Welcome ! As a young French Marketing professional with a Master's in International Management I have been selecting since January 2007 the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change, cleantech and the world energy sector. Sounds great ? Don't hesitate to subscribe now !
Earlier this year I read three sci-fi books I strongly recommend you if you are interested by the genre. The five books making this cycle were written by Alastair Reynolds, a UK scientist who dedicated himself to writing space operas.
Back to 2007 I read Chasm City the second opus of the cycle which can be read as a stand alone. If you like this one as much as I did (I then gave it a grade of 17/20), you will love the whole series.
Taking place in a not-so-distant future, The Revelation Space cycle provides a good plot in a coherent universe filled with interesting ideas and characters. Continue »
I like creative ideas and I love everything related to space. Needless to say I am also a strong supporter of solar energies. Yet, I find that investing 14,7 billion euros in space-based solar is preposterous.
All this money will be invested to see if it is feasible to have one GW of power by 2030, when we need hundreds or thousands. I don’t even want to think of the power loss due to the 36,000 km between the plant and the consumers.
I wonder why Japan is putting so much money on such a project. 2 trillion yen could do some huge stuff in efficiency and more down to earth renewables. (Source: Bloomberg)
I finished in January the last part of the Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy. After two months I still keep thinking about this book and its great plot, fantastic characters and awesome story telling.
If my favorite book for 2007 was Collapse, there is no doubt that the Mars Trilogy will be the books I will remember from 2008. I strongly recommend you to read them if you like sciences and particularly science fiction and/or astronomy.
The only thing that prevents me to give this final part the maximum grade of 20/20 is its excessive length. (950 pages for the French version). Grade for the trilogy: 19/20. Grade for the book: 19/20. Must read!
Last month I finished Green Mars, the second part of the Mars Trilogy by famous US sci-fi writer Kim Stanley Robinson. After the first book, this one is even better and longer.
I always liked the science fiction genre as well as sciences – both social and hard ones – and truly loved this book as it contains the best of both aspects and is truly fascinating.
Other aspects of the book that I enjoyed : the depth of relations between characters, the politics, the terraformation of Mars… All this lead me to give a grade of 19/20.
Last month I finished a fantastic science fiction book I had been reading for three months. As it is the first part of a trilogy, I think I will stay on the Red planet for a long time.
Kim Stanley Robinson is a sheer genius and if you like sci-fi, I strongly recommend you reading his books. However, he is quite a fond of science, real science.
His book is thus literally packed with data on Mars itself, but also on many sciences including genetics, bio-engineering, and yes dear reader, environmental questions. Continue »
