Reviews and Comments

I read this book because I heard so many times how the author has been misunderstood, how this book is the same as 1984 or Brave New World.

While I do understand the author's intention was to write a dystopian novel, it's so hard to grasp that it's no wonder most folks didn't understand it (or maybe didn't even finish it).

In the preface, the author mentions how he struggled to be published, and someone said they didn't publish thesis papers.
While this is most definitely not a thesis paper since it's fictional, it's written in a very similar way, and probably requires a quite good grasp of sociology to be understood.

It's really a shame the Meritocracy is considered as a good thing nowadays. But after reading this book, I do believe it's part of the author's fault.

There aren't many books that I end thinking they are going to drastically change my life.

It's definitely the feeling I have as I close it. I realise for it to change my life, I now have to act on it, which is probably the hardest part!

This is a very nice book with a lot of very interesting parts.
Many times, the author comes up with his solutions for things which could actually be a discussion and aren't as trivial as they may seem to say though.

I have very mixed feelings about this book.

I find it has quite poorly aged, and feels like it was written in the victorian era, not between the two world wars.

The author keeps criticizing some writers to give more confidence to the reader, and then says critics are bad.

All the recommendations given are also only "feel good" things. Nothing tangible.

First feeling: I really enjoyed 99% of this book. The ending, which focuses more on our species' future was less credible, or maybe less well explained.

Second feeling: this ending is meant to make people react. Saying "I don't agree with it" means I don't understand it (yet?)

Third feeling: he's making a lot of future assumptions about things that he says himself may not even come up. Nobody foresaw the internet. So things will very likely end up being quite different from what we expect.