Star Trek: The Stardate Collection Volume 2 - Under the Command of Christopher Pike by David Tipton My rating: 4 of 5 stars The adventures of Captain Pike are interesting, even though Marvel canceled the series in mid-story.  Some characters are really out-of-character with what we've seen elsewhere in the Trek-universe, but this was still an interesting read

How to Be Black by Baratunde R. Thurston My rating: 5 of 5 stars I won this book at a conference a few years back (Baratunde was one of the keynote speakers) and I finally had a chance to read it.  For someone who didn't spend all of my formative years in the US, I think the subject is approached in a humorous and approachable manner. Heck, in some segments,

Star Trek: The Stardate Collection Volume 1 by Scott Tipton My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was fun to read. This collection puts together comics in chronological order, so we get to see the original commissioning of the Enterprise 1701, we are introduced to "Number One" as a cadet, and later on we get to see Captain Pike and some of the "original" crew, pre-Kirk. Some

The Orville #4: The Word of Avis Part 2 of 2 by David A. GoodmanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars More of a comment on both parts of this story: Interesting commentary on religion (in a way that only a comedy can do it). I did find the story a bit unbelievable - anthropologists converting from (essentially) atheists to the religion of the Krill just by studying their sacred writing, but it was

The Orville #1: New Beginnings Part 1 of 2 by David A. GoodmanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars More of a comment on both 1+2 of this series.  Interesting story. Gives a bit of background on the "federation" equivalent in the Orville universe.  It's interesting that the old-style uniforms had rank insignia like TNG ;-). We also get to see sentient fowl, which was very Mighty Max :-). Some

DS9: Hearts And Minds by Mark A, AltmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars It's interesting how much play the gamma quadrant gets in the comics, yet in the series I don't recall them ever making such a big deal of it (most issues on DS9 seems alpha and beta quadrant related).  This mini-series is all about the Klingons and the Cardassians butting heads because the Romulans make it look like a

Star Trek: Voyager: Mirrors and Smoke by Paul AllorMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I always enjoy a good mirror universe story.  Voyager (like TNG) didn't have an on-screen mirror universe, but it's interesting to see that even in the mirror universe Janeway and crew were stranded in the Delta quadrant.  Faced with the prospect of returning to the alpha quadrant to fight a losing battle

Star Trek: Discovery - Aftermath by Kirsten BeyerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars It was a rather interesting epilogue to the most recent season of discovery.Synopsis from Memory Alpha: Many Klingons, including Kor's father, decry L'Rell’s position and actions as chancellor as well as her self-appointed nickname of "Mother." Pike contacts L'Rell in an effort to build a lasting peace atop

The Maquis by R.A. JonesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This is one of those stories that I could see being adapted to a DS9 episode. Bashir takes some well deserved R&R to Risa (the number of days he takes off seems ridiculously low, but whatever), but he gets abducted by the Maquis because they need a doctor. Of course, this isn't the real reason, one Maquis is trying to get her relative

Star Trek Deep Space Nine - Worf Special #0 : Bonds of Honor by Dan MishkinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Not a bad main story: Worf has been accused of sabotage on Starbase 113. Sisko is instructed by Admiral Nechayev that Worf must be arrested immediately upon his return to the station. Instead of returning directly, Worf follows another vessel, the one that left immediately before him. He trails

Star Trek: Picard - Countdown by Kirsten BeyerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I think this was a good companion to the Last Best Hope novel.  This comic follows Picard on another Romulan colony world that needs evacuation, only to discover that the Romulans have only given estimates for Romulan beings to be evacuated, not the additional 5 million people of the native sentient species that

Star Trek Sonderband 06. The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine. N Vector by K.W. JeterMy rating: 3 of 5 stars This was not a horrible story.  It's a story set after the events of the DS9 finale.  There is Romulan scientist that has discovered a "viroid" that can take over someone (or something inorganic).  First O'Brien is implicated for sabotage (even though he was in at Starfleet

The Last Best Hope by Una McCormackMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This is a prequel novel that takes place before the first season of Star Trek: Picard.  The story shows us the other side of the preparations to save Romulans (and Remans?) from their fates which are doomed due to the Romulan Star going supernova.  I was hoping for some more congruence between the ST09 Countdown comics

When Double Dragon Neon came out on gamepass, I thought I'd give it a try. When I was a kid, I rather enjoyed playing double dragon on my monochrome Gameboy, and it always seemed like a fun game - even though I never think I beat the original.  Since it was practically free to try on my Xbox, I thought: why not?On the surface the game seems like a nice reboot of the original.  Updated graphics,

Star Trek Blood & Honor by Mark LernardMy rating: 4 of 5 stars A good story that takes place early on in DS9's run (Sisko is still a commander). It's interesting to see a Romulan-Bajoran cooperative that seems to start to take place. I wish we had seen more Romulans in the actual show. Anyway - an artefact is found in the gamma quadrant, quite a few want it, and it's assumed that it

Assassin's Creed: Revelations by Oliver BowdenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This was a good ending to the Ezio storyline (and it wrapped up the Altair line as well). It follows the events of the game with the same name, but I think the author adds some more details to fill out the story. I like that they've also added the events of the short film "embers" in this book, but again - lack of modern-day

Double Time by Peter DavidMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Not a bad story. It involves the timey-whimeyness of time-travel, and a crew that I am not all that familiar with, but connector characters like the timeship Relativity and Captain Braxton make an appearance which make it feel more connected to other parts of Trek. I was way more excited that I probably should be when I turned the page and

