vikingvisuals's reviews
62 reviews

"Det finnes flere runer der ute. På trappesteiner, potetkjellersteiner, pipesteiner, gulvsteiner. På våpen, krukker og smykker i skip og gravhauger. Innskrifter som venter på å bli funnet og tolket. Historier som venter på å bli fortalt." s. 385

I am, like some other readers, somewhat conflicted about the book. It starts out really engaging, funny, and informative. I found myself however losing interest with each passing chapter as the important basic concepts seemed to be overwritten with overly detailed explanations of less essential information.

Occasionally you could find super interesting information buried in such chapters, but it was so hard to get through some of the more dry information (such as extremely drawn out details of the 8080 microprocessor...) that I found myself simply glancing through lots of paragraphs without focusing on each word or table.

I think the book combines too many potential goal audiences in one and dedicates too much time to very niche details.

The book does deserve lots of credit. It amazes me the amount of knowledge the author has and dedication in putting all this information in one book. There are many historical aspects that are fascinating to read and understand why certain things that are so commonplace today are the way they are and how they came to be.

Interessantes, wenn auch manchmal etwas langatmiges, Buch, gepackt voller Wissen. Leider sind die spannende Ergebnisse aus passenden Studien oft in einem kleinen Absatz erwähnt. Ich hätte mir etwas mehr Informationen aus diesen Studien gewünscht, um entsprechenden Lektüre aus den Kapiteln besser einprägen zu können.

Schade finde ich auch, dass die Hinweise, was gut für das Gedächtnis ist und wie man besser lernen kann, nur in den letzten 30 Seiten angesprochen wird und hierfür manches nur "deutlicher" anhand von Beispielen in früheren Kapiteln gemacht und wiederholt wird.

Trotzdem empfehlenswert für diejenigen, die mehr über das Gehirn und die Wichtigkeit des Gedächtnisses wissen möchte.

I spent a lot of time with this book, partially given it's length and content, but also due to my experiences shortly after picking the book up and my desire to be able to give the book due attention.

Personally the book was enjoyable and at times funny enough to not want to put down. Concepts are often repeated, which some may perceive as a weakness but for me it was more a matter of reinforcement and drawing the strands of interconnectedness.

It is clear lot of research was done before and during this book. Frequent references to studies helped cement the foundation of knowledge this book sought to create.

Quite a few concepts were not new to me, I have always had a passion for logic and analytical philosophy so that biases have always been a fascinating aspect of human psychology to me, however the vast depth put into the explanations of these biases proved very entertaining and educational.

I certainly recommend the book to anyone wanting to improve their understanding of human bias and train their brain to look out for the countless ways framing can be used to influence our responses to various situations or surveys.

I agree with some of the other critical reviews on here, mostly regarding the lack of sufficient editing and the minor disconnect between the title and context of the book and what was actually placed within it's pages.

However I think it is still an interesting and important book and does provide some unique storytelling. For anyone that is well versed on the topic of white supremacy and it's internet dwellings, there may be little here that is new to you. Lots of the book covers events and histories that are likely to already be known in this case. However for people just now starting to open their eyes to the ever increasingly shylessness of the far right in the current political landscape (in both the USA and across the world) I think this will be an eye opening experience.

When I first received this book as a gift I was unsure what to expect. Having read the back cover I was intrigued but don't think it would have been a book I actively would have otherwise noticed. Having said that I am glad to have taken the time to finally read it.

For anyone interested in the history of technology or computers, this book full of wonderful research into the history of the great people and inventions that came out of the Bell Labs and was a joy to read. For those not so interested in such histories or general science the book may be less appealing, but that certainly does not make it any less fascinating and entertaining.

Made the "mistake" of reading this in a few sittings. Very entertaining answers to absurd questions that would have been perfect for a bathroom reader. But no regrets.