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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This gave me a lot to think about. I liked the ending. The writing was descriptive. I was intrigued the whole time. I do feel like there were parts of the plot that never got resolved or readdressed, like her room mate and the other office mate.
This was a mind-trip book! So excellent. I was a little disappointed by the ending, but overall it helped me to escape from my current life, which is not all that fun right now. A good read if you are interested in alternate worlds, the power of thought over matter, and how life works, or how we think it works.
did not like this as much as other scarlett thomas novels - this time the science and consciousness and philosophy discussion seemed a bit shoehorned in, rather than organic to the plot. i also can't say i totally understood the ending all that well.
I loved Thomas's Our Tragic Universe, so there was no question that I'd seek out other books she's written. While I preferred Universe to Mr. Y (it is a bit more subtle, and I really connected with the narrator of Universe), this was a great read.
Y is about a woman who finds a copy of one of the rarest books in the world (called The End of Mr. Y, in fact), a book she is obsessed with. It is said that anyone who reads the book is cursed, and the curse results in death. From here unfolds an adventure, all steeped in a lot of scientific concepts (Thomas makes it accessible for most lay people, but I still can't get a grasp of quarks and the science behind the theory of relativity...my brain just doesn't work that way).
A great read, beautifully written. I'll be searching for Thomas's other books, next!
Y is about a woman who finds a copy of one of the rarest books in the world (called The End of Mr. Y, in fact), a book she is obsessed with. It is said that anyone who reads the book is cursed, and the curse results in death. From here unfolds an adventure, all steeped in a lot of scientific concepts (Thomas makes it accessible for most lay people, but I still can't get a grasp of quarks and the science behind the theory of relativity...my brain just doesn't work that way).
A great read, beautifully written. I'll be searching for Thomas's other books, next!
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Don't read this book.
Not terribly written.
There are lectures on Physics and Philosophy written with all the subtlety and accuracy of Dan Brown.
The characters are more or less crap.
Plot points seem to evaporate as the book goes on (the agents, the flatmate)
Homeopathy somehow works in this universe.
The love interest's name is Adam, he's religious. The mess with space-time.
want know where this ends up?
Could this book be actually this terrible?
There's a 'crystallization' theory of physics where some laws are more tendencies
(Rupert Sheldrake, A New Science of Life)
many scientists think that book should be burned.
This book takes that theory and Diskworlds it, so that until someone decides a law of physics, it doesn't exist, but once it does it propagates itself backwards in time. That's why there's no magic.
If the book didn't take itself so seriously and with so much lecturing, I might not have a problem with this.
But wow.
Want a better way to learn about physics?
http://www.youtube.com/user/scishow?feature=g-all-u
Want a better way to hear about kooky out ther science?
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2009/01/02/how-to-think-about-science-part-1---24-listen/
Not terribly written.
There are lectures on Physics and Philosophy written with all the subtlety and accuracy of Dan Brown.
The characters are more or less crap.
Plot points seem to evaporate as the book goes on (the agents, the flatmate)
Homeopathy somehow works in this universe.
The love interest's name is Adam, he's religious. The mess with space-time.
want know where this ends up?
Could this book be actually this terrible?
There's a 'crystallization' theory of physics where some laws are more tendencies
(Rupert Sheldrake, A New Science of Life)
many scientists think that book should be burned.
This book takes that theory and Diskworlds it, so that until someone decides a law of physics, it doesn't exist, but once it does it propagates itself backwards in time. That's why there's no magic.
If the book didn't take itself so seriously and with so much lecturing, I might not have a problem with this.
But wow.
Want a better way to learn about physics?
http://www.youtube.com/user/scishow?feature=g-all-u
Want a better way to hear about kooky out ther science?
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2009/01/02/how-to-think-about-science-part-1---24-listen/
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Ariel is an insufferable academic. She reminds me of a guy I knew at university who used his philosophy major to essentially justify all of his bad behaviour and choices. Her angst over her sexual behaviour was so overwrought it made me roll my eyes.
Loved the part of the plot where she was getting chased down by the two American guys for the formula (one of whom is defo coded as trans). That was exciting. I was bewildered by the romance if I'm honest.
Very mixed feelings overall and I really don't know who I would even recommend this book to.
Loved the part of the plot where she was getting chased down by the two American guys for the formula (one of whom is defo coded as trans). That was exciting. I was bewildered by the romance if I'm honest.
Very mixed feelings overall and I really don't know who I would even recommend this book to.
This was definitely a rollercoaster ride! And a smart read too. The kind of book that gives you the faintest of headaches, but in a good way. And I would have given it 5 starts if it hadn't been for the fact that I lost that obsessive interest I had at first, after finishing about half the book. Towards the end it became too speculative for my taste, but it all wrapped up into a very nice ending anyway.
Would I recommend this book? Hell yeah! It's not just a great story, but educational as well, and it will also urge you to think more about topics like physics, philosophy, religion, time, space and ethics.
P.S. Don't read this before nap-/bedtime though! Yesterday I was reading in bed, fell asleep and found myself half conscious fighting that sleep off because it would send me into the "Troposphere" where I would not be safe. Talk about blurred lines, right?
Would I recommend this book? Hell yeah! It's not just a great story, but educational as well, and it will also urge you to think more about topics like physics, philosophy, religion, time, space and ethics.
P.S. Don't read this before nap-/bedtime though! Yesterday I was reading in bed, fell asleep and found myself half conscious fighting that sleep off because it would send me into the "Troposphere" where I would not be safe. Talk about blurred lines, right?