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danielcornell

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Entrepreneur, developer, security professional, advisor, and investor. Slow ultra-marathoner, mediocre powerlifter. He/him

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appassionato , to bookstodon
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Into the Darkness: A Journey of Love, War, and Emotional Freedom by Dave Fielding, 2024

Into the Darkness is unlike any book you've ever read. Dave Fielding's gritty, no-holds-barred memoir is not just a tale of covert operations and daring takedowns of the planet's most notorious terrorists in the hostile terrains of Iraq and Syria.

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danielcornell ,
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@appassionato @bookstodon I really enjoyed this. It provides some real insight into challenges returning military face - especially folks serving in specialized, intel-based units

Originally found out about this book from the Team House podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/an-army-unit-more-secretive-than-task-force-orange/id1492797340?i=1000662807392

Da_Gut , to bookstodon
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The Sparrow by Mary Doria russell and the second half of the book (allegedly) Children of God...

Thoughts? I've heard good things about it

"The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: to make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end."

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danielcornell ,
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@Da_Gut @bookstodon It has been quite a while since I read it, but I recall the Sparrow being fantastic. I went to a Jesuit high school so seeing that ethos translated to space travel was interesting. Pretty sure I read Children of God as well but can't remember how the story got chunked up between the two

danielcornell , to bookstodon
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Just finished Biology the Whole Story by Lindsay Turnbull https://www.amazon.com/Biology-The-Whole-Story/dp/1788451937/ref=sr_1_1 Wow - what a great read! This was the perfect biology refresher for someone who took biology ... thirty-ish years ago? Steps through all the major topics - DNA, evolution, energy systems, animals, plants, and so on. Was great to dig back into some concepts I hadn't thought about in a long time

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danielcornell OP ,
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@mvilain @bookstodon Ooh! Picked up a copy. Because I definitely need another to-read book on my shelf. Thanks for the tip and hope you get as much out of Whole Story as I did

danielcornell , to bookstodon
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Finished The Bully in Your Pocket by Lorenzo Gomez https://www.amazon.com/Bully-Your-Pocket-Playbook-Defeat/dp/B0CN2HJDS7/ref=sr_1_1

The language can be a little flowery, but he cuts deep into the challenges of dealing with online trolls as a public figure and as a leader

From being in the San Antonio tech community, I'm familiar with all-too-many of the situations he describes in the book and Lorenzo's approach to getting things back under control are worth studying and learning from

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danielcornell , to bookstodon
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Finished The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Weather-Friend-Dean-Koontz/dp/1662500491/ref=sr_1_1

This was a goofy book. All the characters had wacky names and wacky backstories and did wacky stuff when thrust into crazy circumstances. I guess it was all right but it read more like YA fiction than the old school (Watchers, Strangers) Dean Koontz I was raised on

I've got the Koontz nostalgia so I'll order the next one, but I hope this isn't how things are trending

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danielcornell OP ,
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@mvilain @bookstodon I definitely feel like there is a change in the writing style. It feels like it has drifted from Stephen King to Stephenie Meyer (Twilight) There might be some changes in the editing, but I those are less significant than the style changes from what I've read

That said, most of the Koontz I've read was from the late 80s with a book or two I've picked up in airports since then

I've read some Heinlein, but don't know enough about the history to weigh in

danielcornell , to bookstodon
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Finished Same as Ever by Morgan Housel https://www.amazon.com/Same-Ever-Guide-Never-Changes/dp/B0C1HRH2RH/ref=sr_1_1

This was a good follow up to his Psychology of Money. Looks at many of the same themes, but expanded to look at how they've driven history - and will continue to do so. Some of it was a little fluffy, but it made me think about where I've seen these forces at work in my life

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danielcornell , to bookstodon
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Finished Open Source (Enhancement Series) by Anna L Davis https://www.amazon.com/Open-Source-Enhancement-Anna-Davis/dp/099678280X/ref=sr_1_1 Really enjoyed this one. Lots of relevance to current topics including Neuralink brain implants and using tooling like LLMs to boost productivity. Some of the story transitions were a bit abrupt, but not sure how that could have been handled differently without making the book crazy-long. Excited to see what else Anna L Davis does

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danielcornell , to bookstodon
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Finished Militia House by John Milas https://www.amazon.com/Militia-House-Novel-John-Milas/dp/1250857066/ref=sr_1_1

Horror novel set in Afghanistan written by a Marine veteran - first novel. Like Afghanistan isn't horrific enough on its own. Enjoyed it. Did a great job with the protagonist - not a square-jawed hero or a shithead. Just a Marine dealing with a dumb deployment trying to get his arms around newly being in a leadership position while bad stuff starts to happen around him

Looking forward to what he does next

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danielcornell , to bookstodon
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Finished Deciphering Intentions by Katherine R Dollar https://www.amazon.com/Deciphering-Intentions-Cyber-Security-Short/dp/B0CP21N377/ref=sr_1_1

This was short - only 46 pages. And it came out of an interesting concept - using fiction to teach cybersecurity concepts. Storyline was set in near future looking at protecting personal information in a world with AI and security vulnerabilities.

This one didn't really "land" for me - kind of confusing and no real profound insights. Still, I'll check out her next one - concept has promise

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dbsalk , to bookstodon
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I'm having a bit of a hard time with Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. I knew going in that some of the short stories were going to be a bit "out there." A few are quite good, but most I think are not really my taste. I'm about 60% of the way through and hope to have it done this weekend. Really, the sooner, the better.

I know Palahniuk has written a bunch of books. This is the first of his that I've picked up.

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danielcornell ,
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@dbsalk @bookstodon Yeah I've read a bunch of his stuff including "Haunted" and "out there" is a good characterization. Currently trying to chew through "Not Forever, But for Now" and I'm not sure I'm going to make it. Just too sad and weird and unsettling and gross - Chuck Palahniuk may have finally defeated me with that one

"Fight Club" and "Choke" were much more enjoyable reads, in my experience

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