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743 reviews by:
gwentolios
Started out liking it, but then finished the feeling that while it was a great read, I didn't get all of it and so I just stared there looking at the floor while my landlords were like 'what is wrong?' and I couldn't tell them. Mitchell's writing is awesome, I love how each story connected, but not how most of them ended.
For a math book, this was awesome. It got me to laugh, and understand calculus better.
This book seemed very formulaic to many other YA books out there right now. Girl just wants to be a normal hs student, meets new boy who moved to town, has a strange encounter with him, he's missing the next day, finds out he's special, and wow, she is too!
I've always been a fan of mythology, especially greek, but the idea of demigods has been done before and honestly, Angelini doesn't add much to the niche genre. I found the reveals to be for the most part not surprising. Sure, I read this is just over a day, but I didn't have much else to do on the bus. It's a quick read, mainly because it's so simple. Sometimes, that's all you need.
I've always been a fan of mythology, especially greek, but the idea of demigods has been done before and honestly, Angelini doesn't add much to the niche genre. I found the reveals to be for the most part not surprising. Sure, I read this is just over a day, but I didn't have much else to do on the bus. It's a quick read, mainly because it's so simple. Sometimes, that's all you need.
I think Asmiov is my new favorite author. I've heard much about the reputation of this book, and it's author, but figured it would be really dry and I wouldn't be able to get through it like most of the book covered in my SF literature class in uni. It also didn't help that Asmiov's own author's note at the beginning also talked about 'things not happening' and I was settling in for a good long time, months most likely, maybe 6 of them, of reminding myself to read it.
But it wasn't like that at all.
Thing do happen, but it's very rarely a thing of action. In fact, one of the main points is that crises will come but avoiding them is never a thing of violence. Now, it's much more clever than that.
For those who don't know the premiss (and I actually didn't when I picked this up), the Empire is dying. It's unavoidable, the dark ages are coming. But Hari Seldon has predicted that for years with his science of studying the masses, and he can see a path that shortens the dark ages from 30,000 years to a single thousand. In order to do that, he creates the Foundation, whose sole purpose is the shorten the time until the rise of the next Empire.
It's not an easy task. With the Empire crumbling and the loss of knowledge creeping towards the center from the edge of the Empire's territory, there are pressures, threats, and war. And the Foundation must avoid them all to stay alive, a hub of knowledge, to end the turbulent period.
And how they do it – ah, fabulous. Genius. Asimov had to have been one himself with all the events and sideways moves the leaders of the Foundation pull. This is a book filled with political movements, bluffs, conversations filled with undercurrents, as well as a study in the development of any developed governing body.
Seriously, my AP History teacher should add this book to his syllabus. (Asimov's multiple readings of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire greatly influenced this series).
This book barely covers the first 100 years of the dark ages, but already the Foundation has kept itself alive through a variety of forces. I loved reading about all the conflicts that came, simply for their solutions because there were all so unexpected and yet so perfect. They were years in the making, but not obvious until the right hour. There are so many layers to the characters, to the actions, there there was no way reading this could be a bore.
I've been holding off on starting the second book in the series, simply because I have three others open at the moment, but it's very hard. I know how the series ends, that was established early on, and there is no character or planet dangling on the edge of action, the cliffhanger for more. I simply want to see how things happen, since I already know the conclusion.
Foundation, is quite simply, an fun book whose entertainment comes not from humor but from the intellectual stimulus.
But it wasn't like that at all.
Thing do happen, but it's very rarely a thing of action. In fact, one of the main points is that crises will come but avoiding them is never a thing of violence. Now, it's much more clever than that.
For those who don't know the premiss (and I actually didn't when I picked this up), the Empire is dying. It's unavoidable, the dark ages are coming. But Hari Seldon has predicted that for years with his science of studying the masses, and he can see a path that shortens the dark ages from 30,000 years to a single thousand. In order to do that, he creates the Foundation, whose sole purpose is the shorten the time until the rise of the next Empire.
It's not an easy task. With the Empire crumbling and the loss of knowledge creeping towards the center from the edge of the Empire's territory, there are pressures, threats, and war. And the Foundation must avoid them all to stay alive, a hub of knowledge, to end the turbulent period.
And how they do it – ah, fabulous. Genius. Asimov had to have been one himself with all the events and sideways moves the leaders of the Foundation pull. This is a book filled with political movements, bluffs, conversations filled with undercurrents, as well as a study in the development of any developed governing body.
Seriously, my AP History teacher should add this book to his syllabus. (Asimov's multiple readings of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire greatly influenced this series).
This book barely covers the first 100 years of the dark ages, but already the Foundation has kept itself alive through a variety of forces. I loved reading about all the conflicts that came, simply for their solutions because there were all so unexpected and yet so perfect. They were years in the making, but not obvious until the right hour. There are so many layers to the characters, to the actions, there there was no way reading this could be a bore.
I've been holding off on starting the second book in the series, simply because I have three others open at the moment, but it's very hard. I know how the series ends, that was established early on, and there is no character or planet dangling on the edge of action, the cliffhanger for more. I simply want to see how things happen, since I already know the conclusion.
Foundation, is quite simply, an fun book whose entertainment comes not from humor but from the intellectual stimulus.
Honestly, I only picked this up because it was short and I'm behind on my 'read 50 books this year' goal. I did enjoy it, Morrie is a wonderful guy and his lessons are poignant. I do however feel like they aren't anything entirely new. The themes of the lessons he relates to Album can be found in multiple other places. In fact, what I really was interested in was not them but rather Album's reactions to the condition of his dying teacher. Worth a read, but I wouldn't say worth rereading or maybe even buying. A library copy will do.
I'll admit, I was worried that since this is a classic the prose would be aweful and it would take me ages to read this. Well, it did take me ages, but that had everything to do with the book's size than the prose. It was surprisingly easy to get into and I loved all the adventures and challenges Hazel and co. went through.
I was surprised by how engaging this book was, especially since it was written early on in the 20th century. But it is still very applicable to today and I found myself learning so much from it. Well, rather I felt it was a pretty deep book that I'll have to reread to fully get all the knowledge from it but I don't mind it because the subject is fascinating and Hazlitt's prose is so accessible.
I love the logic Barrie follows, it's not true in the actual world, but is a perfect way of letting us get inside Wendy's and Peter's heads. Barrie's got a wonderful understanding of children. The adventures they have are a great read. Prose wise there were times I wasn't entirely sure what just happened, and only understood an event because I could line it up with the taped version of the play I watched a lot as a child. If I wasn't familiar with the story, I would have enjoyed the book less simply for confusion. But as it was, I enjoyed reading it.