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From Crocodiles on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. I just started reading the series this morning and I’m already smitten. Amelia Peabody is a woman after my own heart.

“Miss Amelia, may I ask–in my personal capacity now–whether you have any inclinations toward matrimony?”

“None. I disapprove of matrimony as a matter of principle.” Mr. Fletcher’s pepper-and-salt eyebrows lifted. I added, “For…

The Room is sleek and minimalist and a little bit wonderful. There's no pointless wandering, but rather a single room (hence, the title) with a giant, impossibly elaborate puzzle box sitting on a table. The puzzles are embedded in the box, which turns and unfolds with an elegant Steampunk sensibility that looks even better on PC than it did on iOS.

The narrative is elliptical and thus far more evocative, working some basic Lovecraftian tropes with no more than a few stray notes and scrawled worlds. Most of this is merely atmosphere, however, and combined with an eerie score and sound effects, adds a steady background hum of nervous unease as you go about exploring the box's many levels, drawers, buttons, doors, and mechanisms.

It's this tight structure, as well as the the vastly superior puzzle design, that strips away the dead weight of Myst to offer a sleek and effective puzzle experience. Lasting only a couple of hours, it concentrates on what you want from a game such as this: a bit of atmosphere, a hint of story, and some challenging puzzles.

There are no characters, no dialogue, and no movement: just a box you can view from different angles and letters from a mysterious figure. But it's a game you just won't be able to stop playing. Each element in the puzzle flows so perfectly to the next that it draws you along. You simply have to finish it. I'm not kidding when I say it may well be the best mechanical puzzler of all time: a virtual Chinese box unbound by spatial limitations.

In the end, that's what's most striking about this minimalist creation. The box is a work of art: a think of beauty of ingenuity, fascinating to watch and interesting to explore.

(Space Kids, 1958. I don't have any other information on this pic)

My days off didn't go as planned, which I guess is expected. I got the flu, or something like it, so couldn't follow through with my carefully crafted schedule.

This is what I did manage to finish:

Books

Cooking for Geeks (Chapter One. I made the pancakes twice, but not the soup because I couldn't find two key ingredients. I will try again in the next few weeks)

The Seventies

Magazines

Popular Mechanics (Dec/Jan 2015)

Audiobooks

Death by Black Hole

A Briefer History of Time

The Elegant Universe

Movies (from my It Came From the 70s list)

Planet of the Apes

Rosemary’s Baby

Night of the Living Dead

Easy Rider

Television

Gravity Falls (3)

Arrow (2)

The Flash (3)

Gotham (3)