Chrissy's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 03 Apr 2025 21:52:49 -0700 60 Chrissy's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Foundation's Edge (Foundation #4)]]> 55421403
At last, the costly and bitter war between the two Foundations has come to an end. The scientists of the First Foundation have proved victorious, and now they return to Hari Seldon’s long established plan to build a new Empire on the ruins of the old. But rumors persist that the Second Foundation is not destroyed after all—and that its still-defiant survivors are preparing their revenge. Now two exiled citizens of the Foundation—a renegade Councilman and a doddering historian—set out in search of the mythical planet Earth . . . and proof that the Second Foundation still exists.

Meanwhile someone—or something—outside of both Foundations seems to be orchestrating events to suit its own ominous purpose. Soon representatives of both the First and Second Foundations will find themselves racing toward a mysterious world called Gaia and a final, shocking destiny at the very end of the universe.]]> 416 Isaac Asimov 0593159985 Chrissy 0 currently-reading 4.23 1982 Foundation's Edge (Foundation #4)
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1982
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Baby X 173476065 When any biological matter can be used to create life, stolen celebrity DNA sells to the highest bidder—or the craziest stalker—in this propulsive thriller.

With a vivid imagining of the future, _Gattaca _meets Black Mirror in Kira Peikoff’s Baby X.

In the near-future United States, where advanced technology can create eggs or sperm from any person’s cells, celebrities face the alarming potential of meeting biological children they never conceived. Famous singer Trace Thorne is tired of being targeted by the Vault, a black market site devoted to stealing DNA. Sick of paying ransom money for his own cell matter, he hires bio-security guard Ember Ryan to ensure his biological safety.

Ember will do anything she can to protect her clients. She knows all the Vault’s tricks—discarded tissues, used straws, lipstick tubes—and has prevented countless DNA thefts. Working for Thorne, her focus becomes split when she begins to fall for him, but she knows she hasn’t let anything slip—love or not, his DNA is safe. But then she and Thorne are confronted by a pregnant woman, Quinn, who claims that Thorne is the father of her baby, and all bets are off.

Brilliantly plotted and terrifyingly prescient, Baby X is an unpredictable and relentless speculative thriller perfect for fans of Blake Crouch and John Marrs.]]> 326 Kira Peikoff 1639106332 Chrissy 4 3.82 2024 Baby X
author: Kira Peikoff
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves:
review:
Worth a read for the twist in the end I did not see coming! Speculative fiction is ripe for criticism on the possibilities outlined world building but I have to say a lot of this is very unrealistic. If the author did more research on how IVF is done today it might give more hints on the future of reproductive technology. Putting that aside, the book was easy read and couldn’t put it down. Characters weren’t particularly believable or likable but the story moved fast and suspense done well.
]]> <![CDATA[Astrology as a Spiritual Path: Birth of the New Human]]> 208673341 Astrology as a Spiritual Birth of the New Human reimagines the nature and purpose of astrology, unveiling a new methodology for practitioners and students to discover their true spiritual path. It demonstrates how transpersonal astrology can help individuals fulfill their unique destiny by studying and living their birth chart’s archetypal blueprint.

With a special emphasis on the fundamental difference between Sun through Saturn and the transformational, transcendent nature of the outer planets � Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, the author emphasizes how they represent a new paradigm leading humanity to a new state of being.

Astrology as a Spiritual Path carefully leads readers through important metaphysical and historical references as it explores existential questions such as fate and free will. Readers are empowered to become active, creative participants in their individuation process to ignite the fire within and embark on their own unique path.]]> 473 JIM SHER Chrissy 4 4.67 Astrology as a Spiritual Path: Birth of the New Human
author: JIM SHER
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves:
review:
A different way of looking at astrology. Gave me a new spiritual perspective on my life. Meandered towards the end.
]]> Ҳá貹Dz 9593 Ҳá貹Dz takes the reader back one million years, to A.D. 1986. A simple vacation cruise suddenly becomes an evolutionary journey. Thanks to an apocalypse, a small group of survivors stranded on the Ҳá貹Dz Islands are about to become the progenitors of a brave, new, and totally different human race. In this inimitable novel, America’s master satirist looks at our world and shows us all that is sadly, madly awry—and all that is worth saving.]]> 324 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385333870 Chrissy 5 3.89 1985 Ҳá貹Dz
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1985
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
Absolutely hilarious take on humanity. The book is a great reminder not to take ourselves too seriously. Highly recommended if you find yourself believing your thoughts are meaningful. It’s particularly helpful to bring sanity for those at child bearing age. Vonnegut does it again. Might be one of my favorites of his.
]]> <![CDATA[The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe]]> 1222911
“One of the most powerful and enlightening books I have ever read. A magnificent job of presenting the hard evidence for what spiritual masters have been telling us for centuries.”―Wayne W. Dyer
During the past few years science and medicine have been converging with common sense, confirming a widespread belief that everything―especially the mind and the body―is far more connected than traditional physics ever allowed. T he Field establishes a new biological paradigm: it proves that our body extends electromagnetically beyond ourselves and our physical body. It is within this field that we can find a remarkable new way of looking at health, sickness, memory, will, creativity, intuition, the soul, consciousness, and spirituality. The Field helps to bridge the gap that has opened up between mind and matter, between us and the cosmos. Original, well researched, and well documented by distinguished sources, this is the mind/body book for a new millennium.]]> 268 Lynne McTaggart 006143518X Chrissy 3 4.16 2003 The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe
author: Lynne McTaggart
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves:
review:
The most interesting concepts detailed in the most dull, round-about way. There are books that explain the implications of quantum and the connections to what we now understand as spirituality much better. But sometimes we need to hear it in a different way. A few good examples will stick with me.
]]> The Palace of Illusions 1774836
Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half history, half myth, and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancient tale.

The Palace of Illusions traces the princess Panchaali's life, beginning with her birth in fire and following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom. Panchaali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at their side through years of exile and a terrible civil war involving all the important kings of India. Meanwhile, we never lose sight of her strategic duels with her mother-in-law, her complicated friendship withthe enigmatic Krishna, or her secretattraction tothe mysteriousman who is her husbands'most dangerousenemy. Panchaali is a fiery female redefining for us a world of warriors, gods, and the ever-manipulating hands of fate.]]> 360 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni 0385515995 Chrissy 3 4.20 2008 The Palace of Illusions
author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> Anagram Destiny 211350396 Fans of Namrata Patel’s Scent of a Garden will melt for Grishma Shah’s characters as they confront their pasts and must find a way to both the Indian and the American Dream under the shadow of terrorism.

When Aanya arrives in India, ready for a new beginning, she is in awe of the glitz and glamour of expat living. But on her very first day, in the still of her apartment, tears salt her welcome cake. The cake is supposed to be a celebration, a symbol of her career accomplishments, a salute to her triumphs—and yet she has never felt more alone, not even on her darkest days.

Luckily, when she pitches her work to Abhimanyu, the self-made, down-to-earth Director of Events at the Taj Palace Hotel in Mumbai, he is charmed. But before Aanya can find the strength to reciprocate, she is thrust into reconciling her a coming of age at a roadside motel in Georgia, where her Indian-immigrant parents and their best friends manifest the American dream by turning over a thirty-four-room motel as their children, Aanya and Ayaan, develop a bond and fate as entwined as their anagrammed names. Now, in Mumbai, thousands of miles from home, can the fear of another loss help Aanya move forward?]]> 320 Grishma Shah 1684632587 Chrissy 4 4.60 Anagram Destiny
author: Grishma Shah
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.60
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:
Good to read while traveling to India. The book starts off like a cheesy romance story but I soon loved the characters and the story. It provides good lesson on indian-hindi-american culture and several tragic events. I cried while reading a lot. Historical events are detailed and seem to be portrayed realistically. An important read. Could do without the cringe lovey stuff but bought into it so it was done well.
]]> The Candy House 61272660 Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by Time, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Oprah Daily, Glamour, USA TODAY, Parade, Bustle, San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, The Boston Globe, Tampa Bay Times, BuzzFeed, and Vulture

“A compelling read that showcases Egan’s masterful storytelling.� �Time
“Dazzling.� �Vogue
“Radiant, exhilarating.� �Slate
“Mesmerizing…A thought-provoking examination of how and why we change.� �People

From one of the most celebrated writers of our time comes an “inventive, effervescent� (Oprah Daily) novel about the memory and quest for authenticity and human connection.

The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is “one of those tech demi-gods with whom we’re all on a first name basis.� Bix is forty, with four kids, restless, and desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or “externalizing� memory. Within a decade, Bix’s new technology, “Own Your Unconscious”—which allows you access to every memory you’ve ever had, and to share your memories in exchange for access to the memories of others—has seduced multitudes.

In the world of Egan’s spectacular imagination, there are “counters� who track and exploit desires and there are “eluders,� those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles—from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter, and a chapter of tweets. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also a moving testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for connection, family, privacy, and love.

“A beautiful exploration of loss, memory, and history� (San Francisco Chronicle), “this is minimalist maximalism. It’s as if Egan compressed a big 19th-century novel onto a flash drive� (The New York Times).]]> 368 Jennifer Egan 1476716773 Chrissy 4 3.52 2022 The Candy House
author: Jennifer Egan
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves:
review:
Excellent writing and a very interesting scifi thread that connects all the characters. There are multiple ways to read this book. Just enjoy each section as standalone or try to catch how all the characters are related. I found each mini-story captivating. There are various narratives types throughout. This was an experience. It can be distracting to try to connect it all. I wish there was more of a conclusion or point at the end but it may have been beyond my comprehension.
]]> <![CDATA[Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times]]> 52623750 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593189481.

An intimate, revelatory book exploring the ways we can care for and repair ourselves when life knocks us down.

Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.

A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May’s story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.

Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.]]> 241 Katherine May Chrissy 4 3.82 2020 Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
author: Katherine May
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves:
review:
Great read for anyone that struggles in the winter. It talks about personal winters too. A good reminder how all of life is ups and downs. It inspired me to add more ritual in my life to cope with the seasons. This might be my required reading every January
]]> Player Piano 34316177 341 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Chrissy 4 Like all his books it was a well-paced, fun read. This one did seem like an early work. Too many characters and a little clunky at times with random tangents I felt like skimming. ]]> 3.80 1952 Player Piano
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
Great timing to read a book about the role of machines as we face the acceleration of AI. Vonnegut doesn’t disappoint with typical poking fun at society and silly, laugh out loud moments. Eerily accurate on many predictions (remaining jobs are managers & service, basic needs are met for the population), and way off on others (government leads w tech, socialism, people are ranked by IQ & role). His POV is heavily influenced with contrasts to war times and the related expectation that people need moral purpose. Sadly, he assumed the population would care more about tech doing things for them. He underestimated how easily culture would be influenced by luxuries and corporatism.
Like all his books it was a well-paced, fun read. This one did seem like an early work. Too many characters and a little clunky at times with random tangents I felt like skimming.
]]> <![CDATA[Science Fiction (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series)]]> 53397765
The world today seems to be slipping into a science fiction future. We have phones that speak to us, cars that drive themselves, and connected devices that communicate with each other in languages we don't understand. Depending the news of the day, we inhabit either a technological utopia or Brave New World nightmare. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge surveys the uses of science fiction. It focuses on what is at the core of all definitions of science a vision of the world made otherwise and what possibilities might flow from such otherness.]]> 218 Sherryl Vint 0262539993 Chrissy 3 3.80 Science Fiction (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series)
author: Sherryl Vint
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.80
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:
Bland overview of scifi with some observations worth considering as a fan of the genre. But nothing too interesting so it was difficult to get through.
]]> Wool - Holston (Wool, #1) 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]> 56 Hugh Howey Chrissy 0 to-read 4.14 2012 Wool - Holston (Wool, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Road to Roswell 58775691 A delightful novel about alien invasions, conspiracies, and the incredibly silly things people are willing to believe—some of which may actually be true—from the Nebula and Hugo award-winning author of Blackout and All Clear

When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding—complete with a true-believer bridegroom—she can’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one.

Odder still, her abductor is far from what the popular media have led her to expect, with a body like a tumbleweed and a mass of lightning-fast tentacles. Nor is Francie the only victim of the alien’s abduction spree. Before long, he has acquired a charming con man named Wade, a sweet little old lady with a casino addiction, a retiree with a huge RV and a love for old Westerns, and a UFO-chasing nutjob who is thoroughly convinced the alien intends to probe them and/or take over the planet.

But the more Francie gets to know the alien, the more convinced she becomes that he’s not an invader. That he’s in trouble and she has to help him. Only she doesn’t know how—or even what the trouble is.

Part alien-abduction adventure, part road trip saga, part romantic comedy, The Road to Roswell is packed full of Men in Black, Elvis impersonators, tourist traps, rattlesnakes, chemtrails, and Close Encounters of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth kind. Can Francie, stuck in a neon green bridesmaid’s dress, save the world—and still make it back for the wedding?]]> 399 Connie Willis 0593499859 Chrissy 3 3.65 2023 The Road to Roswell
author: Connie Willis
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves:
review:
Buried beneath the excessive dialog, cliche characters and nonsense plot twists, there was some interesting concepts here. This is soft sci-fi that was so simple it was somewhat painful to read. Found myself skimming through the unnecessary back and forth debating what to do next passages. It seems the author was trying to reach a word count. Nothing was left unsaid. Abrupt ending. Easy read and some laugh out loud moments. Cute and unserious.
]]> The Life Impossible 198281740
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…�

When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.]]> 324 Matt Haig 0593489276 Chrissy 3 3.45 2024 The Life Impossible
author: Matt Haig
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:
Good story with some touching moments but really drawn out and wordy. The beginning was rough and hard to get into. I did like the overall premise and creative way to show appreciation for life. Love this author. Definitely not his best but still worth reading.
]]> Beautyland 127282939 From the acclaimed author of Parakeet, Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is a wise, tender novel about a woman who doesn't feel at home on Earth.

At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Adina Giorno is tiny and jaundiced, but she reaches for warmth and light. As a child, she recognizes that she is different: She possesses knowledge of a faraway planet. The arrival of a fax machine enables her to contact her extraterrestrial relatives, beings who have sent her to report on the oddities of Earthlings.

For years, as she moves through the world and makes a life for herself among humans, she dispatches transmissions on the terrors and surprising joys of their existence. Then, at a precarious moment, a beloved friend urges Adina to share her messages with the world. Is there a chance she is not alone?

Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is a novel of startling originality about the fragility and resilience of life on our Earth and in our universe. It is a remarkable evocation of the feeling of being in exile at home, and it introduces a gentle, unforgettable alien for our times.]]> 327 Marie-Helene Bertino 0374109281 Chrissy 5 4.08 2024 Beautyland
author: Marie-Helene Bertino
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:
Great pacing and couldn’t put it down. An alien perspective on humans we can all relate to.
]]> <![CDATA[Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI]]> 204927599 From the author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world.

For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite allour discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive?

Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence.

Information is not the raw material of truth; neither is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity.]]> 528 Yuval Noah Harari 059373422X Chrissy 3 4.14 2024 Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/14
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:
Interesting concept relating history to AI. Could have been a lot shorter. This is a very pessimistic and limited view on technological advancement that doesn’t give humans much credit. It assumes we won’t react to AI overreach and just let it do horrible things to us. The author is very judgmental and has no spiritual take.
]]> In Ascension 197063361
Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an escape from her unhappy home life and volatile father. Enchanted by the undersea world of her childhood, she excels in marine biology, travelling the globe to study ancient organisms. When a trench is discovered in the Atlantic ocean, Leigh joins the exploration team, hoping to find evidence of the earth's first life forms � what she instead finds calls into question everything we know about our own beginnings. Her discovery leads Leigh to the Mojave desert and an ambitious new space agency.

Drawn deeper into the agency's work, she learns that the Atlantic trench is only one of several related phenomena from across the world, each piece linking up to suggest a pattern beyond human understanding. Leigh knows that to continue working with the agency will mean leaving behind her declining mother and her younger sister, and faces an impossible choice: to remain with her family, or to embark on a journey across the breadth of the cosmos.

Exploring the natural world with the wonder and reverence we usually reserve for the stars,In Ascensionis a compassionate, deeply inquisitive epic that reaches outward to confront the greatest questions of existence, looks inward to illuminate the smallest details of the human heart, and shows how � no matter how far away we might be and how much we have lost hope � we will always attempt to return to the people and places we call home.]]> 496 Martin MacInnes 0802163467 Chrissy 0 to-read 3.70 2023 In Ascension
author: Martin MacInnes
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Blueprint 199248447 A captivating debut exploring power imbalances, bodily autonomy, love, and the generational legacy of resilience.

The Blueprint is a harrowing novel set in an alternate United States—a world of injustice and bondage. Solenne Bonet, a young Black woman in Texas, lives in a society where an algorithm dictates her occupation, spouse, and residence. Seeking solace, she pens the biography of Henriette, her ancestor and an enslaved concubine. When Solenne becomes entangled with Bastien Martin, a high-ranking government official, she must decide, with Henriette's story as her guide, whether to escape the psychological bond that imprisons her.]]> 304 Rae Giana Rashad 0063330091 Chrissy 0 to-read 3.82 2024 The Blueprint
author: Rae Giana Rashad
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom]]> 203578812 A standalone darkly humorous thriller set in modern America's age of anxiety, by New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin.

Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC.

But there are rules:

He cannot look inside the box.
He cannot ask questions.
He cannot tell anyone.
They must leave immediately.
He must leave all trackable devices behind.

As these eccentric misfits hit the road, rumors spread on social media that the box is part of a carefully orchestrated terror attack intended to plunge the USA into civil war.

The truth promises to be even stranger, and may change how you see the world.]]> 400 Jason Pargin 125028595X Chrissy 0 to-read 3.98 2024 I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom
author: Jason Pargin
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Other Valley 176450755
Sixteen-year-old Odile is an awkward, quiet girl vying for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she’ll decide who may cross her town’s heavily guarded borders. On the other side, it’s the same valley, the same town--except to the east, the town is twenty years ahead in time. To the west, it’s twenty years behind. The towns repeat in an endless sequence across the wilderness.

When Odile recognizes two visitors she wasn’t supposed to see, she realizes that the parents of her friend Edme have been escorted across the border from the future, on a mourning tour, to view their son while he’s still alive in Odile’s present. Edme––who is brilliant, funny, and the only person to truly see Odile––is about to die. Sworn to secrecy in order to preserve the timeline, Odile now becomes the Conseil’s top candidate, yet she finds herself drawing closer to the doomed boy, imperiling her entire future.]]> 290 Scott Alexander Howard 1668015471 Chrissy 0 to-read 3.86 2024 The Other Valley
author: Scott Alexander Howard
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Family Experiment 197108968 From the acclaimed author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and brilliant speculative thriller about families: real and virtual.

Some families are virtually perfect�

The world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.

But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality TV show called The Substitute. It will follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child, or risk it all for the chance of a real baby�

Set in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate Tamagotchi—a virtual baby.]]> 384 John Marrs 1335000364 Chrissy 0 to-read 4.01 2024 The Family Experiment
author: John Marrs
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA]]> 53479791 INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"Fast and thrilling . . . Life Undercover reads as if a John le Carré character landed in Eat Pray Love." - The New York Times

Amaryllis Fox's riveting memoir tells the story of her ten years in the most elite clandestine ops unit of the CIA, hunting the world's most dangerous terrorists in sixteen countries while marrying and giving birth to a daughter

Amaryllis Fox was in her last year as an undergraduate at Oxford studying theology and international law when her writing mentor Daniel Pearl was captured and beheaded. Galvanized by this brutality, Fox applied to a master's program in conflict and terrorism at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, where she created an algorithm that predicted, with uncanny certainty, the likelihood of a terrorist cell arising in any village around the world. At twenty-one, she was recruited by the CIA. Her first assignment was reading and analyzing hundreds of classified cables a day from foreign governments and synthesizing them into daily briefs for the president. Her next assignment was at the Iraq desk in the Counterterrorism center. At twenty-two, she was fast-tracked into advanced operations training, sent from Langley to the Farm, where she lived for six months in a simulated world learning how to use a Glock, how to get out of flexicuffs while locked in the trunk of a car, how to withstand torture, and the best ways to commit suicide in case of captivity. At the end of this training she was deployed as a spy under non-official cover--the most difficult and coveted job in the field as an art dealer specializing in tribal and indigenous art and sent to infiltrate terrorist networks in remote areas of the Middle East and Asia.

Life Undercover is exhilarating, intimate, fiercely intelligent--an impossible to put down record of an extraordinary life, and of Amaryllis Fox's astonishing courage and passion.]]> 240 Amaryllis Fox 052556408X Chrissy 5 4.03 2019 Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA
author: Amaryllis Fox
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/21
date added: 2024/10/24
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Kaiju Preservation Society]]> 57693406
What Tom doesn't tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They're the universe's largest and most dangerous panda and they're in trouble.

