Thomas H. Kregel

Colonialist nostaligises re: growing up privileged

Revisado: 08-14-22

Seems like a nice storey till you take the perspective of all the Africans around her. All of them treated as a means to an end.
Her father came to someone else's country and lived as a lord.
Reminds me of the attitude and nostalgia in Gone With the Wind. Wonder if this book was inspired by that one.

The are many racist sentences starting with "the Italian mind is ..." or "Africans think...".

in the end it feels like being caught in a social event with some motor mouth bragging about their life and judging every person they used along the way.

Might be used as a good study of colonialism attitudes.

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Though sometimes funny, plot impossible to follow

Revisado: 10-08-21

Was not able to finish. The story takes place on 3 timelines with flashbacks, the same characters in different states of development played by same actors. It became impossible to follow. Some scenes are funny but the plot was confusing and frustrating.

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A book about Love

Revisado: 07-22-20

This book takes place in a fictional North African plague during the depression in an Algerian town that had actually experienced plagues many times in history. It is about how various people and organizations behave under these conditions. But it is really about the incredible love and compassion people manifest to their fellow Man regardless of their lack of faith in one religion or another. Humanism.

Camus foresaw 80 years ago, so much of human nature that we see now in our COVID crisis. It is startling.

One might think this book might bring you down but it actually gives me hope and a little more faith in my fellow humans.

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Tedious and Long

Revisado: 07-14-20

I usually love this author. Have probably read 10 books by him. This one discusses personalities uploaded into a digital afterlife. The first chapters take place in the real world and are pleasant, engaging and technicality interesting. After that about half the chapters take place in the digital world. The last half of the book is almost entirely in the"bit world". The activity in bitworld is loaded with vast quantities of uninteresting detail and many many boring characters that are hard to keep track of. Each has special god-like abilities that are as pointless as the plot. It was a real struggle to get through the second half. The author needs a new editor to cut about 2/3 out. I kept falling asleep or thinking about something else and losing track of the story. Will re-read his Baroque series so I can remember why I like this author.

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Fascinating information

Revisado: 12-17-19

Just read this the second time. Mark really shows the business from the inside. This time I also watched the movie Mark recommended, Nightmare Alley. The two together have great nuances to each other.

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Very interesting

Revisado: 11-14-19

I didn't follow everything but I only have a BS in Physics. Each time I listen I understand more.

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Very confusing and difficult to listen to.

Revisado: 05-10-19

I usually love this author. Have listened to many of his books. But the readers exaggerated quavering voices, coupled with many unfamiliar made-up terms made it confusing and frustrating. I took several attempts at listening but quickly lost interest. I think a different producer could perhaps salvage this book, but this production is unlistenable.

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Comprehensive and understandable

Revisado: 11-02-18

Very easy read and covers many ways to get our information correct as we explore the world around us and the people in it. It's a big book but never gets boring or repetitive.

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Classic and touching story of the Human Condition

Revisado: 01-28-18

This is science fiction at its finest. Not about gadgets but about Human flourishing and the balance of power.

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Enlightening Picture of Religion out Control

Revisado: 01-06-18

The development of these strange ideas started me on the path to dismantle my bizarre ideas. A wonderful book to begin lesrning critical thinking.

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