Monday, September 30, 2013
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Review: The transhumanist Wager
The Transhumanist Wager by
Zoltan Istvan is a philosophical mind expanding experience. In the
pages you are confronted by fictional people and events that
represent a culmination of arguments and struggles that had plagued
humans for decades. Each pages is filled with choices to be made,
metaphors about life lessons and sacrifices that some people make to
hold on to an ideal. As you read on you might come to realize that
what we believe isn't always so black & white and the lines can
easily get blurred as to which is the right path to follow. A good
example of just how blurred those ideal can be is the coming-of-age
story that weaves its way through the book as we follow Jethro
Knights and Gregory Michaelson as they make choices that shape their
lives and the consequence that they find go along with those choices.
Mr. Istvan does a great job at making
the interactions between his characters believable and with rich
dialog that brings richness to his story. One such example are the
discussions that take place between Jethro Knights and Dr. Zoe Bach
as their relationship blossoms into love, separate to travel their
separate path and finally re-united. There are many other such rich
interactions, such as, when our protagonist, Jothro Knights, finally
comes face-to-face with the antagonist, Reverend Belinas and they get
into a long philosophical discussion over their differing beliefs.
I would recommend this book to anyone
that is a student of philosophy, science fiction or just wants to
understand more about the conflicts that all of us as humans struggle
with in our daily lives. Whichever of those categories you fit into
there are several lessons to be learned as long as you look at this
book as an entanglement of stories and ideals represent the human
race as a whole.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Review: John Smith: The last known survivor of the Microsoft wars
John Smith: The last known survivor of the Microsoft Wars by
Roland Hughes is not your typical post-apocalyptic piece of fiction
but also a well written piece of philosophy. There are no AI
programs, killer robots, zombies, mutants, alien invasions or even
nuclear war. It is a quick reading book that teaches use lessons of
how that current events, human greed and not paying attention to our
past can be the downfall of civilization. The story follows John
Smith as Susan Krowley interviews him, about the Mixcrosoft Wars,
after his bunker is discovered. At times you might not fully grasp
what is being conveyed in the answers that Mr. Smith gives but as you
read it will become more clear urging you to read on to discover what
other lesson are to be learned in the pages of this book. As you read
on you will also find yourself questioning some of the things you
have always taken at face value in today’s society.
Mr. Hughes' book reminds me of reading Plato's books Phaedo and Meno. When you first start it is not what you are expecting and you kind of question why you are reading it. Just like those books once you do read a few pages you realize that you are getting much more out of the page than you though possible. Just as Plato sometimes confused his students before they would gleam the lessons he was teaching them, John Smith would some times confuse Susan Krowley with the answers to her questions.
One of my favorite aspects of the book how it ties in what many of us just consider totally made up fiction and points out how that many of them were based on some kernel of truth. One example of this is when John Smith mentions how that the submarine in the book 20,000 leagues under the Sea is based on stories of submarines that the people of Atlantis built thousand of years earlier.
I would recommend to anyone to enjoys philosophy, history, fiction or just studying human nature. No matter which one of these genres you prefer there are valuable nuggets that you will be able to gleam from this book.
Mr. Hughes' book reminds me of reading Plato's books Phaedo and Meno. When you first start it is not what you are expecting and you kind of question why you are reading it. Just like those books once you do read a few pages you realize that you are getting much more out of the page than you though possible. Just as Plato sometimes confused his students before they would gleam the lessons he was teaching them, John Smith would some times confuse Susan Krowley with the answers to her questions.
One of my favorite aspects of the book how it ties in what many of us just consider totally made up fiction and points out how that many of them were based on some kernel of truth. One example of this is when John Smith mentions how that the submarine in the book 20,000 leagues under the Sea is based on stories of submarines that the people of Atlantis built thousand of years earlier.
I would recommend to anyone to enjoys philosophy, history, fiction or just studying human nature. No matter which one of these genres you prefer there are valuable nuggets that you will be able to gleam from this book.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Monday, September 2, 2013
Sunday, September 1, 2013
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