The Looking Glass War by Mike W. BarrMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This was an interesting mirror universe (but not THAT mirror universe) story. Mirror Odo is murdered and this kicks off an armed conflict between the dominion and the federation. Someone comes from the mirror universe to enlist Odo-prime's help to stop the war, and to unmask the murdered. Who dunnit?View all my reviews

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Celebrity Series, The Rules Of Diplomacy #1 by Aron EisenbergMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This is more of a review for the collected story (not just #1).  I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this much, but it was a rather fun tale of Nog playing host to a Klingon ambassador's kid (an ambassador in training?) and showing him around Ferengi culture on DS9. Not

Lightstorm / Terok Nor by Mark A. AltmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars One of the stories was about the building of Terok Nor, a joint effort between a Bajoran prisoner and a Cardassian architect, brought together by their interest in building things. A tentative "friendship" (perhaps understanding is the word?) flourishes, and in the end they both die. The Cardassian having been erased from all

I rather enjoyed the first Guacamelle, so since Guacamelee 2 was available on GamePass, I thought - why not?This sequel picks up the story after the first one ends, and it's not just a rehash or reskin of the first one, but rather it adds a variety of new game mechanics, such as being able to launch yourself from different areas of the wall so you can hurl over dangers on the ground or reach new heights. 

I've been making my way through GamePass games lately. One of the benefits of the Coronavirus lockdown is that you get to use the time you would have used for commuting more productively.  For me, this means video games and reading.Even though I own the other two Crackdown games, I didn't want to buy Crackdown 3, mainly on account of the bad reviews, and because the price (on sale) has not dipped

The City on the Edge of Forever #5 by Harlan EllisonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars More of a review for the entire series than just this one issue. Interesting story. I don't recall if in the episode the substance abuse was so prevalent (or even a factor at all). It's interesting to see the difference between the TV show (guardian of forever/gateway) vs the comic as far as the time travel mechanic

Star Trek: Gold Key Archives, Volume 5 by Arnold DrakeMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Not bad, if you consider that it's a product of its time. The "Death of a Star" story reminded me a bit of elements of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda with the whole avator of the sun this :) View all my reviews

Star Trek: Gold Key Archives, Volume 4 by Arnold DrakeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Mummies, forgotten asteroids, and brain dumps into cylon-like bodies. Yup. It's more 60s Star Trek comics! View all my reviews

Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade by Oliver BowdenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I actually enjoyed this one more than the previous two in the series. This book follows the story of Altair through the events of the first Assassin's Creed, as well as the follow-up game Assassin's Creed Bloodlines (for the PSP). The thing I appreciated about this novel is that it fills in Altair's story between

Star Trek Gold Key 100-page Spectacular by Dick WoodMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Select stories from volumes 1 through 3. I wish the spectacular had stories that weren't already in other volumes. View all my reviews

Star Trek: Gold Key Archives Volume 3 by Len WeinMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Definitely another product of its time. I did enjoy the camp-factor a bit, but it was definitely a skim-read to get a sense of the story instead of a deeper read, taking in more details like the drawings and inking. There is something interesting in reading this now, as a retro-futurist type of comic. Kirk gets cloned

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood by Oliver BowdenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars It's been such a long time since I played brotherhood that most of the story was "new" to me - which was actually pretty fun. I still got flashbacks to some of the game mechanics in the game itself while listening to this novel. I still think it's a missed opportunity to explore more of the modern day assassins (what

Assassin's Creed: Renaissance by Oliver BowdenMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Not a bad adaptation of Assassin's Creed 2. It's been over 10 years since I played the game, so this was a fair memory jogging device of things that occurred in Ezio's timeline in that second game. The writing wasn't bad, the main characters we good, and (if you're like me) you were reminded of some of the happenings

Blended Learning: Research Perspectives, Volume 2 by Anthony G. PiccianoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting read. It's the next volume in the series on Blended learning.  This one was easier to find, but I still got it via ILL - same research project as I mentioned in my blog post yesterday.  I've often wondered why books like this exist in this day and age. Each chapter is basically

Blended Learning: Research Perspectives Vol. 1 by Anthony G. PiccianoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Not a bad read if you want some historical info on Blended learning.  I had a hard time finding this book, so I got it via interlibrary loan. It may seem a little dated, but I think it's useful for setting the scene for Blended learning.  I went through this with a specific research topic

Star Trek: Gold Key Archives Volume 2 by Len WeinMy rating: 2 of 5 stars OK, this is a product of its time. It's more like Flash Gordon with a Star Trek gloss. Some of the odd things in this volume: space voodoo. Space hippies (to be fair, this was also true in TOS), punchcards and tapes and computer storage, a "brain drain" device (along with Spock's Brain, before Spock's Brain!).

Star Trek: Discovery: The Enterprise War by John Jackson MillerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I rather enjoyed a glimpse into what happened to the Enterprise during the year that they missed in the Klingon War. They were involved in another war, albeit, without really wanting to be in it. There were quite a few moments where I said: "oh man, I wish I could see this on-screen!" This novel also fills

Hey!  I finished my first Game Pass game!  yay!  And, it's already paid off given that I got GamePass for a year for $1 with that lifehack back in September ;-)Anyway, this game as a  platforming shooter, which apparently is based on a Flash game. The graphics in this version are far superior to the flash-based game, and so are the controls.  You wake up as the protagonist

Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive by Scott TiptonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars An interesting cross-over between Rodderberry-TOS Kirk (and crew) and the Planet of the Apes. The Klingons find a way to get into an alternate universe (where the Planet of the Apes takes place) as a means of getting around the Organian treaty and start colonizing that universe. Kirk and crew find

Star Trek: Waypoint Special 2019 by Matt SheeanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars A good collection of short stories set in the Trek universe. The first season or two of TNG gets some attention in this waypoint collection. I think this would have made good "short treks" View all my reviews

