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brendamn's reviews
362 reviews
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
3.0
What Weir does well in Project Hail Mary is how he makes science exciting. The books momentum in large part is driven by successive scientific discoveries which rescue the narrator from one crisis to the next. It also does great job of explaining aspects of the biological and physical world in both a thoughtful and accessible way.
I do have appreciation for scientific discovery and the scientific method, I didn't seem enough for me to really get as into the book as I could have. I found myself wanting, but for what I don't really know. There were a number of places as well that I was not able to fully suspend my disbelief. The science itself was sound, but the odds of everything that came to pass in the book ever happening felt like an impossibility. Though that most likely is asking too much of a novel with "hail mary" in the title.
Definitely would recommend though for anyone that enjoys science fiction. There is another element to the plot that was a lot of fun that I am not mentioning just to keep this spoiler free. I have not read The Martian myself, but after reading this it is clear that Wier is a quality science fiction author.
I do have appreciation for scientific discovery and the scientific method, I didn't seem enough for me to really get as into the book as I could have. I found myself wanting, but for what I don't really know. There were a number of places as well that I was not able to fully suspend my disbelief. The science itself was sound, but the odds of everything that came to pass in the book ever happening felt like an impossibility. Though that most likely is asking too much of a novel with "hail mary" in the title.
Definitely would recommend though for anyone that enjoys science fiction. There is another element to the plot that was a lot of fun that I am not mentioning just to keep this spoiler free. I have not read The Martian myself, but after reading this it is clear that Wier is a quality science fiction author.
Bedlam: An Intimate Journey Into America's Mental Health Crisis by Kenneth Paul Rosenberg
5.0
The primary content of the book comes in at under 200 pages, but it covers an incredible amount. The issues surrounding the crisis of mental health is something everyone has their own opinion on, usually terrible and asinine, but Rosenberg's take is definitely worthwhile. He covers the history of it, what is working today and what isn't working, provides plenty of firsthand examples, all from an experienced perspective.
Myself being a party to who the topic of this book is about I would say this is one of the better books you could pick up about this. If you are looking for a place to start when it comes to the topic of mental health, this is it.
Myself being a party to who the topic of this book is about I would say this is one of the better books you could pick up about this. If you are looking for a place to start when it comes to the topic of mental health, this is it.
I Hate the Internet by Jarett Kobek
2.0
Kobek does make a number of good observations in this book, but has a lot of garbage ones as well. Apparently anyone who argues for improving society is a complete hypocrite just because they participate in society. Primarily social media, I mean yeah social media is shit but that doesn't automatically invalidate everything shared online in the process.
At one point he goes on at some length characterizing tech executives as Greek and Roman gods and goddesses which was one of the more painful parts in the book. Even if he was doing so under many layers of irony it still felt like an embarrassing to go into let alone day dream about.
He goes way out of his way to find reasons to completely discredit everything, if anything has any negative impact or roots then the baby gets automatically thrown out with the bath water. If anything is impure or imperfect then it is completely awful by default. If that was not his intention though then there was no attempt to show otherwise. Go ahead and hate everything though if hating everything is what is the cool thing to do for you.
Again, he does make worthwhile observations and that gives it worth a read I guess. Don't think he is as funny as he thinks he is, and if he doesn't think he is funny he still made quite the effort.
At one point he goes on at some length characterizing tech executives as Greek and Roman gods and goddesses which was one of the more painful parts in the book. Even if he was doing so under many layers of irony it still felt like an embarrassing to go into let alone day dream about.
He goes way out of his way to find reasons to completely discredit everything, if anything has any negative impact or roots then the baby gets automatically thrown out with the bath water. If anything is impure or imperfect then it is completely awful by default. If that was not his intention though then there was no attempt to show otherwise. Go ahead and hate everything though if hating everything is what is the cool thing to do for you.
Again, he does make worthwhile observations and that gives it worth a read I guess. Don't think he is as funny as he thinks he is, and if he doesn't think he is funny he still made quite the effort.