The League of Unexceptional Children – Review

The League of Unexceptional Children by Gitty Daneshvarri

The League of Unexceptional Children is one of those lesser known quirky books that are actually tiny gems. Along the lines of the Ministry of SUITS and stuff. It’s a simple story about some average kids who now have to save the world. And the premise does make sense, seeing as spectacular, handsome kids (like Alex Rider) WOULD be more memorable. The main characters were quite fun to follow. Shelly and Jonathan’s chemistry is incredibly comedic, and the careless fat character type works well in Arthur to serve the plot. Daneshvari really wanted to push forward the idea that these kids were so forgettable that it was really funny at times. At first, the plot seems like an average kidnap story, but then it becomes one of deceit and lies, which I think makes any average plot great. I forgot to mention the illustrations are absolutely beautiful. Overall, a pretty solid book with dun characters and a nice plot. I guess you could say its, average. 

Rating – 👍

The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day – Review

The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day by Christopher Edge

The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day starts out as a normal story about a young girl trying to mend her broken relationship with her sister, but it is so, SO much more than that! From the very beginning, we get a unique simultaneous view of that incredibly important day in her life, one where she is celebrated by her family and makes amends with her sister, and another where a black void consumes her reality and strips away everything she loves. Maisie was a child genius type, and the cliche of her not having any friends is used here, but it is a good way to draw parallels between her and her sister. Only because I’ve read Edge’s other books am I not freaked out by his constant obsession with science and having to interject it into every other sentence, though I was very pleased when I actually knew what he was talking about and it actually applied, like how you can trace you finger around a Mobius strip forever and never be any closer to the end. The main plot is a very down-to-earth coming of age story with her being allowed to go to the shops, meanwhile the other is a thrilling horror of her trying to come to grips with the crazy world she wakes up in. This could be taken straight out of Black Mirror, to way technology brings something so startling into a reality. It is a heart-touching book that has a magnificent twist at the end you will NOT see coming. Seriously, read this amazing book, it is so good. 

Rating – 👍👍

The Knife of Never Letting Go – Review

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness 

This book is a literal coming of age story: It revolves around Todd ‘becoming a man’ as he’s on the brink of  reaching 13. The concept is really intriguing. What if we lived in a world where men’s thoughts were broadcasted to all while women had their privacy? Of course it would invoke hatred, and some kind of religion would be made, and in actuality how the world has turned out in this book is quite similar to what has happened in history with similar circumstances. Now the concept itself is interesting, but the story… not so much. Certain points drag out for eternity, like them trying to reach Haven, though they never do, and the rest of the book is really just the expansion of the lore. Todd’s morality in this book is incredibly unstable, and the point where he brutally murders an innocent person (whom he believed to be an alien) clashes uglily with how he can never bring himself to murder someone who was literally trying to murder him. Also, when the alien he teams up with, Viola murders a bully at the end she claims it’s to save Todd from the destiny of being a killer and yet she is one! In reality about 50% of this book is them running around in the forest. This is a prime example of a book that mistakes lore and goals for the plot. Though the short story at the end was infinitely more interesting. If you pick this book up, read the short story first, but if you were me, I wouldn’t pick this book up at all. 

Rating – 👎

Thinking Fast and Slow – Review

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

The man who wrote this book is genius. Who knew the brain was such a complex thing? Well, everyone, but who knew how in depth us humans could go into it? There is a theory that states that humans try to find meaning in everything because we don’t like not knowing things, and its clear meaning has been sought after here. The theories as to how these two systems work has been well thought out and aren’t rushed, but thoroughly explained with no resources spared on the explanations. All the concepts explained are relatable and many of the examples of things that’ll show up in real life actually do. A really interesting revelation that I haven’t forgotten about since I read it was the one about people doing worse after a lucky streak is because they were doing better than average and have returned to average rather than having bad luck. Books like these inspire me to become a neuroscientist, because the brain is such a vital and complex tool every human uses every day for everything, and deep dives into it like this satisfy curiosity like nothing else. 