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Fool's Gold by Scott TiptonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Someone shares a story that some Cardassian bureaucrat had been siphoning off funds from the Cardassian occupation of Bajor for his own benefit (plausible!). He left clues on Terok Nor as to where those looted Bajoran treasures are hidden on Bajor. Hence, every self-proclaimed treasure hunter comes to DS9 to

Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Space Between by David TischmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars A good combination of TNG stories. Some are early in the series' run (Worf and Troi being a couple king of points to that), and the set of stories continues into close to the end TNG. From what I can tell we got a hint of Section 31 looming in the shadows, which would have been an awesome continuation

Greek America At Work by Dan GeorgakasMy rating: 4 of 5 stars I came across this short book as a reference on a Greek website. It was actually quite informative as a short introduction to Greek migration to North America (specifically focusing on migration to the USA). It's obviously not comprehensive, but it should be a must-read for Greek Americans. View all my reviews

I guess last year I decided to leave some reviews for various venues using Google's "leave review" functionality.  I guess it was a combination of free time and prompts of my phone to leave reviews (seems like I am quite susceptible to such behavioral suggestion...at least for a few weeks) :p

Star Trek: The Q Conflict by Scott TiptonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This issue of IDW's star trek comics brought together 4 supernatural beings (Q, and a 3 from the TOS era) as well as the crews of 4 series (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY). The supernatural beings are warring. What VOY taught us is that extradimensional wars affect our universe. So... the superbeings decide to let humans complete tasks

Adults in the Room: My Battle with Europe's Deep Establishment by Yanis VaroufakisMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I wasn't really sure what to expect reading this (having read some commentary from online friends who read it as events were unfolding), but I read it anyway. I think it's a valuable read for individuals who want a glimpse into how large systems function, and how there are (potentially)

Tiamat's Wrath by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Another fast-paced installment of the series (hard to believe that there is only one more left!!!). This one jumps a bit into the future with a slightly older crew, with different responsibilities. Some of our crew die, and some make miraculous comebacks! The bringing together of former crew members reminded me a bit of Star Trek

TNG/DS9: Divided We Fall by John J. OrdoverMy rating: 5 of 5 stars The art style is definitely of its period in comic books, but the story was rather enjoyable. It gives us a look within Trill society, and what happens when the unjoined Trill look upon the worm-trills as parasitic and controlling of a society (definitely some stargate overtones here). It would be interesting to get

Star Trek Prometheus: In the Heart of Chaos by Christian HumbergMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Overall, not a bad story. The crew is likable and they could easily be an on-screen crew if this story is adapted for television. I wish we saw more of the EMH in this story. My only critique is that the plot feels like something that was done in Prey. Not the same details, but the overall plot. This

The Hall of Heroes by John Jackson MillerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars The exciting conclusion to the trilogy. Too bad most of the unsung perished, but given the events of this story it's nice to see that the Klingon Empire is reconsidering its views on what it means to be discommendated. Now to go back and fill in the story with the reboot series...at some point :-) View all my reviews

Star Trek Prometheus: The Root of All Rage by Christian HumbergMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Well, the twist at the end of the book was not something I was expecting. Interesting! Looking forward to the third book. I still find the pronunciation in the audiobook version a bit silly. Trek names of places and things (like Khitomer, VGER, and Roktajino) are butchered. Overall a good read View

Fighting Fire with Fire by Christian HumbergMy rating: 4 of 5 stars An enjoyable story featuring the voyages of the USS Prometheus (as seen on ST: Voyager). The story sounds a bit familiar (Prey, and Star Trek Online) in that some third party is working behind the scenes to attack the federation and the klingon empire, but just go with it. It was a good first novel. The only complaint is

Mind Meld: Micro Collaboration Between E Learning Designers And Instructor Experts by Jon D. AlecksonMy rating: 2 of 5 stars A bit conflicted about this book. On the one hand there are some elements of sage advice in here, but the book has a few failings for my liking:1. There is barely any cited evidence here (the references list is just 2 pages), and most 'evidence' seems to rely on anecdotes

The Jackal's Trick by John Jackson MillerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Hey! The unsung had been played all along by external forces! Well, I guess this is what you get when a society discommendates several generations of their citizens for whatever reason. Also, Kahless is alive because...he's Kahless ;-) A fun read. Looking forward to the third part. View all my reviews

Another one of my quick-runs through xbox 360 games to get a sense of the story and the game.  This one is Capcom's Operation Racoon City, which is a game that falls into the Resident Evil franchise.I think this game did multiplayer co-op much better than Crackdown 2. I played the campaign part of this game back in January of this year. From what I can see you can only play this game online (maybe

Back in November of 2018 I tried out a game called "Dark" on my xbox 360. I had been going on a binge of games that are not backwards compatible to the xbox one, so I thought I'd give this a try.The reviews for this game were bad...quite bad! (Metacritic score of 38%).  But the price was right (next to free...) and the concept seemed like an interesting concept: The game follows the story

Hell's Heart by John Jackson MillerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This book had me reacting out loud while I was listening to it. It was a rather interesting story of succession in the house of Krug (from Star Trek IV), and a rather interesting tale of discommendated, and what happens when the children of those who are no longer considered part of the community refuse to accept a system that is

Defiance:The Essential Guide by SyfyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars I was reminded of this ebook while rewatching Defiance this summer. This was a "getting to know the world of Defiance" sort of book.  I think it mostly focused on the TV show, even though Defiance was originally envisioned as a transmedia type of franchise (with the eponymous MMO still running/limping along to this day). Too

