Listened to an audio version, actually. Very anonymized setting, nationalities, gender of main character, and so on. Very engaging, anyway. Good adven...moreListened to an audio version, actually. Very anonymized setting, nationalities, gender of main character, and so on. Very engaging, anyway. Good adventure and interesting thoughts about life. Serious themes. Been too long to remember the details, but it's an easy read.(less)
It has New Mexico and near future or alternate reality setting. That's already cool. It teaches tolerance, and I enjoyed the read even if nothing's in...moreIt has New Mexico and near future or alternate reality setting. That's already cool. It teaches tolerance, and I enjoyed the read even if nothing's incredibly surprising in it. Things don't always go perfectly, though, and that's nice, too. The complete dodge of religion in relation to the "terrorists" is weak but bringing that in could make it too edgy for some settings I guess. The hippie-ish religion of the main family was a bit odd and made them unrealistically idealistic sometimes, but I was okay with it overall.(less)
**spoiler alert** It had so much potential, but it was wasted. He doesn't leave footprints, but he can carry objects? Special glasses help the collect...more**spoiler alert** It had so much potential, but it was wasted. He doesn't leave footprints, but he can carry objects? Special glasses help the collector _hear_ the boy? The collector captures butterflies ... and loblolly boys? The boy sleeps but doesn't eat? And with so much interaction potential, how is he not real? The kids in the orphanage don't even know the name of the institution? The mom can walk out with the kid without following policy? The captain and his telescope also fail to excite my imagination. They just don't seem to fit in.
Now, had he been left really disconnected from reality, had the bad guy been convincing, had the telescope been left out, and had some of the rest of the plot been more convincing and consistent, I think this could have been a good book.
I did like the idea of him finding his family. That was also something I didn't suspect before it happened, for some reason, yet it was still guessable, and that's good.
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Lots of good stories and good perspective from a very different part of the world than what I know. I like nonfiction more than fiction most of the ti...moreLots of good stories and good perspective from a very different part of the world than what I know. I like nonfiction more than fiction most of the time because I can care more about it rather than just being whatever someone made up. This is a book that takes you on a journey while still being very real.
Offers some nice perspective on Church history, too.
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Entertaining oddities toward the beginning, but the plot changes direction rather inexplicably in the middle. The movie was more consistent (even if n...moreEntertaining oddities toward the beginning, but the plot changes direction rather inexplicably in the middle. The movie was more consistent (even if not fully so), but the book definitely had some fun stuff in it that was missing from the movie.(less)
Mostly skimmed it as with most monster tech books. Enjoyed some of the coverage of joints in the simulation system. Was interested to see that MRDS wa...moreMostly skimmed it as with most monster tech books. Enjoyed some of the coverage of joints in the simulation system. Was interested to see that MRDS was the system that pushed the concurrency framework there for .NET rather than it having been borrowed from enterprise frameworks already in .NET. I read/skimmed this book to get an overview without having to sit down and spend time with the software myself. Not enough time for that. But overall, the book was just another one of those monsters with too many words and not enough meat.(less)
Great brain exercise in machine learning, topology, multidimensional physics, and so on. The plot itself is somewhat weak. Disaster is discovered just...moreGreat brain exercise in machine learning, topology, multidimensional physics, and so on. The plot itself is somewhat weak. Disaster is discovered just before it happens, a common plot element across fiction. The author also too often pushes his own perspectives rather than letting the characters be individuals. Sure they vary, but they have an awful lot in common. And everyone is a scientist. Well, almost. Still, a great reading for thinking deep thoughts, even if I don't agree with many opinions here, and I don't know how much hand-waving is going on outside my own field of machine learning. I really don't know particle physics and so on.
The basis question for the book (Who am I, really?) is left unresolved, but at least the focus reverts to this subject at the end. Maybe any attempt at answering this would be scoffed at, but the presumption is still made throughout that literal, objective self-awareness (that's me!) constitutes subjective Cartesian self-existence. I'm not sure what deeper level Egan would have in mind for the basis of self when this level is taken for granted, but at least he left the option for something more fundamental.
I should also warn that the book includes occasional strong language and a few semi-abstract racy scenes. I don't like to read such things, but it was rare enough that I could move on with the story/mental exercise.(less)
Lots of great material. Nothing revolutionary, and I agree with the author that this is a good thing. Revolution has its places, but this book is more...moreLots of great material. Nothing revolutionary, and I agree with the author that this is a good thing. Revolution has its places, but this book is more about learning common sense. That sometimes takes reading from other people's experiences, and Krug obviously has some experience. He's even smart enough to admit that different people have different opinions. And the main technique for improvement is cheap user testing. I can't echo enough what he has to say about cheap.
This book is definitely worth a read by folks building web sites, especially in a corporate setting. (I've been there, so I knew what he was talking about.)
The least valuable material is in relation to the specific technology of the time. General support and acceptance for DHTML is far beyond what he described in the first edition of the book. Some more modern techniques also invalidate some of Krug's comments. Hopefully the second edition (which I didn't read) fixed some of these points. Still, this was just a small fraction of the book, and it including general principles, too. (Keep the action where the user expects it.) And the idea of giving on what could be good ideas but just aren't realizable is also worth taking into account.
