1632

Read 1632 by Eric Flint, deeply embedded in it is a lesson about the infrastructure that keeps modern society going. It's important to understand mappers and packers, and figure out where you are on that continuum. https://wiki.c2.com/?MappersVsPackers Learn what capability based security is. Computer security is a solved problem, has been since the 1980s, but the solution hasn't been widely adopted yet. Know that this is a time of immense abundance, we have access to things that even the King of France couldn't afford, like antibiotics and modern medicine, but don't try to keep up with the Joneses, that way lies ruin.

1632 by Eric Flint - It's an alternative history in which the real town of Mannington, Virginia is fictionalized as "Grantville" and thrown back in time to 1631 Germany, causing it's citizens to band together, and kick off the American Revolution more than a Century Early. It's a fascinating study of society and the infrastructure that makes civilization work. Their struggles to avoid starvation and being over-run by the armies of the 30 years war are gripping reading. It was so popular it spawned a community of writers and a series that lived until the authors demise a few years ago.

The 1632 series by Eric Flint changed my perspective on what it takes to keep modern civilization going. In the book (which became a series) he extensively studied the town of Mannington, West Virginia, and it became Grantville, a town which was thrown from the year 2000 back into the summer of 1631 and the middle of the 30 years war in Thuringa, Germany. Their struggle to comprehend the new world into which they were thrust, coping with war and loss of modern supply chains, and a full blown war... make for interesting reading. There were a lot of details about infrastructure in the book and throughout the series that really made me ponder just how hard it is to keep this all afloat.

1632 by Eric Flint - it became a series. I can read them over and over. - Alternate history, contemplative of everything that makes modern civilization possible and keeps it going. The Art of Electronics - Horowitz and Hill - All the nitty gritty details you'll need if you're to be a good electronics designer The adolescence of P-1 - Thomas Joseph Ryan - Introduced me to the idea of random walks leading to AI. Computer Lib/Dream Machines - Ted Nelson -- Quite a bit of ideas about computers, I read it decades ago. Diary of an Early American Boy: Noah Blake 1805 -- By Eric Sloane -- Early Americans really knew their shit, we tend to think of them as simpler people, this book dispelled me of that stupid notion. Boys Second Book of Electronics - Alfred Morgan, 1957 -- Introduced me to the idea that I could make my own radio or anything electronic I wanted to make.

1632 - Eric Flint Not quite science fiction, but it's an alternative history that teaches a lot about infrastructure and science along the way.

These days I seem to prefer extended series of books that develop a detailed alternate universe. Three truly excellent series (Author-Series-1st Book): Eric Flint - 1632 - "1632" David Weber - Honor Harrington - "On Basilisk Station" Stephen Brust - Vlad Taltos - "Taltos"