It's not just the Kaiju Preservation Society that's found its way to the alternate world. Others have, too--and their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.]]> 264 John Scalzi 0765389126 Chrissy 2 3.93 2022 The Kaiju Preservation Society
author: John Scalzi
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/06
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Flight of the Soiled Dove: A historical fiction love story]]> 195763182 338 Marilyn Toole Chrissy 4 4.00 Flight of the Soiled Dove: A historical fiction love story
author: Marilyn Toole
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves:
review:
A fast paced intriguing story. I couldn’t put it down. This seemed to be a very realistic portrayal of the difficulties of the time shown. The characters are all relatable and I found myself having sympathy for their struggles. The cultural norm at the time made it quite difficult for women. It really shows what marriage, family and class in late 1800s American was like. The story covers the whole life of the main character with many interesting historical details. Looking forward to more from this author!
]]> <![CDATA[The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear]]> 56237043
The horrific conditions inside the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, are overseen by Dr. Andrew McFarland, a man who will prove to be even more dangerous to Elizabeth than her traitorous husband. But most disturbing is that Elizabeth is not the only sane woman confined to the institution. There are many rational women on her ward who tell the same story: they've been committed not because they need medical treatment, but to keep them in line - conveniently labeled "crazy" so their voices are ignored.

No one is willing to fight for their freedom and, disenfranchised both by gender and the stigma of their supposed madness, they cannot possibly fight for themselves. But Elizabeth is about to discover that the merit of losing everything is that you then have nothing to lose...]]> 542 Kate Moore 1492696730 Chrissy 0 to-read 4.33 2021 The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear
author: Kate Moore
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Year of the Quiet Sun 6931416 252 Wilson Tucker 0441942008 Chrissy 2 3.67 1970 The Year of the Quiet Sun
author: Wilson Tucker
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1970
rating: 2
read at: 2024/03/17
date added: 2024/03/17
shelves:
review:
Painful read due to meandering, typical treatment of female characters and a lot of other nonsense. Just laughable how many times the female leads bathing suit was mentioned. I read it to see what kind of cool inventions a writer of the 70s would imagine for year 2000. This book did not deliver on that. Ending was decent. This was nominated for a Hugo which gives me hope as an aspiring writer. Bar is low.
]]> <![CDATA[The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer]]> 58677491 The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, singer-songwriter, actor, fashion icon, activist, and worldwide superstar Janelle Monáe brings to the written page the Afrofuturistic world of one of her critically acclaimed albums, exploring how different threads of liberation—queerness, race, gender plurality, and love—become tangled with future possibilities of memory and time in such a totalitarian landscape…and what the costs might be when trying to unravel and weave them into freedoms.

Whoever controls our memories controls the future.

Janelle Monáe and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Monáe such a compelling and celebrated storyteller. Dirty Computer introduced a world in which thoughts—as a means of self-conception—could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, A.I., or other, your life and sentience was dictated by those who’d convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate.

That was until Jane 57821 decided to remember and break free.

Expanding from that mythos, these stories fully explore what it’s like to live in such a totalitarian existence…and what it takes to get out of it. Building off the traditions of speculative writers such as Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, Becky Chambers, and Nnedi Okorafor—and filled with the artistic genius and powerful themes that have made Monáe a worldwide icon in the first place�The Memory Librarian serves readers tales grounded in the human trials of identity expression, technology, and love, but also reaching through to the worlds of memory and time within, and the stakes and power that exists there.]]> 321 Janelle Monáe 0063070871 Chrissy 0 to-read 3.75 2022 The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer
author: Janelle Monáe
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)]]> 32758901 "As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid--a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.� Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.]]> 144 Martha Wells Chrissy 4 4.11 2017 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)
author: Martha Wells
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/06
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet]]> 122851823 SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic are building fleets of space vehicles to make interplanetary travel as affordable as Old-World passage to America. We will settle on Mars, and with our knowledge of the planet, analyzed in depth by Dr. Zubrin, we will utilize the resources and tackle the challenges that await us. What we will we build? Populous Martian city-states producing air, water, food, power, and more. Zubrin’s Martian economy will pay for necessary imports and generate income from varied enterprises, such as real estate sales—homes that are airtight and protect against cosmic space radiation, with fish-farm aquariums positioned overhead, letting in sunlight and blocking cosmic rays while providing fascinating views. Zubrin even predicts the Red Planet customs, social relations, and government—of the people, by the people, for the people, with inalienable individual rights—that will overcome traditional forms of oppression to draw Earth immigrants. After all, Mars needs talent.
With all of this in place, Zubrin’s Red Planet will become a pressure cooker for invention, benefiting humans on Earth, Mars, and beyond. We can create this magnificent future, making life better, less fatalistic. The New World on Mars proves that there is no point killing each other over provinces and limited resources when, together, we can create planets.]]> 320 Robert Zubrin 1635768802 Chrissy 4 3.44 2024 The New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet
author: Robert Zubrin
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/26
date added: 2024/02/26
shelves:
review:
Zubrin’s made a career of envisioning humanity on Mars. The book is an exciting look at the science of creating a colony. He explains many important aspects of life on Earth too. I learned so much from this book. His take on the most dangerous thing humans can do will stick with me. Great read for enthusiasts and skeptics alike.
]]> <![CDATA[A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?]]> 125084292
Can you make babies in space? Should corporations govern space settlements? What about space war? Are we headed for a housing crisis on the Moon’s Peaks of Eternal Light—and what happens if you’re left in the Craters of Eternal Darkness? Why do astronauts love taco sauce? Speaking of meals, what’s the legal status of space cannibalism?

With deep expertise, a winning sense of humor, and art from the beloved creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, the Weinersmiths investigate perhaps the biggest questions humanity will ever ask itself—whether and how to become multiplanetary.

Get in, we’re going to Mars.]]> 448 Kelly Weinersmith 1984881736 Chrissy 0 to-read 4.04 2023 A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?
author: Kelly Weinersmith
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Full Body Presence: Learning to Listen to Your Body's Wisdom]]> 6895058
For over twenty-five years, Suzanne Scurlock-Durana has masterfully taught her step-by-step practice of present moment awareness through her own combination of bodywork and CranioSacral therapy. The practices of Full Body Presence help you find a deeper awareness in the moment, even in the midst of chaos, family and work demands, or the pressure to perform. This deeper awareness also brings a fuller sense of trust and confidence in yourself and in the world. Full Body Presence is filled with concrete, life-friendly explorations and instruction clearly presented in both the book and the free accompanying downloadable audio files.]]> 216 Suzanne Scurlock-Durana 1577318609 Chrissy 3 4.12 2010 Full Body Presence: Learning to Listen to Your Body's Wisdom
author: Suzanne Scurlock-Durana
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/14
date added: 2024/02/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines]]> 136342721 Fortune) explains how we’ve arrived at an era of AI harms and oppression, and what we can do to avoid its pitfalls.

“Dr. Joy Buolamwini has been an essential figure in bringing irresponsible, profit-hungry tech giants to their knees. If you’re going to read only one book about AI, this should be it.”—Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation

To most of us, it seems like recent developments in artificial intelligence emerged out of nowhere to pose unprecedented threats to humankind. But to Dr. Joy Buolamwini, who has been at the forefront of AI research, this moment has been a long time in the making.

After tinkering with robotics as a high school student in Memphis and then developing mobile apps in Zambia as a Fulbright fellow, Buolamwini followed her lifelong passion for computer science, engineering, and art to MIT in 2015. As a graduate student at the “Future Factory,� she did groundbreaking research that exposed widespread racial and gender bias in AI services from tech giants across the world.

Unmasking AI goes beyond the headlines about existential risks produced by Big Tech. It is the remarkable story of how Buolamwini uncovered what she calls “the coded gaze”—the evidence of encoded discrimination and exclusion in tech products—and how she galvanized the movement to prevent AI harms by founding the Algorithmic Justice League. Applying an intersectional lens to both the tech industry and the research sector, she shows how racism, sexism, colorism, and ableism can overlap and render broad swaths of humanity “excoded� and therefore vulnerable in a world rapidly adopting AI tools. Computers, she reminds us, are reflections of both the aspirations and the limitations of the people who create them.

Encouraging experts and non-experts alike to join this fight, Buolamwini writes, “The rising frontier for civil rights will require algorithmic justice. AI should be for the people and by the people, not just the privileged few.�]]> 336 Joy Buolamwini 0593241835 Chrissy 3 4.14 Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines
author: Joy Buolamwini
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.14
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/31
date added: 2024/01/31
shelves:
review:
This book is about the journey to fight injustice caused by a specific technology (face recognition). It’s not a detailed AI explainer or a non fiction book of solutions as I hoped. This memoir of the author’s experiences was a slog in the beginning but got better at the end. I definitely learned a few things about algorithm bias and the world of MIT phd candidates. Also, more of what we know about how hard it is to fight corporate greed.
]]> The Marriage Act 175740781 What if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey?

Britain. The near-future. A right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills � the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single.

But four couples are about to discover just how impossible relationships can be when the government is monitoring every aspect of our personal lives � monitoring every word, every minor disagreement � and will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honor and obey.]]> 496 John Marrs 1529071194 Chrissy 3
Liked: nothing in particular but it was a fast and easy read. Good pacing.

Ok: decent ending.

Annoying: so many characters. None believable.

Disliked: too damn long. It really explored this made up scenario in depth.

]]> 3.85 2023 The Marriage Act
author: John Marrs
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/19
date added: 2024/01/19
shelves:
review:
Like a modern day 1984. Still very unrealistic but interesting points were made.

Liked: nothing in particular but it was a fast and easy read. Good pacing.

Ok: decent ending.

Annoying: so many characters. None believable.

Disliked: too damn long. It really explored this made up scenario in depth.


]]> Slaughterhouse Five 1074901 215 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Chrissy 5 4.24 1969 Slaughterhouse Five
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1969
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/10
date added: 2024/01/10
shelves:
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]]> The Girl Who Was Plugged In 23574147 35 James Tiptree Jr. Chrissy 0 to-read 3.72 1973 The Girl Who Was Plugged In
author: James Tiptree Jr.
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1973
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle]]> 26026054
Depression. Anxiety. Chronic Pain. Phobias. Obsessive thoughts. The evidence is the roots of these difficulties may not reside in our immediate life experience or in chemical imbalances in our brains—but in the lives of our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. The latest scientific research, now making headlines, supports what many have long intuited—that traumatic experience can be passed down through generations. It Didn’t Start with You builds on the work of leading experts in post-traumatic stress, including Mount Sinai School of Medicine neuroscientist Rachel Yehuda and psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score . Even if the person who suffered the original trauma has died, or the story has been forgotten or silenced, memory and feelings can live on. These emotional legacies are often hidden, encoded in everything from gene expression to everyday language, and they play a far greater role in our emotional and physical health than has ever before been understood.

