Every few years a book or movie comes along that everyone calls 'genre defying' or 'an original take on x' and the hype is massive so you watch or read it and find it to be the most superficially 'unique' thing ever and question just what everyone else has been watching or reading to think that this was so good.

This is one of those books.

I generally enjoy accessible science/science communication books, but this one was too conversational for me. 
I think the author was aiming for familiarity and humour, but I didn't really enjoy it. 

That said, I think the issue is my own preferences and not the actual book itself.

I adore Karamo, and I absolutely love his work on Queer Eye, so I really wanted to like this book more than I did.

It's not the best written book, but that's okay since it isn't written by a professional (at publication) author. 

What bothered me was that it felt like it had been heavily edited and censored by a PR person. 

When Karamo talks about his mistakes on QE he comes across as genuine and authentic and he takes responsibility for his past choices but in the book it seems there is always an external reason for his choices which makes it feel like he doesn't accept responsibility.

The book feels like a pre-emptive effort to put out all of his 'dirty secrets' so that they couldn't be found out and spilled by tabloids or similar first.

There is definitely enough of Karamo in this book that you can see and recognize him within the text as the same person we see on QE but it wasn't the open, honest, authentic book I had expected it to be.

I suspect that the blurb was written for another book, one that actually resembled it, but somehow ended up on this book by mistake.

If you are looking for a ghost story in the vein of a Victorian novel, I suggest you look elsewhere.

The attempt to be quirky had my eyes hurting from all the times I rolled them. There's a real disconnect between how the main character is described and how they actually act. There's a lot of unnecessary body shaming, and the conversations between characters (and internal monologues) felt forced and artificial.

I can't say that I would recommend this book.

I read this on a whim and without any real intention towards learning to navigate without instruments. I found a lot of information interesting but I didn't find the book very engaging. 

For a non-fiction book full of stories and personal experiences, it was a rather bland read.

I probably should have read the description better. 

I started this book purely on the cover, and so I found the strong focus on surfing annoying as I had wrongly thought there would be more science involved.

The author is talented and can tell a story well. I just wasn't interested in the angle she chose to focus on.

There is some actual stuff about stoicism, but mostly, it's just self-help pseudo-psychology.

A brilliantly accessible book! You don't need a background in biology to understand and appreciate the information discussed. 

If you have an interest in cephalopods or ocean creatures, then I highly recommend this book.

A haunted house tale with arresting characters where the house is as much a character as the people residing within it.

A very well-written and well-imagined world. It was too low on action to hold my son's interest, but I'm keen to read the sequel myself.