Travis West
Don't read this book. Get the audiobook! Narrated by Cary Elwes with appearances from most of the spectacular cast, it has all the charm and love that came across in the movie.
Remember James Burke's TV show Connections? This book is a bit like that, but without Burke's charm and enthusiasm. There are some interesting historical tidbits here, but a science-literate reader will already be familiar with most of it.
My favorite bit is how the invention of the printing press made people realize that they were farsighted, which led to improvements in lenses for reading glasses, which resulted in both telescopes and microscopes.
I like Cory as a counterweight to the overly optimistic technology writers who promise utopian futures, but fail to consider the downside of their ideas. If all you knew of his writing was this book, though, you'd think that it's all doom and gloom for the internet. However, the recent repeal of Net Neutrality may once again highlight Doctorow's prescience.
The audiobook, narrated by Wil Wheaton, is well produced, except for the off key (Amanda Palmer?) piano bumper played between every subsection of the book. It becomes grating quickly.
WOLF is the anti-READY PLAYER ONE. Where RP1 is slick dopamine hits of flashy nostalgia, WiWV is dark, misunderstood slices of dangerous nerd culture. Before “nerd” was a term that everyone who likes anything applied to themselves, it was the bully's insult for those who took refuge on the fringes of pop culture. Sean is our troubled guide to this world, and though we won't necessarily like him, we will understand him.
I've read another Darnielle book, UNIVERSAL HARVESTER. I'd recommend that you read this one instead, or just first.
It's rare that I re-read a book. So many others to be read. But Station Eleven was a book club selection. I liked it better the second time around, though I'd forgotten most of the plot.
For a guy who claims to be a movie fan, he pretty much just bitches about every aspect of the moviegoing experience (except when the film is being shown in some hard to reach exotic locale). I think Murphy pictures himself as a lovable curmudgeon. He comes across as a cranky old fart.
It's hard to love a book where the narrator and main character is a total moron who consistently acts against his own interests.
So many tired tropes! And a “twist” that was transparently tacked on after the success of Gone Girl.
I read H is for Hawk for book club; otherwise, I would not have finished. All the worst things I associate with memoirs: self importance, humorlessness, and pretension. The last few chapters managed to redeem it somewhat, though.
Fairly standard detective thriller, a genre that I'm surprised to see King dabbling in.
There are no good guys. There are no bad guys. Redemption doesn't come with resolution.
An original, thrilling, and even, gasp, scary post-apocalyptic horror novel. It's rare for a book to keep me in its grip from the first chapter to the last.
I know it's a YA book, but I'm not sure if 10 year-old me would have liked it either. At least it's finally off my “To Read” list.
I naturally make small changes in my approach to life, so there wasn't really anything earth-shaking here for me. The core concept is solid, but the book felt like 90% filler.
Interesting topic, uninteresting delivery. In a nutshell, the Army Quartermaster Corps has done a lot of research into supplying battlefield rations, and US food producers have capitalized by creating energy bars, processed meats, and plastic containers.
Nick Offerman is not Ron Swanson. This book is a memoir, not humorous stylings of meat consumption. Most of the bad reviews here have missed that point.
A good bathroom book. :) Short chapters on interesting topics. Way too reductive to be serious reading, but it may spark interest in further study.
This book feels like a blog post that was stretched into 125 pages and padded with trite tips from all of the other “if you wish it, you will receive it” motivational” gurus.