Reviews and Comments

A fascinating book that starts slow, introducing the reader to the host of people involved with Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos as they attempt to get their blood testing machines out into the market, but rapidly becomes a gripping tale as the behind-the-scenes shenanigans eventually cause people to have second thoughts and push for investigations into the company, eventually exposing its technology to be a fraud, but not before causing pain and anguish to people who might have been misled by the false results returned by the Theranos machines.

The story starts with Elizabeth Holmes's childhood ambition to 'change the world' that morphs into a desire to be a billionaire. While working in Singapore, getting blood samples during the SARS epidemic, Holmes would get the 'there must be a better way' urge to show that a whole host of blood tests could be done with small quantities of blood.

After various iterations, the idea would become that of a machine that could sit in people's homes and do all their blood tests, an idea she believes would 'change the world' and make her rich. Thus, was Theranos born. Sadly, this is an idea that others have had and had struggled to achieve.

Holmes may have believed that by doing the machine in a 'Silicon Valley' type startup company, Theranos would succeed where others had failed. Unfortunately, the reality behind health-care's need to do careful studies of new technologies and trying not to hurt patients, appears to have been lost in the 'reality distortion' that a Silicon Valley start-up lives in, especially when Holmes begins to deliberately act like Steve Jobs in the running of Theranos and the treatment of workers and investors.

Time passes: the technology struggles to be made to work, yet Holmes (as do most start-ups) overpromises on what the technology can do. Eventually, it reaches a breaking point when Theranos makes deals to have the machines be used in retail locations. With non-working machines and deals that cannot be delayed, Theranos decides to cheat by using competitors' blood machines to do the tests, but in ways the machines were not designed to. It is at this point that some people at Theranos, locked behind company NDAs, decides that with people's lives at stake due to the inaccurate blood results, this cannot continue and begin to find ways to leak out the details of what was happening. And this is where the story gets gripping.

At this point, that the author gets involved in the story, when he gets a tip-off about shenanigans at Theranos and starts digging. Of course, Theranos reacts with lawsuits and threatening lawyers. Being able to get a 'front row' seat to the confrontations and then the revelations after his first article, and subsequent ones, on Theranos are published was worth it to read it all in one go.

In the end, the technology was revealed to be a sham; Theranos goes bankrupt and Holmes and others are (as this review is being written) now on trial for fraud.

If there is a moral to the tale, perhaps it is that ambitious people can change the world, but perhaps not in the way they intend to if the path they follow is filled with deception and by mistreating people.

Tom Gauld's cartoons in The Guardian and New Scientists are well known to me as hilarious commentary on the book and scientific fields (in the respective news media). So reading a Gauld tale longer than a standard comic panel aimed at younger children is a different experience. Can his art and storytelling abilities still be interesting. For me, the answer is yes.

The book is a fairy tale about a King and Queen who, lacking children, decide to go and make some. The Wooden Robot was created by the royal inventor, the Log Princess by a clever old witch. And they were happy together. The Log Princess turns back into a log when she goes to sleep and turns back when awaken with some magic words, which the Wooden Robot does each morning.

But one morning, the Wooden Robot was distracted, and before he could say the magic words, the Log Princess (in the form of a log) was accidentally discarded. Thus starts the adventures of the Wooden Robot to rescue the Log Princess and then return to the Kingdom. Which, of course, they do, with the help of some little friends.

The story is simple, the adventure is mostly linear (with some quick diversions caused by other adventures) but Gauld's intricate yet simple art holds it all together, together with more words than he usually uses in his weekly comics. Little Ones (and adults) who re-read the story will probably keep finding new things in the art.

All in all, a good first outing for Gauld in the field of art and fairy tale storytelling. Hopefully, there can be more in the future.

A nice and fascinating book that gives a look at a bird we are all probably very familiar with: the pigeon (to be more precise, the feral Rock Pigeon). From how it came to be, the various breeds that eventually came to form the pigeon, its behaviour, and we can live with it, this book will give you a good and quick guide. It also has a number of good illustrations of pigeon, which is no surprise as the author also publishes good web comics on nature at [ www.birdandmoon.com/ ].

Chapter one gives an overview of the family of pigeons (and doves): their natural history, some species of pigeons to be found and how the common (or rock) pigeon came to be found in human habitats all over the world.

Chapter two looks at the history of the relationship between the pigeon and humans. Domesticated in prehistoric times, the pigeon became a source of food and fertilizer for people. Later on, they became prized birds for breeders and a way to send messages over long distances. But the rise of other ways to communicate and other sources of food (like chickens) began to make pigeons unpopular.

