Book Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

This is the most masculine book ever! It has data, math, engineering, potatoes, problem-solving, and almost zero explicit emotional content. It is about a man who is stuck alone on Mars who never cries or gets depressed or laments about missing his family or friends back on Earth. He just works and solves problems with his superior intellect and indomitable spirit. 

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I Hate Thought Experiments

While thought experiments are meant to challenge readers to think about things in different ways they always seem to miss the mark for me. They are like really bad stories with continuity errors, plot holes, and preachy subtext. Maybe it is because they are usually created by academics but thought experiments wreak of pretentious attempts to dumb down a moral, social, or scientific concept into a clever puzzle for the masses.

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Book Review: Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

If I were to sum up Zoo with one word it would be embroiled. From the beginning to the end, the tone of this book is one of singular focus. The main character, Jackson Oz, is obsessed with confirming and solving the problem of animals increasingly attacking humans in an unprecedented and unmitigated way. James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge paint with one unceasing brush and that brush is one of embroiled forward momentum. 

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