Star Trek vs. Transformers by John BarberMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Another cross-over, this one a bit more recent I think compared the DC Legion of Superheroes one I read.  An interesting Star Trek: The Animated Series cross-over with Transformers. A bit campy for my tastes, but if you view it from an animated series perspective it ain't half bad. I guess Transformers is now in the official

Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes by Chris RobersonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars I've been making my way through various star trek comics and books this year.  This one I got from Humble Bundle (I think) a while back and it's a cross-over between TOS and DC's Legion of Superheroes.   It wasn't a bad story, but the DC Superhero part didn't really grab me all that much. I guess

Star Trek: Save What From Heaven is With the Breezes Blown by Mark LargentMy rating: 4 of 5 stars I came across this comic on Facebook recently.  Since it wasn't available as a CBR, I downloaded all the images from the facebook group and packaged my own for reading. This was not a bad fan comic. Some of dialogue needed a little tweaking, but the artwork was awesome.  The story doesn't

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made by Jason SchreierMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I rather enjoyed this book. The video game industry has been getting a lot of attention lately, and this book contributes to shedding some light into the working practices of this billion dollar industry. While I am not familiar with some of the game, from

This is one of the games that I had gotten on a (summer?) sale a few years back on my xbox and had never gotten to it.  I was a fan of Mortal Kombat when it had come out in the arcades in the 90s but I hadn't really revisited the franchise since then. The sale seemed like a good opportunity to do so.I played this game on Story Mode and completed the main story, but as with any game of this type,

Λόγια της πλώρης by Andreas KarkavitsasMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Μια συλλογή από μικρές ιστορίες που έχουν ως θέμα την θάλασσα, και την ζωή βγάζοντας το ψωμί σου από την θάλασσα. Αν και η γλώσσα είναι εντυπωσιακή και όμορφη, που μου θύμησε

Star Trek: Khan by Mike JohnsonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This takes place after the movie Into Darkness.  I think that the reader gets a sense of the backstory to Khan - starting in the pre-TOS timeline (where things are the same between the prime and kelvin timelines) and moving across into the kelvin timeline events that got us to Into Darkness. Through this story we see where Khan

Star Trek, Volume 13 by Mike JohnsonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This is a review more of the entire "Star Trek: Ongoing" by IDW than just this volume.  In this particular volume the TOS crew meets Kelvin-timeline crew. It's an interesting way to see the aesthetics of the two timelines juxtaposed and people and their respective lives compared and contrasted. Throughout the series it

Star Trek: Discovery: The Way to the Stars by Una McCormackMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Probably my favorite Discovery-era novel thus far.Some might say "oh, it's Just a Tilly story..." but I saw it as both a story about families, and a story about education. Tilly's mother basically wants to create a mini-me clone for herself, having Tilly follow her footsteps into the diplomatic core, without

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Through the Mirror by Scott TiptonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Mirror Picard and crew are looking for resources given that the Terran Empire is a little short on them. How does one get them? Incursions into parallel universes (including the 'prime' universe) to collect resources, especially variants of the Enterprise D. This was an interesting story - with

Star Trek: Discovery: Drastic Measures by Dayton WardMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Rather interesting read - Enjoyed this one much more than the other DSC novels thus far. This was an interesting story about invasive species, refugees, and crimes against humanity that took place 10 years before the pilot episode for DSC. Here we see Georgiou and Lorca as commanders (we even get to see a little

Star Trek The Next Generation: Mirror Broken - Origin of Data by David TiptonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars I got this one as part of a Lootcrate. This comic traces the origin of data in the mirror universe. I do find the borgification of data interesting. I'd love to know more about the borg in the mirror universe in subsequent comics. View all my reviews

Star Trek: Discovery Annual 2018 by Kirsten BeyerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I rather enjoyed this short trek into how Stamets discovered the spore transportation technology and how he got into starfleet. A little bonus at the end you get to see how Tilly comes on-board the Discovery. I got the impression from the TV show that cadets see now part of crews as some sort of work-study but apparently

Fear Itself by James SwallowMy rating: 3 of 5 stars This book felt very much like a TNG episode in DSC skin.It was a fine book to explore a bit of Saru's background (but I think some things in the book were in conflict with what we've learned of Saru on the show. There are Trek episodes that I put on in the background (they are fine, I just do other things while the show is on), and episodes

Star Trek: Discovery - Succession by Kirsten BeyerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This comic gives us a glimpse of the mirror universe, specifically what's happening with Mirror Burnham. Georgiou is gone (she's in the prime universe), so people assume she is dead. Someone else is, Michael's "cousin" is on the throne, but there is treachery afoot. In typical mirror universe fashion there are lots

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Ghosts by Zander CannonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Not a bad story. Basically a story of a planet who wants to join the Federation, but there are two rival factions on that planet (basically a no-no for membership in the Federation). One side invents a device that moves you into another sub-space type of universe (basically looks like the Matrix's loading

Tower of Babel by Christopher L. BennettMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a good continuation of the first book in the series. Here the federation is encouraging the aligned systems of Rigel to join the federation. I always thought that the Rigelians were a homogenous society, but apparently not. Also interesting that they were currently ruled by mobster families. Overall an interesting story,

A Choice of Futures by Christopher L. BennettMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This was a good start to the Rise of the Federation series. There is an interesting description of where the TOS uniform colors came from, an overview of what's happening to the fleet, the growing pains of getting different alien peoples to work together, and so on. On top of that, the federation is already being seen as

The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm by Michael A. MartinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars A satisfying end to the Earth-Romulan war. When all is said and done Trip is still out in the shadows, Archer is now a commodore, and the Vulcans, Telaraties, and Andorians finally came back to the table. Archer is hinted at becoming president of the Federation one day. There was also a nice little epilogue years

