I enjoyed a lot of the planet exploration and Von Neumann aspects of the story. But even as a white guy it was kind of painful how little mention women got in this book. And Bob’s past is just… vague and generic and he responds heroically but predictably to the challenges thrown at him.

Like I don’t feel you will waste your time reading this, but I feel people should go in with their eyes open to just how generic the characters and characterizations are, even while the exploration of some of the scientific ideas is quite cool. Also, I feel zero urge to read any of the sequels.