Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
Jim has a flawless technique for identifying psychopaths. When he is put on the stand to testify about this technique, something else is discovered. There are six months of his life that he simply cannot account for.
Jim reunites with Kayla, his girlfriend from these forgotten months nearly twenty years previously. Together, psychologist and physicist make amazing discoveries about human nature- and each other.
I really enjoyed this book. I couldn't put it down. Everything from the story to the "science" had me fascinated. I am now wondering how I would scale in this world.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
★★★★★
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
“You know the difference between a psychopath and a homeopath?” She shook her head. “Some psychopaths do no harm.”
― Robert J. Sawyer, Quantum Night
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Genre: Scifi, Philosophy, Thriller, Fantasy, Psychology
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
#bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #librarian #igbooks #ilovereading #bookhoarder #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #bookpics #bookrecs #bookreviews #booknerd #bookpictures #justread #bibliophile #QuantumNight #RobertJSawyer #Thriller #SciFi #ScienceFiction #Philosophy #Fantasy #Psychology
Jim reunites with Kayla, his girlfriend from these forgotten months nearly twenty years previously. Together, psychologist and physicist make amazing discoveries about human nature- and each other.
I really enjoyed this book. I couldn't put it down. Everything from the story to the "science" had me fascinated. I am now wondering how I would scale in this world.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
★★★★★
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
“You know the difference between a psychopath and a homeopath?” She shook her head. “Some psychopaths do no harm.”
― Robert J. Sawyer, Quantum Night
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Genre: Scifi, Philosophy, Thriller, Fantasy, Psychology
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
#bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #librarian #igbooks #ilovereading #bookhoarder #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #bookpics #bookrecs #bookreviews #booknerd #bookpictures #justread #bibliophile #QuantumNight #RobertJSawyer #Thriller #SciFi #ScienceFiction #Philosophy #Fantasy #Psychology
I cannot decide how many stars to give this book.
It was completely hilariously meta when Sawyer obliquely referenced one of his own books. There may have been multiple references; I caught only one.
The characters are complicated.
The story is twisty and brilliant and terrifying and in places frighteningly prescient. This was published in 2016; it is horrifically relevant now.
Fairly certain Sawyer is one of those scary-smart sorts of people.
It was completely hilariously meta when Sawyer obliquely referenced one of his own books. There may have been multiple references; I caught only one.
The characters are complicated.
The story is twisty and brilliant and terrifying and in places frighteningly prescient. This was published in 2016; it is horrifically relevant now.
Fairly certain Sawyer is one of those scary-smart sorts of people.
interesting thought experiment/premise, but the story never got quite as big or as awful as i thought it would.
If you didn't know Robert J. Sawyer was Canadian before reading this book, you certainly would know after. I get it, Canada is under-represented and under appreciated. I can't help but think "Rob" as he calls himself in the "about the author" has a Canadian inferiority complex. Regardless, he seems to be losing any grasp on subtlety that he had in his past writings. The characters are one dimensional (even the Q3s), the descriptions of characters before their classification is revealed is belabored, and Sawyer manages to pack more Canadian references in 300 pages than occurrences of "enzyme-bonded concrete" that Peter Hamilton can fit in 1000 pages.
Good ideas as usual Rob, just concentrate less on glorifying your homeland and more on developing your character and the story.
Good ideas as usual Rob, just concentrate less on glorifying your homeland and more on developing your character and the story.
This was disappointing. I usually really like Sawyer's books, but this was not good. It was about a psychology professor who figures out how to diagnose someone as psychopathic, and with his utilitarian bent on things, he suggests all sorts of dramatic ways to apply what he knows. He finds himself missing 6 months of memories in his life, which concerns him, and he sets out to figure out why. He also reconnects with an old flame, a physicist, who is also studying psychopaths. Too much philosophizing and not enough of the plot just telling itself. What's usually good about good science fiction is that there isn't too much explaining the idea or the science, or the fantasy - there's just the story telling itself. This did not fit that bill at all. I'll wait for his next book, and hope it is better.
It took me a couple of tries to get into this book but then I was hooked. It will becomes dated quickly but is an entertaining summer read for 2017.
I completely enjoyed this book. Yes it made me question my consciousness, and that of those around me, but I don't think that is a bad thing. What motivates me? A desire to help? Selfishness? Or do I just do what I am told?