Handbook of Narrative Inquiry: Mapping a Methodology by D. Jean ClandininMy rating: 5 of 5 stars While I didn't read this book cover-to-cover I did find quite a few chapters quite useful in thinking about and designing my narrative inquiry project. View all my reviews

The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing by Michael A. MartinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This book continues on from the previous couple of novels and explores the first year of the Romulan war. Archer becomes a Commodore (interesting how they say it's an archaic title, but still used, perhaps foreshadowing the change of the rank name around TNG). Trip's alive (yay); there are heavy losses

Kobayashi Maru by Michael A. MartinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I actually liked this book more than I thought I would. The description from Memory Alpha is "Captain Jonathan Archer's Enterprise and Captain Erika Hernandez' Columbia become embroiled in the shocking events that became the infamous Starfleet Academy no-win scenario." I always took the Kobayashi Maru to be a theoretical simulation

Star Trek: The Manga Ultimate Edition by David GerroldMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This is really a collection of the "ultimate" (I guess) stories from the other three separate volumes of the TOS manga. I did like the colorized version of the borg story, but I don't know what rubric they used to select stories for this volume. Maybe they should have just picked all stories from the previous

The Good That Men Do by Andy MangelsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Quite an enjoyable read. I would have loved to have seen this on-screen. Section 31, Romulan mystery, spycraft, and Trip is alive and spying on the Romulan Empire as a section 31 operative. The pacing of this novel was pretty good. I didn't feel lost, or bored, or wondering "what the heck is going on now?" Need an adaptation for

Star Trek: The Manga, Volume 3: Uchu by Nathaniel BowdenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Not a bad collection of TOS stories. This book had a similar feel to the other two volumes in the series.  Too bad the manga didn't have as much of a following and Tokoypop decided to cease producing it.View all my reviews

Star Trek: The Manga Volume 1: Shinsei/Shinsei by Chris DowsMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This was actually a fun read, and many of the stories "felt" TOS-like in their telling and execution. The final story was a little too Mecha/Gundam and it kinda felt like it didn't connect with TOS, but it was a fun nevertheless. Who says there can't be mecha in the Star Trek Universe? After all, there was

Star Trek Phase II: The Making of the Lost Series by Judith Reeves-Stevens My rating: 4 of 5 stars Not really "finished" with this book since it seems more like a reference book, but I did skim through it and found it interesting (as a library borrowing I didn't have a ton of time with it). This seems like one of those books to own for any trek fan ;-) View all

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Volume 1: The Manga: Boukenshin by David GerroldMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Not a bad attempt at TNG stories in Manga-style comics. Although I do see why Tokyopop didn't continue to produce these. While the stories were enjoyable they didn't really 'feel' very TNG. The characters were a bit off in the dialogue they used. The facial expressions sometimes also

Star Trek: Discovery: The Light of Kahless by Kirsten BeyerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Not a bad comic, and one that brings forth a bit of prequel mythos into Star Trek Discovery. In this one we see the origins of the Sacrophagus ship, and T'Kuvma and Voq themselves, and other Klingons who are acting...dishonorably...to say the least. I am wondering if there will be any references to this

Narrative Inquiry: A Dynamic Approach by Colette DaiuteMy rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. Not a bad book, and not bad in structuring a methodology for researching a narrative inquiry. The approach given, however, makes me a little perplexed as to what separates this type of narrative inquiry from something like Discourse Analysis. View all my reviews

Artemis by Andy WeirMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Since I liked the Martian, I decided to follow it up with Artemis.  I wasn't sure if this was going to be a sequel, or something totally different.  Basically: Moon smuggler, on a moon base, fitting the "young professional" category of employee tries something new. Royally messes up but survives. Walks away an entrepreneur.Fun novel.

The Martian by Andy WeirMy rating: 5 of 5 stars After a lot of hype I decided to read this book. It was quite a fun book to read. MacGyver, on Mars, becomes a potato farmer to survive until he can get rescued. Snarky MacGyver on Mars - which makes it more fun. Now that I've read this I do want to see the movie version, just as a comparison.View all my reviews

Rosetta by Dave SternMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Back to Star Trek novel reading.  This was the last novel before the 'relaunch' of the enterprise series. Not a bad story - plus brownie points for some contemporary linguistics peppered in. That said, it felt a bit slow to begin (so much so that I lost the plot a bit while listening to it via TTS).View all my reviews

Titan: Fortune of War by David MackMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Pretty interesting adventure. I had completely forgotten about the Husnock and needed to look them up on Memory Alpha. In many respects it reminded me a lot of the hunt for Alteran, or even Goauld tech in Stargate once the Goauld had fallen. He who controls the powerful ancient tech controls the galaxy.  I wonder what the next

Engaging in Narrative Inquiry by D. Jean ClandininMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Informative. Worthwhile reading if you're interested in Narrative Inquiry as a research method. I read this book after the book I posted about yesterday.  This book seemed to go a little more in-depth as to the how-to of a narrative inquiry but it's still not a recipe.  Time to read another book.  One

Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research by D. Jean ClandininMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This isn't a book where you are told how to do Narrative Inquiry in a step-by-step manner. That said, it's probably the best book to introduce you to Narrative Inquiry because it's about what Narrative Inquirers do, and the forms that takes. It really helped frame the research approach

When Someone You Love Suffers from Posttraumatic Stress: What to Expect and What You Can Do by Claudia ZayfertMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Quite an enlightening book. Definitely a worthwhile read.View all my reviews

I had forgotten to have a look at the nice infographic that Goodreads prepares for its users at the end of each year. I read more than I intended to, even though quite a few are comics ;-)

