Simon Lyall

NZer working with Cloud Infra, Kubernetes, AWS, Linux, Monitoring, etc

Mainly on bsky now:

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Audiobooks – January, February 2026

The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon by Todd Zwillich 3/5

Who Owns This Sentence: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs 3/5

The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush 4/5

https://t.co/BR5w7QNsKo

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

@girdley Sounds like he dodged a bullet

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

@HELLA_GIRTH @FanSince09 "no big deal, just go grab one"

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

For the Love of Trains: Celebrating 200 Years of British Railways by Paul Routledge

Review: A mix of rail history and stories of the author's life and journeys. An okay light read but either topic is better severed elsewhere 3/5

https://t.co/6VpGBWA5h3

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Audiobooks – January, February 2026

The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon by Todd Zwillich 3/5

Who Owns This Sentence: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs 3/5

The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush 4/5

https://t.co/BR5w7QNsKo

[NZ Earthquake Bot @nz_quake]

Unfortunately at the start of April 2026 X made their API pay-only so this feed stopped working

Thank you for all the support since 2009 when this account started

Posts to BlueSky will continue if you want to join us there

- Simon

https://t.co/d6Dj4rwCyk

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

The KLF: Chaos, Magic, and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds by John Higgs

4/5

Review: Not a convention band biography but more an explanation on their influences and thinking. Fascinating, funny and a fun read

https://t.co/WPoTfi2IK9

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush

4/5

Review: A fairly balanced biography of the 6 astronauts. Covering before and during the Astronaut careers and to an extent afterwards. Worth a read for space fans.

https://t.co/3Lr9QRkiSj

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Who Owns This Sentence: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs by David Bellos & Alexandre Montagu

3/5

Review: A look at the almost random ways and reasons copyright has changed over the centuries usually as different groups lobbied governments

https://t.co/l1ljy4bipg

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Review:

The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon by Todd Zwillich

3/5

The story of John C. Houbolt, a NASA engineer who pushed for Lunar Orbit Rendezvous for the Apollo program. Just 3 hours long but Interesting

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

The Kiwi Moot Conference to take place in Wellington, New Zealand in February 2027

It is a three-day conference based around Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and related topics

#tolkien #lotr

More information:

https://t.co/TwDSIqpW5k

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

The Kiwi Moot Conference to take place in Wellington, New Zealand in February 2027

It is a three-day conference based around Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and related topics

#tolkien #lotr

More information:

https://t.co/TwDSIqpW5k

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Audiobooks – Dec 2025

After Eden: A short history of the world by John Charles Chasteen 3/5

Ground Combat by Ben Connable 3/5

Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang 4/5

The Devil Reached towards the Sky by Garrett M. Graff 4/5

https://t.co/eJ87wvaekO

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Audiobooks – Dec 2025

After Eden: A short history of the world by John Charles Chasteen 3/5

Ground Combat by Ben Connable 3/5

Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang 4/5

The Devil Reached towards the Sky by Garrett M. Graff 4/5

https://t.co/eJ87wvaekO

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Review:

The Devil Reached towards the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb by Garrett M. Graff

4/5

Structured as quotes from characters spken by actors. Better coverage of Oak Ridge & Hanford than most books. Pretty good

https://t.co/AdfwpqXDyg

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Review:

After Eden: A short history of the world by John Charles Chasteen

3/5

A history of the world but from the point of view of how society organises and people treat each other. Interesting

https://t.co/8S104K5DxY

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Review

Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang

4/5

Contrasts the Lawyer Culture of the US vs China's Engineer Culture. Discusses aspects of China's culture, Government and Industry. Recommend

https://t.co/xS9hzsUZOK

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Ground Combat: Puncturing the Myths of Modern War by Ben Connable

3/5

A bit dry and academic with a lot of "talking to my dataset" but some interesting bits on trends in modern warfare including early parts of Ukraine war

https://t.co/UhSwzS3E1I

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Review:

After Eden: A short history of the world by John Charles Chasteen

3/5

A history of the world but from the point of view of how society organises and people treat each other. Interesting

https://t.co/8S104K5DxY

[Simon Lyall @slyall]

Audiobooks November 2025

The Global Age Europe 1950-2017 by Ian Kershaw 4/5

The Last American Hero: The Remarkable Life of John Glenn by Alice George 4/5

https://t.co/xEB5uZzSGf