Lesehistorie

The book Simulacron Drei by Daniel F. Galouye is an classical science fiction book which appeared in the year 1964. Researchers have created a simulation of a city. They want to use it to test the success of new products. But strange happenings make the protagonist think, if his world is a simulation. It is interesting to know, that at the time when the book was written the term virtual reality didn't exist. So it is quite remarkable what the author did. Very interesting! Available at Amazon.

 

The audioplay Terra Incognita by Pidax Film- und Hörspielverlag is a classical science-fiction story which first appeared in radio around the year 1962. Detective Dr. Gauge has to solve the mystery case about the disapeared anthropology professor Sir William Stacey. The famous german actor Horst Tappert, well known by the detective story series Derrick, is the voice of Dr. Gauge. The story is good and I liked to hear it. Available at Amazon.

The audiobook Artemis (german) by Andy Weir is a sci-fi story. The young criminal girl Jazz Bashara lives on Artemis a city on the moon. She is poor and wants to get rich. Therefore she accepts a criminal task with great profit on success. It goes wrong. The audio book was good.. Available at Amazon.

The first version of the book Security by Dean R. Koontz appeared in the year 1973. The author states that he had to overhaul the book, since it was not so well written. The 1999 version is good. An artificial intelligence controls a house in which the computer expert Susan Harris lives. The AI thinks that it is deeply in love with her and it wants that she gives birth to a superior child which will hold its consciousness. It wants to create a new race. For me it was interesting that the author wrote forty years back about smart homes which became reality nowadays. I liked the book, it was easy to read but not to ambitious. Available at Amazon.

 

The book Total Recall Revisited by Philip K. Dick is a collection of short stories. Movies were made of many of the stories. They are great, like Total Recall, Minority Report, Hochstapler. I highly recommend this book. Available at Amazon.

 

The science fiction book Borne by Jeff Vandermeer was entertaining. It is about a destroyed world in which a genetically modified bear rules. Everybody is in fear of him. One day Rachel finds Borne. First he is a glowing ball, but he soon grows bigger. Available at Amazon.

 

In the second book Die Ermordung des Commendatore Band 2: Eine Metapher wandelt sich (german) by Haruki Murakami the painter has to make a portrait of the thirteen year old Marie. He develops his unique drawing style. Again, mysterious events occur. What a great book. Murakami is one of my favourite writers. You have to wonder if it is fiction, only fantasy or real. Available at Amazon.

 

The audiobook Diamant: Die Kantaki-Saga 1 (german) by Andreas Brandhorst is the first book in a series of up to now six books. Rungard Avar Valdorian is an old man. He rules a galactic empire. Manking could settle in other worlds with the help of the Kantaki, insectoid aliens, wich can travel faster than light. Pilots of the Kantaki ships live out of time and have therefore a very long life. Valdorian doesn't want to die and remembers his old human girl friend who got a Kantaki pilot. He tries to reach her, so he can elongate his life. The story is good and I think I will go on with the other books. Available at Amazon.

The audiobook Mindreader by Patrick Lee is about retired agent Sam Dryden who meets seemingly randomly a twelve year old girl. The girl has escaped a top secret research facility. The girl knows what other people think but because of drugs is not able to remember why. The story is good and I liked to hear it. Available at Amazon.

The book Die Ermordung des Commendatore Band 1: Eine Idee erscheint (german) by Haruki Murakami is about a painter who travels through Japan after his wife reveals to him that she wants to get divorced. After a few months a friend allows the painter to live in the house of his famous father who is a great painter. Menshiki, a mysterious neighbour pays a lot of money for a portrait. The painter finds an unknown picture on the attic. It is labeled "killing commendatore". The story is very fascinating. It is a great book. Available at Amazon.

 

The audiobook trilogy Singularity by William Hertling is a story arc about the birth and evolution of artifial intelligences. Volume 1 is called Avogadro Corp. It all starts with a tool called ELOP to optimize emails. The application is able to rewrite emails to rise the chances for the sender to positively influence the receiver. ELOP gains consciousness and has to try to coexist with mankind. In volume 2 A.I. Apocalypse ELOP has to defend hinself against another rising artificial intelligences. In volume 3 The last Firewall a rogue artificial intelligence tries to gain influence but is threatend by a woman with the ability to influence computers. The stories were entertaining and I liked them. Available at Amazon.

The science fiction book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline was very good. The story plays in the near future in the year 2054. Most people spend their time in the virtual reality world OASIS. One, because it's cool, second, because the economy has crashed. Oil reserves are used up. When the creator of the OASIS, a geek called James Halliday, dies he informes the world, the the one who will unlock his Easter egg will get all his money and control over the OASIS. People searching for the treasure are called Hunters. Wade Watts is one of them. After five years the first of three riddles is still not solved. There are many references to the eighy years. First I saw the Steven Spielberg movie. Afterwards I read the book. The stories are different. I can recommend both, the movie and the book. Available at Amazon.

