I was once again tricked by a nice cover and a title that grabbed my attention which had me thinking, I have a feeling this is going to be a very enjoyable book. However, the reality is that it took me weeks to read it. I ended up reading a section of a chapter at a time because the only way I was able to get through it was by telling myself that I only needed to get to the next break. There were some interesting pieces of information, but as a whole I could not stay focused on the overall contents of the text. I’m mostly disappointed in myself for imagining that the book would be riveting based on the title and the summary on the back cover. I should know better as I have been tricked before.
I do have a few nice things to say though. I liked reading that one of my favorite guilty pleasures, fan fiction, is a form of Remixing, which makes me feel less guilty reading about characters from literature as reimagined by everyday hobbyist authors. The chapter titled Interacting was the one I found most engaging overall, as I could see examples of it in the lives of people around me. Also, there was one passage in that chapter that made me want to pick up my violin, which I haven’t touched in over a year, and it still impresses me that a short paragraph made me feel that way. Tracking reminded me of a book I have reviewed previously, Off The Clock, as it discussed future ways we might track ourselves to improve our health and various other aspects of our lives.
Having been published in 2016, some of the forecasts made by the author have come to fruition, which is both intriguing and impressive. There are also predictions that I don’t see as likely to happen in our lifetimes, and perhaps not even at all. The book is a collection of ideas of what the future could possibly be like, if we don’t destroy the planet before humankind can figure out how to make these things possible. Some of the predictions and possibilities irked me a little and made me hope that I won’t be alive if technology indeed reaches that stage. Overall, not a bad book, but it’s not one I see myself reading again as I did not enjoy it very much.
Nonfiction and Nonsense 