The other day I spend a hour or so at a decently popular cafe downtown, Cafe Bibliotic Hello. I spent the time finishing up a book I picked up while back in Chicago, The Devil in the White City. I had heard good things about the book, but failed to ever pick it up since I am more of a sci-fi reader. I am, however, very glad I picked this one up. It is easily one of the most engrossing reads I have ever had. I found myself reading it on the train, at home for a few hours before bed, and I ended up finishing it faster than I think I have ever finished a book of its size. I highly recommend it, to just about anyone, especially to Chicagoans. The way Larson ties the story of a serial killer and the Chicago World’s Fair together just keeps you glued to the pages.

Before getting into The Devil in the White City, I finally finished up both Ubik and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the latter (the inpiration for Blade Runner) being somewhat hard to get through. It’s funny, I recalled in an interview with Ridley Scott in an issue of Wired that he also stated he had trouble getting through P.K.Dick’s bleak view of the future. Being a huge fan of the film, I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the read, but soon realized that it might as well be a completely different story altogether. Check out the wiki page for the book, for a detailed plot outline if your interested. Not my favorite work of Dick’s but I am glad that I read it; it gives a great background for the film and develops it’s characters a great deal more (as would be expected). Ubik, on the other hand, was great and I look forward to the upcoming film adaption of this.

So what next? At the same time I picked up The Devil in the White City, I also picked up a book I have been wanting to read for quite a long time; Steven Hawking‘s “A Brief History of Time“. As it so happens, he just released a bit more accessible version, “A Briefer History of Time“. I’ve only just started so I have little to say, but the way it is written really helps you understand amazingly complex ideas, such as string theory…and even time travel. I’ll chime in when I’m done.