Persepolis Rising by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Woah! Will this universe ever know peace? Jump forward 20 years, Duarte is back, he is now emperor or some sh*t like that (I know, high council Duarte, just go with me). He is part protomolecule. He sends his protomolecule technology fleet to colonize the remaining human colonies. Just as Holden "retires" and sells the ship to

Strange Dogs by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I wasn't sure what to make of this at the start of the novella, but it's an interesting point of view. Seeing the exploratory expedition on a ring world turn into a new home through the eyes of a child. This novella also points to certain protomolecule properties that I am not sure we've seen yet.  I do wonder how these will play

Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Well, Earth and Mars aren't doing so well. the "Free Navy" has taken over the Rocinante crew is back at it, saving this corner of the galaxy. Some quick thoughts:Anderson dying as a result of system shock during high burn. Plausible, but seems like a rather small way for the "butcher of Anderson station" to go.New alliance forming

Chariots of The Gods by Erich von DänikenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars I feel a bit weird giving it 4 stars given the subject matter, but the book was rather entertaining, and not as 'out there' as Ancient Aliens as I expected - the TV show has gotten even more out there over the years. "by why?"  or "ancient astronaut theorists say 'yes'" beg for a drinking game. If you read this book

The Expanse: Origins by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars An interesting mini collection of origin stories for the main cast of the Rocinante. I think the Amos one was the one that was most out there. It would be interesting to see some of these mental gears going on screen. View all my reviews

The Vital Abyss by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars An interesting short story from the perspective of a protogen researcher. All throughout I was trying to figure out if this is someone who will be (or was) in one of the main novels, or if it's just world building and expansion (no pun intended). In the end (once I was done reading) I read through the summary on the wiki and I had

Nemesis Games by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars And here I thought that this was going to be a 'simple' version of: crew goes on holiday while the ship is in dry dock so that they can take care of personal stuff (and of course learn some personal stuff from the past). Did that happen? Of course, but around half-way ... BAM! all hell breaks loose! The final line of the previous

Cibola Burn by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting continuation of the series. We've now moved onto a more colonial part of the adventure (new worlds to explore an colonize), and all the perils that come with it. I do wonder if we'll find out what happened to the old civilization that built the portal system and the protomolecule. Part of this book reminded me a lot of the

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Interesting story as it has unfolded. The thing I don't get is this: are these gates to other galaxies (think Stargate with the Ori supergates)? other parallel dimension (sort of like sliders)? or just other dimensions period? Seems like there is plenty of work for the crew of the Rocinante to go around after this book ;-)  A

Star Trek: Waypoint #6 by Gabriel HardmanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Interesting collection of short stories from the Star Trek Universe. I think my two favorites were Naomi Wildman's comic, and the Phase II era stories. Reading the stories in this anthology made me wonder if we'll see any Phase II era stories pop up in the future.  It might be an interesting look in an alternate era.View

Airship Enterprise: The Infernal Machine by Brian DenhamMy rating: 3 of 5 stars This was something that had come across kickstarter a while back (before I really looked at kickstarter). It is an interesting take on Star Trek through a steampunk lens. I am not all that interested in steampunk as a genre but this wasn't a bad story. I think for Trek fans you'll find enough to keep you going,

Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues #4 by Erik BurnhamMy rating: 3 of 5 stars This comic book series wasn't that bad but it really felt sort of like a rehash of the movie in the setup. I wonder if this was meant to be a reboot, or kickstart, of a Galaxy Quest series of comics, and they just didn't get the response that they needed to continue to create new materials in this universe.

Z Nation #6 by Craig EnglerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This was an interesting side story to the Z-Nation series. The writers somehow managed to make this universe more disturbing with zombie cows, zombie whales, and cruise director that takes over a cruise ship and enslaves the passengers. One of the things that isn't really addressed in most zombie shows and movies is whether or not the virus

Thinking Collaboratively: Learning in a Community of Inquiry by D. Randy GarrisonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting book to read, especially the section on Leadership as it connects to the community of inquiry framework. When the CoI was recommended to me (for my dissertation), I didn't really think a ton about it because the only context that I had encountered it in was classroom communities. 

Gods of Risk by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Another book I read over the summer but I didn't have a ton of time to write about. A nice, short, interlude between books where we see what life on Mars is (sort) of like, and how badass Bobbie Draper is ;-) I don't recall seeing this 'on-screen' on the TV show, but maybe this is something that's going to be shown before season 4.

Caliban's War by James S.A. CoreyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars It's been a while since I read this, but I haven't had a ton of time to write about it!  This was a good continuation to the first novel. I held off to read this until I thought the TV show had covered it, but I think I shouldn't have. This book pretty much corresponds to the second season of the expanse TV, which really amazes

E-Learning in the 21st Century: A Community of Inquiry Framework for Research and Practice by D Randy GarrisonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars A nice, short, overview of the community of inquiry framework for those who are new to it. The book basically breaks down to 1/2 being about the CoI (discussing each part in details, and encompassing recent research), and 1/2 being application. It was an

24: Legacy - Rules of Engagement #5 by Christopher FarnsworthMy rating: 4 of 5 stars An enjoyable prequel to the TV series 24: Legacy. I guess I should have read this before seeing the show :-) The five part series of comics (reviewing the last one, but it really covers all of them) is the story of the protagonist of the show, jumping back in time to two times in his life (one as a drug

Learning Together Online: Research on Asynchronous Learning Networks by Starr Roxanne HiltzMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Not very many people talk about ALNs (asynchronous learning networks) these days. Even the journal for ALNs has been renamed to "Online Learning". Still, this was an interesting historical dive which provided some interesting background on early online learning which still

Star Trek: Captain's Log by David TiptonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy reading stories about secondary captains (Jelico, Sulu, Hariman), i.e. those not seen on screen for very long - but these were actually quite good short stories. I wouldn't mind having more Hariman or Jelico stories come our way! It was also interesting to see the excelsior class go from brand

Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research by John W. CreswellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars A good primer on mixed methods research. I wish I had made this part of my original reading list last summer when I was conceiving of my (current version for my) dissertation proposal plan.  Mixed methods fits well with one of the reasons  I am using case study research as my approach. 

