Sam

I hated this book, from the characters to the pacing everything about this book feels wrong. Let's start with the characters none of them are likable. While sometimes this can make a book feel realistic in this case the book feels like a fan fiction of someone who is obsessed with politics but only goes as far as twitter to engage with it. The so called political analysis embedded in the book is shallow and horrid. I don't there is a single redeeming quality of any of the main characters.

The pacing of the book is also atrocious I feel like I had no sense of the passage of time. Sometimes it would feel like 100 things would happen in a matter of minutes or one thing slog on for days. The climax of the book seems to happen in the last 10th of the book and the final scene feels like someone scrambling to put together a conclusion.

When I saw this book, highly recommended as a psychological thriller, I was entranced. Much to my chagrin all of the psychological thriller aspects happen in the last third I feel like most of it is hyper convoluted and fantastical when the rest of the book seems grounded in reality in a very dull manner.

To give it the benefit of the doubt maybe this style of book is just not for me, but I cannot with good conscience, give this book higher than a one star rating.

If you enjoyed this book, I'm happy for you but for me it was a chore to get through and I regret spending my time on this book .

This felt like a dreamy episode of Black Mirror or Twilight Zone. The book is grander than just a single episode but the structure was digestible. The way the stories connect is poetic and beautiful and chaotic. I would really recommend this to anyone who enjoys this type of storytelling l

Interesting memoir of Dave Grohl as a musician there are many things that spoke to me in his words, I listened tot his book and he reads it and I think that is the best way to consume the information from his story

This is the first book in a long time I thought about DNFing I hated it. I'll say I don't think the book is bad in anyway where I couldn't imagine someone liking it. This book is just not for me which is a shame because I really like the concept of books like this when I read the blurb I thought it would be like daisy jones and the six but more narratively driven. But I ended up feeling like someone wrote a book based on the prompt make Forest Gump for 60s rock. I just felt unconnected with all the characters and I just couldn't bring my self to care about anyone in the book it felt like a slog finishing up the book. I'm happy I finished it so I can never think about it again.

I can't really put this book into words it's weird and creepy and fantastic and gross and horrible and deep and shallow. It's a true piece of horror. It will stay with me racking my brain for a long time.

I don't know where I could start or finish this review besides saying how satisfied I was with it

Would give a 3.5 if possible, great setting, felt the characters were a bit flat but still interesting enough to have an investment into them. I'm hopeful the series gets better as the bones of a great series is there.

Great mystery novel about race and the American experience of PoC, I think its twists and turns are well timed and I liked the musical theme.

Supercommunicators is one of those books that feels like it's both incredibly obvious and a breakthrough of information. While I think pop psych books should be taken with a grain of salt, I think this one does a good job presenting the information in a way which does not seem to be 'selling' you something.

The Thursday Murder Club is a cute and fun murder mystery which I enjoyed, I felt like there were certain parts which keeps me from giving the book higher than 3 stars. I think that when it comes to murder mysteries there are many ways to skin a cat but some things remain sacred.

I think that there are parts of the mystery which could not be solved by the reader until the reveal which it me lowers my enjoyment of the book. Besides this the books settings, characters and plot were all fantastic and made want to keep reading I hope that the other books in the series do not contain such left turns as this one did.

If you are looking for a fun nursery mystery that has a colorful cast I recommend this book.

Clearly lays out the events which caused the entry into Iraq by the USA I think it also showcases many of the ineptitudes of the US intelligence machine and the office of the president during Bush's presidency.

R.F. Kuang does an excellent job making this book feel like a real history while never letting the magic feel mundane. The book does an excellent job at making you feel like everything happened that you could recall the events from your own memory

The book sits with you even after you put it down and I recall multiple times after a reading session vividly remembering what I just read. The book makes you question what is just whether justice requires violence or showcasing the answer in a brilliant way without feeling like it's hand holding the reader.

Some of the linguistics I made disagree with in terms of tone, but I understand the use of it in this book made me have a great appreciation for the knowledge that I currently possess. I think one of the greatest parts of this book was the mix of real annotations from real pieces about translation. All of the elements in this book combined to create an experience rather than just a book.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in linguistics as an interesting piece of fiction. Anyone who is interested in unique magic systems and anybody who's into historical nonfiction. I think the book seamlessly combines all of the above into Babel

Pinker does an excellent job exploring universal grammar (UG) and expanding upon Chomsky's work. He lays down great arguments for why language instinct and UG should be the model to be expanded upon while explaining succinctly the shortcomings of other theories. The book is definitely aged with many of it's references of artificial intelligence (AI) aging it and rooting it in the time the book was written I think it still raises many questions that we can look to answer even to this day.

