I will have to read Project Hail Mary

5 years ago, I'm late, but yes I liked this one!

I hoped you would say something about Mark Vernon's book!

not so good but you get a hall pass, you're a self-centered white dude like the rest of them

Do I believe the total perversion that I am witnessing?

Sounds like a vacation away from home 😂

Great review, thank you!

he is no wentz...thats for sure....but he is describing fairy faith

Thank you, was very curious about the book. Quite ahead of it's time in a way. Besides the older story of Jack the Ripper, there weren't many books/media dealing with serial killers. Of course even the term wasn't used widely until the 70s. And Hollywood had few true horror movies. Very dark and chock full of biblical allegory. I see the preacher as a Satan type character, presenting himself as handsome and charming, but soon enough revealing the true dark evilness.

I loved this novel. I just learned from you, that the proceeds of the book were donated to a pacifist organization!!

An excellent review of this book which I am now going to purchase. THANKS!

The respiratory illness that had people quaking in their boots was TB - it's as if no-one wants to name that dreadful disease. This killed Keats (when he coughed arterial blood , he knew he beheld his own death warrant) and Katherine Mansfield (who died at 34 in a sanitorium). I think it's important to mention TB by name because it had such an enormous impact socially, culturally, demographically. To allude to chest problems and illness doesn't quite do the book justice since contemporary readers would have known precisely what people were hoping to be cured of. Fabulous book. I'm halfway through and it is well worth the time investment. (Joachim would be pronounced Yoachim, I believe). Thank you for this review.

My favourite book. This book is one of the greatest books you will ever read. The quote about sleep is one of my favourites.

I just bought this book today actually, thank you for your review. It would help me going through this book.

It suffers in translation ' +'it doesn't suffer enough''

I finished this novel a few days ago. It now ranks in my top 20 of all time. I will be re-reading it every couple years. A masterpiece.

I read "We" and found it a difficult read, it had to be translated from Russian multiple times so it's not on my list of the top 5 dystopias: Brave New World, Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes, "Repent Harlequin" said the Ticktockman, and George Lucas' THX 1138.

I'm an antiacademic (a delinquent who studies overachievers), and you beat me to the punch of reviewing this antiacademic book! I believe Hesse is second only to "Emile" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau or maybe "The Catcher in the Rye" (the most antiacademic film most people are familiar with is "Good Will Hunting"), do you agree? But you didn't detract from my chance to review it from the sociopolitical side (I was waiting to see if you would make any controversial statements, Hesse criticizes scholarship and you are a scholar). Most situations are like that, there are young people on KZbin now with their own creative writing or musical composition channels (I'm going to single out "Svitlana's smart moves", an 18-year-old chess theorist). In all of those things there are multiple mental avenues to victory, for example a chess genius could try to advance in academics or just be a professional player like someone who drops out to be a professional athlete or musician. And yet you can't even ask those prodigious students for their opinions on this question, the system prevents it.

You can go home again. You just have to knock real loud when you get there.

it's more of a terry pratchett than harry potter. also it's not a satire, but a genuine love letter to the spirit of scientific institutions in the ussr back than. with some elements of critique towards bureaucracy or inefficiencies of incompetent members of the academia.

This novel broke my heart. You have to run, fight and be curious about love to experience love. 😊🌅🤗🙌

that quote was so good that feels like i don’t even need to read the book now ahah 10:20

My favorite book by Hesse good review but the book is essentially about education. The formal strict play by the rules that Hans must adhere to to conform to society's expectations namely the adults in his village that vicariously live through him crushing his joy and loss of childhood. Contrast with Hermann the poetic free spirit rebel which Hans longs to be and experience in his own personal journey but is unable to due his mental breakdown thanks to being beneath the wheel of societal expectation versus his true self. Hesse is criticizing an educational system that does this to students instead of letting them be themselves on a personal discovery. The ending is so sad but as an educator this my favorite book on education.

Just finished the book, great review btw!

