the book bum

Rick Riordan is a very famous YA writer who has written two series about modern teenagers with one mortal parent and one parent who happens to be a Greek god.  (It happens.)  They go on adventures, save the world, train at their godly summer camps (they exist), and blow up ancient monsters.  This has been the general and very enjoyable gist of all of Riordan's YA books up until "The House of Hades."  This newest installment in "The Heroes of Olympus" series is told from the perspective of 7 demigods on a quest to stop the evil goddess Gaia from taking over the world and to save two of their friends from dying in the Greek hell of Tartarus.  It was a very action-packed story, of course, but it was different from its predecessors in that it had more of a conscience.  For example, the two heroes who were banished to Tartarus, Percy and Annabeth, are at one point forced to fight a mob of demons who force them to feel the curses of every enemy and person whom ...

Prey by Michael Chrichton is the story of a man named Jack Forman who is hired to help track down escaped nano particles. These particles were being created and programed to be cameras for the government to track targets with. The idea was that they would be programed to track a specific person or group and they would't return until the desired information was obtained. Jack himself (before he was fired) created the programing this company used in the escaped nano particles. They are self sustaining and are programed to problem solve in ways that make the cloud, as it is referred to, learn from each action taken to trap it. As Jack continues to work with the other scientists in the facility he learns there is much more to the cloud than any of them knew could be possible. He also discovers that there is a secret his wife, Julia, and their boss, Ricky Morse, are not sharing with him. A secret that would be very valuable to know while he was interacting with the cloud. This book w...