Rating – 👍

Murder on the Orient Express – Review

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Murder on the orient express is a timeless mystery that has acted as the framework and inspiration for a variety of future works, notably Lemony Snicket. The start is quite a hassle though, seeing as there are 13 characters who the author tries to introduce us to before they even get onto the train, and trying to remember which character is what is incredibly taxing. Fortunately, the creators of the audiobook made sure the most interesting characters had unique voices and the rest kind of faded out. I’ve heard so much about Hercule Poirot so it’s a pleasure to finally meet him. He’s smart and rational and is able to use his general knowledge and deductive skills to narrow the murderer down. It’s an incredibly intense bite-sized book since you find yourself contemplating as to who the murderer might be yourself. 

Spoiler Alert: Below I talk about the revelation of who carried out what in the book. Only click if you’ve already read the book, or sincerely don’t care.

It is very intriguing when we find out the murder was a cooperation, even though it was planned from the start. But for me, the outright best moment that shows the humanity of these characters is the end, where Poirot decides to pull a blind eye over the matter. It could be interpreted that he is simply being logical and doesn’t want to start a three against eleven war on a moving train, or his humanity is leaking and he feels that the victim got what he deserves. Either was a fantastic read and I recommend it.

Rating – 👍

And Then There Were None – Review

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

This is the exact type of mystery I like. It’s a tight mystery in a secluded place and wastes no time getting into the juicy plot. The exposition of who they were at the start was difficult to digest and may have slightly ruined the ending for me as it was hard to keep track of who had actually died. It’s a suspenseful book, and the dramatisation I listened to (in the audiobook) was spot on. It’s more of a philosophical book though, as the big bad’s reasoning for what they do at the end isn’t technically wrong. It’s one of the novels where you can’t allow your string of trust to be thicker than a string with any of the characters, no matter how hard they convince you they are innocent. If it wasn’t for shows like Gravity Falls (or all the other mysteries I simply adore) I may’ve fallen for the big reveal. It’s a nice short read, and is definitely worth it just to see if your detective skills are any good at all.

Rating – 👍

 

The Hardest Thing to Avoid in an Argument (The False Consensus Bias)

Logical fallacies are mistakes in our logic, which we as humans generally don’t realise are mistakes. There are plenty, many of which I’ll probably write about, but its this first one that’s the hardest to avoid. The false consensus bias.

The false consensus bias states that we all overestimate how much other people agree with our beliefs. Also can be put as once you’ve learned something, everybody has learned it. Now, this is an argument killer because for whatever reason, a lot of the arguments and debates I’ve been in for the past while have ended in me and my opponent trying to figure out exactly what ‘most’ people do, which in my current circumstance is impossible to prove.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck – Review

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Mason

The title is stunning and unexpected, much like much of the advice published in this backwards and twisted self-help book. It’s easy to take away the wrong message from this book, that not giving a fuck means not caring about anything, but what Manson has laid out here is a complex guide to life, perhaps the most complex things everyone has to go through. In the first section, the reader is bombarded with the word ‘fuck’. There’s a possibility it was to reinforce his point with repetition though I don’t think it was necessary. My favourite aspect of the book is the real world examples that he spins into a totally different light. Particularly when he gives his definition of love. His opinions are unique and logical, and he’s so persuasive you’ll be thinking his thoughts are you’re own. If you do read it, read it carefully.

Rating – 👍

The Power of Habit – Review

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

The Power of Habit gives a comprehensive insight into our brains to find out how habits are made, why they are so important, and what we can do to change them. Thankfully this book doesn’t feature a single image of a brain scan, and only mentions the word ‘cortex’ once: basically what I’m trying to say is that this book isn’t full of technical mumbo jumbo, but goes through the basics of where habits are formed then focuses on the bases habits which the reader can understand, and the entire book is in layman’s terms, which is wonderful. The book is packed with anecdotes. Completely stuffed with them. And usually when someone’s argument is solely made up of examples it can get frustrating, but the anecdotes he gives aren’t about made up perfect families with twinkles in their eyes, but rather about hard-working executives, amnesiac familymen and gambling addicts, who are all affected heavily by habits. The anecdotes feel real and personal to the people who they are about, and are told really well. Like, the Hunger Games kind of writing well. Perhaps in another life Duhigg was a fiction writer, but in this one he is a writer who has set out with the mission of giving an in-depth education about how our brains can be molded to our will to anyone who is willing to learn about it, and without a doubt, he has succeeded.

Rating – 👍👍