I read this in the late 1990s before my first trip to New Orleans. It’s time to read it again.

refuse to read this book. I had a lot of hope for it, but it turned out to be a horror in the first pages. It includes multiple characters, who engage in conversations with endless disconnected descriptions that make you feel like you're on a roller coaster at the end of which you feel like you haven't understood anything. On page number 25 I gave up on this book. I have lost all my interest. Personally, and with all due respect, it is a horrible attempt at literature. 

Excellent review. Best I've watched so far. Re. the 7s, how about 7th Heaven? I finished the Woods translation last week and would have benefitted from reading A.S. Byatt's intro, but I was afraid of spoilers, You have touched on things that drove me nuts, like the damned pencil. I kept wondering what the symbolism was there, but now I think it may just have been the act of giving and taking. But then there's the "I want that back" urgency. There's so much more in this book. I'll have to read it again someday.

Silk Road without underlining the most fundamental / important player - India ??? As I sense in the book ! India was indeed a central player in the Silk Road network, contributing not only valuable goods like spices, textiles, and precious stones but also significantly influencing the cultural and religious exchanges along these routes. The omission of India’s extensive involvement might seem like a major oversight, considering that the subcontinent’s trade links were integral to the functioning of the Silk Road. It’s like trying to enjoy ice cream without Sugar 😂

Read Housekeeping awhile ago, her first novel. I'm told Gilead and the books that follow are connected. The film version of Housekeeping is a relic from the 1980s worth watching.

Thank you for your review of The Magic Mountain. It's a fantastic novel. As I understand it, the story is an allegory of Europe prior to The Great War. The Sanatorium's patients symbolize different social groups within Europe. They are all sick by degrees.

The present exists as a result of the past and as a cause of the future. We often think of time like a branching tree where one choice can have many different outcomes. I've found it to be more akin to an incredibly tangled and knotted loop.

What I love, really love about this book is that in my opinion Querelle is not a complete psychopath. He almost gives into love and falling in love. But since he has to escape from his own conscience all the time he can´t give in, since it will make him suffer. So he pretty much kills and escapes everything he loves in many ways since giving in is pretty much a death scentence. Alot of people will not interpret Querelle this way, but I do. It is a far more romantic way of interpreting this character (I guess some would consider it an unintelligent way of looking at it) than alot of readers do and also in my honest opinion more sad. I really love this book!

Olaf Stapledon was WAAAAY ahead of his time, especially with this novel. It's been said that he was the inspiration for other sci fi authors, such as Azimov. I really feel, though, that the sci fi author he really inspired was Philip K. Dick, especially with Star Maker and it's dealing with the psychic journey the main character takes through the universe and time. Stapledon was at least thirty years ahead of his time, and Star Maker almost seems like it was a sci fi novel written in the sixties by an author such as Philip K. Dick. I highly recommend it.

My favorite book! Great review!

Where can I buy this, can't seem to find it anywhere

Gotta remember, that it’s not ‘the’ starmaker, merely, StarMaker. Happy birthday!!

Gotta remember, that it’s not ‘the’ starmaker, merely, StarMaker.

For dystopian fiction, check out Ayn Rand's _Anthem._

Eston, thank you for your sophisticated review. ❤

Did u add Leno. To your fast

Do I need to read the Bible before this?

Thank you very much for this videooo😂😂😂 so interesting

The most important character in this book is not the first guy Herr Raif

Thanks - the Stoics believed in Providence and it’s difficult to argue otherwise. What is Logos if not Providential? Modern Stoicism is different and is more related to a scientific materialism. Atheism is a modern idea and the ancients would not understand the viewpoint.

just finished this

Alas, if you are not German and/or are very proficient in the language and can read and appreciate the wonderful language of Hesse, you are missing out on the best part, I'm afraid.

Great review. I read Blindsight a couple of years ago and it stayed with me. I think about it often. Having said that, I did not enjoy the reading experience, but at the same time I remember finishing the book and thinking: I need to read this again!

Just picked this up at a Christian book store in the "secular" bin. Looking forward reading this.

Thank you. After your presentation, I immediately bought the Everyman edition.The last novel I read by Thomas Mann was "Dr Faustus", which blew me away with its brilliance.

Along these lines, I would recommend "World lit by Fire" by William Manchester