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117th out of 206 books
—
85 voters
Coincidence Engine
by
Sam Leith
“A tremendous novel—droll, savvy, original. An invigorating blast of fiction.”
—William Boyd, Author of Any Human Heart and Restless.”
A hurricane sweeps off the Gulf of Mexico and, in the back country of Alabama, assembles a passenger jet out of old bean cans and junkyard waste. This piques the interest of the enigmatic Directorate of the Extremely Improbable. Their fas...more
—William Boyd, Author of Any Human Heart and Restless.”
A hurricane sweeps off the Gulf of Mexico and, in the back country of Alabama, assembles a passenger jet out of old bean cans and junkyard waste. This piques the interest of the enigmatic Directorate of the Extremely Improbable. Their fas...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
February 7th 2012
by Crown
(first published January 1st 2011)
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A witty and deeply personal look at the different paths that life can take-whether by chance or by choosing. Bound within the context of a government spy thriller, this is a book that is at its best when asking the questions of what makes life meaningful and examining how our choices, good our bad, all make us into the people we are today.
I know that description sounds a tad cliched and a bit heavy on the philosophical pondering, but in many ways that’s a summary of what this book is: a tad clic...more
I know that description sounds a tad cliched and a bit heavy on the philosophical pondering, but in many ways that’s a summary of what this book is: a tad clic...more
The premise of this novel is irresistible: the emergence of a device that twists probability (e.g. a hurricane assembles a jumbo jet using bits of scrap metal), and the chase across the US that ensues as rival entities hunt it down. And while all of this is taking place a student called Alex is travelling across the US to surprise his girlfriend.
I love novels that are big on ideas and you certainly get them here.
The novel gets off to a flying start as a shady M figure called Red Queen, of the Di...more
I love novels that are big on ideas and you certainly get them here.
The novel gets off to a flying start as a shady M figure called Red Queen, of the Di...more
Oh my…this was a juicy, nerdy, contemporary fiction read. Mathematicians, graduate students, operatives from the Directorate of the Extremely Improbable populate this fun, funny book about what happens when ordinary people get caught in the middle of very strange things happening. Why are all the cars on the freeway white? Why does the iPod play the same song over and over, even though it is set on random? Why do you end up in the same motel as the person you are trying to find, only you don’t l...more
Apr 04, 2012
Alan
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
High rollers
Recommended to Alan by:
Powell's City of Books
The Coincidence Engine is a bit of an odd duck, a picaresque British novel set in the United States, amid rental cars and strip malls and cheap motels, yet still full of rightpondian uses—"trainers" instead of sneakers, "trolleys" for shopping carts... even though only one of the major characters, Alex Smart, is British, and he doesn't even show up until Chapter 5. Debut author Sam Leith's linguistic funhouse mirror adds a layer of skewness to the story, which may not be fully intentional but wh...more
An odd book. In parts it was a two star novel and in others a four star novel. I found the maths unsatisfying (by background, I am a mathematician and this book, supposedly about maths - especially multi-universe theory, chaos theory, and infinity - just didn't have enough depth). Secondly, towards the end of the book, the author breaks the fourth wall to rant about his protagonist, particularly how annoying and wet and closeted and self-centred he is; I hadn't thought those things and found the...more
Das Cover:
Das Cover ist recht farbig. Der Hintergrund ist weiß, doch der Titel des Buches ist in Orange, Rosa und Grün geschrieben. Außerdem sind ein Flugzeug, zwei Donuts sowie ein Oldtimerauto zu sehen. Ich finde, dass das Cover passend zur Geschichte gestaltet wurde.
Die Geschichte:
Ein Flugzeug der Marke Boeing 737 taucht urplötzlich am Himmel auf und stürzt ab. Der Pilot wird verletzt gefunden, doch er kann sich an nichts erinnern. Bree wurde auf den Fall angsetzt. Sie arbeitet bei einer gehe...more
Das Cover ist recht farbig. Der Hintergrund ist weiß, doch der Titel des Buches ist in Orange, Rosa und Grün geschrieben. Außerdem sind ein Flugzeug, zwei Donuts sowie ein Oldtimerauto zu sehen. Ich finde, dass das Cover passend zur Geschichte gestaltet wurde.
