Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

PhD candidate, academic, SF&F writer and reader, Australian, New South Welshman, Essendon FC, gamer, father

Eastern Australiapetergreenwell.comJoined October 2008

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Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Oct 30

3 of 5 stars to Destroy All Monsters by Jeff Jackson

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Destroy All Monsters: The Last Rock Novel

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Oct 29

4 of 5 stars to Writers' London by Carrie Kania

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Writers' London

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Oct 20

4 of 5 stars to 36 Streets by T.R. Napper

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Peter Greenwell’s review of 36 Streets

I liked it - the author has a flair for gritty details and dialogue that went over well with me. The only true issue I had was the character of Lin, or rather her relative lack thereof. This is...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Oct 14

I read Venus on the Half-Shell by Philip José Farmer

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Venus on the Half-Shell

It may have been written as a joke, but it's unreadable rubbish.

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Oct 12

4 of 5 stars to The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

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Peter Greenwell’s review of The Thirteenth Tale

Quiet and understated, although this is quite a gripping tale in most places. The writing itself has a genteel feel about it, quaintly chatty and conversational and it's a solid, confident work....

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Oct 9

4 of 5 stars to Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Bleeding Edge

Like all work of this nature, it repays careful reading. An excellent blend of off-the-cuff humour and conspiracy theory, with practically every angle of both facets covered. That said, it's a little...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Sep 30

4 of 5 stars to Infernal by Mark de Jager

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Infernal

While I enjoyed this book, mainly for the protagonist's naïve rampages through the world and various cities, it did come across as a novelised D&D session. The magic in the novel also rides a little...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Sep 22

3 of 5 stars to Gleam by Tom Fletcher

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Gleam

I'm not 100% sure what I just read. Superficially, it's a homage to the Gormenghast series, as it pays court to the concept of an overarching, unending central edifice that is an enigma unto itself....

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Sep 12

4 of 5 stars to Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Heart-Shaped Box

Not bad, not bad at all and you know what I like most about this oft-macabre tale? That there's not one good guy in it. They are all mutable shades of bad and evil, even the rather pathetic character...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Sep 1

4 of 5 stars to The Crack in Space by Philip K. Dick

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Peter Greenwell’s review of The Crack in Space

Takes its time getting into high gear, but once it does, the craziness sets in.

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Aug 12

2 of 5 stars to The Dark History of the Occult by Paul Roland

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Peter Greenwell’s review of The Dark History of the Occult: Magic, Madness and Murder

Way too scattershot, superficial and piecemeal to be fully enjoyed, and without any kind of real referencing, this is simply pure opinion. Nothing wrong with having an opinion but it will carry more...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Jul 7

4 of 5 stars to How to Grow a Multi-Million Dollar Pr... by Michael Yardney

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Peter Greenwell’s review of How to Grow a Multi-Million Dollar Property Portfolio - in Your Spare...

Great advice but as others have noted, there's plenty of repetition, self-promotion and typos Warren Buffet vs Buffett etc).

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Jul 2

4 of 5 stars to Scrum by Jeff Sutherland

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

You know, one day, sooner than I think, I may well put some of the concepts contained within this book into action. One day, sooner than I think.

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Jun 29

5 of 5 stars to Getting Started in Shares For Dummies... by James Dunn

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Getting Started in Shares For Dummies Australia

An excellent introductory work. Explains this volatile and knotty field of finance well, teaching you what to look out for and avoid. I'm glad I got this one.

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Jun 25

5 of 5 stars to The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains by Antony Lewis

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Peter Greenwell’s review of The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains: An Introduction to Cryptocurr...

Excellent introductory guide to these knotty and misunderstood technologies. I definitely learned a thing or three from reading this. My only gripe is that some of the included graphics and charts...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Jun 24

4 of 5 stars to Close Reading by David Greenham

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Close Reading: The Basics

Arguably the most introductory and user-friendly guide on this subject I've read. Uses The Hobbit, The Great Gatsby and Hamlet as exemplars, and adroitly guides the student through literature...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Jun 8

3 of 5 stars to Microsoft Excel Functions Quick Refer... by Mandeep Mehta

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Microsoft Excel Functions Quick Reference: For High-Quality Data...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

May 30

3 of 5 stars to Hands-on Rust by Herbert Wolverson

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Hands-on Rust: Effective Learning through 2D Game Development and Play

I don't think I learned any more about Rust after finishing this book, but I certainly learned something about game design - that right there is worth the three stars I've given. As a Rust how-to, it...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

May 30

4 of 5 stars to Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Meditations

Words to live by? Mostly - there's a lot of repetition and restatement by the emperor here, as well as some pithy platitudes thrown in to complete the picture. This aside, it's the very definition of...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

May 30

4 of 5 stars to Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Meditations

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

May 14

3 of 5 stars to Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Stillness Is the Key

It's good, it's topical but it's also lightweight. You want a book that'll light a fire under your ass and change your life for the better? This might do it, but for guaranteed results, read Brendon...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Mar 30

