Imatge de l'autor

Donald Firesmith

Autor/a de What Lurks Below (Hell Holes, #1)

16 obres 119 Membres 13 Ressenyes

Sobre l'autor

Donald G. Firesmith is senior member of technical staff in the Software Solutions Division at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). There, he helps the U.S. Department of Defense and other agencies acquire large, complex, software-reliant systems. An internationally recognized software and mostra'n més systems engineering expert, he has published books on requirements engineering, architecture engineering, situational method engineering, testing, and object-oriented development. mostra'n menys
Nota de desambiguació:

(eng) Books published under Donald Firesmith, Donald George Firesmith, and Wolfrick Ignatius Feuerschmied (pen name)

Sèrie

Obres de Donald Firesmith

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Nom normalitzat
Donald Firesmith
Nom oficial
Donald George Firesmith
Data de naixement
1952-06-14
Gènere
male
Nacionalitat
USA
País (per posar en el mapa)
USA
Lloc de naixement
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Llocs de residència
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Educació
Linfield College (BA | Mathematics, German)
Arizona State University (MA | Mathematics)
Professions
Software Engineer
System Engineer
Author
Premis i honors
Distinguished Engineer (Association of Computing Machinery, 2016)
Biografia breu
A computer geek by day, Donald Firesmith works as a system and software engineer helping the US Government acquire large, complex software-intensive systems. In this guise, he has authored seven technical books, written numerous software- and system-related articles and papers, and spoken at more conferences than he can possibly remember. He is also proud to have been named a Distinguished Engineer by the Association of Computing Machinery, although his pride is tempered somewhat worrying whether the term “distinguished” makes him sound more like a graybeard academic rather than an active engineer whose beard is still more red than gray.

By night and on weekends, his alter ego writes modern paranormal fantasy, apocalyptic science fiction, action and adventure novels and relaxes by handcrafting magic wands from various magical woods and mystical gemstones. His first foray into fiction is the book Magical Wands: A Cornucopia of Wand Lore written under the pen name Wolfrick Ignatius Feuerschmied. He lives in Crafton, Pennsylvania with his wife Becky, his son Dane, and varying numbers of dogs, cats, and birds.
Nota de desambiguació
Books published under Donald Firesmith, Donald George Firesmith, and Wolfrick Ignatius Feuerschmied (pen name)

Membres

Ressenyes

“…any autonomous system that must successfully interact with, and moves around in, the real world must produce a cohesive and consistent real-time simulation of the relevant aspects of itself and its environment…” Or, in plainer language, anything which moves about under its own steam can only do so by using the simulation of its surroundings (including a representation of itself of course) which it has running inside its own head.
    Whereas plants don’t need to do any of that—they don’t move about, the world comes to them—most animals certainly do need to, be they fish or fowl, horse or human. The thing is, autonomous machines of all kinds also do this, from humanoid robots to driverless vehicles, and Donald Firesmith’s contention here is that anything which does this is, by definition, sentient.
    The bulk of the text (and accompanying diagrams) reads rather like a manual or set of engineering specs. First the human brain, then a self-driving vehicle: the idea is to illustrate just how similar these two systems are—when viewed, that’s to say, simply as systems, purely in terms of function rather than form. The author’s claim is that form is irrelevant in this context and that two entities which function in precisely the same way will be equally sentient—it makes no difference whether we’re talking about carbon, oxygen, glucose and cells, or silicon, copper, electricity and steel. Horses, humans and self-driving vehicles: we’re all conscious to some degree or other.
    This is an odd book in both respects (form as well as function!), but I’ve spent far more time thinking about it (and re-reading) than I was expecting to. And I’ll leave you with its most memorable image: picture one of those new driverless taxicabs, suddenly sick of battling its way through the rush-hour traffic, bunking off work to go park quietly on its own for an hour or two in its favourite beauty-spot. Somewhere sometime, if Firesmith is right, that’s going to happen.
… (més)
 
Marcat
justlurking | Jan 11, 2024 |
The thing is, it takes a lot of talent to write a sci-fi novel with something new to say. A fresh take. A Slave’s Revenge, the fourth installment of the Hell Holes series, does have that fresh take, and it comes under the form of demonic aliens. They hail from Hell, which is a physical place, and kidnap people in order to enslave them. Our MC, Paul, gets captured when he’s a teenager, and works his way to the top, sort of, before he manages to get his revenge. Saving the world while he’s at it may or may not be a plus.

[Keep reading @ Bookshelves & Teacups]
… (més)
 
Marcat
TissieL | May 3, 2023 |
I thought this was a really enjoyable middlegrade read. My tween will love it as well! There are great characters, a good take on the Maine accent, and adventure/hijinks. A nice easy rad. I though it was great!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
 
Marcat
McBeezie | Hi ha 4 ressenyes més | Jul 27, 2022 |
Hell Holes: What Lurks Below is not in my favorite genre. It is actually in one of my least liked. I tend to find a lot of SciFi-Fantasy gets bogged down with a lot of terminology I don't really know. In trying to figure things out, I tend to come to the conclusion that there are many other books that I could be reading. I decided to read Hell Holes because it sounded interesting and was set in Alaska. I wasn't expecting very much though. I ended up being surprised by a story that held my interest. I found myself really being interested in the holes. That was surprising to me. I'm not sure how I feel yet about the demons and such coming out if the holes. I also didn't feel as though I got to really know the characters. There were some deaths but I didn't really dwell on any of them. By the end of the book I did find myself caring about whether or not Jill survived. I think she was the character I attached to the most. The action became nearly nonstop about midway through the book. For the most part this was really good. The ending though, being mid action, left me feeling adrift. I understand that it is the first book in a series. I am hoping we get to know the characters a bit better in the next one. I'm not a big fan of cliffhangers though I usually handle them well. This one left me feeling abandoned in battle. I do hope the author picks it up where we were left. Am I happy that I read this book? Yes, I am. Flawed, (in my eyes), as it is, it did draw me in. Would I recommend it? Yes. Will I read more from this author? Most likely I will come back and read the next book.
I would like to thank BookTasters and the author for the opportunity to voluntarily review this book. I enjoyed it much more than I expected to.
I changed the dates to reflect when I actually read the book. I had picked it up on Christmas Day intending to read it then. With the holidays and a sudden illness with my Dad, I did not get to start it until almost a week later.
… (més)
 
Marcat
Wulfwyn907 | Hi ha 3 ressenyes més | Jan 30, 2022 |

Premis

Estadístiques

Obres
16
Membres
119
Popularitat
#166,388
Valoració
4.0
Ressenyes
13
ISBN
27

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