User Profile

After reading The Mote in God’s Eye, I realized that Garrit Franke, a fellow Fosstodon member, finished reading this book, so I decided to give it a try too.

I have to admit that at first I was a little bit hesitant about this book, because it is a written in first person, and it also starts out with ammnesia and also flashbacks. But after that I got used to the writing style pretty quickly and started to really get into the main story and the mystery behind everything happening around our protagonist.

The story follows a lone astronaut that finds himself facing impossible odds every step of the way. The way the plot is revealed and how it moves forward every chapter is great. The scientific elements are pretty accurate and that was something I found really interesting. It reminded me a lot of Jules Verne’s novels that usually felt like something that could be possible to do.

In this case of course the protagonist uses his scientific knowledge (as well as his memory slowly coming back) to figure out how handle his mission, which is pretty much to save the planet from certain demise.

I liked the setting and the characters that show up, there’s quite a bit of science tidbits I learned through this, and the moments of action and uncertainty are quite great. I could not stop reading many times because I just wanted to know what in the world would our protagonist do even just to stay alive to live another day.

I didn’t feel like the book was as long as it was, honestly. It was definitely worth it. I do think that it feels a little like a movie waiting to happen, the prose wasn’t as interesting and the plot ended up kind of predictable, and there’s a very wholesome twist at the end which is nice. Just a very fun read.

As I listened to this on my morning walks, I was caught cackling with laughter several times by my fellow neighborhood walkers. I’m pretty sure they wonder about me now. My sister and I also exchanged texts with some of the funniest lines.

Chapter four is the funniest funeral ever. Anyone receiving flowers and a vase with “Suck MFer,” can’t be all bad… right?!?!

Then there are the dolphins. Totally hard core, and death by “mass dolphin gender identification,” sounds pretty horrible.

The Pitch and Pitch, was also super fun. “Tetsticles as a service.” Bwahahaha!

The book didn’t end the way I expected. I kind of wanted an ending with a “to be continued…” motif, but one-shot books are great too. No worries about setting up another plot, so the ending is clean.

Charlie and Matti are great. I was pleased with how that relationship went. I was worried for a while that it would become a cliche. I also like that as a former business reporter, Charlie has some chops in dealing with the other villains. Then there is Hera. She might be my favorite: “Dogs are the worst. They’ll sell you out for a treat and a head pat.” She is not wrong.

I struggled with the star rating on this book, waffling between three and four. In the end, I settled on four because I think Comer’s insight into the world of rush is spot on.

At this point in my life, when religion comes up, I usually tell folks I’m a non-practicing Catholic, but really I’m much more agnostic. I’ve tried atheism, but it didn’t fit me. I just kept talking to the universe. It’s my lack of Christian faith that had me leaning toward the three, but this book isn’t written for agnostics, even spiritual ones, so I went with the four.

Comer divides this book into three parts: The Problem, where he defines hurry, its history, and symptoms; then The Solution, where he discusses the need to slow down and the benefit of an easy yoke; and finally Part 3: The Four Practices for Unhurrying your Life.

Ironically, I found more solutions in part 3 than in the section titled The Solution. At first Comer talks about boredom, something we’ve lost touch with and some youth have never really experienced, then he moves into the four practices: Silence & Solitude (a crux of this is clarifying the difference between solitude and isolation - Hurried people are often isolated even during a quiet time), Sabbath (literally meaning to stop and delight), Simplicity, and Slowing. (The five S’es?).

Comer states that not every idea in this book will work for every person, but he encourages his readers to take away what they can fit into their lives. For myself, I’ll try to practice some sort of sabbath, which might look a lot like brief meditation breaks - no electronics, no headphones, no screens, just stopping everything and delighting in where my brain takes me.

One final take away from this book is that a life of hurry and a life of love are incompatible. We cannot hurry through appreciating each other, so it is incumbent upon us to slow down, so we can love each other.

Side Note: Social media doubles down on hurry and restlessness. It might provide a nice jolt of dopamine, but it provides no love.