nhborg's reviews
378 reviews

«From the quark to the supernova; the wonders do not seize. It is our attentiveness that is in short short supply, our ability and willingness to do the work that awe requires.»

Listening to this was a source of comfort and inspiration during my exam season. John Green explores a wide range of objects and phenomenon from the anthropocene aka. modern world, such as air-conditioning, Super Mario Kart, googling strangers, Kentucky bluegrass and the «Notes» app, and reflects on what these things mean for him personally and what it can express about humans in general.

I resonated with his concept of «reviews as memoirs», or reviewing as a form of reflection, in which you leave a piece of yourself behind in your interpretation of the world. It made me realize that I’ve always loved writing or formulating reviews since I was young, whether it’s been books, movies, school courses/teachers, anime, travel experiences etc. It was obviously fun to come up with star ratings, but it was more about taking the time to wrap my thoughts together to help me better understand my experience of the thing in question. By attempting to pinpoint exactly which aspects I liked or disliked, I got to know myself better, but I was also able to more accurately implement this external thing into my life and my interactions with others. Sorry that this became a full-on self-exploration in a regular review section, but that is exactly what the book inspired me to do:P

I didn’t love every essay in this book just as much, but that’s completely fine with me. This is John Green’s personal attempt at trying to view his own experiences in the context of the world around him, thereby hopefully capturing an essence of his own life within these pages. Although a few of the conclusions being reached could strike me as cliché, naive, or otherwise incongruent with my personal beliefs, I respect his project and his honesty throughout. As always with biographical literature, I’m also glad to have listened to the author-narrated audiobook.

4.25
I’ll see if I can write out some words with all these tears in my eyes… phew.

I would say that this went from a flop to a win over the course of the book. I started out quite skeptical, as I’m used to this kind of Japanese cat-inspired literature missing the mark for me, and feeling slightly annoyed at the highly antropomorphic cat POV. However… as the story progressed, an invisible hand managed to sneak its way around my heart, culminating in an extreme tug at the heartstrings as I finished the final chapters. I really did not expect to cry this much, but I loved it for it.

I appreciated how each of the side characters were used to piece together the childhood of the main character Saturo, while also being explored on their own terms. Hiro Arikawa has an eye for subtle conflicts that can occur between humans, even if they love and care for another. And the POV of the cat Nana, while initially coming across as kind of annoying, ended up being heartwarming and funny and definitely adding a nice layer to the narration.

And last but not least, I loved the journey we went on together with Satoru and Nana, in multiple senses. The image of them traveling together and sharing witness of the world’s beauty will stick with me as a source of comfort. Overall, it also resonated well with one of my favorite quotes of all time: «You should enjoy the little detours. To the fullest. Because that’s where you’ll find the things more important than what you want.» (Ging Freecss, HxH).

So yeah.. that’s pretty much it. I feel like I’ll start sobbing everytime I see this book on my bookshelf now:’)

Side note:
I was about to make a «You had one job» comment about the cover (since the cat looks strikingly different from the way it’s described in the book), but turns out the graphic design researchers fell in love with this original Chinese brush painting made by an artist with cerebral palsy. So, hats off in respect.

I’m done with my exam in this course and finally have enough spare time to write a review. I basically learned all of the curriculum from this book because our main lecturers were so useless, but it was not an easy task. The book is informative, of course, but the layout was very messy and it was difficult to «see the big picture» from how the chapters were structured. Every week, it felt like we kept returning to the same topics («didn’t I just read about this?») except that I was just as confused each time because of the lack of clear, direct links between the chapters and because everything was presented as something brand new. So, it was a combination of feeling overwhelmed by novelty and exhausted from being «stuck» with the same topics.

Additionally, this book (and the colloquium questions produced by the authors) had a bunch of vague formulations/poorly structured paragraphs that were very prone to misunderstanding and confusion. I could’ve listed some specific examples (for there were many), but that would be boring for the both of us, and I’m not willing to pick the book up again and start looking.

Overall, I did like learning a ton of stuff about microbes (who are so metabolically diverse that it’s actually painful), and this book was alright at relating that information, but I’d have a more pleasant learning experience if either the book or the lectures were top-notch. Sadly, life isn’t that easy.

Too much Death and not enough death
(am I laughing at my own joke? you bet).

I had a pretty good time listening to this, but it wasn’t anything spectacular imo. I enjoyed the gothic setting and the overall premise, however the plot and characters were less impressive and it felt like an excessively long book compared to what it had to offer. Still, it kept me company while commuting and doing mundane tasks, so I might pick up Foxglove at a later point.

3.5
Finally got around to reading this after so many years of having gotten it recommended. Unfortunately I didn’t love this as much as I’d hoped, but it’s still a wonderful story!

I think I struggled to tune in to the narration, especially in the audiobook, and I suspect that this contributed to me not all-round feeling it as deeply as I’d hoped. My emotional register regarding fiction is somewhat of a curiosity; I can be relatively unfazed by things that are clearly meant to be sad, but can in return cry my heart out at the strangest small elements of the story… Saying that, I definitely understand why this book has managed to sway so many people. I like to imagine parents reading it with their teenageish children and the meaningful conversations it could lead to.

