A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor (The Carls, #2)

I liked this book a lot, in part just because it's about things I think about daily (tech ethics, creation & commodification of creative value, attention as currency, the limitations of temporarily inhabiting someone else's experiences as a vector for empathy, whether or not humanity's fundamentally flaws will doom us, and so on). Honestly, I think Hank Green is a better philosopher than he is storyteller. The conversation between him and Cory Doctorow at the end of the audiobook was great, too.

I honestly didn't enjoy A Truly Remarkable Thing that much; it felt like cheesy pulp sci-fi with kind of overplayed takes on the theme of internet fame. But it was worth reading to be able to truly appreciate this sequel. I think part of it may have been that I was a bit tired of hearing the story from April's POV, so I really appreciated the rotating narrator cast in this one. Miranda's parts in particular were outstanding, and her audiobook narrator was spot-on to my imagination of her.

TW: racism, severe injury, gun violence, strangulation, animal injury, inhumane work conditions

I enjoyed the first book, but didn't really know what was to come with this one. In some ways I liked it better than the first, and in others I found it a little disappointing.

As much as April May and her many flaws did grow on me in the first book, it was a bit like a hostage situation- I got to know and like her because I had no other choice. And I do still like her, but I really enjoyed the POVs in this book, and enjoyed them more than I did at least half of April's in the first. Actually, I was kind of bummed out when April came back to take up the narrative, because I was hooked on the other stories, and really having fun with the other characters. I'm glad we get to see more of the "supporting characters" and get to know them as people, and the expansion away from it being Chosen One-esque is a really effective choice over all for this story.

I also thought the pacing in this is great. I liked the pacing in AART as well, but the inclusion of multiple storylines really works well in this, and they all cross each other and trade off in perfect ways to keep the book compelling. Even knowing that they're going to come together at some point and that each new direction is going to matter, the individual story itself stays interesting alone, and when they do start to touch it's somehow still a surprise.

The general concept of this book is a good one. I think the topics of digital currency, overly powerful and unchecked technology, and the power struggle between the brothers are all cool, and lead the way into both a fun romp and a story with some weight.

However, sometimes it went just a little stale for me. I think the biggest problem I had was simply that I preferred Carl as a mystery. I like him as a character in this book, but not as a main character, and his chapters explaining his background were both strange to read and kind of a let down. I would have preferred getting only some of the answers, but without the mystery it lost some of the mystique that was drawing me towards this story and these characters in the first place.
And then, there were things just felt too predictable, arcs that didn't have any room in the sheer drama of it all, and things that were just a little too unrealistic, particularly to Carl. Actually, I think my main complaint is that Carl went from being totally unknown to far too human and knowable, without hitting the right middle ground.

I did enjoy reading this book, I like the way Green writes and I was glad to be able to see what came of these characters. There's a lot here to like, though there were a few choices I didn't love.

I was not handling any of this well. Then again, I had been shot. April was unconscious. There was a talking monkey. And it was Carl.

This was exactly the kind of book I needed without realizing it. This was a fun and enjoyable, fast paced read with just enough science fiction, whimsy and "what if" mixed in.

And so, ironically, the Altus Space became my only respite from the prison that Altus had put me in.

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is an excellent continuation and I'm pleased that the series is a duology. Readers may be left with larger questions but I am pleasantly content with how everything wrapped up, plus the added sprinkle of foreboding added on top.

Our reality isn't about what's real, it's about what we pay attention to.

My favorite episodes of Black Mirror are ones that seem like a very realistic outcome for society. Our reliance on a new gadget, online functionality or social media ultimately result in our downfall. We all use these technologies, understand their benefits and blindly ignore their downsides.

I realize now that power you can't control isn't power at all

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor walks the line highlighting the downside of our dependence on those tools and challenges us to be better. This is like a self help book for a dystopian world and it was great!

My theory is that Carl's brother was building audiences all over the internet and was planning to pit them against each other somehow.

The internet is a minefield of fake accounts run by bots, an echo chamber used to rile up our strongest emotions and it's a yelling match from one side to the other. Hank Green leaves plenty of concern and caution in his book without it being preachy.

You will always struggle with not feeling productive until you accept that your own joy can be something you produce.

I'm glad a friend handed me a copy of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing last year because it lead me to the Carls and what was a very fun and enjoyable trip.

Power is just a lack of constraint.

A fun sequel with good commentary on current events. It covers topics like exponential technology, late-stage capitalism, morality and human cruelty, and how to feel valuable. It takes off quickly from the cliffhanger of the last book and keeps a much quicker pace than the first.

Audiobook nitpicking:

In a recent interview, Hank promotes the audio version and how much effort went in to make it a good experience. But it was my least smooth experience. First, each character in the book has a different voice actor. But as the characters interact with each other throughout the story, they are each voiced by multiple different voice actors (changing with whoever's perspective you’re currently in). So most characters have 2–5 different voices.

Second, the author narrates for a character for the final chapter of the first book. In the sequel, that character is voiced by someone else, and the author is in it again as someone else.

Third, near the end of the book, a recording static effect is put over a passage, and a few lines are voiced by someone else in between another’s passage. This is the only time this happens. Why not go all-in with this like a BBC radio drama and have everyone’s character have one voice that comes in when needed? Either that, or a single narrator to do all the voices would have been preferable to having 2–5 different voices for each character.