non de plume

Overrated

Revisado: 03-28-25

The only really notable thing about this story is the almost unbelievable lack of any understandable motive for the killing. Otherwise it doesn't strike me as very interesting and much of the detail probably could have been left out, as an example the parole hearing. Also, somewhat distasteful to me was what seemed like pandering to the current (well, what was current when written) attitude regarding police malfeasance regarding race issues (mind you, I think there are serious problems with policing, but casting them as solely race issues is misguided in my opinion).

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I should have read the description more carefully

Revisado: 11-17-24

This is the kind of science book that seems to be all the rage these days, unfortunately for me. It is larded with gobs of personal biographical and anecdotal detail, with the actual science content taking a back seat. Apparently this modern approach sells well, but I detest it. I only listened to a about a third of it before realizing it wouldn't get any better and didn't finish it. As the description says, as far as the science content goes it seems almost entirely focused on the how data on migration are collected, but very little on what the results were other than snippets of small findings. Much background on each researcher and their personal stories. I don't generally care, unless it is really unusual. Finally, I found the early virtue signaling regarding an early pioneer in the field being a eugenicist completely irrelevant and distasteful. We could dig up lot of unpleasant facts on many historical figures, but to what point if it has nothing to do with the subject.

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Mis-titled; Should have been "Quite a few bad men"

Revisado: 05-27-23

It's not a few bad men, but the fact that the upper reaches of the Marines are mostly populated by bad men, a problem not unique to just the Marines but all the service branches. I've long heard that to reach colonel means becoming a politician (i.e., acquiring the ethics of politicians). The whole Military Industrial Complex has become corrupt to its core. This book illustrates this clearly. Few of the bad actors have suffered from their crimes, and many have greatly benefited. This should make everyone sick.

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Tedious minutiae of his life in a prison

Revisado: 10-25-22

I couldn't finish this as it was just tedious details of the awfulness of the prison. It only deserved a magazine article summarizing the life in prison rather than something that was more akin to a diary that rapidly became uninteresting.

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Awful

Revisado: 09-17-22

I've been able to tolerate the Native American mysticism in the past Longmire books as it was generally kept in check. But here it is almost nothing but mysticism, and mostly incoherent. If rambling fantasy is your bag, this may be for you. I hope this is an aberration, otherwise it is the end of a great series.

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Author doesn't understand the technology

Revisado: 10-25-21

This is a very important subject. I cannot finish this book because it is clear that the author doesn't understand the technology (some of the attempts to explain basic physics and technology are laughably inaccurate), and she is very annoyingly repetitive and loose with language. This subject needs someone whose mastery of the technology is much better, and can write more precisely and concisely.

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starts well

Revisado: 10-07-19

and ends up ludicrous. four score and seven years ago our forefathers... that should be enough words

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A contrary opinion

Revisado: 08-24-18

I detest books written in this style.

The book is filled with material that I find distracting from the real essence of the subject. For example The author is fond of drizzling the book with quotes, many of which don't really inform about the science. It is often larded with detail that is completely irrelevant. And worst of all, the writer over does it with literary flourishes that really belong elsewhere. The regurgitation of Sontag's book is inexplicable to me in a supposed history of the science. And despite the length, others have pointed out that the book misses large parts of the history. I find all this off putting as well as time-wasting (though I guess Pulitzer prize committees eat this stuff up). Admittedly, this style is becoming more and more common; too bad for me. I quit after a couple hours.

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Interesting Story

Revisado: 11-11-16

Any additional comments?

The narration was outstanding. The mental anguish of the main character drags at times (could do with bit less of that). The device discovered near the end seemed to me to be almost blindingly obvious and made me wonder why no one thought of it sooner. These last couple items kept me from rating it as a five star read.

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Excellently prepared meal ruined by too much salt

Revisado: 06-23-16

Any additional comments?

The writing is first rate and the lead up to the end is quite good (even if I was able to guess who the killer was fairly early). And then, all spoiled by a couple of ridiculous twists at the end, the second being absolutely absurd. It would have been a great book if the author didn't feel the need to spice up the book with some wild surprises at the very end. Yes, they were surprises, but hardly believable unless you will believe anything. It would have been much better to have left them out (well, not quite possible, some explanation was needed, just not those explanations). The thought processes near the end were starting to get annoyingly repetitive (for example: yes, I understand he was deeply affected by his mother's leaving, but you don't have to beat me over the head with it until I'm senseless).

The narration is excellent.

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