Dillon

Pacing used to hide suffocated ideas.

Revisado: 07-29-22

the series had a lot of nuggets that if fully formed would be great mainlines for a book in their own right. However the author here doesn't really develop these ideas. He also tries to blend far too many genres at once without letting any single one breathe. The characters also feel flat.

The pacing is the only quality that kept the aeries afloat. just as it starts to dawn that something is off, the scene changes.

Core genres:
Space cowboy lawman
Post apocalyptic society
Semi cosmic/body horror
Military strategy in space
DotHackSign/Matrix level artificial reality
Family drama


core questions:
What makes an action moral?
What does it mean to be HUMAN when we can upload our consciousness?
What is the meaning of human existence?
Who am I when I exist in a world with multiple mes?
what happens when AI becomes sentient?

and so much more: but none of them were explored deepy.

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Simple fun story that reminded me of old D&D games

Revisado: 07-27-19

It was a good story with an interesting story that kept me listening. It also jumps around quitr a bit switching perspectives which I feel just distracted from the core story. I would have preferred those chunks to be used to add more depth to the core characters. The main romance(s) also seemed a bit forced.

The voice actor has a nice voice and was clear. She does not, however, have a lot of range. This book, with all its perspective shifting, made that task harder by pushing her to hold a single accent for many folks while also trying to keep each one separate and consistent. A hard task for anyone.

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A must read book for all.

Revisado: 01-06-18

The journey of the author from bubble to bubble and the insights it brings can not be understated. The fact checking that I would expect from an NPR man really helps put into context a lot of left and right notions while seeking to end the dehumanizing divide we have found ourselves in.

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Informative but lacks a clear point.

Revisado: 04-15-17

It sets up concepts of 'strategy' and how it was perceived only to shoot them down. Ultimately the author makes a point about how he sees it but doesn't do it justice in analysis nor application. Had he established it early and kept it as a constant comparative to others, it would have made for a more compelling book and added greater dimension to all the analysis the preceded.

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Mediocre in content

Revisado: 03-12-17

Mr. Fukuyama is quite the smart and well versed man. This book and the one prior cover quite a breadth of information. And while there is a runnIng theme in the two, it almost feel ancillar given how spaced out it is. Really I feel the two long tomes could have been giveb due detail but accomplished in a quarter of the time.

I also think the core message is blandly generic: we created various civilizations with XYZ features because of either random PQ events or chance and now they are decaying in ABC ways which are, in specific terms, hard to predict and thus solve.

Both volumes are packed full of interesting bit of history I didn't know, especially the first one. For that, the book is good. But perhaps only for that.

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Stolen Thunder

Revisado: 02-12-17

What disappointed you about The Moral Arc?

I think Michael Shermer is a decent person with a good outlook on life. Had this book been my first introduction into this topic, I think it would have been a fine primer. But it wasn't. This book is largely based on the work of Prof. Steven Pinker. It isn't an exact copy, mind you, but is focuses more on a single aspect covered by Prof. Pinker in his book "The Better Angels of Human Nature", a tome of a book that takes us from pre-history to modern day violence. Thus one would expect that this particular focus would yield even greater detail into the target issue of science and the enlightenment; alas it does not. Again, it is a fine book on its own and it does approach things in a Shermer-esce novel way, it just falls flat against its competitor and, importantly, predecessor.

What could Michael Shermer have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I think going into far greater detail, perhaps in regards to the biological and evolutionary evidence for empathy and how the scientific approach to life alter our course would have been good. Ultimately I felt this was a pale rendition of one part of Prof. Pinker's book.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I think Michael Shermer did a fine job in reading his book. Nothing earth shattering but more certainly more than merely competent.

Any additional comments?

I think this book would be best recommended to those who really like Michael Shermer and have yet to pick up Prof. Pinker's work. A nice way to edge into the topic. I imagine that was one of the goals for the book: a gateway drug as it were.

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Wonder Book

Revisado: 05-30-16

this is a wonderful book with lots of citation to help drive home the point that it's trying to make. The author has gone through a lot of painstaking work to portray his subject matter with his much care and due diligence as possible while still refuting the overarching claim flowing from it. his care and appreciation that he shows is a nice break from the standard yelling matches that seem to plague us. also since it is written and read by the same man there is a level of craftsmanship and naturalness to the reading of this book that was quite refreshing. I would recommend this book to almost anyone.

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Informative and well read

Revisado: 05-16-16

The start of the book is a bit bland amd takes some effort to get though but most of the book is well written and informative. There are times, however, that the author tries to use a $2 word rather than a 2 cent one but then follows up with a description. I think this is an annoying habit. Either use the word and expect that your audiences are at the level of understanding or just switch to using the normal phrasing.

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Nothing New

Revisado: 04-15-16

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Yuval has produce an interesting book that does hit on some topics that are novel but now I am several chapters in and I find myself question what I have actually learned. Not in the sense of doubting what I have learned or my previous beliefs being challenged, but in that this book doesn't tread new territory. The most novel thing I found interesting has been some data points about the extension rates and prevalence of various animals as humans came to be their neighbors. Even this information in general is not new but was at least presented in a moderately interesting manner with some research. I think perhaps Yuval was striving to have a more universal book without having a clear voice on where he wanted it to go or what voice he sought to use to get there. Had he, for example, wrote a book regarding the cycles of the climate and the impacts of humans throughout the ages and how all of that relates to the modern discussion on climate change and extinction, he could have done well. There was certainly the beginnings of such a talk in one of his earlier chapters of this book.

Would you ever listen to anything by Yuval Noah Harari again?

I do not know the majority of Yuval's work. This book was a bit too disconnected and lack a real voice, though.

What three words best describe Derek Perkins’s voice?

Derek Perkins is a competent voice talent. His manner of pronouncing certain works did catch me off guard from time to time but every voice talent has their own particularities. Had the source material been stronger, I think Derek's voice would have blended in smoothly with rare notice - as a good voice talent's voice should.

Any additional comments?

I think that there are several other books that would be more fulfilling than this. Not because of any particular wrong-doing on Yuval's part but just from a lack of book-scale focus and voice.

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A book of much focus

Revisado: 03-20-16

What made the experience of listening to The Selfish Gene the most enjoyable?

Dr. Dawkins is a famous man with views that have been the center of controversy from various sides of the political spectrum for as long as I have been alive. Finally getting a chance to go into what I thought would be the cornerstone of his work on popular biology and evolution was great. While I do not think most of the material in here is earth shatteringly new to me, I do have to admit that I grew up in a post-Dawkins world. But that doesn't diminish the nuanced and articulate ideas expressed in this book. And by knowing the book on a first hand basis, it better prepares one to discuss the social and political aftermath of the book in a coherent manner.

Any additional comments?

This book has two narrators. Both are individually good speakers and I would have enjoyed listening to either one of them at length. However, since both speakers are interchanged it can sometimes be jarring. This is especially apt when Dr. Dawkins starts a sentence or thought and allows it to be finished by Lalla Ward. While I came to anticipate these and found them less invasive as the book continued, it was something that really did annoy me. I would have greatly preferred a single narrator for this book.

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