Die Geschichte:
Ein Flugzeug der Marke Boeing 737 taucht urplötzlich am Himmel auf und stürzt ab. Der Pilot wird verletzt gefunden, doch er kann sich an nichts erinnern. Bree wurde auf den Fall angsetzt. Sie arbeitet bei einer gehe...more
"A hurricane sweeps off the Gulf of Mexico and, in the back-country of Alabama, assembles a passenger jet out of old bean-cans and junkyard waste."
I picked this book up for the blurb. Well - technically I picked up the book for the interesting title and awesome cover, but I bought the book for the blurb (...and the cover and the interesting title). The idea that a "Coincidence Engine" may or may not exist wasn't necessarily the thing that grabbed my attention. It was the possibility of a lack o...more
I picked this book up for the blurb. Well - technically I picked up the book for the interesting title and awesome cover, but I bought the book for the blurb (...and the cover and the interesting title). The idea that a "Coincidence Engine" may or may not exist wasn't necessarily the thing that grabbed my attention. It was the possibility of a lack o...more
The story, as described on the cover notes, was intriguing, so I picked this one up to read. If I'd read the Author's Note inside the title page, I might have thought twice about it though. In it Sam Leith says, "I don't know any maths," and "People may also complain that I have taken liberties with both the laws of physics and the geography of the United States of America." Too bad these things were crucial to the story.
The best I can say for Leith's story is that he started with some really in...more
The best I can say for Leith's story is that he started with some really in...more
For me, this book balanced fairly perfectly between readability and good writing - it was engaging and entertaining without being unsatisfying to the part of me that craves more from my reading. There were moments where the writing really shone, a few observations that struck me as insightful (loved the bit about money being imaginary.) It did at times give in too much to driving the plot along, but what really knocked this down to four stars from five, for me, was the ending. The plot was the k...more
I received this book as part of goodreads.com's First Reads Program.
This book was extremely interesting. It begins with a fully assembled plan created by a hurricane. It then moves onto the investigators looking for what they call a coincidence engine, an engine or machine created that changes probability, rumored to have been created by a mad mathematician, who may or may not have been building a weapon.
A colleague and professor, Hands, is questioned about this mathematician and his plans. Hand...more
This book was extremely interesting. It begins with a fully assembled plan created by a hurricane. It then moves onto the investigators looking for what they call a coincidence engine, an engine or machine created that changes probability, rumored to have been created by a mad mathematician, who may or may not have been building a weapon.
A colleague and professor, Hands, is questioned about this mathematician and his plans. Hand...more
There is a certain self conscious humour to be to be found in a particular type of genre novel. Often the novel is apocalyptic, containing demons, angels and/or the afterlife and usually it contains up to the minute cultural references. You get the distinct impression that the author was so impressed by Gaiman and Pratchett's Good Omens that they were determined to write their own version. Sometimes they're clearly emulating Douglas Adams as well.
I thought I detected this tone when I started rea...more
I thought I detected this tone when I started rea...more
The Coincidence Engine is an utterly charming, quirky book. It’s not exactly light-hearted, although elements of it certainly are, but the story it tells is ultimately uplifting and hopeful. At the same time, it is surprisingly deep.
Following the intertwined stories of Alex, Bree, Jones, Davidoff, Sherman, and Carey, whose paths are circling closer and closer to each other thanks to a machine that may or may not exist, author Sam Leith expounds on mathematical philosophy, family relationships, r...more
Following the intertwined stories of Alex, Bree, Jones, Davidoff, Sherman, and Carey, whose paths are circling closer and closer to each other thanks to a machine that may or may not exist, author Sam Leith expounds on mathematical philosophy, family relationships, r...more
Some good prose, an interesting story, and the threads all came together at the end - hardly any loose ones. The ending was a bit... meh: a little to deus-ex-machina, but for the most part i liked the separate stories and depth they were entered in to. The one i did not as Bree - it felt a bit superfluous, although in the end it wasn't really.
But like many first books, the excitement with which the first part is gone through, when all the ideas are fresh and the plotlines limitless in their scop...more
But like many first books, the excitement with which the first part is gone through, when all the ideas are fresh and the plotlines limitless in their scop...more
This book is well-written and has good character moments, but overall it was disappointing. The premise is so rich and has such potential, but the execution fails to meet the possibilities. Sometimes the narrative harps too long on one thing or another to the point that it seems to remove one from the story. I would probably rate this book higher as well if it had a better ending. I just didn't care for how it wrapped up everything.
