j wren pennington
i don't even know where to begin with this...pros = i could not guess to save my life where the story was going but it wasn't random or incomprehensible, just weird.
someone else i know needs to read this and tell me what you think.
i warn you now that i have a bias in regard to the house of tomorrow. i went through a period of fascination with r. buckminster fuller and though i concluded that he was a loon, he was the best kind of loon and i admire and respect much of what he tried to do with his life. the protagonist of the house of tomorrow is being raised by his grandmother, a fuller devotee, in a geodesic dome in the middle of the woods.
this is pretty unusual, but when he makes his first friend, a 16 year old heart transplant recipient who desires nothing more than to be a punk rock icon, the quirkiness becomes irresistible. and then you stumble into some of rather clever, and convincing, dialogue; and THEN there are the punk rock references. and THEN, the story is delightful.
i listened to the ramones on my way to work this morning.
ok, these have completely sucked me in. the story is really good and the characters are very interesting. i guess after you read a lot of manga, you start to see how the authors think and write, so it's nice to be a newcomer and just be totally surprised by what happens next.
middle schoolers in upper socioeconomic schools will probably like it.
good story, fairly original, good writing, nice character development. meh.
my lackluster response probably has more to do with needing to return to adults books than the quality of this book. i am not it's demographic.
this gets a special kind of consideration because it's a special kind of book. i haven't figured out yet all that i want to say yet....
nothing really original, kind of the same schlocky stuff that's popular right now, just substitute angels for freemasons/templar knights/vampires and add a dash of antiquated religious verbiage and hey presto! it is like the da vinci code in that the story is simultaneously mysteriously compelling and kind of stupid, but the writing is way better. also, there will obviously be a sequel or eight, as is evidenced by the blunt, inelegant ending.
it's fun, just don't expect too much.
this of course is a compilation of articles from individual researchers and academicians. it is good at what it does, but it is not satisfying to read. it would be awesome to use in a psych class, especially a theory class, as the articles are well written and interesting, but the disjointedness of the differing perspectives analyzing different aspects is distracting. same with the joss whedon and harry potter compilations. i will recommend them for my high school AP Psych teacher.
i should not have read this book. it wasn't written for me.
to be fair, the author pretty blatantly states that this book is written for “dudes.” i would contract that criteria to, “dudes that are into mixed martial arts and more specifically are forrest griffin fan boys.” because really, it's just a vehicle for a fairly intelligent but probably a little brain damaged guy, and his friends, to share things he thinks, not at all limited to the apocalypse. and that's ok. i just should have listened to him on the first couple of pages instead plowing through 450,000 euphemisms for sex. (seriously, if you wanted to make a venn diagram of subjects in this book, it would have to be 10 ft. in diameter to even see the tiny sliver that represents “not a euphemism for sex or sexual organs.”)
so yeah....sometimes i make poor choices.
because it is a collection, the styles vary from eh to exceptional, but the story is indeed intriguing. can't wait to read more.
i liked it. many people don't, but i thought it was interesting. not quite as suspenseful as peeps, but still nice.
i can not point out anything bad about this book, and yet it lacked that spark that would have really made it good....
okay, i get it.
many of my favorite british comedians site wodehouse as an influence, i understand why now. i'm pretty sure this is the invention of the sit-com, which i kind of hate in it's modern context of formulaic commercialism, but i see how revolutionary it's birth must have been.
it's probably not something most people would really enjoy, but reading a little bit of wodehouse will help you better understand our culture of humor and how it developed, so maybe download a free story or two.
engagingly written and quite full research that has not necessarily been in the news. really enjoyed it. a definite read for anyone who has wondered if this whole paleo thing has something to it, or is a bit daft.
There are many things being said about this little tome. Things such as, “Aesop for the modern age,” and “21st century tribal allegories.” And those things are true and wonderful, but they aren't why this book is good.
This book is good because David Sedaris' very specific humor, perspective and judgment is written into every line. These brief allegories work perfectly with Sedaris' style and tone, at once creating a sigh of a statement about regrets, and then turning into a delicious condemnation of the stupid, selfish and fearful. Because the actors are animals within specific contexts, you know what's going to happen, so it never seems that the author himself is punishing these individuals for their prejudices. The genius is supplying them with attitudes stolen directly from the most annoying moments of your life. The result is utterly satisfying.
i love him so.
It should have been better than it was. Bodanis is not able to weave a narrative like Bryson, Dawkins or Feynman; instead the bits are broken into different parts of the book. This resulted in frequent disappointment only to learn later that I do indeed get my questions answered, well after I thought to ask them.
Also, there i not enough. Also, I didn't particularly click with his metaphors. They were not especially illuminating.
The information itself is fascinating. I think it would be a hit with young adult readers, if any of them were interested in the history of electrical discoveries.
unexpectedly good book. don't let the cover fool you, it makes it look a lot more goth-y than the story really is. i would place it firmly in science fiction, AND, even better, not white people science fiction! not saying that is makes any major cultural statements, but it's nice to see sci-fi with names that derive from eastern languages. and i'm not exactly sure why, but i got a distinctly doctor who feel from it....
it's YA, but for upper levels. not because of anything naughty, but conceptually, it migh be difficult to follow.
unfortunately a little too outdated to be really funny. i'm sure it was a riot 10 years ago, but humor has changed and reading this brought that fact into super sharp relief. the experience feels like a progression of missed opportunities. someone in the field should update it.
This one elicited a lot of feels. It is a solid first book but has some first book tendencies: areas that are slightly stilted, mildly jarring transitions in tone etc, but they are pretty minimal.
More importantly though:
1- i woke my partner up multiple times by laughing uncontrollably, so maybe don't read this in bed if your partner has to wake up early, or on airplanes.
2- Zach Anner's is a necessary voice, describing an experience that the overwhelming majority of people never see and are never confronted with. We need diverse books to combat our narrow preoccupations with our own lives.
cute book. middle school level story and sentence structure with a rather advanced vocabulary.
alternative history of new york, magic, jews, with a noticeable populist/occupy slant. i like it.
i rate this book a very conflicted meh.
author is clearly a fan of Monty python, which is great, but one liner's and unexpected narrator involvement are not nearly enough to carry a book. it's another example of how writing for youth is ruining perfectly good stories. it's like if you are writing a YA book, any old gimmick will do; it's ok that all the other stuff is lame. where are the editor's that are supposed to say things like, “this is a really good idea and your style is pretty neat but you're not quite there yet. Let's see some character development and depth to provide a rich reading experience!”
it's a shame. this book could have been along the lines of jasper ffjorde's books, but it falls disappointingly short.
so, i failed to read the foreword before the book and apparently that tempers one's expectation.
i think it was supposed to be so bad that it's good, but it just felt kind of bad.