Haruki Murakami - 1Q84

The US release of 1Q84 contains a translation of the original three novels that were release in 2009 and 2010 in Japan. In essence it is a love story between the chief protagonists Aomame and Tengo.

 The story is based in Tokyo and starts out in our 1984, but we are only allowed to live there for a brief few minutes before Aomame climbs down an emergency escape to another Tokyo, one that has two moons in the sky and where there are small but significant changes in history. Aomame takes time to understand her new environment and takes to calling the year 1Q84, an alternate version of the year that she left behind.

Tengo is a part time teacher who works so that he can spend his time following his true passion in writing. As a consequence of his friendship with Komatsu, an editor at a publishing company, he gets the opportunity to rewrite a short story written by a 17 year old girl. In performing this rewrite things change for Tengo and he also finds himself drawn into the world of 1Q84.

Aomame and Tengo spend a great deal of time trying to find each other throughout the story, and it ends with lots of questions left open for the reader (I'm not going to spoil it).

I found myself immediately loving this book. I was completely drawn in by the style of the writing, by the way that the words were brought together, it really seemed more like art than a story. There are times when the author describes the way that Tengo writes. It felt like the description applied so much to the story as was being written as it did to the character on the page.

Haruki Murakami really created a new world with bold new ideas and concepts, a place where reality was not always what it seemed. As I've said it was beautifully written however it doesn't always draw the reader along as it should and really seemed to bog down in places. I think reading all 954 pages is a tough task. I think this would have been better released as it was originally in the three separate novels. If you decide to go out and read this (which I recommend) then I would take a break and read something of a different pace between each part.

Glenn Berry–SQL Server Hardware

I’ve been an avid fan of Glenn’s SQL Server Performance blog for a couple of years now in which he talks about chipsets, CPUs and performance. Glenn’s blog is also the go to place for SQL Server diagnostic information queries  which can be used to look at various aspects of SQL performance (check them out you won’t be disappointed).

When I first learned that Glenn was writing a book dedicated to SQL Server Hardware I was very excited and preordered it. Somehow it got lost amongst a hundred other books and I came upon it recently. At that time I cracked it open immediately and started reading.

The book has a nice easy to read style and Glenn does an excellent job of putting forth clear and concise information. Glenn’s passion for this stuff really shines through and that makes what could easily be a boring technical book something so much better. I think one of the most telling things about the book for me was that I immediately wanted to go out and benchmark my systems to compare them to various specifications listed in the book.

I wound up jotting down quite a lot of notes as I was reading (which is really unlike me). I thought I might share a few of my personal highlights:

Chapter 1: Processors and Associated Hardware

• The history of CPUs
• A clear explanation of multi-core CPUs and Hyper-threading and how they differ
• How to identify your CPU and what the model numbers actually mean
• An overview of NUMA
• System configuration recommendations

Chapter 2: The Storage Subsystem

• A wonderful description of the different kinds of spinning media
  • SCSI
  • SAS
  • SATA
  • IDE
  • PATA
• How spinning media differs from SSD/FusionIO drives
• Straightforward description of the different RAID types, their strengths and drawbacks
• DMV queries to help you recognize the read/write ratio on your system to help you choose an appropriate RAID level

Chapter 3: Benchmarking Tools

• What the TPC benchmarks are and how they differ (plus how the database vendors would try to game the system)
• A breakdown of TPC-E benchmarks by CPU along with providing comparative performance data
• An easy way to test the performance of components in your new (and old) servers

Chapter 4: Hardware Discovery

• Detailed information on CPU-Z and how to read the results you get from it
• What MSINFO32 can teach you about your system

Chapter 5: Operating System Selection and Configuration

• Why you should use X64 hardware instead of X32
• How to configure a 32-bit system to use greater than 4GB of RAM
• An explanation of the difference between each OS version (and edition)
• Actual numbers to demonstrate the impact of power saving modes on CPU performance

Chapter 6: SQL Server Version and Edition Selection

• An explanation of the difference between each version of SQL Server
• Bonus Enterprise Edition features you may not know about (like Enhanced Read-Ahead and Advanced Scan)

Chapter 7: SQL Server Installation and Configuration

• How to prep for your SQL Server install
• An installation walk-thru
• Slipstreaming
• SQL Server post install configuration

The IT world changes very quickly and so despite this book being released in 2011 some parts are out of date (for example several time the costing model for SQL Server is mentioned as being per processor which Microsoft decided to change with the upcoming release of SQL Server 2012).