3 of 5 stars to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

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Peter Greenwell’s review of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Brilliant and confounding at the same time. No matter how disjointed this work becomes, there's no doubting the playful ingenuity of language and phrase. This, folks, is one of those novels that the...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Mar 18

3 of 5 stars to I, Strahd by P.N. Elrod

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Peter Greenwell’s review of I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin

Dungeons and Dragons does the epistolary novel. Not always successful, parts boring, parts exciting, but never consistently engaging, and it seemed to go on and on too. And what about that ending?...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Mar 16

3 of 5 stars to Beyond Nature Writing by Kathleen R. Wallace

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Beyond Nature Writing: Expanding the Boundaries of Ecocriticism

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Mar 8

3 of 5 stars to Literary Terms and Criticism by John Peck

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Literary Terms and Criticism

Useful as a primer but it's opinionated - Graham Greene and W.H. Auden are nothing special according to this book, and it perpetuates - perhaps unintentionally - the trope that all good literature in...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Mar 3

3 of 5 stars to How to Read Texts by Neil McCaw goodreads.com/review/show/45

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Feb 24

2 of 5 stars to Shadowborn by Carrie Bebris

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Shadowborn

A plodding entry in the Ravenloft series and to be honest, it's only peripherally related to it, as most of the narrative and action takes place in what I think is the Greyhawk world. The least of...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Feb 22

3 of 5 stars to Haunted Presence by S.L. Varnado

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Haunted Presence: The Numinous in Gothic Fiction

Like most works on the Gothic and the supernatural in general, the focus is on the classic stuff. Later, the author gives a brief precis on what he considers "newer" authors, like Blackwood, Machen...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Feb 7

4 of 5 stars to Learn Linux Shell Scripting – Fundame... by Sebastiaan Tammer

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Learn Linux Shell Scripting – Fundamentals of Bash 4.4: A comprehensive...

This is an excellent step-by-step guide to Bash shell scripting, and on that basis alone, you can't ask for more. From hello world, right through to automated tasks and advanced regular expressions....

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Jan 26

4 of 5 stars to Akira, Vol. 1 by Katsuhiro Otomo

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Akira, Vol. 1

One of the very few works of this type I've ever read - and I intend to read them all. This was good work, even if it struggled to make sense at times. For that matter so did the film version I...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Jan 16

4 of 5 stars to Un-cook Yourself by Nat's What I Reckon

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Un-cook Yourself: A Ratbag's Rules for Life

If more cookbooks used comic strips for their recipes, they'd be among the most entertaining things to read, just like Nat's adventures through life are. This book is about what I expected, and yet I...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Jan 14

4 of 5 stars to Live More Happy by Darren Morton

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Live More Happy

One of the better life and how to live it books I've read. Full of useful, informative and interesting advice, and most of all, the author backs up it with credible references.

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Jan 7

4 of 5 stars to Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Carmilla

Oh boy, I had so much to write when I opened this up to review it, but it's all gone from memory now. So in its place, I'll write that I liked it. It creaks in places and that conclusion is too long,...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Dec 31, 2021

5 of 5 stars to Codex Seraphinianus by Luigi Serafini

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Codex Seraphinianus

This parody of/homage to the Voynich Manuscript (and Da Vinci) outdoes them all in utter audacity and inventiveness. It takes a certain type of delightful crazy to conjure up a work like this. It's...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Dec 31, 2021

4 of 5 stars to Codex Seraphinianus by Luigi Serafini

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Codex Seraphinianus

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Dec 29, 2021

4 of 5 stars to The Witcher Omnibus by Paul Tobin

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Peter Greenwell’s review of The Witcher Omnibus

An enjoyable graphic outing into Geralt's world. The House of Glass has an exceptional story as does the Fox Children but the third story the Curse of Crows falters a little. But for fans of The...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Dec 27, 2021

4 of 5 stars to Vampires, Burial, and Death by Paul Barber

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality

A very dense and knotty examination of the realities behind vampire legends, and it goes into detail on the aspects of dead bodies and what happens to them once they're buried, etc. There's also an...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Dec 21, 2021

3 of 5 stars to Ethics by Simon Blackburn

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Ethics: A Very Short Introduction

It might be a very short introduction, but at times it was quite impenetrable.

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Dec 20, 2021

3 of 5 stars to Gothic by Emma Baxter-Wright, Hywel L...

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Gothic: The Evolution of a Dark Subculture

A flashy taster into the world of Gothic - from its origins as an architectural style through to modern day look-ins at fashion and so on, with everything else touched upon in between. But that's all...

Peter Booth

@petergreenwell

Dec 20, 2021

4 of 5 stars to Writing the Paranormal Novel by Steven Harper

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Peter Greenwell’s review of Writing the Paranormal Novel: Techniques and Exercises for Weaving...

A useful book in regards to dealing with the world of publishing and rejection and so on, but with any of these "how-to" works, I question the end result of following them. What kind of writing does...