Oryx and Crake

I finished reading the novel "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood last week, and I must say that it was an amazing novel. Margaret Atwood calls it a "speculative fiction" novel, but we can just throw it into the genre of science fiction as well for arguments sake. The novel is based on the Earth after the collapse of civilization, and information is given through flashbacks from the narrator as to what happened. If you enjoy novels with dystopic themes, then this is the book for you.



A followup novel was released this year called "Year of the Flood"; the story occurs simultaneously with "Oryx and Crake". I picked up a copy of it this week and can't wait to read it. I think a different perspective on things from "Oryx and Crake" would be very interesting.

Right now, I"m reading "Flashforward" by Robert J. Sawyer. It's the inspiration for the ABC TV Series of the same name. I've been a huge fan of the series, and hope the book doesn't disappoint. While I'm on this topic, I also remembered about a novel I read quite a while back from Sawyer called WWW: Wake. Its supposed to be a trilogy and I'm looking forward to the release of book 2.

Movies

• 28 Days Later
• Vacancy
• When a Stranger Calls
• Saw
• Saw II
• Saw III
• Saw IV
• Saw V
• Road Trip
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
• The Dark Knight (2008)
• Sunshine (2007)
• The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
• The Core (2003)
• Batman Begins (2005)
• Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)
• I, Robot (2004)
• Wall-E (2008)

Data Compilation

It has been quite a while, I'm still not sure of a way to compile my results. I'm thinking of building a simple app to run on my server where I can text all my media updates and have them update on their own. For now, I'm just going to throw random sets of them up here. If the list gets larger, a python script should help me gain control of it.

It's Been A Little Chaotic

If you visited my site before, you can tell that it has been a little chaotic. After being down for some time, I have finally thrown this back up. The reason I was down was that I was hosting my site on my own server, and maintaining everything. It was becoming a hassle to keep everything running properly, and I thought it would be easier to just migrate it over to a blogging service for the time being. I imagine that in the near future, I may think about migrating back when I get some neat ideas to try out, but for now, this is how it will stay. As for my list, as you can see, I'm either a philistine, or I've just lost track of my healthy intake of information.

Planet Google

I just finished reading "Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan To Organize Everything We Know by Randall Stross", and I must say, I came out of the book with a whole new viewpoint about the company.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded

I just finished reading the book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded". I thought it was an exceptional book, and it spelled out the problems of global warming in plain english. It envisioned a future world in which global warming could actually benefit the economy easily create millions of new jobs. It wouldn't be easy, but would definately be a possibilty.

Magazines

This is a list of the magazines I read either weekly or monthly:

• New Scientist


• Maximum PC


• PC Gamer


• Popular Science


• Popular Mechanics


• Scientific American


• Technology Review


• Wired Magazine

Books - Non-fiction

Rigged by Ben Mezrich

Dark Cosmos: In Search of Our Universe's Missing Mass and Energy by Dan Hooper

Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America By Thomas L. Friedman

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions By Dan Ariely

Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan To Organize Everything We Know by Randall Stross

Books - Fiction

Here is a list of books that I have read:

Idlewild by Nick Sagan

Edenborn By Nick Sagan

Everfree by Nick Sagan

Darwin's Paradox by Nina Munteanu

Mammoth by John Varley

Iron Man by Peter David

About

Knowledge is power. Since the beginning, man's growing dominance and will to survive can be, at least partly, accredited to man's thirst for knowledge. Knowledge gives the power to inspire, to break barriers. Kyle's Compendium was created to provide a place for me to document my thirst for knowledge — my ever increasing list of sources of information. This site will by no means be my complete list, there are far too many places of knowledge encountered daily. However, I hope to at least list most books, movies, and magazines. I thought it would be neat to look back years later and see all my information in a single place, compiled nicely for me to look over. And lastly, I hope to inspire others to do and read more, so together we can truly revolutionize the information age.

Welcome to Kyle’s Compendium

Hello and thank you for visiting Kyle’s Compendium. This site is still in development and, as such, doesn’t have much of a list at the moment. However, feel free to look around. The about section provides a brief summary of the purpose of this site.