Chapter three looks at the anatomy of pigeons from the outside in. Interesting parts include its lungs and air sacs that give birds a more efficient breathing system, a four chambered heart that evolved independently to that of mammals, and the mental abilities of birds and pigeons.

Chapter four looks at various pigeon breeds. Depending on what people want, pigeons have been bred to race, for meat, to show extremes of plumage, postures or other characteristics.

Chapter five gives an interesting summary on the genetics of current feral pigeons. A brief introduction to genetics and dominant and recessive traits is given first. Then, a quick summary of the various traits that control the colours of pigeons and the various combinations of patterns is presented, along with illustrations of the various patterns.

Chapter six looks at the behaviour of pigeons: the way they sound, fly and walk, find food and mates, build nests and raise their young.

Chapter seven gives some general advice on what to do to get rid of or care for pigeons. The best advice is to look for local pigeon or wildlife organizations that can help, as well as found more research.

An extra section at the end talks about other birds that can be seen in urban areas besides pigeons. These include birds that hunt pigeons like falcons and eagles, other kinds of pigeons, and other urban birds.

An interesting book about what may happen if an AI wants to spread chaos from behind the scenes, but let down by an ending that only tells you what happened without actually showing you.

Beginning where the previous book ends, Steph has enrolled in a new, hopefully more permanent, school. There, she meets another new girl, Nell, who had been homeschooled by her cult-religious mother. Nell's mother has apparently gone missing, forcing her to live with her estranged father and lived-in partners, and is now being sent to school.

Both are asked to sign up to a social network that, like Pokémon Go, gives them tasks to do separately and together in set locations to get 'points'. The tasks start out a bit unusual, but slowly turn serious when some tasks ask them to leave unusual messages for other people and even to steal items.

Steph and the CatNet AI, CheshireCat, believe that there is another AI out there, and Steph suspects the other AI may be behind the social network and maybe other networks, including one that Nell uses to keep in touch with her religious cult group. Not only that, the other AI is deliberately creating conflicts between the social network groups. It is only when various clues fall into place that Steph, Nell, CheshireCat and the other people on CatNet realize what it all leading up to and have to work out how to stop it.

As with the previous book, this story is told from a first-person viewpoint, switching between the viewpoints of Steph, Nell, CheshireCat and the CatNet group (clowder). We get an account of the investigations and clues that gradually lead them to conclude what the other AI is planning to do and how to stop it.

Unfortunately, the actual steps taken to stop the AI are rushed, which somewhat deflates the ending of a book that features a number of interesting YA and adult characters who can accomplish things you wouldn't expect them to be able to do.

Still, an interesting near-future story of a world that has AIs that may or may not have the interests of people in mind.

This was a fun YA book to read. I am not a teenager now and don't know how American teens may behave, but the book gives a believable portrayal of the life of a teen who has been on the run with her mother for much of her life (to hide from her abusive father who once kidnapped her mother), yet finds friendship in a social network called CatNet which, she later discovers, is being quietly run by an AI.

The AI itself likes pictures (especially cat pictures) and is eager to foster good relationships with the people on CatNet. When the teen, Steph, moves yet again to another town and finds actual friendship there and would rather just stay there, the AI decides to 'help' her, and ends up revealing their (singular they) existence to Steph to get her trust.

Unfortunately, the 'help' causes too much attention to become focused on her location. That, and her mother suddenly falling very ill, makes Steph decide to find out the truth about why she and her mother have really been on the run. The AI, and her friends on CatNet do some digging, inadvertently triggering some trip wires set by her father, who now knows where she is and is coming to get her.

As Steph goes on the run with her friends, the digging she, CatNet and the AI do finally reveal the reason why her father is really after her. But after her father nearly catches here, forcing the AI to act, the AI itself gets into danger. And now it is up to Steph and her friends to rescue them and, hopefully, stop her father and regain her mother.

The book is mostly written from the first-person, switching viewpoints between Steph and the AI, with occasional views of the 'clowder' (group) on CatNet involving Steph's friends. The writing is easy to get used to, despite my lack of experience with the life of a typical American teen in a near future scenario where self-driving cars and robots can be a fact of life.

One note: while reading the book, I was unaware of the use of the term, "Catfishing". It was only after reading that I looked up the term and realized how appropriate it is to the book as it involves people (and one AI) interacting and only later finding out about the reality behind the people on CatNet.

An interesting story about a journey of discovery though a world of many skies. Del, the main character, becomes custodian of a book discovered during an archaeological dig: "The Book of All Skies". But it is immediately stolen. We then get an introduction to the world that Del lives in.