As a pioneer in the field of inherited family trauma, Mark Wolynn has worked with individuals and groups on a therapeutic level for over twenty years. It Didn’t Start with You offers a pragmatic and prescriptive guide to his method, the Core Language Approach. Diagnostic self-inventories provide a way to uncover the fears and anxieties conveyed through everyday words, behaviors, and physical symptoms. Techniques for developing a genogram or extended family tree create a map of experiences going back through the generations. And visualization, active imagination, and direct dialogue create pathways to reconnection, integration, and reclaiming life and health. It Didn’t Start With You is a transformative approach to resolving longstanding difficulties that in many cases, traditional therapy, drugs, or other interventions have not had the capacity to touch.]]> 256 Mark Wolynn 1101980362 Chrissy 0 to-read 3.45 2016 It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle
author: Mark Wolynn
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human]]> 8574712 384 V.S. Ramachandran 0393077829 Chrissy 0 to-read 4.14 2010 The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human
author: V.S. Ramachandran
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> Breakfast of Champions 4980 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

In Breakfast of Champions, one of Kurt Vonnegut’s most beloved characters, the aging writer Kilgore Trout, finds to his horror that a Midwest car dealer is taking his fiction as truth. What follows is murderously funny satire, as Vonnegut looks at war, sex, racism, success, politics, and pollution in America and reminds us how to see the truth.]]> 303 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385334206 Chrissy 4 4.08 1973 Breakfast of Champions
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1973
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/06
date added: 2024/01/06
shelves:
review:
The most unhinged yet comprehensible meta story you’ll ever read. It was deep and somewhat autobiographical. Laughed out loud many times. Time for a full on Vonnegut binge.
]]> 2312 11830394
The first event takes place on Mercury, on the city of Terminator, itself a miracle of engineering on an unprecedented scale. It is an unexpected death, but one that might have been foreseen. For Swan Er Hong, it is an event that will change her life. Swan was once a woman who designed worlds. Now she will be led into a plot to destroy them.]]> 561 Kim Stanley Robinson 0316098124 Chrissy 0 to-read 3.50 2012 2312
author: Kim Stanley Robinson
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1) 6088007 Neuromancer is a cyberpunk, science fiction masterpiece—a classic that ranks with 1984 and Brave New World as one of the twentieth century’s most potent visions of the future.

The Matrix is a world within the world, a global consensus-hallucination, the representation of every byte of data in cyberspace...

Henry Dorsett Case was the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employees crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.

The winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer was the first fully-realized glimpse of humankind’s digital future—a shocking vision that has challenged our assumptions about our technology and ourselves, reinvented the way we speak and think, and forever altered the landscape of our imaginations.]]> 288 William Gibson 110114646X Chrissy 0 to-read 3.94 1984 Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1)
author: William Gibson
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lifecycle of Software Objects]]> 7886338
The first approach has been tried many times in both science fiction and reality. In this new novella, at over 30,000 words, his longest work to date, Ted Chiang offers a detailed imagining of how the second approach might work within the contemporary landscape of startup companies, massively-multiplayer online gaming, and open-source software. It's a story of two people and the artificial intelligences they helped create, following them for more than a decade as they deal with the upgrades and obsolescence that are inevitable in the world of software. At the same time, it's an examination of the difference between processing power and intelligence, and of what it means to have a real relationship with an artificial entity.

]]> 150 Ted Chiang 1596063173 Chrissy 0 to-read 3.92 2010 The Lifecycle of Software Objects
author: Ted Chiang
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Strange New Things]]> 20697435
It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter's teachings—his Bible is their "book of strange new things." But Peter is rattled when Bea's letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea's faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter.

Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival. Their trials lay bare a profound meditation on faith, love tested beyond endurance, and our responsibility to those closest to us.

Marked by the same bravura storytelling and precise language that made The Crimson Petal and the White such an international success, The Book of Strange New Things is extraordinary, mesmerizing, and replete with emotional complexity and genuine pathos.]]> 500 Michel Faber 055341884X Chrissy 0 to-read 3.65 2014 The Book of Strange New Things
author: Michel Faber
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Autonomous 28209634 Autonomous features a rakish female pharmaceutical pirate named Jack who traverses the world in her own submarine. A notorious anti-patent scientist who has styled herself as a Robin Hood heroine fighting to bring cheap drugs to the poor, Jack’s latest drug is leaving a trail of lethal overdoses across what used to be North America—a drug that compels people to become addicted to their work.

On Jack’s trail are an unlikely pair: an emotionally shut-down military agent and his partner, Paladin, a young military robot, who fall in love against all expectations. Autonomous alternates between the activities of Jack and her co-conspirators, and Elias and Paladin, as they all race to stop a bizarre drug epidemic that is tearing apart lives, causing trains to crash, and flooding New York City.]]> 303 Annalee Newitz 0765392070 Chrissy 0 to-read 3.52 2017 Autonomous
author: Annalee Newitz
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> To Be Taught, If Fortunate 43190272
Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does.

Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home.

Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky's first audiobook outside of the Wayfarers series is sure to capture the imagination of listeners all over the world.]]> 153 Becky Chambers 0062936018 Chrissy 0 to-read 4.19 2019 To Be Taught, If Fortunate
author: Becky Chambers
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Valkyries 133386685 224 Paulo Coelho Chrissy 3 3.00 1988 The Valkyries
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/31
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> The Deep Sky 61884842 Yume Kitasei's The Deep Sky is an enthralling sci fi thriller debut about a mission into deep space that begins with a lethal explosion that leaves the survivors questioning the loyalty of the crew.

They left Earth to save humanity. They’ll have to save themselves first.

It is the eve of Earth’s environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity’s last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect.

Asuka already felt like an impostor before the explosion. She was the last picked for the mission, she struggled during training back on Earth, and she was chosen to represent Japan, a country she only partly knows as a half-Japanese girl raised in America. But estranged from her mother back home, The Phoenix is all she has left.

With the crew turning on each other, Asuka is determined to find the culprit before they all lose faith in the mission—or worse, the bomber strikes again.

---

Content warnings are available at the author's website (see author bio).]]> 399 Yume Kitasei 1250875331 Chrissy 3 Impressed this is a debut. Would read a sequel. ]]> 3.66 2023 The Deep Sky
author: Yume Kitasei
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/27
date added: 2023/12/27
shelves:
review:
First half was good. The premise is interesting. All female crew on a one way trip to another planet. The murder mystery I could do without. The continued issues seemed too forced. Something about reading AR descriptions is similar to hearing about dreams. A short summary will suffice.
Impressed this is a debut. Would read a sequel.
]]> The Power 91177121
In The Power , the world is a recognizable place: there's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family.

But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power: they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets. From award-winning author Naomi Alderman, The Power is speculative fiction at its most ambitious and provocative, at once taking us on a thrilling journey to an alternate reality, and exposing our own world in bold and surprising ways.

"Captivating, fierce, and unsettling...I was riveted by every page. Alderman's prose is immersive and, well, electric."� New York Times Book Review]]> 400 Naomi Alderman 0316570605 Chrissy 4 Dislike: all the characters, the depictions of violence, cheesy powers
Loved: how this was a v different commentary on gender and how we view the past ]]> 3.48 2016 The Power
author: Naomi Alderman
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/20
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves:
review:
Liked: overall premise, structure, use of unique story telling techniques
Dislike: all the characters, the depictions of violence, cheesy powers
Loved: how this was a v different commentary on gender and how we view the past
]]> <![CDATA[Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism]]> 55338982
What makes “cults� so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .

Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.� But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day.

Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,� revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish� everywhere.]]> 309 Amanda Montell 0062993151 Chrissy 0 to-read 3.82 2021 Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism
author: Amanda Montell
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World]]> 40876575 Universal basic income. A 15-hour workweek. Open borders. Does it sound too good to be true? One of Europe's leading young thinkers shows how we can build an ideal world today.

After working all day at jobs we often dislike, we buy things we don't need. Rutger Bregman, a Dutch historian, reminds us it needn't be this way—and in some places it isn't. Rutger Bregman's TED Talk about universal basic income seemed impossibly radical when he delivered it in 2014. A quarter of a million views later, the subject of that video is being seriously considered by leading economists and government leaders the world over. It's just one of the many utopian ideas that Bregman proves is possible today.

Utopia for Realists is one of those rare books that takes you by surprise and challenges what you think can happen. From a Canadian city that once completely eradicated poverty, to Richard Nixon's near implementation of a basic income for millions of Americans, Bregman takes us on a journey through history, and beyond the traditional left-right divides, as he champions ideas whose time have come.

Every progressive milestone of civilization—from the end of slavery to the beginning of democracy—was once considered a utopian fantasy. Bregman's book, both challenging and bracing, demonstrates that new utopian ideas, like the elimination of poverty and the creation of the fifteen-hour workweek, can become a reality in our lifetime. Being unrealistic and unreasonable can in fact make the impossible inevitable, and it is the only way to build the ideal world.]]> 262 Rutger Bregman 0316471909 Chrissy 4 4.24 2014 Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World
author: Rutger Bregman
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/18
date added: 2023/12/18
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Really interesting and well thought out ideas. I learned so much from this and hope more people read it.
]]> The Future 123163147 The bestselling, award-winning author ofThe Power deliversa dazzling tour de forcewherea handful of friendsplota daring heist to save the world from the tech giants whose greed threatens life as we know it.

When Martha Einkorn fled her father’s isolated compound in Oregon, she never expected to find herself working for a powerful social media mogul hell-bent on controlling everything. Now she’s surrounded by mega-rich companies designing private weather, predictive analytics, and covert weaponry, while spouting technological prophecy. Martha may have left the cult, but if the apocalyptic warnings in her father’s fox and rabbit sermon—once a parable to her—are starting to come true, how much future is actually left?

Across the world, in a mall in Singapore, Lai Zhen, an internet-famous survivalist, flees from an assassin. She’s cornered, desperate and—worst of all—might die without ever knowing what's going on. Suddenly, a remarkable piece of software appears on her phone telling her exactly how to escape. Who made it? What is it really for? And if those behind it can save her from danger, what do they want from her, and what else do they know about the future?

Martha and Zhen’s worlds are about to collide. An explosive chain of events is set in motion. While a few billionaires assured of their own safety lead the world to destruction, Martha’s relentless drive and Zhen’s insatiable curiosity could lead to something beautiful or the cataclysmic end of civilization.]]> 432 Naomi Alderman 166802568X Chrissy 5 3.82 2023 The Future
author: Naomi Alderman
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/13
date added: 2023/12/13
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Phenomenal. The ideas in this book will stay with me. Excellent story telling. Original structure. Brilliant plot line. Convincing characters. Realistic future and believable tech. Everything I could want in a sci fi book and more. And it even made me want to read the bible. Have patience with the plot, the payoff is there.
]]> <![CDATA[There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness: And Other Thoughts on Physics, Philosophy and the World]]> 90588420 A delightful intellectual feast from the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, The Order of Time, and Anaximander

One of the world's most prominent physicists and fearless free spirit, Carlo Rovelli is also a masterful storyteller. His bestselling books have introduced millions of readers to the wonders of modern physics and his singular perspective on the cosmos. This new collection of essays reveals a curious intellect always on the move. Rovelli invites us on an accessible and enlightening voyage through science, literature, philosophy, and politics.