Also, I can't say I'm a fan of navigation tabs, as Krug claims to be. They just don't scale like lists. Even Krug's favorite site in the book (namely, Amazon) doesn't have tabs anymore. I'm not sure what he thinks about that.
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I enjoyed the book, even despite the ridiculous aspects. I was glad to see Fogg become more human as the story progressed and we got to know him bette...moreI enjoyed the book, even despite the ridiculous aspects. I was glad to see Fogg become more human as the story progressed and we got to know him better. He was hard to appreciate at the beginning. Getting across the Atlantic was the coolest part of the story, I thought, by the way.
As for the depiction of peoples around the world, I think it's interesting to see the snapshot of a European perspective on these things at the time, though perhaps purposefully twisted to support a fun story. I'm not sure entirely. The culture I know best in the book is Mormonism, being Mormon myself. It wasn't a fully accurate portrayal, but he obviously did at least some study before writing, so I found that much encouraging at least.
As for the audio, I liked this reader. We listened to it in a car trip, and our two oldest (oldest being 9 at the time) really got into the story.
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Well, I skimmed much of it. Lots of good coverage of grasp types, trajectories, skin features, neural systems, and so on. Also very dense and I didn't...moreWell, I skimmed much of it. Lots of good coverage of grasp types, trajectories, skin features, neural systems, and so on. Also very dense and I didn't give it quite enough attention to make sense of the overall structure of the material. Very bad of me.(less)
A really good book overall. Teaches lots of practical issues related to Christianity (as a religion and as a relationship with Christ) and Christian b...moreA really good book overall. Teaches lots of practical issues related to Christianity (as a religion and as a relationship with Christ) and Christian behavior. One sample of good advice is how giving ought to hurt. For instance, if we our charitable donations don't hamper our personal desires some, then we probably aren't giving enough. On that word "charitable", there's a nice discussion of charity (Christian love) itself.
From a philosophical/logical perspective, I think sometimes Lewis claims more than he's proven. For example, I believe in right and wrong, and I believe him that it shows the existence of God. Also, that everyone, if they really think about it, can figure it out. But I don't think Lewis logically proved that there aren't alternative explanations. Still, the arguments are convincing if not watertight.
Going on a tangent, I feel there's some value in comparing Lewis's theology with that of Mormonism (my being a Mormon and all). There are several differences, but I think the most fundamental is the nature of humanity. In Mormonism, we believe that all people are begotten spirit children of God. Christ has a special status. He was/is perfect. He also had a special role to play, and we refer to him as God in that role. But we believe that the rest of mankind are also spirit children of God, not merely creatures.
However, in our fallen world, and given our fallen natures, much of the same principles apply as Lewis describes. That is, Christ's redemption brings us _back_ into the state of being God's children. The process of that redemption overlaps much with the nature of choice and graces that Lewis describes. Lewis was obviously very inspired in his doctrine, and I agree with a majority of his teachings here.
With the differences being subtle at that level, I've had to think some about what the practical effects of the difference might be. I'm not sure I have a full answer at this point, but it does create a different psychological effect. The world isn't "progressing" in the way Lewis describes. The fall itself was necessary, and the fallen world is part of the experience God wants for us. Also, Christians go back to the beginning of the world. The atonement works retroactively.
Anyway, in all it was a great book, and I'm glad I read it.
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I don't remember everything from the book, but the idea of Christianity making things holy has somewhat stuck in my mind. I seem to remember that the ...moreI don't remember everything from the book, but the idea of Christianity making things holy has somewhat stuck in my mind. I seem to remember that the assumed reader of this book is familiar with Orthodox terminology. That made it a bit difficult reading for me (being Mormon rather than Orthodox), but I still enjoyed the book.(less)
A fun read. Sometimes they went morally in some ways that I didn't appreciate, but it wasn't anything severe. And there are lots of good morals and op...moreA fun read. Sometimes they went morally in some ways that I didn't appreciate, but it wasn't anything severe. And there are lots of good morals and open questions, too. It makes you think about the meaning of life and death, such as beauties like the "'Do you promise?' 'I promise.'" conversation. A couple of scenes seemed to directly extracted from the Jungle Book, but overall, it wasn't too bad. The end was contrived, and the appearance of so many standard monsters from traditional horror was a bit overdone. Also, I didn't much like the attempted suspense from the glimpses of the foreign assaults on bad guys. It seemed like too much excessive secret keeping which ended up requiring villain monologuing.
Trying to be vague above to avoid spoilers, by the way.
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I liked this book and enjoyed the picture aspect, but it didn't really move me much. Actually, I did find it fascinating to see the sentiment of someo...moreI liked this book and enjoyed the picture aspect, but it didn't really move me much. Actually, I did find it fascinating to see the sentiment of someone feeling important to feel like they are a cog in a machine. The Prometheus aspect was also interesting. And the comment on real automata drawing pictures was also cool. But wasn't enough to make the book really exciting to me or anything.(less)
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