Profil

First time I read a YouTuber's book so expectations were mixed. But it was a good read for understanding the science behind climate and weather. It answered some questions I didn't even know I had and was still entertaining and easy to read. But a lot of the content already appeared in Simon's videos, in most cases I didn't mind that too much though.

Probably the longest I have taken to read a book I quite enjoyed, I kind of had to learn not to be attention to every detailed because that way it is in parts a chore to read.

But overall it is a great book and not comparable to anything I've read so far. It is a biography, an adventure, sometimes a study of humanity and the author himself. It is about war. About its brutality and its senselessness. But less so then other books of the War to End all Wars. It also shows how people can carry on even after the most dreadful events. How people can have fun and be human, be cruel or kind, selfish or selfless in the most distressing moments of their life. Besides that with the knowledge of a hundred years after the story ends, it is astonishing what has changed, what is still the same and how long lasting consequences decisions have. It is also saddening how, someone who lived in a time where racism wasn't necessarily the hatred of others, but considered scientific fact. But also how shallow modern racists replaced 'race' with 'culture' to make the same points about people different to them. And how a self-reflected yet at the same time ignorant the author is about issues of racism, colonialism, nationalism and war itself.

And a fun quote: "[...] and [the Arabs] could never be strong in modern armaments. Were it otherwise, we should have had to pause before evoking in the strategic centre of the Middle East new national movements of such abounding vigour". Yep, nationalists with modern weaponry in the Middle East, does sound like a bad idea, same as everywhere else

Fry's writing style is, as expected, quite entertaining. I really like the first half of the book. The second half was still enjoyable and far from boring, but I'm not sure I remember any of the stories after reading them.

"Things only have the value we give to them. And likewise, actions can be worth whatever we decide them to be worth."

After a slow start this turned out to be an amazing story. Told by the best storytelling furniture a noodle shop owned by a piece of god could have, it is still a very different Sanderson book that should work even without knowing the rest of the books. Very sweet and emotional :)

Also maybe a critique generative AI?

As a fantasy story it is kind of average. It deals with the main characters "school" time which allows for decently paced worldbuilding. I think the weakest part, and what makes it a bit meh, are the characters. They aren't really bad or boring but just not written in a way that made me care about any of them. But what made the book enjoyable for me was the allusions to scifi elements in the worlds past. So I kind of want to read the rest of the trilogy just so I can feel smart about getting the authors hints on orbital mechanics.

Definitely deserves its status as a (maybe the) sci-fi classic. Although I'm not sure how the story will continue for four more books.

It has a peculier writing style which became charming after I got used to it. The subplots and settings are fantastical and very creative, without becoming absurd. Only major flaw I felt was the weak resolution of the overarching plot, which made the character development hard to believe. Overall I really enjoyed the book and it was quite refreshingly different to the fantasy I've read recently.

I probably could have forced myself through it but it's just the same things that annoyed me in the first books. I guess the series is just not for me