"The Coincidence Engine" is an interesting read, but is nowhere near as intriguing as the blurb makes it out to be. It's an engaging read with no slow lulls, and is generally funny in parts. However, the book seems to be building up to something that never quite emerges, and ends somewhat flatly. Nevertheless, I'll be interested to see what this author comes up with next.
An interesting premise: a secret agency, the Directorate of the Extremely Improbable, suspects that a brilliant mathematician has constructed a machine that can manipulate probability and have dispatched agents to track it down.
Some good characters.
Perhaps inevitably, the story falls apart at the end.
Some good characters.
Perhaps inevitably, the story falls apart at the end.
Serviceable science fiction, but I felt the ending was a bit of a let down, and that some of the choices didn't make a ton of sense (like choosing to ignore the geography of the country. There as no reason for it and it really confused things as the principle character is taking a cross-country trip.)
Eh. The author seems consciously hoping for comparisons to Douglas Adams and Thomas Pynchon, which doesn't do him any favors. At heart it's a fairly pedestrian thriller for all its Fortean pretentions, although there are enough good ideas or odd characters to make it at least reasonably diverting.
This was an ok read. I spent some time off the book before picking it back, not exactly a page turner. I like the fact it covers some modern stuff like the use of an iPod and also that it has a 'soundtrack' at the end which sort of plays along the story.
A pinch of *The Gone Away World*, a dash of *Hitchhiker's Guide*. A conspiracy / fantasy / road-trip / math-mumbo-jumbo melange. Not perfect, but a fun read; the author's got a talent for character and description on top of some imagination.
received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Love the book, fun, entertaining, creepy and funky and just well written story.
I think it is an odd mix of characters involved. The story can be better it has a lot of potentials but seems goes flat at some point as author afraid to go all the way. The story can bet confusing at time because many different stories. I don't think it is for mass reader. But I did liked it.
I must first start this review with a disclaimer, I was provided a copy of this good through the Goodreads first reads program.
I must say the the book is good but often confusing. A hurricane flies into the American gulf coast and a plane is assembled in its wake. the book rapidly shifts point of view and it is sometimes confusing. Overall it is a good book that might take a couple reads for your mind to sort it out. So read and read slowly...see if you can figure out the mystery.
I must say the the book is good but often confusing. A hurricane flies into the American gulf coast and a plane is assembled in its wake. the book rapidly shifts point of view and it is sometimes confusing. Overall it is a good book that might take a couple reads for your mind to sort it out. So read and read slowly...see if you can figure out the mystery.
3.5
Reminded me of a cross between Neil Gaiman and Douglas Adams, only with less of Adams' humour and Gaiman's wit and skill with words. However it was very entertaining, and I would happily read again to make sense of a few things I missed.
Reminded me of a cross between Neil Gaiman and Douglas Adams, only with less of Adams' humour and Gaiman's wit and skill with words. However it was very entertaining, and I would happily read again to make sense of a few things I missed.
Really a 2.5 star rating is more appropriate. Overall, an ok story with some quirks to the storytelling. I think a lot of that came from a British author trying to write for American characters.
I am still not sure how this book showed up here,even with all the aggro around adding the next book.
\\i never saw this book and am dismayed the only way I can get rid of it is to claim Ive finished reading it!
\\i never saw this book and am dismayed the only way I can get rid of it is to claim Ive finished reading it!
2.5 stars-but I feel like that rating would go up with a reread. There were a lot of characters and a lot of storylines that wound together and were all great but I'd forget who was doing what and who was connected to who (whom?). I kept thinking this book should be a television series or movie. Overall, an entertaining but confusing story that is worth a future reread.
Jun 20, 2012
Campbell
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
science-fiction
Disappointing. Started off well then fizzled. Seems like the author didn't know where he was going.
excellent! exciting plot, diverse characters, and a satisfying ending.
An odd book, but a good one. It also includes a character who loves Peggle and Plants vs Zombies. A coincidence?
Not exactly what I expected; thought it would channel Douglas Adams, but turned out darker and less humorous (or at least less quirky). Enjoyed the strained credulity of coincidence, but had some difficulty following the rationale connecting characters and plot points, though some things became less hazy as I forged into the book. No regrets for reading it!
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| Read It Forward: * THE COINCIDENCE ENGINE by Sam Leith | 1 | 16 | Apr 02, 2012 02:00pm |
