried.
It’s a good book and it’s the first of a new series. But the second part of that may outweigh the first part.
I love Stirling’s early works and I reread them often. But in the last couple of decades his work has displayed a disturbing tendency of being bloated. The Emberverse series, the Shadowspawn series, and the Black Chamber series all had interesting ideas and characters but all were far too long. The good parts ended up getting buried in the unneeded excess.
And unfortunately, the signs are emerging in _To Turn the Tide_. I’m three quarters of the way through the book and I’m still waiting for the plot to start. I’m guessing there will be a conflict at some point but the opposing side hasn’t been revealed yet. Assuming they get revealed in the second book, that means this one serves as a four hundred page long prologue. And if the conflict doesn’t start until the second book in the series, its unlikely to be resolved for several more books after that. And by that point, I’ll have stopped caring (not even counting the fact that this will mean that theoretical final book might not be published until some time around 2030.)
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2024, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/23 "2024-09-12T12:31:16Z")
_The Eighth Detective_ was one of the best novels I read last year.
Finished _Eagle in Exile_ by Alan Smale, which was okay.
Next up: _Counterweight_, by Djuna, translated by Anton Hur. It’s science fiction with a space elevator.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/24 "2024-09-12T17:32:00Z")
Started today on [Wilderness Reform](https://www.amazon.com/Wilderness-Reform-Novel-Matt-Query/dp/1668024136), a horror novel by Harrison and Matt Query. They wrote another book, called Old Country, that I really liked and so far this one’s great as well. It’s about kids undergoing a rehab program in the wilderness of Montana, in fact an extremely effective program, but something is _wrong_ about it.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/25 "2024-09-14T16:46:18Z")
Finished _Counterweight_, by Djuna, translated by Anton Hur. It was okay, but the description on the back of the book is a major spoiler. In fact, just the title turns out to be a major spoiler.
Now I’m reading _How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi: Collected Quirks of Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math from Nerd Nite_, edited by Dr. Chris Balakrishnan and Matt Wasowski.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/26 "2024-09-15T23:30:47Z")
Finished Wilderness Reform. I have minor quibbles, but overall I think it’s one of the best books I’ll read this year.
In the morning, I’ll start A Sorceress Comes To Call. It’s by T. Kingfisher, which guarantees it’s one of the best books I’ll read this year.
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2024, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/27 "2024-09-16T00:05:08Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#):
>
> In the morning, I’ll start A Sorceress Comes To Call. It’s by T. Kingfisher, which guarantees it’s one of the best books I’ll read this year.
I’m starting it soon too!
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2024, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/28 "2024-09-16T00:27:10Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#):
>
> In the morning, I’ll start A Sorceress Comes To Call. It’s by T. Kingfisher, which guarantees it’s one of the best books I’ll read this year.
Why wasn’t I informed that there was a new T. Kingfisher book? Somebody is getting fired for this.
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2024, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/29 "2024-09-16T00:38:51Z")
> [@Frodo](#):
>
> Why wasn’t I informed that there was a new T. Kingfisher book? Somebody is getting fired for this.
My fault!
On the up side I’ll have plenty of time to read. (And we can all read it together!)
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/30 "2024-09-16T00:54:49Z")
All is forgiven, Downloading book now.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2024, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/31 "2024-09-16T03:59:08Z")
Finished _On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service_, by Anthony Fauci MD. The memoirs of a true American hero. Highly recommended.
Have started _The Town and the City_, Jack Kerouac’s first novel. I picked it up in the Talk Story Bookstore in the sleepy little town of Hanapepe, on the South Shore of the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, where the wife and I spent some time running around recently. Talk Story bills itself as “The Westernmost Bookstore of the United States,” and it’s true. The town of Hanapepe itself may look familiar to fans of the 2002 animated film _Lilo & Stitch_, as the main drag in town, or what passes for a main drag, was the model for the one in Lilo’s hometown.
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/32 "2024-09-16T15:30:22Z")
**Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life** Jason Roberts
The history of the rivalry between the Swede Carl Linnaeus and the Frenchman Buffon to describe and categorize all life on Earth.
Well-written with lots of interesting detail.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/33 "2024-09-16T15:46:19Z")
Finished _How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi: Collected Quirks of Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math from Nerd Nite_, edited by Dr. Chris Balakrishnan and Matt Wasowski. My favorite of these essays, by far, was “A Tea Test Tempest”, by Sam Kean, about how a bet between co-workers about whether it was possible to taste the difference between tea with milk poured into the cup before the tea and tea with milk poured into the cup after the tea. Yes, it is. It wound up changing science forever. I’d read the lion’s share of the information presented in the other essays in other places already.
Next up: _Close to Critical_, a science fiction novel by Hal Clement, and _Chicago_, by Studs Terkel.
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2024, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/34 "2024-09-18T01:00:55Z")
I started _A Sorceress Comes to Call_ by T. Kingfisher… and I’m hooked. This is going to drag me by the ear to the last page!
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2024, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/35 "2024-09-18T01:08:09Z")
Me too! Do we love Hester? Yes. 😍
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2024, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/36 "2024-09-18T01:16:32Z")
Me three, it’s good.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/37 "2024-09-18T01:20:35Z")
My people! 🫂
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2024, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/38 "2024-09-18T01:31:46Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#):
>
> Me too! Do we love Hester? Yes. 😍
Yes, YES we do!
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/39 "2024-09-18T23:08:03Z")
I finished “Murder on the Links” by Agatha Christie. Her best was definitely still to come, If I yelled one more time at the book “He’s not a boy! He was a flighter pilot in the war! That makes him a man!” I was definitely going to stroke out…
So aside from some deeply condescending attitudes about woman, her wierd need to infantilize Jack and the iffy romance between Hastings and CInderella, the mystery itself was interesting and kept me guessing right up to the final twist.
Now this leaves my attention solely focused on T. Kingfisher.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-september-2024-edition/1006488/40 "2024-09-19T17:48:02Z")
Finished _Close to Critical_, a science fiction novel by Hal Clement, and _Chicago_, by Studs Terkel and enjoyed both for the fascinating worlds they describe.
Next up: _Designing Disability: Symbols, Space, and Society_ by Elizabeth Guffey, and _Wide Sargasso Sea_, by Jean Rhys.
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