Star Trek Romulans The Hollow Crown - 2008 by John ByrneMy rating: 4 of 5 stars An interesting continuation of the story that started in Romulan Schism where you see the Klingon's plot of circumventing the Organian Peace Treaty. Overall and interesting story, but I feel like Klingons and Romulans lack a bit of depth. For all the honor being touted by the proponents of the Klingon way, there

Collaborating Online: Learning Together in Community by Rena M. PalloffMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Interesting book. It's more geared toward practitioners than researchers. I'd recommend this as a a design "cookbook" companion. The thing that has really struck me with this book is that the authors use the term 'collaboration' to refer to anything that involves multiple people working together. 

Learning Together: Peer Tutoring in Higher Education by Nancy FalchikovMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Not a bad book. "Tutoring" in this book means anything between an the work that an "more knowledgeable other" (Vygotsky) does, to teaching assistants. There is quite a broad range to work with, and an interesting book to consult when thinking both about course design and program-level design.

The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon - The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World by Steven L. KentMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Not a bad book. I always expect something with the word "ultimate" in the title to be the one definitive source for all things for that topic, but that isn't always the case. Lots of good early history of companies (Coleco

Star Trek Romulans Schism - 2009 by John ByrneMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting short story with Koloth and Kor as some of the main cast (along with the original "#1") about the federation and a cloaking device, and a feud of a romulan with Kirk that leads to the dissolution (some might say "schism" ;-) ) between the romulan and klingon empires. Now...why do the Klingons have an emperor

Learning Together and Alone: Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualistic Learning by David W. JohnsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting book looking at individual, competitive, and collaborative learning. The framing of the book is more K-12, but I can see applications to higher education. Definitely worth at least a quick look through both by instructors and instructional designers.

Lower Ed: How For-Profit Colleges Deepen Inequality in America by Tressie McMillan CottomMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting book to read. While most of what was in this book wasn't really news for me, it was helpful to add some additional context to the "Lower Ed" field. I think this is a worthwhile read for high school students thinking about college, and for college graduates thinking

Engaging Students Through Social Media: Evidence-Based Practices for Use in Student Affairs by Reynol JuncoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars I picked this up when it first came out, and I have thumbed through specific sections over the years (as needed for work), but this is the first time I've read from cover-to-cover. While some technologies may be dead already (I'm looking at you, vine!) this

The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek by Mark A. AltmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting read for the history of TNG through the Kelvin-timeline movies. There was also a little bi in here about pop-culture influences of Star Trek, and a nod to fan films. For the first book

Turnaround by Peter DavidMy rating: 3 of 5 stars I guess this was New Frontier's version of a Mirror Universe cross-over. I've read some New Frontiers books in the past but I am not as familiar with the characters that were on the TV shows. Despite this, the story wasn't that bad if you can deal with the feeling that you are coming to a story part-way through a series. I guess I need to

Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning: Best Practices and Principles for Instructors by Kara L. OrvisMy rating: 4 of 5 stars An interesting book to read if you're interested in CSCL. It may be a tad bit dated at this point, but some core (or historical) materials are of value. For me specifically - and my EdD research, there were some interesting points to be made about CSCL. I don't

Moocs: Design, Use and Business Models by Jean-Charles PomerolMy rating: 3 of 5 stars It was not a bad book, but some of the factual errors (or perhaps interpretations of what was reported in the book were not in accordance with my own readings on MOOCing). That said, the book focuses a lot on xMOOCs (not a big surprise, most books seem to be doing this), and the book is focused on higher

Moocs, High Technology, and Higher Learning by Robert A. RhoadsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars The book states that its aim was to provide a balance between both sides of the MOOC debate (both the overly positive, and the overly critical), and I think it has accomplished that. For anyone new to MOOCs, and interested in a brief history of MOOCs, it's a worthwhile read. For me it didn't provide a

MOOCs by Jonathan HaberMy rating: 4 of 5 stars While the book is a bit out of date (MOOCs have moved along since it was published) I still found it to be a good introduction to the phenomenon of the (albeit without really looking too in-depth at research done in MOOCs).I did have an opportunity to hear the author speak back in 2012 (?) at the Campus Technology conference in Boston. At the

The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years by Edward GrossMy rating: 4 of 5 stars An interesting look at the genesis of Star Trek, from before there was even Star Trek, through The Animated Series, through a few aborted concepts, to Star Trek VI. Told through the words of the people involved in the series, so there are multiple

Mirror Images by Scott TiptonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars An interesting look into how Mirror Kirk got to ascend to the captaincy - with an interlude of how Mirror Picard ascended to the captaincy as well. Definitely need more adventures of both of these mirror crews (TNG and TOS).  Of course there is a big disconnect between the events of Mirror Universe in DS9 (empire has fallen I think)

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael WolffMy rating: 4 of 5 stars By the grace of covfefe! I am done! Well...this was an interesting book to read. Yes, it probably lacks the regular fixin's of a biography, but it was quite enlightening to get an inside look at the cast of characters in the current presidency. If you are familiar with Star Trek's mirror universe...the way

