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Going for a nonfiction book as a break

Found this book to be a real slog, did not enjoy the writing style and found the stories uncompelling.

Recommended by a colleague

A great collection of speculative short stories.

Heard an interview with the author on the radio, seems like an interesting piece if popular research.

Heard this mentioned on a radio talk show regarding the first story in this collection as as retelling / reinterpretation of Ursula K le Guin's 'The One's Who Walked Away from Omelas'.

The first half of the book felt a little like a loose tale spliced into a taxonomic exploration of the world's flora and fauna, readable but not engrossing. In the second half the story picks up and the themes of the first half make more sense, and by the end I felt like it was a complete story and the encyclopedic nature of the definitions and plant descriptions make sense as part of the journey of the protagonist. The book describes a fascinating world, and you can sense the depth of consideration and thought the author has put into it. The story does leave some unresolved questions about the nature of some things, but these loose ends feel like evocative possibilities, things to ponder upon, rather than gaps in the narrative.

A series of short scenarios from an alternate earth history in which matter transportation is invented in the 50's ish. It presents an interesting framework to explore ideas about technology, society interaction and opportunities of control by monopoly corporations. It's a simply written book which I read within a week. Lots of the literary tools are left very exposed in the book. I think this makes it bad writing as this stuff is expected to be more subtle. But I kind of like it being visible and being able to spot it easily amd may itself be a stylistic choice.

I do love a self published book and this one really looks like the author has poured love and attention into the world.