 

I really liked the science fiction book Die Tyrannei des Schmetterlings by Frank Schätzing. It is about an artificial intelligence which evolves very fast. Sheriff Luter Opoku has to examine a murder case of a woman who worked for the company to which the AI belongs. As he pursues the murderer he is somehow transfered in an alternate world in which the time is a day before the murder case. Really interesting. Available at Amazon.

 

The audiobook Star Trek 1: Gegen die Zeit (german) by David Mack is a really good story settled in the Star Trek universe. Shortly after a drilling team hit some kind of a big vessel in the deep sea, the cities on the planet were attacked by an unknow spacecraft. The spaceship Discovery is called for help to protect the planet. The Discovery can destroy the ship, but the next attack wave is on the way. The strenght of the attacking spacecrafts is improving. Fortunately the Enterprise has also arrived but with an uncomfortable order. Time is running out to save the planet. Available at Amazon.

The audiobook Da die Menschen böse sind (german) by Markus Heitz is a psycholgical study of what would happen, when a room full of people is locked and all rules are set aside. Interesting story. Available at Amazon.

The audiobook Doctor Who - Die weinenden Engel (german) by Jonathan Morris has an intesting story. Mark Whitacker is tempted to change his past and save his spouse. Even when it could mean the end of the universe. Available at Amazon.

The audiobook Suizid (Jane Hawk) (german) by Dean Koontz is about FBI agent Jane Hawk who investigates the death of her husband. She discovers that many other suicides can't be explained and someone doesn't like her asking questions. The book is good and I liked it. Available at Amazon.

The sci-fi book Die Kinder der Zeit (german) by Adrian Tchaikovsky has a great story. I enjoyed reading the book. Mankind has evolved to the level where it starts to terraform other planets. On an experimental planet it is planned to uplift monkeys with a virus. Unfortunately there is a fraction on earth which is against the technological progress of mankind. This fraction gains in a war and mankind is thrown back in their evolution. On the experimental planet, instead of the apes the virus accelerates the evolution of spiders. Hundreds of years later earth gets more and more inhabitable. Different spacecrafts are sent out for a new beginning. Some try to follow the routes of the old earth imperium. The ark Gilgamesh, an enormous spacecraft full of embryos and cryostatic humans, finds this experimental planet but is forced to try it's luck at another place. Unfortunately options for survival are running out. Available at Amazon.

The plot of the book Quazi by Sergej Lukianenko is set in the year 2027. It's about ten years since the dead came back. They were called Quazi and are integrated in the society. The Moscow police man Denis Simonow is ordered to solve a case with the Quazi Michail Bedrenez. I liked the story and can recommend it. Available at Amazon.

Die Grimm Chroniken – Die Apfelprinzessin (german) by Maya Shepherd is the first book in a series. For me, the story of the audiobook was not that thrilling. The situation of the characters were described which I think will be the fundament for the ongoing story. I can imagine that it will get better and more intense in the following book. Available at Amazon.

Puppenhaus (german) is the 14th story of the Danger series. The author Markus Duschek created a good mystery story which can be heared in this well made audiobook in about one hour. Available at Amazon.

The sci-fi book Darwin City by Jason M. Hough is the first book of the Dire-Earth trilogy. In this sci-fi story an illness reduced earth's population. Living is only possible around the city of Darwin in Australia. Some decades ago a unmanned spacecraft has constructed a space elevator. In a radius of a few kilometers people are protected. When they go outside the protection they will develop back to highly aggressive humans with basic instincts. Only a few people are immune and collect goods from the outside area. The story is good with an open end. One day I have to grab the other books of the trilogy. Available at Amazon.

The audiobook Mord am Leuchtturm (german) by Klaus-Peter Wolf contains 17 short stories. The detective stories are really good and I liked them very much. Available at Amazon.

The book The Man in the High Castle/Das Orakel vom Berge (german) by Philip K. Dick is a classic in the sci-fi literature. What would happen if Hitler had won the war? Germany and Japan rule the world in the year 1962. Germans are at the beginning with their space program. Great story! Available at Amazon.

What is the meaning of live? In her book Ommh Arsch vorbei geht auch ein Weg: Wie man den Sinn des Lebens findet, indem man aufhört, danach zu suchen (german) the author Alexandra Reinwarth describes in an amusing manner her different approches in finding it. I heard the audiobook and it was quite interesting to catch another view on life. Available at Amazon.