I think this book will remain one that I go back to for quotes and facts such as the hierarchy of vowels and constants leading to how we come up with certain phrases (razzle-dazzle). I would recommend this book for anyone interested in linguistics and human cognition.

Having only read iRobot previously, I am not super familiar with Asimov's works I knew this is one of his higher praised books. I feel like I was at times both immensely invested in the story and other times disinterested. I think the highs definitely outshine the lows and it's overall a great piece of sci-fi.

The middle third of the book taking place in the parallel dimension was mainly about the interconnecting relationships of the aliens which I think lends to making them feel and seem human.

An amazing book about what it means to be human and what it means to be. Reminded me a lot of AI and the story from there as well as Pinocchio. Clara will raise questions about humanity and personhood that I recommend you confront with this wonderful tale

Entangled life scratches the surface about fungi, explaining how it effects us in everyday life and why we should care about the wonderful little things. While I didn't feel like I learned all that much, I have eclectically collected much of the fun facts in the book I enjoyed that it was all in one place and the narrative structure of the book definitely helped make the book an enjoyable experience!

Palace For The People lays out the case for why every citizen should care about social infrastructure. Klinenberg does an amazing job by providing both analytical and anecdotal evidence for a pro position on social infrastructure. He expands explaining with specific examples of libraries and remediated land use the benefits which are conferred. Overall I think this book will speak to those already interested in sociopolitical issues involving social infrastructure or living spaces. I would have someone read walkable cities wrote reading this book despite its excellent prose and argumentation.

A good historical fiction telling of the women who worked on making the dictionary and our understanding of words what it is today. I think the story around this is incredibly interesting. I think the issue which kept me from giving this a higher rating was the fact that it wasn't necessarily what I thought it would be when I went into it. Furthermore, I think that if I reread this book with some time passing, I would enjoy it more.

A wonderful story about friendship and brilliance. I think learning about the people behind the breakthrough research and how their relationship was gives new insight into how we should approach credit for ideas. I'm happy to have been recommended this book and I'm happy to have read it.

I decided to try to listen to this book series as I go to the gym and I was not disappointed after the first one I'm looking forward to continued listens of the next books in the series

Another episode in the Nicholas Flamel series that takes me right back to when I first read this book as a younger kid.
I think the story still holds up and the suspense is great. When it comes to YA fiction I can sometimes feel like the books are not great for older audiences but I think as I'm rereading this series each of the books hold their own.

The characters are rememberable and you care about the main cast as each of the books occurs I loom forward to finishing this series and recommend the series to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy such as Harry Potter but are looking for something else.

Another great entry in the His Dark Materials series, i am very much looking forward to the third book.

I think the story is a great vehicle for religious critique and I am very much enjoying it. The writing is very clear and the allegory is very interesting.

An amazing book on “Black English” McWhorter is an amazing educator and his book delivers and excellent and succinct argument for why everyone should pay attention and care about the linguistics of Black English

Steven Pinker lays out why we as people shouldn't be doomer about the future of humanity while also exploring many avenues of human intelligence, progress and development. I think many of the things brought up in this book are thought provoking. There are politics I disagree with Pinker on but overall I think much of what this book talks about showcases the pathway forward for humanity.

While the content is interesting I think the dry nature of how the information is delivered made me feel like was just li reading lecture notes which is not bad but not what I was expecting which is probably what lowered my rating of the book. If you are interested in this part of history it can give you a good understanding of the period and the context of the Byzantine empire

While the author does a good job explaining himself and the thesis of the book I feel as though it devolves from the thesis that knowledge is lost when a language dies to just listing language features of endangered languages.

While I understand and agree cultural knowledge is lost when a language dies I remain unconvinced that ‘actual' knowledge is. I even believe the authors co-signing of the statement that any idea can be expressed in any language showcases the issues with the thesis.

I remain open to the idea and will see if any other literature persuades me.