Quantum Night by Robert J. Sawyer--I mean, this is quantum mechanics meets an in-depth exploration of ethics, all framed in some ludicrous plot devices that somehow still hit way too close to home. Of course I loved this. The book follows an applied philosophy professor who gets the chance to, erm, apply some philosophy when he discovers a nearly two decade old memory gap. The plotting for this story is bananas, but it's a fun read. Thumbs up.
This novel is about pseudoscience, politics, philosophy, and psychology. An accurate description would be to call this a work of hard pseudoscience fiction and speculative social fiction. The book is filled with pop culture and all sorts of references, quite possibly almost every page has at least one, as well as various occurrences of humor.
Overall, I don't think the novel knows what it wants to be though, as it careens every which way until it finally achieves top speed and zooms off a 45 degree ramp on the cliffside and confuses that for flying. It's unclear how much author believed this could be mitigated by citing his sources in the text and providing a "further reading" section at the end that has ~50 sources, mostly nonfiction books, that are explained as to how and why they're relevant to the novel. This would be better thought of as extended thought experiment rather than as a novel.
The thesis of the novel is that there are three types of people in the world, as determined by the level of agency they exhibit. There are those with no agency, limited agency, and full agency. This isn't an immutable property. Given that the philosophy is almost exclusively that of Peter Singer's form of utilitarianism and that he founded the contemporary Hereditarian Left, how you feel about that may greatly affect your enjoyment. The protagonist certainly attempts, arguably not particularly successfully, to live out his philosophy.
As this was published before Trump won the primary, it's based on that the Republican president that would be elected would be very competent and highly effective in achieving their goals. To this end, The US overturns Roe vs Wade, allows for the legal killing of any and all undocumented immigrants, This is presented as being horrific.
The politics really come to the fore when it's realized who are meant by each of the three categories of agency, though considering they are without agency, it's assumed that they can't be blamed for what they do, as they literally have no choice in the matter.
An excerpt:
no conscious defense against [memes], no matter how stupid they are, and so are easily infected by them.
Memers have no agency, though are by no means the only ones who don't. This would fully explain the current state of the Internet as an inevitable outcome. It's not ironic. It's just sad.
Unfortunately, this was yet another case of the narrative failing the ideal.
Rating: 2.5/5
I continue to be interested that the top 3 liked reviews are 1 stars, which are 3% of the total ratings, though it's obvious this time why they are as the reviewers state their reasons clearly.
Overall, I don't think the novel knows what it wants to be though, as it careens every which way until it finally achieves top speed and zooms off a 45 degree ramp on the cliffside and confuses that for flying. It's unclear how much author believed this could be mitigated by citing his sources in the text and providing a "further reading" section at the end that has ~50 sources, mostly nonfiction books, that are explained as to how and why they're relevant to the novel. This would be better thought of as extended thought experiment rather than as a novel.
The thesis of the novel is that there are three types of people in the world, as determined by the level of agency they exhibit. There are those with no agency, limited agency, and full agency. This isn't an immutable property. Given that the philosophy is almost exclusively that of Peter Singer's form of utilitarianism and that he founded the contemporary Hereditarian Left, how you feel about that may greatly affect your enjoyment. The protagonist certainly attempts, arguably not particularly successfully, to live out his philosophy.
As this was published before Trump won the primary, it's based on that the Republican president that would be elected would be very competent and highly effective in achieving their goals. To this end, The US overturns Roe vs Wade, allows for the legal killing of any and all undocumented immigrants,
Spoiler
annexes Canada and comes close to nuclear war with Russia, who yes, is ruled by Putin.The politics really come to the fore when it's realized who are meant by each of the three categories of agency, though considering they are without agency, it's assumed that they can't be blamed for what they do, as they literally have no choice in the matter.
An excerpt:
no conscious defense against [memes], no matter how stupid they are, and so are easily infected by them.
Memers have no agency, though are by no means the only ones who don't. This would fully explain the current state of the Internet as an inevitable outcome. It's not ironic. It's just sad.
Unfortunately, this was yet another case of the narrative failing the ideal.
Rating: 2.5/5
I continue to be interested that the top 3 liked reviews are 1 stars, which are 3% of the total ratings, though it's obvious this time why they are as the reviewers state their reasons clearly.
Too pop-sci and contemporary for me. And the first-person narrator was too much.