Leszek Ciesielski

The book is definitely interesting. It is not, though, SF, as that is literary genre, and The Martian is more of a NASA guidebook or manual. The protagonist muddles through catastrophe after catastrophe, only to be thrown into the next one with extreme predictability, all the time keeping the certainty that his/NASA's engineering genius will save him. No characters to speak of, the whole read is a demonstration of authors proficiency with the “science” part, but very little of the “fiction”. More like an astronaut training drill.

For a beginner to savings in personal finance, this book tends to be recommended as the first steps. However, I found the forced fake-old-English style off-putting (and not used consistently either). I'm also saddened that the author didn't look for actual factual knowledge of finance in Babylon ( such as in [b:Debt: The First 5,000 Years 6617037 Debt The First 5,000 Years David Graeber https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390408633s/6617037.jpg 6811142] ), instead only learning it was where finance and banking begun- and he invented all the rest to fit his American-centric narrative.If you're looking for a starter on personal finance, [b:The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life 30646587 The Simple Path to Wealth Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life J.L. Collins https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1466299641s/30646587.jpg 51187846] is a much better choice.

An international bestseller, hitting a lot of areas I'm interested in. I should have guessed this is going to be a disappointment.When it goes into details, it's often slightly wrong. When it goes into broad overviews, it repeats itself over and over, like a university teacher, trying to make sure his distracted students remember what he says. And when it starts to predict the future, oh damn, then it really shows the author does not read any decent futurologists or sci-fi authors.Looking for a broad strokes history? Read [b: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 1842 Guns, Germs, and Steel The Fates of Human Societies Jared Diamond https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453215833l/1842.SY75.jpg 2138852]Looking for an overview of how money and credit shaped human societies? Read [b: Debt: The First 5,000 Years 6617037 Debt The First 5,000 Years David Graeber https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390408633l/6617037.SY75.jpg 6811142]Looking for speculation on how technological changes feed and reinforce cultural and psychological changes? Read [a: Peter Watts 27167 Peter Watts https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] or [a: William Gibson 9226 William Gibson https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1373826214p2/9226.jpg] or [a: Jacek Dukaj 681591 Jacek Dukaj https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1254912251p2/681591.jpg] or [a: Charles Stross 8794 Charles Stross https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1355510574p2/8794.jpg]...