I read this book over the course of several weeks, so I'm not sure how much of the beginning stuck in my head.
Anyway, I enjoyed Seung's explanation of the brain as a network (so to speak) even if I was a bit skeptical of some of what he said. As is often true of my responses to pop psychology, I would have preferred a bit more science and a bit less pop, but he did a good job making the idea both accessible and interesting, if a bit...shallow, I suppose.
I do feel as though I have a good idea of where he wants the research to go and the main idea, the concept of a connectome, is frankly fascinating.
I could have done entirely without the final section on cryonics and uploading, though. It seemed...unnecessary and less interesting than the science.
A good read, though, and one that made me feel as though I was at least putting in some effort to keep up with developments in neurological research.

I read this for the first time ages and ages ago, long before I'd really gotten into Le Guin's science fiction, and I'd forgotten how different this is from other children's books. I think I like it better thanI had as a child; I think many of the stories and even her style was a bit off-putting when I was ten.
It's always nice to return to a book and find it has improved since you last encountered it.

Martin is a difficult author to read, not because his books are on the long side (though not, perhaps, when the overall genre is taken into account), but because they are dense. They are filled with personalities and things and emotions running at full boil and you, or at least I, want to scream at just about everyone at least once.
On the bright side, it's the good kind of screaming - the "no, you're making a mistake!" or "Stop being so profoundly human so that you don't make these horrible stupid things happen!" There are a fair number of writers who write characters I want to scream at because they are idiots. The beauty of Martin's characters and story is in how realistic it is - not the grittiness, but the drama of human emotion. That's what made this book feel so long and dense but also what made me enjoy the experience so much.
It's also nice to see that Martin's writing, which was quite good to begin with, is getting even better.

Connie Willis is certainly the mistress of sly humour in Science Fiction (though, in this case, it's fiction about science).

While this is not the sort of book I would necessarily recommend, I really enjoyed it. The book vacillates between story and encyclopedia entry, with characters who are either wonderfully absurd or frustratingly parodic. It's a polarizing book, but I enjoyed it.

I picked up this book because of how much I enjoyed Valente's foray into children's literature, one of the best books I've read all year, and found out that the idea for said children's book comes from this story.
So, of course, I had to read this.
Palimpsest is a very odd story, masterfully told with a lovely narrative voice (that seems to trickle through Valente's other works as well) that would have made this book worth the read on its own. The actual story, its premise and promise, remain inscrutable. Even as the idea of Palimpsest, the sexually transmitted city, intrigued me, it became more incomprehensible. But this is not a story about plot, or happenings, or even people...not really. It's a powerful story about wanting and needing, in all its forms.
It is also, and I cannot emphasize this enough, breathtakingly beautiful to read. I think I have to find Valente's poetry next.