'Hoops' are found in Del's world and when you pass through them, you are still on the world, but transported to a region that features a different sky, implying that the Hoops are a way to connect different regions of the universe together. But Del's world is restricted: an impassable mountain blocks the path through the Hoops in one direction and in the other, the world 'ends' and the Hoops lead to an empty sky with no ground.

In the past, some people from Del's land somehow made it through the mountains to a place called the 'Bountiful Lands' and people have been trying to find the path through again. But Del gets involved in an audacious scheme to bypass the mountains in another way: a journey that would eventually succeed but would be filled with dangers.

As we follow Del's journey, we learn more about the world of the Hoops, including how it may have come about. Through a copy of "The Book of All Skies", we would learn about the hubris of Del's people in the past who though they could control the Hoops and how the world that Del knows came about. And we also learn about people who would reject any change to their way of life and would do anything, including killing, to keep the world the way it is.

The author has a website that contains more information on the physics of the Hoops [ www.gregegan.net/ALLSKIES/AllSkies.html ].

The next adventure of Delilah Dirk and Selim, this one has the pair struggling to disable the defences of a port town, under the control of a cruel person, to allow a ship to enter during a storm. Job done, they encounter a Dutch journalist who sets them off on a quest for hidden treasure. Joining them on the quest, they discover artefacts that appear to point to the location of a mysterious city known as the Third Pillar of Hercules.

On their journey, they would encounter an old enemy. But their greatest danger may well be with them, for the journalist accompanying them is not above embellishing the story of their adventures, as well as having a hidden agenda for finding the fabled city that is only revealed at the end.

This book is not quite as exciting as the second one, for the stakes involved are not quite as personal to Delilah Dirk (compared to the second book). However, the excitement does get turned up at the end when hidden agendas are finally revealed and old enemies meet again, perhaps to come to a kind of stalemate.

After the earth shaking events in this book, who knows what will happen next to Delilah Dirk and Selim as they settle back, drink some tea, and wait for their next adventure.

An interesting issue, with good stories by Brian Trent, Matthew Hughes, Nuzo Onoh, E. A. Bourland and Carl Taylor.

• “The Haunted Hills Community and Country Club” by Lincoln Michel: a real estate agent gets a job selling haunted houses at a community. As first, it goes well, as the houses sell at below market rates and the owners don't mind the hauntings. But then comes a horror that no real estate agent can overcome.

• "The Scorpion and the Syrinx" by Brian Trent: a fascinating story of an alternate world where the Roman Empire reached the Americas and allied with Native Americans against the Aztec empire. On a river between both sides, a supernatural investigator looks into the death of a tutor, and discovers magic being used to bring death and settle historical scores between enemies.

• “Ice Fishing on Europa” by Erin Barbeau: a researcher in Europa meets an unusual friend, and together they learn about each other's loneliness as they make a journey together.

• “The Forlorn” by Matthew Hughes: a light fantasy about an investigator sent by a magical scholar to find a common acquaintance. The journey would lead into a desert that used to hold a temple that made the mistake of trying to contain a god that did not want to be there. The end of the adventure hints of more magical journeys in the future.

• “Seedling” by Octavia Cade: an alternative Hansel and Gretel tale, where Hansel is left in a forest, finds an unusual girl he calls Gretel, and they both do others things to survive when there is no Gingerbread House.

• “The Abomination” by Nuzo Onoh: an African fantasy-horror story about a person who becomes known as The Abomination and shunned by villagers. But one day, she meets a spirit king and makes a request that, in time, would lead her to fulfil her revenge on the village for shunning her and later using her to appease the gods for a famine that now ravages the village.

• “To the Honorable and Esteemed Monsters under My Bed” by E. A. Bourland: a series of letter exchanges between a boy and monsters under his bed starts off sounding humorous but gradually gets a horrifying edge when they make agreements with each other to stop bullies and an apparently abusive parent.

• “Split the Baby” by Carl Taylor: in the future, when parents divorce, both can take digital representations of their child with them. But things take a turn when the child disagrees with being divided up in this fashion and comes up with his own solution to keep the family together.

• “And in Rain, Blank Pages” by Lora Gray: an urban fantasy about a young person escaping an abusive relationship, only to stumble into another unusual one with a man with a strange ability with words.

• “Her Dragon” by Amal Singh: in a land where imaginary creatures can be created by Makers, a young girl struggles to form a dragon like her grandmother. When she is thrust into the role of Maker, she goes on a journey to discover how and what she is meant to make.