Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen.com

I thought you read Altered Carbon? You got me to read that in one of your prior posts (and I LOVED IT). Good luck with the other things - you might want to read Dan Simmon's Hyperion (if you haven't) or Illium - both are great.

I should mention too that Richard K Morgan (author of Altered Carbon) just came out with another Takeshi Kovacs book - Broken Angel's or something (can't recall).

Happy Holidays Mr. Scott!

I see that you are digging Neil Gaiman. :) My wife is reading Fragile Things now, and she likes it a lot. BTW, both me and her consider American Gods to be Gaiman's best book so far. You didn't like it, AFAIR, and I would guess the reason is that it talks a lot about immigration, and coming to terms with American culture. For you this is an abstract concept, but for folks that moved here in the adult age this book makes much more sense...

Getting back to wishlists though: I already got myself a present in the form of rear-wheel-driven, convertible, straight-six-engined toy, so now I am sitting tight for the next couple years. :)

Scott,

Since you recommend so many cool things, I figured this was a good time to recommend a pretty cool wish list like web site: http://www.stylefeeder.com/

It's pretty hot and you can integrate it into your blog.

Scott,

I too love to read but have been doing a lot of book-on-MP3 listening lately (the drive to/from work is otherwise monotonous). Anansi Boys has been very entertaining. I'll finish it this week and would recommend the MP3 over analog solution just to hear the various British and Carribean voices the MP3 provides.

Have a very Merry Christmas,

Craig

I cannot stress enough how shallow and disappointing LOTR: Tactics for the PSP is. There's no item management, no skill tree, nothing that you would expect to find in a tactical RPG.

Star Trek: Tactical Assault is equally disappointing as a tactical game, if you've put any thought into looking at it. There's a skill tree, but the gameplay gets repetitive quickly and has some ridiculously inconsistent difficulty.

If you're looking for a good tactics game for PSP, take a look at Field Commander. It's pretty slick, but the acting and storyline are horribly cheesy.

I'm holding out hope for Dungeons & Dragons Tactics. Right now, however, I'm totally digging on Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony. Dungeon crawling hack-and-slash RPG at its finest.

I've really been getting my money's worth out of my Gamefly subscription. If you check it out, please feel free to list me as a referral so I get a bonus.

Hi Scott,
I would also recommend Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. It's one of those books that you just keep enjoying after you're done reading it. I didn't pick another SF book for a while just to let the joy last a little more before getting into a new story. It's THAT good, IMO.

I enjoyed Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever, by Ray Kurzweil. If you haven't read it, I think you might like it too. Singularity (by Ray too) is not for you if you have already read his The Age of Spiritual Machines (same but to a lesser degree with The Age of Intelligent Machines).

Right now I'm reading Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson. It's a very entertaining and fun book. Supposedly a hacker's cult book ;).

As for electronics, I'd say the O2 XDA Atom Executive is the sexiest pocketpc/phone around. I just bought one for myself and my partner, and will have it next week when I fly to Redmond. Can't wait!!!

Cheers!