Joseph Schell

Should have learned my lesson with Infinite.

Revisado: 12-02-21

My first Robinson book was Infinite. It was just like this, tons of 5 star reviews that applauded it left and right. But embedded within them, a bunch of confused people wondering how on earth it got all the good reviews. I made it through that whole book, and at the end, it was so unbearably boring, un-buyable and contrived that I had to return it. Shook my head. Should have learned. But oh no, I just had to try this one too..

The premise of this book is interesting, and maybe, maybe, it could have been compelling, but the author repeats the same things over and over and over and is determined *not* to tell you the interesting parts of the story. The entire experience is padded with non-stop borderline off-topic inner dialogue which is supposed to be relatable but WHY GOD WHY AREN'T WE TALKING ABOUT WHATS GOING ON. And then, after basically no good reason, the characters go from "whats going on" to "yup its the end times" in about 2 seconds.

The main character trips and falls over everything. He falls on stairs. He falls on curbs. He falls on doorways. He falls on people. He falls constantly. And when he isn't falling, he is in his own head talking about god knows what before a few lines of text bother to tell you anything that might count as literary pay-off toward the story. And then, for the 3rd act, its just a fire-hose of eye-roll gore. Throughout the book I would skip 30 second clips over and over to get past the drawn out (surprisingly boring) attempts at action.

RC Bray is a great narrator but... man why do you keep working with Robinson?

I would bet $1,000 Jeremy Robinson pays to have his books filled with positive beaming 5 5 5 star reviews. I have no idea how else people who read and enjoy good books somehow don't eviscerate his work. Maybe they read Infinite also and learned to stay away.

Maybe I was spoiled as a kid by reading the Left Behind series, which is admittedly very very Christian literature loaded with preaching at the audience, but holy sht do those books describe the end of the world in excruciating detail. For like 16 books. I still remember scenes from those books. Compared to them, this book is actually about PTSD and boring gore-fetish.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Distant from Three Body's meticulous presentation

Revisado: 01-02-21

Why the author bothered to make this part of the already brilliant Three Body series is beyond me. Constant exposition, uninspiring plot beats over an intellectual pursuit its difficult to care about. After soaking up Three Body like a sponge, and recommending it to everyone I know, this book seems like a late-night musing about ball lightning which goes on for far too long and fails to provide the insight and unpredictable scope and nuance of Three Body. But hey I guess not everything an author produces is for everyone. I just don't think this story is interesting on the subject of ball lightning OR the arc of the characters. The note in "jacket" on the dated nature of the science referenced does not accurately depict the high level of *fiction* in the science.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great starting place for listening to Alan Watts

Revisado: 03-14-20

This is one of the most pragmatic Alan Watts lecture series available. Starting with fundamental discussions about how we perceive the world, comfortably leading into more esoteric details and concepts, this series of lectures is a worthwhile listen for seasoned Watts fans and newcomers alike. The remarkably accurate imaginings of the future serve to reinforce the strong foundation of his ideas. Not all aspects of the series have aged well, but I appreciate that this was 50 years ago.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Listen at 1.25 speed

Revisado: 09-06-19

I found that speeding up the slow-ish narration made the book much more conversational and easier to consume.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 13 personas

Sophomoric and eye roll inducing.

Revisado: 07-18-19

The only good parts of this book are the interactions between Giles and the robot. Everything else, especially any scenes that feature women, are so two dimensional and crammed with excruciating stereotypes that it’s genuinely hard to read sometimes. Once part two started and the scene (spoiler) with the thief he cooks dinner for played out, I rolled my eyes so hard they rebooted my head.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Excellent, but shares sessions with other collections

Revisado: 04-15-19

An excellent collection of talks concerning the self, but beware that it shares some sessions with other “essential listening” collections of Watts.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A missed opportunity

Revisado: 10-14-18

Honestly disappointed. The Bobiverse series sits more plainly in "modern era" computer science, and Taylor does and excellent job in that space. Many topics in this book are dodged when any discussion of advanced details come into play, leaving some of the "progress" of understanding the main character goes through to be a bit abrupt, causing them to land flat. Any political intrigue is too thin to be interesting, and far too much time is spent attempting to develop it. In the end, the story feels like a great idea for an epic book, without detail and subtlety of nuance to give it any real depth. None of the ideas presented feel especially profound, and the book feels a lot like a remix of ideas from Bobiverse- but by delving into areas outside of the author's expertise it fails to have the same depth. I think Taylor would have done well to make more bold assertions and venture deeper into explaining, and imagining, this otherwise incredible scenario.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

An intellectual's guide to Buddhism

Revisado: 08-17-18

As a newcomer to interest in Buddhism, I found this to be extremely engaging and intellectually stimulating. Where most conversations about spiritualism stray far from logic and observation of reality, this book shows how Buddhism uses these core tools to elucidate a beautiful description of life and consciousness, down to the very nature of the universe itself. This book is an excellent way to for the jaded intellectual to find new avenues of thought.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Poetic, Meticulous

Revisado: 07-31-18

Though somewhat esoteric, this journey through the various consequences of known physics concerning the practical nature of time is detailed and thorough.The final chapter does a great job wrapping up the various concepts in such a way that any remaining questions about the details can be quickly referenced from the body of the work. Some aspects are debatable, although this is clearly identified by the author during the conclusion. I don't feel as if the book attempts to assert any absolutes; rather, it leans hard on real science to illustrate the bleeding edge of our current ability to perceive time.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Falls short of being convincing

Revisado: 07-11-18

Smacks of hackism, fails to land critical connections and spends too much time establishing tangential consequences of the ultimately unfounded “screen” ideas. A book which is claiming to approach Einstein in its revolutionary content should surely be more than 50% proof of concept. Even in the foreword, I get the feeling that this theory requires more faith in the author than is warranted by the ideas alone. While there ARE some great points about the nature of space-time and even some great conjecture on the subject of species-level observational consciousness, the final conclusions of the basic Quantum Screen theory still need a lot more supporting work.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas