From 5a16107c817fbe78a05ca4f6a584b542ee37a4e0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Julio Biason Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2018 07:18:57 -0200 Subject: [PATCH] Added the latest book reviews --- .../answers-to-questions-youve-never-asked.md | 35 ++++++++++++++ content/reviews/books/soulminder.md | 47 +++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 82 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/reviews/books/answers-to-questions-youve-never-asked.md create mode 100644 content/reviews/books/soulminder.md diff --git a/content/reviews/books/answers-to-questions-youve-never-asked.md b/content/reviews/books/answers-to-questions-youve-never-asked.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51821db --- /dev/null +++ b/content/reviews/books/answers-to-questions-youve-never-asked.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ ++++ +title = "Answers to Questions You’ve Never Asked: Explaining the What If in Science, Geography and the Absurd - Joseph Pisenti" +date = 2018-12-04 + +category = "reviews" + +[taxonomies] +tags = ["books", "en-au", "trivia", "joseph pisenti"] ++++ + +[GoodReads summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36049427-answers-to-questions-you-ve-never-asked): +Fun facts for kids of all ages: When you take the most absurd parts of history, +science, economics and geography, you end up with a pretty confusing picture of +humanity. Why do we have borders, what’s the furthest you can get from the +ocean, how do you qualify as a country and why did Vikings wear those silly +helmets? These are just a few of the strange questions that bounce around the +head of YouTube sensation Joseph Pisenti, aka RealLifeLore. + + + +{{ stars(stars=3) }} + +Another trivia book. And this one is... weird. + +Instead of coming directly with trivia, the book focus on the *history* +behind the fact (e.g., the size of the Roman Empire is giving talking about the +annexed countries). On the other hand, the way to get to the history is +strange, to say the least: How many countries today would encompass the Roman +Empire, if it didn't fall? + +Also, the last 1/3 of the book is devoted to American presidents, which is +interesting... if you're American. + +(And yes, I know I'm picky about this kind of stuff, but some one *has* to +be, right?) diff --git a/content/reviews/books/soulminder.md b/content/reviews/books/soulminder.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..faea5b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/reviews/books/soulminder.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ ++++ +title = "Soulminder - Timothy Zahn" +date = 2018-12-13 + +[taxonomies] +tags = ["books", "en-au", "timothy zahn", "sci-fi"] ++++ + +[GoodReads summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21822375-soulminder): +For Dr. Adrian Sommers, a split second of driving while distracted leads to +tragedy-and obsession. His family destroyed, he devotes his entire being to +developing Soulminder, a technology that might have saved his son as he wavered +on the edge of death. Sommers's vision is to capture a dying person's life +essence and hold it safely in stasis while physicians heal the body from injury +or disease. Years of experimentation finally end in success—but those who +recognize Soulminder's possibilities almost immediately corrupt its original +concept to pursue dangerous new frontiers: body-swapping, obstruction of +justice, extortion, and perhaps even immortality. + + + +{{ stars(stars=2) }} + +What if souls really exist and we could capture them, store them, and then +return them to the body? That's what this book is about (in a way, it's pretty +close to "The Discovery" by Netflix). + +In one hand, the book is *not* about the fact that we have souls (or where they +go after we die, and things like that), but how one tool, dreamed by someone, +could be explored and turned into something completely different, and how that +dreamer would feel about the misuse of his tool. This is a really interesting +way to build characters in a story. + +On the other hand, I have this feeling that the author used the word "soul" +just to create a fake controversy over the stories. If it was called "Brain +tracer" or "Memory storage" -- which is what the device does, in the end --, +half of the book would fall apart, because there would be no direct association +with something it is mostly used by religions -- which, again, is used as a +plot device to create controversies inside the book. + +As a side note, I got the feeling that either the author had ulcers while +writing the story or was hungry while writing, 'cause most of the characters +suffer, in a way or another, with stomach problems: "felt a knot in his +stomach", "made her stomach churn" and things like that. + +Also, chapters are too episodic, and it gave me the feeling that the story +wasn't wrote for a book, but for some TV series.