GRYHS

waste of time.

Revisado: 08-25-20

not a single character with an arc as far as I can tell. most of the dialog is exposition. and what is not spoken exposition is narrative nerdery exposition

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best book about very complex social issues

Revisado: 03-16-18

why best? because it is honest, it"s terrifying where it has to be and funny enough to keep you going. it hits!

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if you liked the show you should read the book.

Revisado: 03-02-18

there"s a bit of history a lot of laughs and a pile of nastalgia which in of itself is not a bad thing

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starts great... and then becomes contrived

Revisado: 01-09-18

I really rather wanted to like this one. And in all honesty, it"s written quite well. The hard sci-fi nerd details are worked out quite well, and the plot does not slow down. And yet... two things completely destroy it for me: the ending and the economics.
Let"s dispatch with the latter first: the further you get into the book the more economics is presented as the mythical force that drives everything (with a high prophet to boot). Yet there"s nothing mythical about economics, nor is it a driving force behind every action one takes, but most importantly the author"s great economic theory of the moon is hardly comprehensive or even plausible: money laundering with an inherently traceable digital currency, a newfound tech that will make an export driven economy, an assertion that tourist based economies can"t exist, etc, etc, etc.
Now to the ending: first of all the actual ending is telegraphed throughout the book, an opportunity to redeem a character via a real development arc is squandered, the resolution of another character"s story is neither fulfilling not even plausible when the mystery of the number that drives the plot of the book is revealed, and last but not least, even the author knows that the punnishment is so laughably small and inadequate that a bar scene needs to be conjured to make us believe the unbelievable.

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everyone gets a happy ending except for the baddy

Revisado: 01-02-18

Character depth much?
I wouldn"t generally ask for character depth in a sci-fi story, but the actual sci-fi is rather lacking as well, so what else is there?
Characters, are lacking, and thus is any character development. The stroytelling relies on not telling you what"s actually going on, which could be a neat trick, but when crucial information is withheld for more than half the book it rather feels like the lack of story was covered up by hiding things. Perhaps there is some great moral question explored in this book: the dangers of technology, the new economic reality of the post-ecologic-catastrophy world, the socio-economic stratification and the implications? Any of these subjects alone would have been a great story to explore. Instead we have a vague picture of post-apocalyptic world, personalized medicine ad absurdum, a hint of a libertarian wet dream and a nothing burger for a conclusion.

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Oh, steve!

Revisado: 08-28-17

Who was your favorite character and why?

Between steve and donnie, i guess steve? I think that one had a lot more complex arc.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me sob uncontrollably, because of what was done to great american democracy.

Any additional comments?

Jokes aside, this is a pretty good primer on the political strategy of radical right. Their strength, their integration in the new media landscape. Certainly a worthwhile read.

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Better than Main Kampf!

Revisado: 08-28-17

What did you like best about Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris? What did you like least?

With the rise of popular nazi-like movements around the world, the itch to re-examine hitler and draw unhealthy parallels is taking over the media like a storm. And yet, such examination might actually be in order, if only one had a solid source of material instead of wikipedia and pop history. Behold: the book that goes into painstaking details examining Hitler"s rise to power. And i"m talking painstaking, which i can"t really fault the book, but at the same time this is long and occasionally mind-numbingly boring, especially because the author keeps reiterating that it wasn"t just hitler, but the circumstances that caused, blah, blah, blah.

What else would you have wanted to know about Ian Kershaw’s life?

nothing

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there"s an idea there... but!

Revisado: 08-28-17

This is a curious case. Yet another person finds that something is utterly wrong with our socity, but what is it?
Well a quick detour is in order. Upon my first reading of DSM V I developed a bit of a hobby of armchair psychiatry, deploying newfound knowledge everywhere with reckless abandon. As fun as such exercise is, it is hardly scientific; but to try to do it on a scale of population cohorts, as tempting as it is, I"m sure, is sheer lunacy. Especially given how much DSM V emphasise the individual patient difference.
And thus is the main flaw of the book, the author tries to cram his arguments to fit the description of a mental disorder. A metaphor gone too far takes over the narrative. Yet, if that flaw can be put aside, and that takes quite an effort, mind you, many gems can be found in this book.
There is however a great irony here, since the DSM V was in fact a rather questionable tome written in no small part by pharmaceutical industry it is surprising that the author does not make any reference to altering the water supply. On the other hand, I find the whole thing rather questionable since if he ignored all the flaws of DSM V while trying to cram the content of the book into a diagnostic model prescribed by it, one can"t stop and wonder about the quality of the rest of the evidence.

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Not your crazy uncle"s deep state

Revisado: 08-25-17

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, yes and yes again. In fact I generally recommend it to anyone who can listen. This is an important study of how plutocracy and bureaucracy conspire to undermine democracy.

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Is career in economic consulting right for you?

Revisado: 08-25-17

What did you like best about this story?

It asks a lot of important questions about how this world of ours works. Why do plutocratic dictatorships keep proliferating in third world despite all the development grants? Or more importantly, is it despite or because? Is economics really a science, or just a veneer of sophistication used to prove a point?

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. There is a lot of information to digest, and a book like this, that strives to challenge you, really does require active reading: e.g. stopping, thinking about the information presented, verifying the things you find surprising, etc. Certainly a multiple reading kinda a book.

Any additional comments?

This is one of the books, that to me is much more usable in hard copy format.

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