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A review by mazlietlotes
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
5.0
I gave AART five stars because this book made me feel exactly how big, existential and angry discussions on the internet make me feel. Tense, frustrated and a little hopeless. I approached it exactly like big, existential and angry discussions on the internet. I was excited to know what it was all about, tried to ration it a few chapters a day, but felt tense, frustrated and a little hopeless at times. I avoided it, meditated about my life and my values in the long breaks between reading, and then it sucked me in and I finished all of it in one sitting, putting it down at 3AM and feeling empty.
The book tackles a big problem I (or anyone else for that matter) don't know how to solve, and it shines a light on some great concepts that help us explain how stuff works (the insights on fame are really cool!), but I'm not sure it offers a solution.
The social internet, the angry discussions and the divide, the "monsters" who don't agree with me and the "monster" that I am for not agreeing with them - AART exposes my fears about people being afraid and angry in masses, not listening to each other, not coming together, not being their best selves and not having the storybook happy ending.
And what if we can't fix this even if we listen to each other? Because we Just. Don't. Agree.
I didn't feel exactly "good" while reading this. I hated not to know what happens next, especially because April spent a great deal of time hinting "oh, you know what happened next" WHEN I DIDN'T. I think I will have to read it again to appreciate all the great ideas on fame and the social internet and The Great Debate, because I was so frustrated with not knowing the plot half of the time that I caught myself not paying enough attention and not taking all the little thought trips I wanted to take.
But I gave AART five stars because it made me feel things, think about stuff I didn't want to think about and was so topical and current and needed that I sometimes forgot how much I hate thinking about big, existential and angry discussions on the internet.
It's also a great fun mystery about space aliens.
The book tackles a big problem I (or anyone else for that matter) don't know how to solve, and it shines a light on some great concepts that help us explain how stuff works (the insights on fame are really cool!), but I'm not sure it offers a solution.
The social internet, the angry discussions and the divide, the "monsters" who don't agree with me and the "monster" that I am for not agreeing with them - AART exposes my fears about people being afraid and angry in masses, not listening to each other, not coming together, not being their best selves and not having the storybook happy ending.
And what if we can't fix this even if we listen to each other? Because we Just. Don't. Agree.
I didn't feel exactly "good" while reading this. I hated not to know what happens next, especially because April spent a great deal of time hinting "oh, you know what happened next" WHEN I DIDN'T. I think I will have to read it again to appreciate all the great ideas on fame and the social internet and The Great Debate, because I was so frustrated with not knowing the plot half of the time that I caught myself not paying enough attention and not taking all the little thought trips I wanted to take.
But I gave AART five stars because it made me feel things, think about stuff I didn't want to think about and was so topical and current and needed that I sometimes forgot how much I hate thinking about big, existential and angry discussions on the internet.
It's also a great fun mystery about space aliens.