Review: Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?

Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? by Graham Allison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is pretty interesting. Looking at sociological, economic, historical and political patterns that join the threads between minor unconnected events and paint the larger picture that's been there under the surface, identifying patterns of history and using them to predict probabilities into future events... there's something almost Hari Seldonian about the concept.
I love the term 'Applied History'. History is so much more than a collection of dead facts - it's a living, breathing story that's still going on, threading into the future, the facts of yesterday and the feel of today, connecting into a forecast of tomorrow.
Brilliant read if you're even slightly interested in history and current events at a macro scale.

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Review: The Algebraist

The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's an interesting world, similar but apart from the Culture series... seems to be a precursor, given what looks like a lower level of tech and more organic agency prevalent in this universe.
That said, there's some core issues - it rambles. Sentences run on and on, sometimes for a full page or more, and you have to jump back to see how they started. Plot arcs appear and fade out with no explanation. Start and end abruptly, no closure, no buildup, apart from, the one core story. Characters are awesome... but wasted.
All in all, an interesting read, but no great loss in your life if you never get around to it.

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