Reviews and Comments

Nan Shepard has this way of writing that is just so naturally poetic and unbelievably vivid. With each word, you can feel the intellect and passion behind Shepard's personality. Although this may be rather controversial (and could be for a number of factors), I think I still prefer Robert MacFarlane's literary abilities. Which, might I add, is not a critique of Shepard but is a testament to MacFarlane. There is just something about the cold, harsh terrain of Scotland that I often find somewhat less captivating than the bucolic, freshness of the South. Overall, both authors are beautifully talented and never fail to affect onto me a newfound appreciation for nature.

Some brilliant words from this book: - ardent - exactitude - ocular - oracular - blandishment - prose - presbyterianism - alterity - animist - parochial - adjectival - insularity

There's just something about this story that feels so timeless, classical, and eternal. Everything is so allegorical, metaphorical, symbolic, and polysemic and I can't help but feel this is the kind-of book that should be re-visited serveral times throughout one's life. The only thing that brings it down somewhat, for me, is the occasionally confusing writing style. I'm sure this is most likely my fault and that I wasn't paying enough attention but there was a few times where the author jumped into a past story with little indication. The result of this was an overflow of confusion as to where the characters were and what they were doing.

This book made me really quite emotional. To hear Hawkin talk about AI (which is now more prominent than ever), the development into a multi-planetary species (which we are now closer to than ever), and fusion power (which has had recent and vast breakthroughs) without being here to witness their developments in rather upsetting. Steven Hawkin died in 2018, I was just fourteen years old. Weirdly, though, I remember crying a lot. I had heard lots about Hawkin, seen him on the news, and really enjoyed listening to the small news segments that would show clips of him talking. Five years later - and during the afterword to this short book - I found myself crying again. There is something so beautiful about Steven Hawkin's life and I find his story deeply inspiring. I am so grateful for the impact that he had on this world

This book is dense with beautiful knowledge. I listened to the audiobook version whilst running at night and, thus, couldn't make the same notes I normally do. I am currently trying to find all the aspects that I wanted to take note of though.

Anthropic principle: The universe has to be (more-or-less) how we see it because, if it were different, there wouldn't be anyone here to observe it.

After reading three fictitious and dystopian novels in short succession (Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, and Nineteen Eighty-Four), I now want to delve into some science reads. Speaking of, I have a list called 'Science Reads' of all the scientific books that stand-out to me for their quality if anyone is interested. The list is, of course, designed with myself in mind but, with the popularity of each book, will surely be appropriate for a rather large demographic.

Some of the words I got from this book: - heretic (a person who holds controversial opinions) - sententious (terse and energetic in expression) - vitality (the capacity to live, grow, or develop) - proletarian (relating to a proletarian or to the proletariat (the class of people who do unskilled work))

(There were many more fantastic words but I was so encapsulated in the plot that I could not stop myself from reading to note them down)

I understand that this book was written in an entirely different period all-together, however, the pace following each point is far too slowed. Carnegie tells multiple stories for every argument he makes in relation to the human psyche and these all help to sell said arguments but also slow the book's overall pace down as you already know what the outcome of each story will be. Definitely some fascinating arguments and, given how short it is, I would absolutely recommend people to read How to Win Friends and Influence People but it is slow.

There are so many quotes from this book that I would love to present to you now but I think it's probably best you just read it. I feel that, in the modern era, Hitchens is predominantly known for his views on religion and his debates on the same topic. That is one of the many reasons I loved this book, it provided a completely different side to Hitchens whilst also explaining the context behind his religious viewpoints. Despite occasionally skipping over details that I think would have been rather fascinating and lingering on details that seem unimportant, this book is a rather good memoir.

I'm well aware that books this old are going to be a little dense but I think the combination of this translation specifically and the medium of audiobooks doesn't combine well. It leaves you with a book that is too dense and continues at a pace that does not linger on words nor allow for any reflection of their meaning. I will make sure to return to Meditations again in the future but I may have to try another translation/version... I've heard the Penguin Classics one is rather good. That being said, for a free audiobook from Audible, this wasn't too bad at all and I'm always happy to receive a free read/listen.