Written with his usual clarity and wit, this journey ranges widely across time and space: from Newton's alchemy to Einstein's mistakes, from Nabokov's lepidopterology to Dante's cosmology, from mind-altering psychedelic substances to the meaning of atheism, from the future of physics to the power of uncertainty. Charming, pithy, and elegant, this book is the perfect gateway to the universe of one of the most influential minds of our age.]]> 288 Carlo Rovelli 0593192168 Chrissy 4 3.85 2018 There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness: And Other Thoughts on Physics, Philosophy and the World
author: Carlo Rovelli
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2023/12/10
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]]> Kings of a Dead World 55833930
Inside a hibernating city, Ben struggles with his limited waking time and the disease stealing his wife from him. Watching over the sleepers, lonely janitor Peruzzi craves the family he never knew.

Everywhere, dissatisfaction is growing.

And the city is about to wake . . .]]> 352 Jamie Mollart 1913207455 Chrissy 2 I’m seeing a trend where the beginning of books are introduced and then do not deliver. Here is a good example. ]]> 3.55 2021 Kings of a Dead World
author: Jamie Mollart
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/06
date added: 2023/12/06
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Decent concept minus how completely unbelievable it is. This book was 40% longer than it needed to be. Still many unanswered questions at the end. Most scenes were excruciatingly boring with unnecessary details. Predictable. Hunger games type dystopia that decides to explain some parts but not all. Frustrating. Once again the female characters only exist for plot and have no personality traits. I also wondered if a teenage boy wrote many of these ridiculous battle scenes.
I’m seeing a trend where the beginning of books are introduced and then do not deliver. Here is a good example.
]]> Night Will Find You 61884843
When she was ten, Vivvy Bouchet saved a boy’s life by making an impossible prediction. Ever since, she has been in a life-long battle between the urgent voices in her head and the science she loves. Now a brilliant young astrophysicist, she wants nothing more than to be left alone with the stars in the Big Bend country of Texas.

But the boy she saved, now a Fort Worth cop, has always believed she is psychic—even though she won’t say that word out loud. He is begging her to help solve the high-profile cold case of a little girl who disappeared in broad daylight from the kitchen of her old Victorian house. A body was never found, and her mother sits in prison still loudly proclaiming her innocence. Vivvy reluctantly agrees to try.

When a popular Texas conspiracy theorist podcaster named Bubba Guns finds out about her involvement, he spews conspiracy theories about the case and muddled truths about Vivvy’s murky past. As his listeners spin dangerously out of control, and with her career and the people she loves on the line, Vivvy decides to fight back.

This sharply observed psychological thriller from the acclaimed, bestselling author Julia Heaberlin explores the insidious nature of conspiracy theories and our urge to believe them—especially when it comes to sensationalized cases.]]> 368 Julia Heaberlin 1250877075 Chrissy 3 3.91 2023 Night Will Find You
author: Julia Heaberlin
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/04
date added: 2023/12/04
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Loved the main character and the play on science vs the mystical. The two can coexist. The mystery was interesting but started to drag on at the end. Some of it pretty cliche. But good writing and real page turner.
]]> Aurora 58984660 Cold Storage comes a riveting, eerily plausible thriller, told with the menace and flair of Under the Dome or Project Hail Mary, in which a worldwide cataclysm plays out in the lives of one complicated Midwestern family.

In Aurora, Illinois, Aubrey Wheeler is just trying to get by after her semi-criminal ex-husband split, leaving behind his unruly teenage son.

Then the lights go out--not just in Aurora but across the globe. A solar storm has knocked out power almost everywhere. Suddenly, all problems are local, very local, and Aubrey must assume the mantle of fierce protector of her suburban neighborhood.

Across the country lives Aubrey's estranged brother, Thom. A fantastically wealthy, neurotically over-prepared Silicon Valley CEO, he plans to ride out the crisis in a gilded desert bunker he built for maximum comfort and security.

But the complicated history between the siblings is far from over, and what feels like the end of the world is just the beginning of several long-overdue reckonings--which not everyone will survive . . .

Aurora is suspenseful storytelling--both large scale and small--at its finest.]]> 289 David Koepp 0062916475 Chrissy 3 3.71 2022 Aurora
author: David Koepp
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/02
date added: 2023/12/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 665 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Chrissy 0 to-read 4.56 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)]]> 7235533 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, book one of The Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.]]> 1007 Brandon Sanderson 0765326353 Chrissy 0 to-read 4.66 2010 The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> January Fifteenth 58724591 “One of the best speculative writers of the last decade.”—John Scalzi

January Fifteenth—the day all Americans receive their annual Universal Basic Income payment.

For Hannah, a middle-aged mother, today is the anniversary of the day she took her two children and fled her abusive ex-wife.

For Janelle, a young, broke journalist, today is another mind-numbing day interviewing passersby about the very policy she once opposed.

For Olivia, a wealthy college freshman, today is “Waste Day�, when rich kids across the country compete to see who can most obscenely squander the government’s money.

For Sarah, a pregnant teen, today is the day she’ll journey alongside her sister-wives to pick up the payment­­s that undergird their community—and perhaps embark on a new journey altogether.

In this near-future science fiction novella by Nebula Award-winning author Rachel Swirsky, the fifteenth of January is another day of the status quo, and another chance at making lasting change.]]> 240 Rachel Swirsky 1250198941 Chrissy 2 3.35 2022 January Fifteenth
author: Rachel Swirsky
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/10/25
date added: 2023/10/25
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]]> Reasons to Stay Alive 28513813 Reasons to Stay Alive is about making the most of your time on earth. In the western world the suicide rate is highest amongst men under the age of 35. Matt Haig could have added to that statistic when, aged 24, he found himself staring at a cliff-edge about to jump off. This is the story of why he didn't, how he recovered and learned to live with anxiety and depression. It's also an upbeat, joyous and very funny exploration of how live better, love better, read better and feel more.]]> 259 Matt Haig 1782116826 Chrissy 3 4.16 2015 Reasons to Stay Alive
author: Matt Haig
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/01
date added: 2023/10/01
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]]> Stop-Time 103638 288 Frank Conroy 0140044469 Chrissy 3 3.94 1967 Stop-Time
author: Frank Conroy
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1967
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/27
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves:
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Author has an amazing ability to paint a picture in your mind. After reading some of the earlier chapters I really felt like I visited the scenes he wrote about. He describes the magic of childhood and how it goes away very clearly. His memory is super impressive and it made me think about my own ability to describe recollections. Made me wonder if he a reliable narrator? Is some of this made up? Towards the middle teenager years it gets boring and pointless. (Just like real life?) I enjoyed learning about the past from his stories, like how people made money and what they did all day. Interesting how absolutely nothing political was discussed, which is pretty much all you typically hear about from that time period. His ability to connect on a human level seemed really limited. After seeing how he selfishly he interacts with people in his life, I definitely dislike him as a person. Also it’s frightening how normalized the terrible treatment of women was. This book became extremely famous for good writing and realism. Very cringe when you see how he objectifies and discards any female he meets.
]]> <![CDATA[Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery]]> 13330465 Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home offers an intriguing new assessment of modern day science that will radically change the way we view what is possible.

In Science Set Free (originally published to acclaim in the UK as The Science Delusion), Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, one of the world's most innovative scientists, shows the ways in which science is being constricted by assumptions that have, over the years, hardened into dogmas. Such dogmas are not only limiting, but dangerous for the future of humanity.

According to these principles, all of reality is material or physical; the world is a machine, made up of inanimate matter; nature is purposeless; consciousness is nothing but the physical activity of the brain; free will is an illusion; God exists only as an idea in human minds, imprisoned within our skulls.

But should science be a belief-system, or a method of enquiry? Sheldrake shows that the materialist ideology is moribund; under its sway, increasingly expensive research is reaping diminishing returns while societies around the world are paying the price.
In the skeptical spirit of true science, Sheldrake turns the ten fundamental dogmas of materialism into exciting questions, and shows how all of them open up startling new possibilities for discovery.

Science Set Free will radically change your view of what is real and what is possible.]]> 400 Rupert Sheldrake 0770436706 Chrissy 3 4.14 2012 Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery
author: Rupert Sheldrake
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/24
date added: 2023/09/24
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]]> One of the Boys 63083744 A mother knows best... Doesn't she?

Antonia and Bea are sisters. They are both doting mothers to their sons. But that is where their similarities end.
Antonia had her son tested at an early age to ensure her little angel did not possess the 'violent' M gene.
Bea refuses to let her son take the test. His life should not be determined by a positive or negative result.
Both of these women will go to any length to protect their sons.
But one of them is hiding a monster.
And there are going to be fatal consequences for everybody...]]> 400 Jayne Cowie 0593336801 Chrissy 4 3.75 2023 One of the Boys
author: Jayne Cowie
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/19
date added: 2023/09/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Rosewater (The Wormwood Trilogy, #1)]]> 38362809 Tade Thompson's Rosewater is the start of an award-winning, cutting edge trilogy set in Nigeria, by one of science fiction's most engaging new voices.

Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, its residents comprise the hopeful, the hungry and the helpless—people eager for a glimpse inside the dome or a taste of its rumored healing powers.

Kaaro is a government agent with a criminal past. He has seen inside the biodome, and doesn't care to again—but when something begins killing off others like himself, Kaaro must defy his masters to search for an answer, facing his dark history and coming to a realization about a horrifying future.]]> 432 Tade Thompson 0316449059 Chrissy 3 3.71 2017 Rosewater (The Wormwood Trilogy, #1)
author: Tade Thompson
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/18
date added: 2023/09/18
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]]> Axiom's End (Noumena, #1) 51171377
It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government—and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him—until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.

Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human—and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.]]> 384 Lindsay Ellis 1250256739 Chrissy 3 3.68 2020 Axiom's End (Noumena, #1)
author: Lindsay Ellis
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/28
date added: 2023/08/28
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]]> <![CDATA[An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (The Carls, #1)]]> 24233708 343 Hank Green 1524743453 Chrissy 4 4.05 2018 An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (The Carls, #1)
author: Hank Green
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/24
date added: 2023/08/24
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]]> Upgrade 59838811 You are the next step in human evolution.

At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.

But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways.

The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.

Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.

Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.

And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help wondering: what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.]]> 352 Blake Crouch 0593157532 Chrissy 3 3.77 2022 Upgrade
author: Blake Crouch
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/19
date added: 2023/08/19
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]]> Camp Zero 61273342 In a near-future northern settlement, a handful of climate change survivors find their fates intertwined in this mesmerizing and transportive novel in the vein of Station Eleven and The Power.