Con Mans Spectrum #0 by Alan TudykMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting comic which sets up the firefly-like universe of ConMan's fictional universe. Too bad that the story doesn't seem to progress past issue 1 (maybe do a spin-off? ;-) ) Maybe I should check out issue 1 on Amazon.  Con Man is (was?) one of those crowdfunded  mini series (now on the comicon channel on Amazon) that

The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael KaminskiMy rating: 3 of 5 stars This was an interesting book to read. I am much more of a Star Trek person than a Star Wars person, but it was interesting to see how the sausage was made. The key question that came to mind as I was listening to all the revisionist history of this franchise is this: Who really owns (in an intellectual non-commercial

To Mooc or Not to Mooc: How Can Online Learning Help to Build the Future of Higher Education? by Sarah PorterMy rating: 2 of 5 stars I've gone back and forth deciding whether to give this book 2 stars or 1 star. The book wasn't awful, but it was really not all that great. It is a very high level view of MOOCs, written partly as use-cases, and the audience tends to be university administration

Star Trek: TNG: Mirror Broken #5 by Scott TiptonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars The six comic arc for this story was quite an interesting "pilot episode" for a Next Generation Mirror Universe crew. Picard starts from the Stargaze and...ummm...earns (?) his way onto commanding the I.S.S. Enterprise. This was an interesting glimpse into the Terran Empire at the time of the Next Generation, but it

Invasion of the MOOCs: The Promise and Perils of Massive Open Online Courses by Steven D. KrauseMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This was an interesting collection of essays by people (who I think) met through an xMOOC (EDCMOOC) and decided to put their experiences together. It was interesting to take a slice of MOOC history and read some initial reactions to this phenomenon. Although, calling EDCMOOC

Prepare to Meet Thy Doom: And More True Gaming Stories by David KushnerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This was an interesting collection of short stories on video games. It is by no means comprehensive, but it was interesting to read nevertheless. It's a good, short, read for people interested in video games and how they impact (and are impacted by) society. I think this book spent a little too

Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture by David KushnerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting book about the people and the company that brought you Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. As a kid I was introduced to these through shareware disks bought at the local Staples office store. It's interesting to hear what happened both before and after my introduction to

MOOCs and Educational Challenges around Asia and Europe by Bowon KimMy rating: 3 of 5 stars This was an interesting overview of MOOC (and some about OER) initiatives in selected Asian countries. It's interesting to see the role that MOOCs and OER take on in different contexts. I did find some issues with some chapters (naming things MOOCs which aren't really MOOCs), but I guess this was

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal NewportMy rating: 3 of 5 stars I've gone back and forth with this book. While listening to it some parts were just 2-stars and others were 4-stars. Perhaps the 4-star part was confirmation bias on my part. That said, some things in this book are just causes to roll your eyes, and other parts make a ton of sense. Over the

The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves, the Words Behind World-Building by David J. PetersonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars While I don't see myself conlanging any time soon, this was quite a fun read (and a pretty good book if you are interested in linguistics but don't know where to start!) There were quite a few examples from Game of Thrones (which I guess is the most

Networked Communities: Strategies for Digital Collaboration by Sylvie AlbertMy rating: 2 of 5 stars It was an OK book. Definitely focuses more on the organizational and managerial aspects of networked communities (which aren't of much use to me at the moment).  There were some interesting nuggets of information buried throughout the book if you looked carefully enough.  I am kind

Group Cognition: Computer Support for Building Collaborative Knowledge by Gerry StahlMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Enlightening but I thought it was a bit imbalanced. The theoretical pieces of the book were very interesting (and dense). I tried getting through these chapters in a manner of days and I don't think I got everything (or at least things seem a little fuzzy at the moment).  That

Star Trek: Gold Key Archives Volume 1 by Arnold DrakeMy rating: 2 of 5 stars As a piece of cultural history this was OK. Some interesting stories, but they read more like the off-brand Kirk, Spock, and McCoy... Perhaps think of them as Kork, Speck, and McKay of the series called "Star Blazing" and you're good to enjoy without feeling weird about "space esperanto" and going to a different

E-Research Collaboration by Murugan AnandarajanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars An interesting collection of works on collaboration (if my highlights are anything to go by). There were a few elements in this book that deserve attention in my literature review.  The case studies that are presented don't help a ton in my contexts as they tend to be not related to the topic of collaboration as

Collaboration Uncovered: The Forgotten, the Assumed, and the Unexamined in Collaborative Education by Merle RichardsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Quite an interesting collection of perspectives (and stories) about person-to-person collaboration in higher education. I think that you are looking for a book that deals with collaboration at the lower levels (i.e. not institution-to-institution) this

Collaboration and Networking in Education by Daniel MuijsMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Interesting book on collaboration in education. I was expecting it to focus more on the specific of collaboration, and less on the inter-organizational aspects. As such I found it to be a bit high level for my purposes. Still, this was an interesting book to read, even if I did end up skimming through sections

The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary by Eric S. RaymondMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Quite an interesting collection of essays on open source programming and culture. GoodReads tells me I've read this before, but I wonder if I just read the essay with the same name rather than the whole book (I didn't remember it, or perhaps I see it

Legacies: Book #3: Purgatory's Key by Dayton WardMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This was the third in the "legacies" trilogy that I started reading this past summer. Fun book. I wouldn't say that the TOS crew is "my" crew (was introduced to Star Trek with TNG), but it was a fun novel to listen to (audiobook format), and it does give a bit more background into "number 1" (Majel Barrett's character

Collaboration 2.0: Technology and Best Practices for Successful Collaboration in a Web 2.0 World by David ColemanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Not a bad read. The technology bit is a little outdated by this point. I think there is some good stuff here, if you ignore the technology. For a book that says that technology and process need to go hand-in-hand, it sure does focus on technology a