Swiss Mix

Best of 2009 - Books

1. Daemon by Daniel Suarez
   A high-tech thriller that starts out as a murder mystery where the prime suspect, a computer genius, is dead. Evidently his plans are being carried out from beyond the grave by a distributed computer program. Feels like a Crichton book, but is accurately poised right at today’s technology. I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel.
2. Accelerando (Singularity) by Charles Stross
   Stross has become my replacement for Neal J Stephenson, who after amazing me with The Big U, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Cryptonomicon lost me with Anathem. Stross has it all - great writing with single sentences so packed with the right words and freaky concepts that they get the neurotransmitters humming. I haven’t even finished this yet but I can tell it’s one of the best things I’ve read all year. I also liked his book Halting State a techno thriller that weaves between virtual crimes and real life espionage.
3. Mathematicians in Love by Rudy Rucker
   What’s not to love about a book that mixes high-level math, Dr. Suess, west coast surfer vibes, and multiple dimensions? Delightfully weird. I was also amused by his 1830s period-piece The Hollow Earth where a young boy travels to the South Pole with Edgar Allen Poe to search for the entrance to the hollow Earth.