In the far north of Canada sits Camp Zero, an American building project hiding many secrets.

Desperate to help her climate-displaced Korean immigrant mother, Rose agrees to travel to Camp Zero and spy on its architect in exchange for housing. She arrives at the same time as another newcomer, a college professor named Grant who is determined to flee his wealthy family’s dark legacy. Gradually, they realize that there is more to the architect than previously thought, and a disturbing mystery lurks beneath the surface of the camp. At the same time, rumors abound of an elite group of women soldiers living and working at a nearby Cold War-era climate research station. What are they doing there? And who is leading them?

An electrifying page-turner where nothing is as it seems, Camp Zero cleverly explores how the intersection of gender, class, and migration will impact who and what will survive in a warming world.]]> 304 Michelle Min Sterling 1668007568 Chrissy 2 3.18 2023 Camp Zero
author: Michelle Min Sterling
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/08/11
date added: 2023/08/15
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]]> <![CDATA[The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology]]> 60784561
Imagine a world where your brain can be interrogated to learn your political beliefs, your thoughts can be used as evidence of a crime, and your own feelings can be held against you. A world where people who suffer from epilepsy receive alerts moments before a seizure, and the average person can peer into their own mind to eliminate painful memories or cure addictions.

Neuroscience has already made all of this possible today, and neurotechnology will soon become the “universal controller� for all of our interactions with technology. This can benefit humanity immensely, but without safeguards, it can seriously threaten our fundamental human rights to privacy, freedom of thought, and self-determination.

From one of the world’s foremost experts on the ethics of neuroscience, The Battle for Your Brain offers a path forward to navigate the complex legal and ethical dilemmas that will fundamentally impact our freedom to understand, shape, and define ourselves.]]> 288 Nita A. Farahany 1250272955 Chrissy 3 3.81 2023 The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology
author: Nita A. Farahany
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/28
date added: 2023/07/28
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]]> Insomnia 58587864
Emma Averell loves her life—her high-powered legal career, her two beautiful children, and her wonderful stay-at-home husband—but it wasn’t always so perfect. When she was just five years old, Emma and her older sister went into foster care because of a horrific incident with their mother. Her sister can remember a time when their mother was loving and “normal,� but Emma can only remember her as one thing—a monster. And that monster emerged right around their mother’s fortieth birthday, the same age Emma is approaching now.

Emma desperately wants to keep her successful life separate from her past, so she has always hidden her childhood trauma. But then she’s unable to sleep, and now losing time during the day, also one of the first symptoms her mother showed. Is the madness in her blood, just as her mother predicted? Could she end up hurting her family in her foggy, frenetic state? Or is she truly beginning to lose her mind?]]> 336 Sarah Pinborough Chrissy 0 to-read 3.65 2022 Insomnia
author: Sarah Pinborough
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ocean at the End of the Lane]]> 27161228
“Fantasy of the very best.� Wall Street Journal

A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse where she once lived, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

A groundbreaking work as delicate as a butterfly’s wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out.

“[Gaiman’s] mind is a dark fathomless ocean, and every time I sink into it, this world fades, replaced by one far more terrible and beautiful in which I will happily drown.� New York Times Book Review]]> 241 Neil Gaiman 0062459368 Chrissy 4 4.14 2013 The Ocean at the End of the Lane
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/05
date added: 2023/07/05
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]]> The Sirens of Titan 304752 The Sirens of Titan is an outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course there� s a catch to the invitation–and a prophetic vision about the purpose of human life that only Vonnegut has the courage to tell.]]> 336 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385333498 Chrissy 4 4.16 1959 The Sirens of Titan
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/28
date added: 2023/06/28
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]]> Artemis 34928122
Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.]]> 305 Andy Weir 0553448129 Chrissy 4 3.66 2017 Artemis
author: Andy Weir
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/16
date added: 2023/06/16
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]]> Eastern Standard Tribe 36475623 A comedy of loyalty, betrayal, sex, madness, and music-swapping
Art is an up-and-coming interface designer, working on the management of data flow along the Massachusetts Turnpike. He's doing the best work of his career and can guarantee that the system will be, without a question, the most counterintuitive, user-hostile piece of software ever pushed forth onto the world.

Why? Because Art is an industrial saboteur. He may live in London and work for an EU telecommunications megacorp, but Art's real home is the Eastern Standard Tribe.

Instant wireless communication puts everyone in touch with everyone else, twenty-four hours a day. But one thing hasn't changed: the need for sleep. The world is slowly splintering into Tribes held together by a common time zone, less than family and more than nations. Art is working to humiliate the Greenwich Mean Tribe to the benefit of his own people. But in a world without boundaries, nothing can be taken for granted-not happiness, not money, and most certainly not love.

Which might explain why Art finds himself stranded on the roof of an insane asylum outside Boston, debating whether to push a pencil into his brain....


At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

]]> 256 Cory Doctorow 1250196418 Chrissy 4 3.38 2004 Eastern Standard Tribe
author: Cory Doctorow
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/14
date added: 2023/06/14
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review:
Super smooth and fun read. Love stories like this that get to the point and develop quickly. Very soft scifi. Takes place in an alternate future of some kind but that’s not the main purpose of the story. The time zone tribe added some interesting elements to the book.
]]> Ubik 12346742 Time

Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in “half-life,� a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter’s face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time. As consumables deteriorate and technology gets ever more primitive, the group needs to find out what is causing the shifts and what a mysterious product called Ubik has to do with it all.

“More brilliant than similar experiments conducted by Pynchon or DeLillo.”—Roberto Bolaño]]> 227 Philip K. Dick 0547572298 Chrissy 2 4.10 1969 Ubik
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1969
rating: 2
read at: 2023/06/12
date added: 2023/06/13
shelves:
review:
Interesting concept and I wish it was written by someone different. The plot points revolved around using paper money, boss- worshiping, cigarette smoking, tv ads and finding wired phones to reach someone. Yet this is a futuristic society with lunar colonies and acceptance of psychic powers. This was written in 1969 to take place in 1990s. It’s understandable that it’s hard to predict exact tech advancement but just erks me that PKD really over indexed on the office culture revolving around a male all-knowing boss doing “business�. Women characters exist based on their looks and place as a wife. Decent ending but its was a tortured confusing read. Not sure why this author still gets so much cred.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)]]> 58725681 here and here

A beautifully illustrated edition of the New York Times bestselling classic, timed to celebrate the pivotal 42nd anniversary of the original publication--with never-before-seen illustrations by award winner Chris Riddell

Seconds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together, this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by a galaxyful of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian (formerly Tricia McMillan), Zaphod's girlfriend, whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; and Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he's bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? For all the answers, stick your thumb to the stars!]]> 195 Douglas Adams 0345418913 Chrissy 3 3.89 1979 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1979
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/09
date added: 2023/06/09
shelves:
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]]> Project Hail Mary 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Chrissy 5 4.49 2021 Project Hail Mary
author: Andy Weir
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/06
date added: 2023/06/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)]]> 27833542
It’s every novelist’s greatest pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into writing hundreds of pages only to realize that their story has no sense of urgency, no internal logic, and so is a page one rewrite.

The prevailing wisdom in the writing community is that there are just two ways around this pantsing (winging it) and plotting (focusing on the external plot). Story coach Lisa Cron has spent her career discovering why these methods don’t work and coming up with a powerful alternative, based on the science behind what our brains are wired to crave in every story we read (and it’s not what you think).

In Story Genius Cron takes you, step-by-step, through the creation of a novel from the first glimmer of an idea, to a complete multilayered blueprint—including fully realized scenes—that evolves into a first draft with the authority, richness, and command of a riveting sixth or seventh draft.]]> 288 Lisa Cron 1607748908 Chrissy 2 4.17 2016 Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)
author: Lisa Cron
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2023/05/31
date added: 2023/05/31
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed]]> 475 Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: How can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide?

In his million-copy bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond examined how and why Western civilizations developed the technologies and immunities that allowed them to dominate much of the world. Now in this brilliant companion volume, Diamond probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to collapse into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates?

As in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of fascinating historical-cultural narratives. Moving from the Polynesian cultures on Easter Island to the flourishing American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya and finally to the doomed Viking colony on Greenland, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe. Environmental damage, climate change, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of these societies, but other societies found solutions and persisted. Similar problems face us today and have already brought disaster to Rwanda and Haiti, even as China and Australia are trying to cope in innovative ways. Despite our own society's apparently inexhaustible wealth and unrivaled political power, ominous warning signs have begun to emerge even in ecologically robust areas like Montana.

Brilliant, illuminating, and immensely absorbing, Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: How can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide?]]> 608 Jared Diamond 0143036556 Chrissy 4 3.93 2004 Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
author: Jared Diamond
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/26
date added: 2023/05/26
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know]]> 55539565 Think Again is a book about the benefit of doubt, and about how we can get better at embracing the unknown and the joy of being wrong. Evidence has shown that creative geniuses are not attached to one identity, but constantly willing to rethink their stances and that leaders who admit they don't know something and seek critical feedback lead more productive and innovative teams.

New evidence shows us that as a mindset and a skilllset, rethinking can be taught and Grant explains how to develop the necessary qualities to do it. Section 1 explores why we struggle to think again and how we can learn to do it as individuals, arguing that 'grit' alone can actually be counterproductive. Section 2 discusses how we can help others think again through learning about 'argument literacy'. And the final section 3 looks at how schools, businesses and governments fall short in building cultures that encourage rethinking.

In the end, learning to rethink may be the secret skill to give you the edge in a world changing faster than ever.]]> 307 Adam M. Grant 1984878107 Chrissy 3 4.12 2021 Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know
author: Adam M. Grant
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/04
date added: 2023/05/06
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]]> <![CDATA[StarGates : Essays on Astrology, Symbolism and the Synchronistic Universe]]> 56064665 347 Ray Grasse Chrissy 4 4.18 StarGates : Essays on Astrology, Symbolism and the Synchronistic Universe
author: Ray Grasse
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/29
date added: 2023/04/29
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]]> <![CDATA[One Mind: How Our Individual Mind Is Part of a Greater Consciousness and Why It Matters]]> 17381613 339 Larry Dossey 1401943152 Chrissy 4 4.10 2013 One Mind: How Our Individual Mind Is Part of a Greater Consciousness and Why It Matters
author: Larry Dossey
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/15
date added: 2023/04/18
shelves:
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]]> The Kraken Wakes 58502727 What if aliens invaded and colonized Earth's oceans rather than its land?

