Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

CISM test passed

Thursday, January 16th, 2020

Yes, I did it again. New year, new test, same result (apart from the unfortunate CKAD exam but it’s not quite over there yet because I have a free re-take)

Apparently I will receive an email confirmation with the definite result in about 10 days but I don’t think they will change the result *fingerscrossedthough*

The hurdle work experience in order to get actually certified is a different story though….

Anyway, next up are take 2 on the CKAD exam followed by CISA….

Update:
In case you are wondering: I used to CISM All-in-one guide by Peter H. Gregory and an app called ISACA CISM by pocket prep to crunch practice questions.

Books I’m reading at the moment (May and June 2019)

Saturday, June 1st, 2019

After a long time, I finally finished Fatal Revenant of the series “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”. That was actually in May.

Needless to say, I started with the next book in that series called Against All Things Ending. That’s the June part.

Apart from that, I’m also almost done with a exam preparation book for the exam called Certified Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP), an exam by CompTIA.

I will need to re-read it and take notes. Realistically I should be ready for the test in a couple of weeks…. keeping fingers crossed.

Books I’m reading at the moment (April 2019)

Thursday, April 25th, 2019

Things have slowed down a bit with reading… I’m studying more vocabulary than before on memrise and I also put in some time in the evening to prepare for security-related IT certifications.

Desperation by Stephen King
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperation_(novel))

限りなく透明に近いブルー (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_Transparent_Blue). Making progress… good thing it’s not too long a book.

Also part 9 of the Thomas Covenant series…

Once I finish the covenant series, I’m very much looking forward to read some books by Christopher Moore, who, as far as I can tell writes “comical fiction” in the same spirit as Terry Pratchett.

Books I’m reading at the moment (March 2019)

Wednesday, March 27th, 2019


星空を願った狼の by Shiina Takasato (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E9%87%8C%E6%A4%8E%E5%A5%88)
http://iss.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I026521234-00
Still 30 more pages to go….

Desperation by Stephen King
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperation_(novel)) – Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson is such a good read, I put this on the backburner…

红豚 by a friend of a co-worker but it has a low priority at the moment

限りなく透明に近いブルー (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_Transparent_Blue). Making progress… good thing it’s not too long a book.

I also read and already finished “A Blink of the Screen” by the late and great Terry Pratchett.

Books I’m reading at the moment (February 2019)

Tuesday, February 5th, 2019

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant part VII by Stephen R. Donaldson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant)

星空を願った狼の by Shiina Takasato (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E9%87%8C%E6%A4%8E%E5%A5%88)
http://iss.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I026521234-00
Still 50 more pages to go….

Desperation by Stephen King
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperation_(novel)) – Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson is such a good read, I put this on the backburner…

红豚 by a friend of a co-worker but it has a low priority at the moment

PADI Tec Deep Diver Manual
Not sure if I will ever do this… but it’s interesting to read about it, at least at the moment.

限りなく透明に近いブルー (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_Transparent_Blue)

Getting there….

Books I’m reading at the moment… January 2019

Monday, January 7th, 2019

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant part VI by Stephen R. Donaldson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant)
So I’ve finished part VI which is somehow an end to the chronicles because (spoiler alert!) at the end of part VI, TC actually dies. Which is unfortunate because it makes me wonder what happends in the parts VII to X… *sigh* – to be continued, I guess

星空を願った狼の by Shiina Takasato (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E9%87%8C%E6%A4%8E%E5%A5%88)
http://iss.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I026521234-00
50 more pages to go….

Desperation by Stephen King
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperation_(novel))

红豚 by a friend of a co-worker

PADI Tec Deep Diver Manual
Not sure if I will ever do this… but it’s interesting to read about it, at least at the moment.

限りなく透明に近いブルー (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_Transparent_Blue)

Yes, I’m getting spread a little bit but it’ll get better again. And I have a number of other e-books waiting to be read – sci-fi stuff, lots of it.

Update January 23rd: It’s getting worse… I’m also re-reading Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett (couldn’t resist and once in a while I like to read something which makes you laugh) and Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson (from the highly-recommended series Malazan Book of the Fallen)

On the other hand, I finished The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Part VI which is good but I started with part VII, so yeah….

Overall, one down, three more added which makes a net plus of two.

Books I’m reading at the moment… December 2018

Sunday, December 2nd, 2018

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant part IV by Stephen R. Donaldson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant)

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant part V by Stephen R. Donaldson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant)

星空を願った狼の by Shiina Takasato (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E9%87%8C%E6%A4%8E%E5%A5%88)
http://iss.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I026521234-00
I was reading this previously but lost interest throughout (when I bought it, I was told “it’s funny”… maybe it is not in a terry-prattchet-funny-way). Maybe I’ll make it to the end this time

Desperation by Stephen King
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperation_(novel))

红豚 by a friend of a co-worker… correct name to follow 🙂

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gods)
I picked this up in used books shop. I “know” Neil Gaiman from his collaboration on Good Omens (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Omens) with the late Terry Pratchett. It’s good to hold a physical book in the hand while reading because I mostly read e-books on my tablet, but it’s just not the same.

PADI Tec Deep Diver Manual
Not sure if I will ever do this… but it’s interesting to read about it, at least at the moment.

Books I’m reading at the moment… November 2018

Saturday, November 3rd, 2018

攻殻機動隊 1.5 Human Error Processor by Masamune Shirow

The Last Ringbearer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer)

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant part III by Stephen R. Donaldson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant)

The Long Walk by Stephen King / Richard Bachman
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Walk)
I read that book in German as a teenager and I wanted to re-read it to see how it holds up and whether I would discover something new about it.

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eyes_of_the_dragon)
I read this book at around the same time as the Long Walk and it was a nice re-read.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gods)
I picked this up in used books shop. I “know” Neil Gaiman from his collaboration on Good Omens (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Omens) with the late Terry Pratchett. It’s good to hold a physical book in the hand while reading because I mostly read e-books on my tablet, but it’s just not the same.

PADI Tec Deep Diver Manual
Not sure if I will ever do this… but it’s interesting to read about it, at least at the moment.

Books I’m reading at the moment… October 2018

Tuesday, October 9th, 2018

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything) – finished

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant part I by Stephen R. Donaldson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant) – finished

攻殻機動隊 1.5 Human Error Processor by Masamune Shirow

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant part II by Stephen R. Donaldson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant) – finished

The Last Ringbearer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer)