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3.5*
Good skim of some selected topics. Audiobook was badly edited.

Can't believe it's taken me until my 60s to read this. How beautifully written it is was a wonderful surprise, with such precise observation of the language and behaviour of children of different ages.

(Audiobook read by a first class reader)

Loved this - a contender for the best book I have read this year. Lucid, informative and excellently balanced between accessibility and scientific detail.
I borrowed the audiobook from my library, but have now bought a physical copy of the book to go back to specific sections.

4.5
Near future police procedural set in Edinburgh, with focus on plausible advances in technology, AI, and Dickesque examination of consciousness - exactly my sweet spot :)

I loved the first 80% of this, and was convinced I'd be writing a 5 review and acclaiming this as my read of the year. The last 20% went off the boil a bit, and became a bit too "Hollywood cinematic". Still very good, though, and I will hunt out more MacLeod.

For the first two thirds, this was on track to be the best novel I had read this year, but I got a bit put off by a substantial near-messianic pseudo-allegory stretch later.

I found this clunky, and veering between being clichéd and being preposterous. I like a good murder mystery, but this one wasn't to my taste.

3.5*

Excellently read audiobook.
Plot a bit far-fetched at times, but engaging.
Writing bit up to Boyd's usual standard - the retrospective story being written 30+ years after the events was often too literary and in the head of the writer to be plausible.

Splendid light mystery yarn, with much detail about Italian art.

(audiobook read by author)
3.5*