Britain, 1953: It begins with red dots appearing across the sky and crashing to the oceans' deeps. At first, many people believe that these aliens are interested in only what's down below. But when the polar ice-caps begin to melt, it becomes clear that these beings are not interested in sharing the Earth and that humankind might just be on the brink of extinction. . . .]]> 239 John Wyndham 0593450108 Chrissy 3 Dislikes: boring, slow, every character, how women are portrayed in old scifi novels
Funny: how clearly in the 1950s journalists were paid to spin all stories and now 70 yrs later people still trust the news]]> 3.69 1953 The Kraken Wakes
author: John Wyndham
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1953
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/31
date added: 2023/04/01
shelves:
review:
Like: premise, very creative take on invasion, seemingly realistic view of how politics and fear of looking bad could doom humanity
Dislikes: boring, slow, every character, how women are portrayed in old scifi novels
Funny: how clearly in the 1950s journalists were paid to spin all stories and now 70 yrs later people still trust the news
]]> <![CDATA[Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)]]> 33998338
The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one anotioner, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers--they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding--but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.]]> 197 Jeff VanderMeer 0374537151 Chrissy 4 3.63 2014 Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/28
date added: 2023/03/28
shelves:
review:
Liked the pace of this book. Good writing and interesting story. I wont read the sequels but did enjoy this one. I already saw the movie but can’t remember how different it is. Likely helped w some of how I imagined what was being described.
]]> <![CDATA[The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are]]> 51007395
Đưa người đọc chìm đắm vào bầu không khí chiêm nghiệm triết học và tìm ra trong các triết thuyết c� xưa những điểm nhìn cách mạng và hiện đại, Alan Watts đã trình bày con đường nhận thức mang tính tâm lý học của riêng ông v� chân tướng của cái cảm thức mơ h� gọi là tôi, mà trên thực t� chính là cội nguồn và căn gốc của Vũ tr�.]]> 163 Alan W. Watts Chrissy 3 4.05 1966 The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
author: Alan W. Watts
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1966
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/26
date added: 2023/03/26
shelves:
review:
Really like the concept. The writing wasn’t too welcoming and it didn’t really explain what to do w this great information. Calls us out and leaves us hanging.
]]> <![CDATA[Read People Like a Book: How to Analyze, Understand, and Predict People’s Emotions, Thoughts, Intentions, and Behaviors]]> 56199402 Speed read people, decipher body language, detect lies, and understand human nature.Is it possible to analyze people without them saying a word? Yes, it is. Learn how to become a “mind reader� and forge deep connections.How to get inside people’s heads without them knowing.Read People Like a Book isn’t a normal book on body language of facial expressions. Yes, it includes all of those things, as well as new techniques on how to truly detect lies in your everyday life, but this book is more about understanding human psychology and nature. We are who we are because of our experiences and pasts, and this guides our habits and behaviors more than anything else. Parts of this book read like the most interesting and applicable psychology textbook you’ve ever read. Take a look inside yourself and others!Understand the subtle signals that you are sending out and increase your emotional intelligence.Patrick King is an internationally bestselling author and social skills coach. His writing draws of a variety of sources, from scientific research, academic experience, coaching, and real life experience.Learn the keys to influencing and persuading others.•What people’s limbs can tell us about their emotions.�Why lie detecting isn’t so reliable when ignoring context.•Diagnosing personality as a means to understanding motivation.�Deducing the most with the least amount of information.•Exactly the kinds of eye contact to use and avoidFind shortcuts to connect quickly and deeply with strangers.The art of reading and analyzing people is truly the art of understanding human nature. Consider it like a cheat code that will allow you to see through people’s actions and words.Decode people’s thoughts and intentions, and you can go in any direction you want with them.]]> 277 Patrick King Chrissy 3 3.44 Read People Like a Book: How to Analyze, Understand, and Predict People’s Emotions, Thoughts, Intentions, and Behaviors
author: Patrick King
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.44
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/22
date added: 2023/03/22
shelves:
review:
Not sure if I just read an outline or a book but there were definitely some good tips in here I prob will use.
]]> <![CDATA[The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth]]> 18893417 The Road Less Traveled. With sales of more than seven million copies in the United States and Canada, and translations into more than twenty-three languages, it has made publishing history, with more than ten years on the New York Times bestseller list.

Now, with a new Introduction by the author, written especially for this twenty-fifth anniversary deluxe trade paperback edition of the all-time national bestseller in its field, M. Scott Peck explains the ideas that shaped this book and that continue to influence an ever-growing audience of readers.

Written in a voice that is timeless in its message of understanding, The Road Less Traveled continues to help us explore the very nature of loving relationships and leads us toward a new serenity and fullness of life. It helps us learn how to distinguish dependency from love; how to become a more sensitive parent; and ultimately how to become one's own true self.

Recognizing that, as in the famous opening line of his book, "Life is difficult" and that the journey to spiritual growth is a long one, Dr. Peck never bullies his readers, but rather guides them gently through the hard and often painful process of change toward a higher level of self-understanding.]]> 322 M. Scott Peck 1439144850 Chrissy 3 4.34 1978 The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth
author: M. Scott Peck
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1978
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/12
date added: 2023/03/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[When the Stars Align: Reflections on Astrology, Life, Death, and Other Mysteries]]> 63843796 When the Stars Align is a wide-ranging collection of essays by noted writer and astrologer Ray Grasse, exploring such subjects as the Age of Aquarius, life-after-death, the Beatles, God, reincarnation, the soul, sex, the chakras, the Roswell Incident, sacred geometry, and more. We live in uncertain times, with profound changes convulsing virtually every aspect of our world. Grasse brings his unique insights to understanding these changes, and sheds new light on many previously familiar subjects.

The writer and poet D.H. Lawrence once said, “We have lost the cosmos.� Humanity has become largely disconnected from a sense that we live in a meaningful universe, rich in purpose, beauty, and soul. Written in a clear and engaging style, Ray’s unconventional perspectives are sure to stimulate your thinking in unexpected ways, and help us begin to restore that sense of meaning to our world.

"Ray Grasse is one of the hidden geniuses of contemporary spirituality" —Richard Smoley, author Inner Christianity and Introduction to the Occult.

“This book is unlike anything else you’ll read this year—maybe any year. A fascinating work.�
—Laurence Hillman, author Planets in Play and Archetypes at Work]]> 397 Ray Grasse Chrissy 5 4.00 When the Stars Align: Reflections on Astrology, Life, Death, and Other Mysteries
author: Ray Grasse
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/26
date added: 2023/02/26
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Who Cooked the Last Supper: The Women's History of the World]]> 56354
Starting with women in pre-history the author looks beyond the myth of ‘Man the Hunter� to reveal women’s central role in the survival and evolution of the human race. She follows their progress from the days when God was a woman through to the triumphs of the Amazons and Assyrian war queens: she looks at the rise of organised religion and the growing oppression of women: she charts the long slow struggle for women’s rights culminating in the twentieth century women’s movements: and finally she presents a vision of women breaking free.

This brilliant and absorbing book turns the spotlight on the hidden side of history to present a fascinating new view of the world, overturning our preconceptions to restore women to their rightful place at the centre of the worldwide story of revolution, empire, war and peace.

Spiced with tales of individual women who have shaped history, celebrating the work and lives of the unsung female millions, distinguished by a wealth of research, The Women’s History of the World redefines the concept of historical reality.]]> 352 Rosalind Miles 0609806955 Chrissy 2 3.82 1989 Who Cooked the Last Supper: The Women's History of the World
author: Rosalind Miles
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1989
rating: 2
read at: 2023/02/20
date added: 2023/02/20
shelves:
review:
Very difficult to read because of the upsetting content and scattered writing style. This is certainly a different perspective on history that I hadn’t heard before. Did not enjoy reading but felt it was important to finish for understanding. There seemed to be some major holes in some of the arguments but maybe I think that because I’m conditioned by the patriarchy.
]]> <![CDATA[Cosmic Influences on Human Behaviour]]> 52063683 288 Michel Gauquelin 0860072835 Chrissy 0 to-read 0.0 1973 Cosmic Influences on Human Behaviour
author: Michel Gauquelin
name: Chrissy
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1973
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams]]> 36303871
Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why its absence is so damaging to our health. Compared to the other basic drives in life - eating, drinking, and reproducing - the purpose of sleep remained elusive.

Now, in this book, the first of its kind written by a scientific expert, Professor Matthew Walker explores twenty years of cutting-edge research to solve the mystery of why sleep matters. Looking at creatures from across the animal kingdom as well as major human studies, Why We Sleep delves in to everything from what really happens during REM sleep to how caffeine and alcohol affect sleep and why our sleep patterns change across a lifetime, transforming our appreciation of the extraordinary phenomenon that safeguards our existence.]]> 360 Matthew Walker 0141983760 Chrissy 4 4.41 2017 Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams
author: Matthew Walker
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/30
date added: 2023/02/08
shelves:
review:
Will never think abt sleep the same again! Very educational and had a few laughs. Easy read but got tiresome at the end. No pun intended.
]]> To Hold Up the Sky 49247266 From Cixin Liu, the New York Times bestselling author of The Three-Body Problem, To Hold Up the Sky is a breathtaking collection of imaginative science fiction.

Stories included are:

The Village Teacher
The Time Migration
2018-04-01
Fire In The Earth
Contraction
Mirror
Ode To Joy
Full Spectrum Barrage Jamming
Sea of Dreams
Cloud of Poems
The Thinker]]> 336 Liu Cixin 1250306086 Chrissy 3 3.78 2020 To Hold Up the Sky
author: Liu Cixin
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/05
date added: 2023/02/08
shelves:
review:
This author is an absolute genius. The scale of these stories is just unfathomable for regular people. I’m in awe of how he thinks of this stuff. Every story was different but all had very specific scientific explanations and a play on the smallness of us vs the bigness of the universe. Some of the stories were translated better than others. When someone named Bai Bing is talking about the Big Bang, I wonder if the translator was confused themselves. Three stars bc really only enjoyed 2 of the stories. The rest were readable out of respect for the author and sure curiosity of what he would think of next.
]]> Girl One 54785541 Orphan Black meets Margaret Atwood in this twisty supernatural thriller about female power and the bonds of sisterhood

Josephine Morrow is Girl One, the first of nine “Miracle Babies� conceived without male DNA, raised on an experimental commune known as the Homestead. When a suspicious fire destroys the commune and claims the lives of two of the Homesteaders, the remaining Girls and their Mothers scatter across the United States and lose touch.