I’d love to see a revised edition of this book come out every year which keeps up to date with new CPU releases and SQL Server changes (I mean it’s not like Glenn has a job or anything).

If you are a SQL Server professional then this book should definitely be at your disposal. While there may be some things in here that you do know there will be a lot that you don’t. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Also don’t forget to read Glenn’s blog and follow him on Twitter

Final note, thanks Red Gate Software for supporting books like this that would not see the light of day otherwise.

Jack McDevitt–The Engines of God

I first came across the writings of Jack McDevitt when he wrote a short story for Asimov’s magazine. His novelette acted as a prequel to his “Priscilla” series of books, introducing the lead character and the universe in which she lives. I was fascinated by the short and couldn’t wait to read more so I downloaded The Engines of God to my Kindle and started reading right away.

The story is set in the 23rd century where our lead character, Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins is a starship pilot. Her job is to fly out to the planet Quraqua and evacuate the archaeological team that are investigation ancient alien ruins. Her journey is urgent as the planet is about to be the first to undergo radical terraforming in an attempt to make it habitable for an overpopulated human population.

Hutch initially makes a connection between ruins on the planet and an artifact on Quraqua’s moon built by the mysterious “Monument-Makers”, who have also placed artifacts on other worlds. Following clues Hutch takes a team deep into the galaxy in an attempt to find the Monument-Makers and the cause of the regular destruction of civilizations on many worlds.

What I know of archaeology you could write on the back of a postage stamp (remember those?) so I can’t speak to the accuracy of the authors writings, however I found the story to be thoroughly enjoyable. There are lots of descriptive passages going through site digs, things being found and how a civilization can be put together. It mixes in well some great action and doesn’t skimp on the sci-fi aspects of things.

If you enjoy a bit of an action adventure set in space with some archaeological stuff thrown in, all put together with some smarts I’d recommend picking this up. After reading this I immediately got the next in the series. That review coming soon.

Terry Pratchett–Thief Of Time

I’ve read the excellent works of Sir Terry Pratchett for many years now. Recently I picked up an older title that I’d somehow missed.

Written back in 2001, Thief Of Time is fun romp through Discworld. We get to meet Death, War, Pestilence and Famine, plus the introduction of the fifth Beatle Horseman of the Apocalypse. They join Lu Tze, his young apprentice, and the Monks of History in trying to prevent the coming of the end of time as Jeremy Clockson (Top Gear fan anyone?) builds the worlds first truly accurate clock.

Random book factoid: Sir Terry has written thirty-nine books in the Discworld series to date and I believe that this is the only time that he has used chocolate as a deadly weapon.

The books contains many of my favorite characters; the afore mentioned Death; Susan Sto-Helit (Death’s granddaughter); Nanny Ogg; Quoth (the raven); and my personal favorite – Death of Rats _SQUEAK

I don’t know how many more books we have to come from Sir Terry, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease back in 2007. Irrespective, he has a legacy of wonderfully entertaining novels that allow the reader to while away the hours with more than a few belly laughs. In fact Sir Terry co-wrote one of my top five books of all time. If you’ve not read it I heartily recommend you get Good Omens where he collaborated with Neil Gaiman.

On Reading

I'm a fan of reading. I've been an avid reader for a great many years. It's a great place to go and get lost for a few minutes or hours. A place to block out the crazy that may be going on in the world. Books are also a fantastic way to learn new things.

Given that I read so much I figured it was time that I started writing mini-reviews on the things that I'm reading. So expect short posts that detail a little of what I've just read, be it a graphic novel, SQL technical book or work of fiction.

If even one review encourages you to pick up a book then my work here is done.