The Ship who Sang by Anne Mccaffrey

👍👍👍 An OK book for me. I loved the premise. A human brain attached to a spaceship. Initially it did sound a bit strange to me. However as I read the first chapter, the idea made me feel unsettled at times as the brain came from a new born but malformed baby. It also felt claustrophobic thinking of a brain trapped inside a titanium case inside an enormous spaceship. Incapable of walking or scratching it's nose but capable of moving at high speeds and observe things through several sensors across it's "body". 

This book includes 6 stories which work as episodes or adventures. The first story follows the birth and rebirth of Helva, the protagonist, and it was my favourite of the collection. The remaining stories revolve around a series of missions, with Helva travelling to different planets, transporting passengers, and eventually finding a human partner to accompany her on her journeys. I felt the science fiction elements often took a back seat to Helva's coming-of-age story, her search for identity, and her place in the world. There's nothing wrong with that, but it simply wasn't my cup of tea.

Planetes by Makoto Yukimura

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡 A beautiful manga with a compelling story and unforgettable characters. It offers an inspiring portrayal of humanity taking its first steps into space exploration. More than just a science fiction adventure, it's a heartfelt slice of life journey filled with hope, hardship, triumph, failure, and every emotion in between.

On the Shortness of Life by Seneca

Also includes Consolation to Helvia and On Tranquillity of Mind. 

Extremely valuable messages, thought provoking, worth reading, for all ages, I guess the younger the better. I struggled with the writing style though, which at points felt like never endless stream of blah blah. I thought, if I had been there present with Seneca, I would have pressed pause, gone for a cold coffee, come back and press play again. More than once. It might have been the heat though 😁 

In On the Shortness of Life Seneca argues that Life isn't short but we waste it with distractions and worthless goals. In Consolation to Helvia, Seneca argues that philosophy helps find peace. In On the Tranquillity of Mind, Seneca explains how to achieve calmness through work and service. 

I guess my main takeaway from the three texts, is to do my best without letting stress take over, to accept both the good and the bad in life, to accept the universe as it is, and to remember that my job is to live well within it, not to wish it were different. Reading books definitely helps with this. It brings Tranquillity of Mind and gives meaning to my daily routine. 👍

The Andromeda Anthology (A for Andromeda and The Andromeda Breakthrough) by Fred Hoyle and John Elliot

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It's not perfect but I liked it a lot! 

A message arrives from space, and humanity manages to decode it. The message contains instructions for building a computer, and the novel follows the process of constructing it through multiple iterations, as well as the reactions of governments and other powerful groups. I was completely captivated by the central idea of what was being buil. It felt both original and fascinating. However, I was less impressed by the sections in which the main characters, mostly scientists, become involved in Cold War-style espionage. Those episodes distracted from what I found to be the novel's most compelling aspect: the extra-terrestrial message and its implications.

Mercury by Ben Bova

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fun read but not exactly what I expected. Half of the book takes place on Mercury and space, while the other half is set on earth before the events on Mercury. I really enjoyed the overall story but found the flashback chapters a bit anticlimactic compared to the main storline. Regardless, I recommend this novel. This is the kind of book you should read with popcorn :) ... and I plan to continue with the series.