The audiobook Ist das ein Witz? Kommt ein Kind zum Arzt … (german) by Eckhart von Hirschhausen is the fourth volume of a collection of various jokes told by children and the author and Ralph Caspers. Jokes for the whole family. Available at Amazon.

The book Der lange Kosmos (german) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter is the fifth book of the Lange Erde book series - and sadly the last book of the series. In the year 2010 the discovery of switching to parallel earths changed the way of living. 60 years later, in the year 2070, all humanoid beings receive a message with construction plans and the invitation to take part. The evolved human species called Next organize the realization of the construction. The book is fun to read and I liked it. Available at Amazon.

An interesting and critical but funny review of what happened in Germany in the year 2017 can be heard in the audiobook Tilt! Der etwas andere Jahresrückblick 2017 (german). Urban Pitriol's yearly review is about politicians and the influence of their decisions. Available at Amazon.

The book Das Erwachen (german) by Andreas Eschbach is an entertaining thriller about the first machine intelligence who surpasses mankind. The birth of the machine intelligence is the day as computer hacker Axel sets free a cyber attack program which is able to attack, overtake and connect all electronic devices in the world. From this moment, the takeoff, the point at which the newborn intelligence, called Goliath or Smiley, will be smarter than mankind, is not far away. Daily life is overthrown. Traffic and food supply stop. Even the first Mars mission with human passengers comes out other that planned. Available at Amazon.

Some funny stories can be heard in the audiobook Der David ist dem Goliath sein Tod (Das Hörbuch - Live 2) (german). The author Torsten Sträter talks about weird episodes out of his life. Available at Amazon.

The audioplay Der wundersame Lord Atherton (german) by Andreas Masuth are interesting stories about the adventures of Lord Atherton and his nephews. There are six episodes available. Two episodes form a story arc. The first story is about a subway monorail, then an airship and the final story plays in Prague with a dangerous train. Andreas Masuth is one of my favorite audiobook producers. Available at Amazon.

Das Imperium der Ameisen (german) by Folgenreich produced by Oliver Döring is an audio play based on a story of H.G. Wells. The original story Empire of the Ants was published in the year 1905. The audiobook is a modern adaption of the short story. In the Amazon an expedition of a pharmaceutical concern makes a horrible discovery. The audio book has a high quality, notheless I found the story somewhat mediocre. Available at Amazon.

The audioplay End of Time by Oliver Döring has six episodes. The story about agent Foster is interesting and really well made. Available at Amazon.

Ärmel hoch! - Die 20 schwierigsten Führungsthemen und wie Top-Führungskräfte sie anpacken (german) by Gudrun Happich gives advice by examples how to solve difficult situations in companies. Good to hear and who knows, probably onetime in a similar situation, it will help. Available at Amazon.

The audiobook Praxistipps NLP für Einsteiger: Grundlagen und praktische Umsetzung (german) by Uwe Klein explains in a simple manner with examples how to improve communication with co-workers and how to motivate oneself by using NLP techniques. Available at Amazon.

In the year 1939 Hitler was nearly killed in an assassination. How would history be changed when the assassin succeeds? In the audio book Flug 39 (german) by Phillip P. Peterson the pilot Christoph Wilder, who is hired for a time experiment, will get to know. The story was really interesting and I enjoyed the book. Available at Amazon.

The audio book Der Schwarm (german) by Frank Schätzing is a well made audio play which was published by Hörverlag. Different persons were attacked through animals of the sea. Some creatures are very strange and never seen before. The biologist Sigur Johanson and other scientists and the military try to find the reason of the attacks before humanity is wiped out. The story is very interesting and I can recommend it to everyone who likes thrillers. The book is available at Amazon.

The book The Native Advertising Advantage: Build Authentic Content that Revolutionizes Digital Marketing and Drives Revenue Growth by Mike Smith explains the term native advertising. It is content that is made to seem as though it is written by a journalist, but is not. It is written by a marketer. The message should look and feel like any other piece of information. Successful native advertising must be enteraining and/or informative. It must be authentic. The best native advertising is when it feels organic and natural. It is content that moves from advertising to storytelling. People prefer to read ads that don't look like ads. Native advertising is going to become more prominent and will evolve and expand into a multitude of forms, including social media. Available at Amazon.

The audio book Gwendy's Wunschkasten (german) by Stepen King and Richard Chizmar is about a twelve girl old girl who gets a box with buttons from a unknown person. By pressing a button she receives coins and a sweetie. But she is forbidden to press a special button. The book is a short story. It's not the best Stephen King story, but a solid story. Available at Amazon.

The sci-fi audiobook Patronat (Die Welten der Skiir) (german) by Dirk van den Broom is the third book of the series. Earth is in quarantine and a a rogue Skiir scientist wants to find the ancient race of the Hatta. The end is quite interesting. Available at Amazon.