I watched the movie adaptation as well and feel like both the book and movie have their strengths and weaknesses. On another note, I gotta admit that I got quite distracted by constantly seeing Barbossa instead of Hans Hubermann xD

4.25

You can trust that I’ll pick up any piece of speculative eco-fiction featuring conscious octopuses. I’m guessing that the list is quite short at the moment, but I’m ready whenever.

When I first heard of this, I was almost breathless of excitement and ran to the store within a couple of days to get a copy and start reading. Today I finally finished it, but I’m having such a hard time gathering all my thoughts! One thing’s for sure: this book will give you a lot to chew on.

Throughout the read, it basically felt like this book was made for me, especially due to the several references to real biological concepts and logics that were clearly taken from scientific articles or other works from the field. In that way, the speculative aspect felt reinforced, because although it wasn’t always as «realistic»/probable, it spoke in the language I’m used to from e.g. my courses about animal behavior, neuroscience and evolutionary biology and was a good shot at making sensible hypotheses based on what we already know about the world. I think this is really cool! I imagine it’s still understandable for people not studying biology, but maybe it feels like an extra treat if you do.

Also, octopuses. I’m so happy they’re getting the recognition they deserve, they are high up on the list of extraordinary wonders-of-the-natural-world. I found myself thinking about the non-fiction work «Other minds» by Peter Godfrey-Smith (it’s great btw), and it was therefore fun to see it mentioned as an essential piece of inspiration in the acknowledgements!

There were so many deep, interlaced thematics in this book that it’s very difficult to discuss in a structured manner. Imagine Arrival x Frankenstein x Blade Runner, with both next-generation AI and the octopus as subjects for discussion about existentialism and consciousness, language and communication, human dominion, xenophobia and ecosystem collapse. And if that wasn’t enough, throw in some explorations of the vulnerability of two-person relationships, the danger of apathy and indifference, and basically the individual human’s and the entire humanity’s struggle to give trust and allow foreign forces into their lives, in fear of losing control. What’s the key to avoid feeling trapped? Empathy or authority? I mean… There’s just a goldmine of discussion prompts between these pages.

In other words, I love the thematics of this book and how confronting it is on so many levels. However, the reading experience in itself wasn’t always as easily immersive as I’d wished it would be. First of all, I’m not a huge fan of the language. I adore the vocabulary and imagery (especially the descriptions of nature-dominated sceneries), but I don’t like how each sentence feels heavy as a brick. Secondly, the plot and characters were not always the most engaging. In retrospect though, I can forgive the latter point. The book feels dreamlike rather than realistic, and I think this is perfect for this concept. Therefore I’m okay with not feeling for the characters for every step of the way, since I can still appreciate the grand ideas and scenes presented in between the page-to-page events.

I can already feel that «The Mountain in the Sea» is highly deserving of a reread (or several). This review became super rambly and maybe more adapted for my eyes than the rest of the world’s, but if you reached all the way here, thanks for being interested in what my overboiled brain is trying to say!



Lastly, a quote I found myself personally relating to:


«One of the great tragedies of science is that the increase in its complexity has made most scientists into little more than technicians, driving them into the tunnels of specialized disciplines. The further the scientist progressed down into the mind of knowledge, the less she can see the world into which that knowledge fits.

I never wanted to be a specialist: I wanted to be a scientist in the heroic sense, bringing new forms into the world. From the first moment, I have wanted greatness.»


«Greatness» is a kind of cringe way to put it, but don’t we want to help save the world somehow? I think a lot of the answers can lie in the borders and compromises between disciplines, between species and between extremities.

«He had, in odd ways, given [love] to every moment of his life, and had perhaps given it most fully when he was unaware of his giving. It was a passion neither of the mind nor of the flesh; rather, it was a force that comprehended them both, as if they were but the matter of love, its specific substrate. To a woman or to a poem, it said simply: Look! I am alive.»

This book stole my heart. William Stoner stole my heart. The plot is minimal and mundane, but that’s exactly where the magic lies. I want to discover more books describing normal people and their everyday lives without being tied to tropes or expectations of a specific literary genre.

Once I got into «Stoner», I flew through it because it was so engaging and endearing, yet so realistic and painful. John William himself described it as «an escape into reality», which is pretty spot on what the reading experience feels like. Other things I loved included the clear and graceful prose and the incredibly precise character portraits. I’m also a big softie for the thematization of finding joy and value under circumstances where other people would not expect it.

Rating it 5 stars because I can imagine this becoming one of my comfort books!

4.5

«I am a victim, I have no qualms with this word, only with the idea that it is all that I am.»

An amazing memoir that is powerful and important, and truly heartbreaking to read. The court proceedings struck me as a real life example of Kafka’s «The Trial». The entire idea of being systematically manipulated and reduced away from your own identity to fit a certain story is terrifying.