2+0+2+2 Books in 2022

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Fiction
• Non-Fiction

Hyperion

by Dan Simmons

After I finished the Dune saga last year, I needed something to fill the hole in my nerdy little Sci-Fi heart. I then stumbled upon the Hugo-Award-winning Hyperion Cantos and was ready to get soaked up into the four books with the legendary “Shrike” on their covers.

I really enjoy when a book has great and imaginative world building with strange new concepts and lively worlds. Hyperion has that kind of world building that really makes me want to find out everything about the world(s) and systems that make up the story. Although some parts can be a bit long, it is generally very well written.

The story is a very intriguing mystery-adventure that unfolds as you slowly get to know the seven pilgrims that are on their way to find out what the heck is going on with the time tombs on planet Hyperion.
What are the time tombs you may ask? Oh no big deal, just some ancient Egypt-inspired structures like a sphinx, an obelisk, a palace etc. which supposedly were created in the far future and are traveling back in time. The metallic, thorny thing which appears out of nowhere and impales you on his eternal tree of pain where you will suffer until the end of the universe called the Shrike is also around there somewhere. Cool, cool, cool.

Also here is a fun part out of one of the seven main characters’ tales (poet’s tale):

Make sure to also read the next book “Fall of Hyperion”, as Hyperion is just part one of the actual story that spans over these two books. Hyperion on its own does not really have a clean-cut ending.

Recommended? Yes, if you like Science-Fiction. This is one of the all-time great book series!

The Fall of Hyperion

by Dan Simmons

This is the second book and continues on right where Hyperion ended. Fall of Hyperion is still written in the view of the seven pilgrims (with some exceptions) but it’s more about the present actions and what they are going through on Hyperion. There is more action in this book and there are also again some crazy storylines that are sometimes a bit wild to imagine (but fun). Some of the mysteries of the first book are answered but not everything in the Hyperion universe is explained (yet, read the next two books).

The end of this book concludes the story of the “Hyperion Cantos” and if you want, you can have a more or less clean-cut ending with this book and do not need to read the last two books.

Recommended? Yes, if you have read the first book, you need to read this to find out how the story ends.

Endymion

by Dan Simmons

Endymion is the third out of four books in the series and starts a new story with (mostly) new characters, a few hundred years after the events of the “Fall of Hyperion”. The three new main characters are a clumsy average Joe, a blue-skinned android-servant and a small girl which apparently is the new messiah who will save the universe(?). It’s a fun adventure to read and it also answers some of the mysteries from the first two books.

What I didn’t like was that it’s a bit slow at times (feels like a build-up for the last book) and that Aenea (the small girl-Jesus) is a bit annoying and illogical at some parts (she knows important things but won’t communicate them for no particular reason).

Recommended? Yes, if you liked the first two books and want to know what impacts the ending of “the Fall of Hyperion” had upon this universe.

Cloud Atlas

by David Mitchell

Ughhhhhh, this book man… I don’t know. When I bought it in the store, the woman that sold it to me was very hyped and excited and told me how this book is so great and how it’s one of her favorite books ever. When I think back it must have been April 1st and she wanted to prank me because this book is really not good. This book is like a roller-coaster that drives your expectations up and up and up and you wait for the roller-coaster to hit its peak and to just crash down into the abyss of a great finale where everything clicks and makes sense.
But this book is not like that.
It’s like an escalator. You read it and your hopes go up and up because the book has to be great right??? But at the end of this escalator ride you just find yourselves up in the clouds where you can’t see shit and are just confused and wondered why you rode this escalator up there.

Recommended? No

Permanent Record

by Edward Snowden

This is the biography of the NSA-whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked in 2013 how security agencies monitor and surveil the everyday life of the general population.

The first part describes his life before the incident. He tells how he grew up and how his interest in computers as a kid resulted in him ending up in the position where he had to “blow the whistle”.

The second part is about the process of leaking his findings, about secret meetings and what security measures he had to take to not get caught (feels like a spy movie).

In the third and final part he reveals the aftermath of his actions, how he managed to flee the country and how he is living in exile in Russia.

Mixed in between these parts are very interesting IT security and data privacy concepts.

Recommended? Yes!

The Philosophy Book

My fifth book from the «Big Ideas Simply Explained» series. I read one of these books every year to get a broad overview about a topic that interests me. It’s written very understandable, has nice illustrations and pictures and sums up a topic pretty good.
I am generally not that interested in philosophy and wanted this book to give me a solid knowledge base in the topic and some understanding of the philosophic view to look at things in life. It was alright. Some topics very pretty interesting, some parts a bit too abstract for me. In the end, I don’t think that too much of the book’s ideas stuck with me.

Recommended? No, only if you are already interested in philosophy but do not know a lot about the topic.