This was a very well written, well paced book. I loved the version of the future that was depicted. It felt very real. The idea that the “replicator” would turn us into healthy “potatoes” instead of the federation of planets seems very possible given social media and streaming entertainment services and how you basically never have to leave your home already.
It's a very interesting topic and had a lot of ideas I found appealing (as an American). Not sure how hopeful I'd find his predictions if I was not American. Though, the whole book I kept wondering. Wouldn't all itd take for this not to pass is Americans as a collective to not abandon the rest of the world. We seem to like to get into other people's business. Seems weird to assume that it'll peter out as we b come energy independent. Who knows. It's been 7 years. The world doesn't seem that much different from 2014 from here. Pandemic aside.
This was a very good book. The dicotomy between the two characters and their similarities was a real draw. The author really builds a back story in an interesting and emotional way. I normally read scifi and this could fit into that but I think it also fits into what my wife finds more interesting to read which is definitely not scifi. There was more character and emotion here than I would normally pick out but I'm glad I picked this one up.
I was explaining this book to a friend before I was done and I think he got hung up on how nudging could be used for bad or evil and the book didn't really address this til the end for a short chapter. I agree alot of nudges could be helpful but the transparency and respect required to stop evil nudges is also troublesome.
I listened to this one, but read the previous 2. It's probably the best way to enjoy this series. There is a lot of superfluous languages and descriptions and tangents that the narrator goes on that during a normal book read I would skim to get the jist because it can be very verbose. But the audio narration helps you get the full flavor of the story the way it was intended without having to read and reread the same flowery language over and over.
I picked this up because it involved ai. I was entertained but I do not think it was a good book persay. I feel like the author used the same solution to a few minor things multiple times and repeated dialogue too often. It was weird. It also seemingly abandoned the ai's visual perspective halfway through and skipped a lot of her evolution to finding the good in humans.
I read this thick boy over two long borrows from the library. It's very detailed. I enjoy obamas writing cadence but tended to skim through parts describing less than important people to get through to the more exciting or nostalgic descriptions of his first term. The foreshadowing and the hindsight really hit home knowing what came after obama. Can't wait for his next book.