Review of "Programing Android" by Zigurd Mednieks

Programming Android by Zigurd Mednieks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Want to get into Android programming? What better than a book called Programming Android from O'Reilly! :) This is a GREAT resource! The book is well-organized into sections, giving you information on how to setup your environment all the way up to handling more recent topics like NFC.

I find that the style of the book works well as a reference to look up roughly how you would do something, like setup NFC P2P or setup some OpenGL graphics, as well as a running tutorial to read through to learn how things work. The book is full of code examples (available online too) and valuable information on how to properly implement your applications (see Chapter 10 - A Framework for a Well-Behaved Application).

Reading this book enlightened me to a great way to implement one of my projects without worrying about certain runtime issues. Originally I had considered putting logic in a run loop in the application and shutdown when it left... but that wouldn't work out right when I needed information live, but cached information would be good. The book enlightened me to "Content Providers" which using a service could provide the necessary cache I needed. Later on I discovered that the service by itself would solve my problem, but without the reading, I wouldn't have stumbled upon the path as quickly!

The author, Zigurd Mednieks, has done a great job in writing a strong book on Android to compliment the vast amount of information available through Google's documentation. I suggest you get this book, especially the eBook form - you can easily search through and find references / copy code-bits.

The eBook format of this book was provided free through O'Reilly's Blogger Review program, you can purchase the book from the O'Reilly book store at: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920023005.do
You can support this blog by purchasing the book through Amazon at: Programming Android
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Review of "The Manga Guide to Relativity" by Masafumi Yamamoto, Keita Takatsu, and Hideo Nitta

The Manga Guide to Relativity

If you have a curiosity about physics, this is a fun way to sate it. "The Manga Guide to Relativity" by Masafumi Yamamoto, Keita Takatsu, and Hideo Nitta is a beautiful blend of manga, humor and science.

I had this book for quite some time and decided to try to get through it... little did I know that I would finish it in only a few hours of reading! While I understood some of the concepts at a very high level, some of the paradoxes and details typically got me. This guide's illustrations make the complex issues easier to grasp, while the chapter reviews help explore the topics in a little more depth.

Even though the manga was constructed with the intent of explaining the complex concepts of Special and General Relativity, it did not deviate from the tried-and-true manga recipe: bizarre scenarios, extreme characters, and strange character appearances.

The ebook format was well-implemented and worked beautifully on my Touchpad. While some PDFs choke due to overly complex layouts, this manga was smooth to navigate and rendered beautifully. Anybody used to reading mangas using "Perfect Viewer" on Android should install the PDF plugin to read this, it works great in two-page mode.

This ebook is a great read and its quality entices me to check out the other books in the "Manga guide to ..." series. If you're a high-school student just getting into physics or a manga fan looking for some intellectual fun, this book is a perfect addition to your collection.

The eBook format of this book was provided free through O'Reilly's Blogger Review program, you can purchase the book from the O'Reilly book store at: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781593272722.do

You can support this blog by purchasing the book through Amazon at:The Manga Guide to Relativity

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This Year's Fiction Book Plan

For one of my New Year's resolutions, I stated that I would write and publish a book this year. I believe that I may have finally come up with my subject matter. Watching Netflix movies / television episodes and listening to podcasts, I found a good working "environment" that I can write a story in.
The following bullet-points illustrate some items to work in:

• Science-Fiction Adventure w/ Mystery elements
• Team of agents (5-6?)
• Fantasy mix-in with extra-terrestrial technology/creatures
• Possible dimension/time-travel/vision/manipulation

I have ideas for how to get this put together, such as starting it off in the middle of the action with a new (or soon-to-be) agent.  He/she would then act as an audience surrogate working to unveil the status quo and start the "real" bits of action.

Depending on how the plot rolls out, I intend to at least lay out a world in which additional stories can be told, or better yet, have the potential to be a set of serial stories.

Any ideas on what can be mixed in, character ideas, or mythologies to incorporate (ex: Cthulu, Egyptian, Doctor Who, etc), are VERY welcome.

If anyone has any editing experience or knows of any "budget/free" science-fiction editors, let me know, since if I think this is quality, I'd like to polish it without relying on my skewed personal opinion.

Review of "The Nexus" book

The Nexus by Richard Fazio
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Nexus was my first GoodReads "FirstRead" free book. It's a science-fiction novel set in contemporary New York, speckled with bits of metaphysics, conspiracy, and danger.

The main character, Balthazar Sykes, embarks on a personal quest to discover what is going on with his mind, leading him to discover how he became the way he his while building stronger relationships. The quest is experienced through the eyes of many characters. The antagonists' point-of-view is revealed in a few segments, quite effectively giving the shadowy insights that tease the reader until resolved later.

A few of the characters such as Sykes's love interest, Alex, and co-worker Madge, develop to be well-rounded. Others do not get quite the same development time out of necessity: helpful side-characters for lack of importance; antagonists to avoid ruining the suspense.

The story's epilogue works quite well in closing the few open ends left. It is just the right length of story, both in terms of book size and timelines. You get just enough in terms of introducing characters as events begin to unfold, and not too much after the resolution, just bits of closure regarding relationships.

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