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The book reached a high point for me here. Plots were coming together/accelerating, some nice exciting scenes: the rescue of Case from the good cop/bad cop team, Molly’s infiltration and subsequent capture, etc.

The mystery of 3Jane/Riviera, who to really trust, who’s betraying who, who’s on what side, was slightly confusing..

5 days ago on 'Neuromancer' Chapters 13 through 18: The Straylight Run 1 recommend

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Another interesting book club podcast with some great discussion!

Is this book sci-fi? Did not feel like it at all to me. Noir? Yes. But not sci-fi… It felt like it owed a lot to pulp fiction more than the sci-fi genre.

Towards the end, you guys discussed feeling that the book had a narrow appeal, for those interested in Jewish history, etc. That does not describe me – I’ll confess to being, as Laura describes, “uninitiated in the history and broad experience of certain American immigrants and their children” (I am a Brit living in Canada). I read the book mainly because I had enjoyed The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and while I liked Kavalier & Clay better, I did enjoy it, despite being mostly ignorant to the more detailed history of Jewish people/culture/etc (in fact, my enjoyment may have been “because of” that ignorance, in that I could immerse myself in the world Chabon created without too many pre-conceived notions – he really is a great writer from a pure literally talent perspective).

The above, however, lead me to this interesting observation: One of the risks for someone like me is to decipher what parts of a book like this are based on historical fact and what is fictional creation. Ultimately, you have to take it all with a pinch of salt since it is a work of fiction, but the discussion in the podcast drilled home that point to me. For example, I maybe walked away from the book thinking that “sholem” was a Jewish term used for a gun “in real life” and not something Chabon had made up.

Lastly: both the podcast and the audio recording here just kind of die mid-sentence, there’s no proper end… any chance of getting the complete audio?

15 days ago on The Verge Book Club podcast 006: 'The Yiddish Policemen's Union'

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Here’s hoping there are great hardware things to come from the acquisition…

25 days ago on Does anyone know why Google bought Motorola?

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I don’t carry keys, at most just the unlocker fob for my car, with the rest of my stuff stored in the car.
Then my phone and unlock fob is in the same single pocket of my running shorts, carefully chosen to accommodate the phone size…

These are a good “minimal” option: http://www.spibelt.com/

My wife runs with a Nathan water bottle waist thingy that has a pocket for that stuff.

The arm band thingies are very annoying…

25 days ago on How do you carry your phone and keys while working out?