After a few disappointing novels, the twenty-fifth installment in the Discworld series sees Terry Pratchett returning to humor, plain and simple. Still, the previous novel, The fifth elephant, showed that Pratchett is getting a bit more serious, and this novel continues this 'new' style. The story of William de Worde, and of the power of the Word in general, can be quite serious in places. Still, the book abounds with humorous and funny scenes, and some of the best characters from Ankh-Morpork play their roles to great effect (no Rincewind though!). If you have enjoyed any of the other books in the series, you will probably like this one as well. Let's hope Terry continues to produce works of this quality.

Jack Vance is now in his nineties, yet his creativity seems to be unbounded. This book will appeal to both newcomers and those who are already accustomed to Vance's unique style. The (great) story is littered with hundreds of ideas, persons, even whole worlds. Cruelty is always balanced with dry humor, and Vance manages to create believable and likeable (although sometimes quite peculiar) characters. A definite must-read.

Douglas Hofstadter is best known for his seminal work 'Godel, Escher, Bach' (1981), but not much was known about the work he carried out at the University of Indiana. This work collects a number of research papers from the 80s, thus offering a glimpse into the continuation of the work that was carried out with the help of the 'fluid concepts'-group. Hofstadter writes well, which means that the accounts of the projects that were undertaken are exciting, thought-provoking, and intruiging. I'm not entirely happy about the theoretical background to some of the work, maybe Hofstadter tries too deliberately to maintain things at a simple level. Still, if you're at all interested in the state of the art in AI research, this is a book you may not want to miss.

This book differs from the standard theoretical texts on the psychology of memory. It offers a view of the role of memory in a variety of contexts, thus looking at its subject from many perspectives. I think the book offers an excellent companion text to a course on theories of memory. In addition, it may be of interest to the lay reader as well, because of its emphasis on practical aspects of memory, and because of of its clarification of many phenomena that give memories a mystical air. If you're interested in a thought-provoking psychology text, this is a book to go for.

This book is a joy to read. It contains a thorough chronological overview of the history of codemaking and codebreaking. Included are numerous exercises for the reader, not least of which is the 'code breaking challenge', which was solved last year but which is still very interesting to try. Singh is very good at writing this type of text, as was already demonstrated by his other book 'Fermats last theorem'. Both books succeed at popularizing the scientific enterprise, and demonstrate that it is possible to explain higher math to the layman.

The Otherland set of books gets a grand final with this book, the largest of the four. The story has slowly unfolded throughout the first three parts, reaching a climax at the end of the third book. In this book, the purpose of the whole story is finally revealed. The sheer complexity could be a little overwhelming to readers who have 'forgotten' the story so far (thankfully, a splendid synopsis for each of the previous books is given), but it's all worth it. To describe the story is to give away the plot, I suggest you discovery Otherland for yourself. On many levels, it is a terrific cross between science-fiction, fantasy, and cyberpunk. Highly recommended.

...and again I did not foresee in any way the ending of an Agatha Christie story. This story is really interesting, and is one of the few mystery stories that deserves a thorough rereading. I was astounded when the name of the killer was revealed (of course, Poirot once more does the goods). Very highly recommended, both for fans of the genre and for those who are new to this type of story.

If you do not use a Unix system, and are interested in Perl, this is the book you should go for. It provides an entertaining and thorough stroll through the language. There are a lot of little differences between this book and the other 'Learning Perl'. If you want to make special use of the Windows GUI, you should check this book out. Combined with the reference work 'Programming Perl', you will have everything you need to become proficient at the language. Highly recommended for both amateur and professional programmers.

This collection of short stories shows Joyce's writing style at its best. All stories are interesting for their own sake, and they provide a varied overview of Irish society shortly after the turn of the century. The book is enjoyable at many levels, from the stories themselves to their inner meaning. You can come back to one or more stories again and again, and still they will not become boring, and I think that that's the hallmark of any great work. Highly recommended as an appetizer to the other work of James Joyce.

This book is the start of a long trilogy. It is serious, violent, and epic space opera. The scope is reminiscent of Iain M. Banks, but Banks is a lot more concise in his descriptions. The prose style of Hamilton may sometimes prove a bit overwhelming, but all in all there is still a very good story underneath all the verbosity. Most reviewers have commented on the erotic overtones in the book, indeed some readers may find themselves offended by the perversiveness of some scenes. For those who are willing to invest some time in a really epic story, one which oozes realism at all levels, this book is well worth reading.