Years later, Margaret Morrow goes missing, and Josie sets off on a desperate road trip, tracking down her estranged sisters who seem to hold the keys to her mother’s disappearance. Tracing the clues Margaret left behind, Josie joins forces with the other Girls, facing down those who seek to eradicate their very existence while uncovering secrets about their origins and unlocking devastating abilities they never knew they had.]]> 368 Sara Flannery Murphy 0374601747 Chrissy 3 3.68 2021 Girl One
author: Sara Flannery Murphy
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/08
date added: 2023/02/08
shelves:
review:
Excellent writing, pace and premise. Unfortunately stopped liking the story 3/4 of the way in. Some really good surprises in here but not the payoff I wanted. Wouldn’t call this science fiction. Lacking the science. Maybe mystery / adventure fiction.
]]> <![CDATA[The Astrology of Family Dynamics]]> 1078954 The family -- as we have known it -- has changed dramatically with our changing technology. Families are re-forming in accord with the new times and responding to the demands of the family members. Many people are finding themselves uncomfortable within the smothering nuclear family and will want to explore the patterns that may have gone undiscovered because relatives no longer know each other well. The five personal case histories in The Astrology of Family Dynamics are fascinating stories.

Sullivan writes with compassion and accuracy, weaving together various methods of analyzing and working with individuals and their families. There is "Mohsin", the adopted man, a story of autism, a poignant story of a woman whose child rejected her in utero (Freud had it half right ), and the compelling story of a woman who carries the whole of her ancestral line -- a deeply moving tale that verifies our personal links to our own ancestors, links that defy linear time. She discusses the cardinal, fixed, and mutable signs as they affect families, shows how elements work as a familydynamic, tracks core themes in families using planetary positions and aspects, and explains the 4th, 8th, and 12th houses as our ancestral base. She works with the Jigsaw "TM" computer program to sort family charts into graphs that can interpret the data you find. A short discussion of the Kennedy family is also included.

]]> 416 Erin Sullivan 1578631793 Chrissy 0 to-read 4.17 1996 The Astrology of Family Dynamics
author: Erin Sullivan
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Traced: Human DNA's Big Surprise]]> 60417502 Ola Hössjer, PhD, Professor of Mathematical Statistics, Stockholm University, Sweden “…pulls the curtain back further on the mystery of early human history using genetics, history, and linguistics�
Les Bruce, PhD, retired research specialist, Summer Institute of Linguistics International The fascinating research presented in Traced has additional far-reaching consequences for numerous contemporary debates:
Dive into the wild and emerging field of historical genetics and see how these recent discoveries on the fate of ancient civilizations end up uncovering the story of the whole world. Traced: Human DNA’s Big Surprise will inspire, not only budding historians, archaeologists, geneticists, linguists, and anthropologists, but anyone interested the marvelous and messy story of humankind.]]> 251 Nathaniel T. Jeanson 1683442911 Chrissy 0 to-read 3.92 Traced: Human DNA's Big Surprise
author: Nathaniel T. Jeanson
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol]]> 45434420 The founder of a female-focused recovery program offers a radical new path to sobriety.

“You don’t know how much you need this book, or maybe you do. Either way, it will save your life.”—Melissa Hartwig Urban, Whole30 co-founder and CEO

We live in a world obsessed with drinking. We drink at baby showers and work events, brunch and book club, graduations and funerals. Yet no one ever questions alcohol’s ubiquity—in fact, the only thing ever questioned is why someone doesn’t drink. It is a qualifier for belonging and if you don’t imbibe, you are considered an anomaly. As a society, we are obsessed with health and wellness, yet we uphold alcohol as some kind of magic elixir, though it is anything but.

When Holly Whitaker decided to seek help after one too many benders, she embarked on a journey that led not only to her own sobriety, but revealed the insidious role alcohol plays in our society and in the lives of women in particular. What’s more, she could not ignore the ways that alcohol companies were targeting women, just as the tobacco industry had successfully done generations before. Fueled by her own emerging feminism, she also realized that the predominant systems of recovery are archaic, patriarchal, and ineffective for the unique needs of women and other historically oppressed people—who don’t need to lose their egos and surrender to a male concept of God, as the tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous state, but who need to cultivate a deeper understanding of their own identities and take control of their lives. When Holly found an alternate way out of her own addiction, she felt a calling to create a sober community with resources for anyone questioning their relationship with drinking, so that they might find their way as well. Her resultant feminine-centric recovery program focuses on getting at the root causes that lead people to overindulge and provides the tools necessary to break the cycle of addiction, showing us what is possible when we remove alcohol and destroy our belief system around it.

Written in a relatable voice that is honest and witty, Quit Like a Woman is at once a groundbreaking look at drinking culture and a road map to cutting out alcohol in order to live our best lives without the crutch of intoxication. You will never look at drinking the same way again.]]> 368 Holly Whitaker 1984825054 Chrissy 4 3.97 2019 Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol
author: Holly Whitaker
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/20
date added: 2023/01/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You Feel It Just Below the Ribs]]> 57094312 A fictional autobiography in an alternate twentieth century that chronicles one woman’s unusual life, including the price she pays to survive and the cost her choices hold for the society she is trying to save.

Born at the end of the old world, Miriam grows up during The Great Reckoning, a sprawling, decades-long war that nearly decimates humanity and strips her of friends and family. Devastated by grief and loneliness, she emotionally exiles herself, avoiding relationships or allegiances, and throws herself into her work—disengagement that serves her when the war finally ends, and The New Society arises.

To ensure a lasting peace, The New Society forbids anything that may cause tribal loyalties, including traditional families. Suddenly, everyone must live as Miriam has chosen to—disconnected and unattached. A researcher at heart, Miriam becomes involved in implementing this detachment process. She does not know it is the beginning of a darkly sinister program that will transform this new world and the lives of everyone in it. Eventually, the harmful effects of her research become too much for Miriam, and she devises a secret plan to destroy the system from within, endangering her own life.

But is her “confession� honest—or is it a fabrication riddled with lies meant to conceal the truth?]]> 384 Jeffrey Cranor 0063066629 Chrissy 4 3.99 2021 You Feel It Just Below the Ribs
author: Jeffrey Cranor
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/17
date added: 2023/01/17
shelves:
review:
This was an engrossing read. Loved the play on perspectives to increase the suspense. Likely a book I’ll be thinking about a long time after. The pace was really good for about 3/4th of the book but then it started to meander, likely on purpose. There was a lot of build. Minus a star for the ending.
]]> Curfew 58363123 Think The Handmaid's Tale but with the women in charge, set in a world where all men are electronically tagged and placed under strict curfew, and the murder investigation threatening to undo it all.

Imagine a near-future Britain in which women dominate workplaces, public spaces, and government. Where the gender pay gap no longer exists and motherhood opens doors instead of closing them. Where women are no longer afraid to walk home alone, to cross a dark parking lot, or to catch the last train.

Where all men are electronically tagged and not allowed out after 7 p.m.

But the curfew hasn’t made life easy for everyone. Sarah is a single mother who happily rebuilt her life after her husband, Greg, was sent to prison for breaking curfew. Now he’s about to be released, and Sarah isn’t expecting a happy reunion, given that she’s the reason he was sent there.

Her teenage daughter, Cass, hates living in a world that restricts boys like her best friend, Billy. Billy would never hurt anyone, and she’s determined to prove it. Somehow.

Helen is a teacher at the local school. Secretly desperate for a baby, she’s applied for a cohab certificate with her boyfriend, Tom, and is terrified that they won’t get it. The last thing she wants is to have a baby on her own.

These women don’t know it yet, but one of them is about to be violently murdered. Evidence will suggest that she died late at night and that she knew her attacker. It couldn’t have been a man because a CURFEW tag is a solid alibi.

Isn’t it?]]> 320 Jayne Cowie 059333678X Chrissy 4 3.55 2022 Curfew
author: Jayne Cowie
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/14
date added: 2023/01/14
shelves:
review:
Great writing style and pace of story. All the characters were bearable enough to read. Couldn’t put this one down. Interesting concept and i liked imagining the perspective of a gender role reversal across society. Some of it was a little unrealistic but it was easy to put aside doubts to hear the story. Already preordered the authors next book.
]]> <![CDATA[The Diseased Ones (The Hollis Timewire Series, #1)]]> 50967329
On the morning of her 16th birthday, Hollis Timewire receives the worst possible news. She can't become a citizen of the world. She's a Diseased One.

Born with a biomarker that bestows dangerous, brain-altering powers, Hollis is forced to hide underground with other Diseased Ones, who believe that the government falsified history to cover up their genocide.

Now Hollis must discover the truth, and is willing to risk anything, including her powers, to go back home.]]> 301 Danielle Harrington 1947392697 Chrissy 3 Disliked: main character narrative, cheesy plot splaining about the future ex:”its the future!�, cliché descriptions, teenage melodrama, obvious similarities to hunger games and xmen
Overall nice book, enjoyed the fast read. Found this author on TikTok so love that abt her. Might consider reading the next one in the future. ]]> 4.23 2020 The Diseased Ones (The Hollis Timewire Series, #1)
author: Danielle Harrington
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/13
date added: 2023/01/13
shelves:
review:
Liked: pace of the story, main conflict, themes of perspective trust and control, interesting take on a future society, plain language, ending
Disliked: main character narrative, cheesy plot splaining about the future ex:”its the future!�, cliché descriptions, teenage melodrama, obvious similarities to hunger games and xmen
Overall nice book, enjoyed the fast read. Found this author on TikTok so love that abt her. Might consider reading the next one in the future.
]]> <![CDATA[The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe, #1)]]> 33080122
Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.

Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.]]> 431 Mary Robinette Kowal Chrissy 2 3.91 2018 The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe, #1)
author: Mary Robinette Kowal
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2023/01/07
date added: 2023/01/07
shelves:
review:
Loved the premise and beginning but then it was filled with terrible characters and the most cringy sex scenes. Did people really talk like this in the 50s? Let’s leave it in the 50s, its overdone and has no nostalgia value for most readers. The main character was annoying af. She was clearly meant to appear competent but needed a flaw so author picked a random cliche. There was sooo much unnecessary detail and dialog in here I found myself skimming for plot developments. Sure enough the note at the end states the author purposely turned this into two books after writing. Bad choice. Also I found some of this unrealistic based on the main event at the beginning of the book. The show For All Mankind on apple+ does this exact storyline much better.
]]> <![CDATA[This Is How You Lose the Time War]]> 43352954 Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.]]> 209 Amal El-Mohtar Chrissy 2 3.87 2019 This Is How You Lose the Time War
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: Chrissy
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2022/12/30
date added: 2022/12/30
shelves:
review:
Ugh the story was so far buried behind prose and metaphors and so much language. Very unenjoyable and confusing.
]]> <![CDATA[On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft]]> 10569 (back cover)]]> 320 Stephen King 0743455967 Chrissy 4 4.33 2000 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
author: Stephen King
name: Chrissy
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/30
date added: 2022/12/30
shelves:
review:
Learned a lot from this. Actually never read kings fiction books but he obviously has a lot of good tips about writing. I liked the structure of the book. It wasn’t just about writing but lots of personal stories mixed in.
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