sam

I feel like Weir is a master of this genre – sci-fi beach reads. The writing doesn't feel particularly good to me, but I get sucked it to all of his books and this one was no exception.

As others have said, this can be a tough read mostly because the author's writing is rather academic and not really what you'd expect from a book with this title. But it's a fascinating meditation on the attention economy and how to slow down, and will definitely be something I continue to think about it. 

Brilliant.

A beautiful meditation on belonging, traveling, home, nostalgia, and more.

Beautiful, sad, poignant book.

It's a thought provoking read. At times, Postman sounds extremely out of touch with reality. Then again, that's kind of his point – that reality is changing and not necessarily in a good way.

4.5 stars

An interesting read, but I simply was not a fan of the style of writing. I also wish that there were more maps illustrating the author's points — the maps included are quite basic and not particularly rich in context.

Some things about this book bothered me...writing style in some cases, the way the interviews were done...but overall it's well done and inspiring to see someone discovering music in this way. 3.5 stars.

2.5 stars. Wanted to love this book but everything just fell a bit flat.

3.5 stars

3.5 stars

3.5 stars

A fantastic real life story. I didn't love the writing style, as a few others have alluded to. But the story is riveting.

Full of sensical ideas and does a good job of arguing against the “reform” ideology. That said, I would like to see some more data/quantitative analysis behind the arguments. I could see rebuttals being made easily given there's not necessarily hard proof of these concepts given here. Still, a vital and necessary book, especially in these times.

Eye opening, informative, and organized in a way that makes sense.

Beautiful writing. Wanted more of each story! Alas, that's not the point.

Perfection.

4.5 stars. Laughed out loud at this way more than I thought I would.

Very fun read - big fan of the format and content.

A great read. I'd say more like 3.5 stars only because the first section of the book felt like it was going to take a long view into longitude in genera, but the book winds up just telling the story of the Longitude prize. Still fascinating, I just wanted more.

2.5 stars. I read it in less than a day and a half. Yet it didn't feel particularly well written and I never felt particularly attached to any of the characters. A good vacation read.

3.5 stars

It took me a couple tries to get into it but so glad I did. A beautiful story about what makes us human - love, loss, community, etc. Bit is a fantastic character, and Groff has a beautiful writing style.

Incredible writing and character development in a relatively short book that somehow covers an entire lifetime.