Category: Book review

“A Brief History of Time” By Stephen Hawking Review

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Told in language we all can understand, A Brief History of Time plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and “arrows of time,” of the big bang and a bigger God—where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. With exciting images and profound imagination, Stephen Hawking brings us closer to the ultimate secrets at the very heart of creation.

I gotta say that I love this book a lot since it is very very good and really I personally cant get enough of Stephen Hawking’s books. Because Stephen hawking was a very very good author and he had the ability to make very heavy and difficult topics seem easy and understandable which you can see in his books.

This book talks about all the latest discoveries that have shaken the scientific world and it makes it very easy and simple to understand even thou it is speaking about black holes, quantum mechanics, principle of uncertainty, general relativity and other pretty heavy stuff. 

The writing style in this book is very good. It makes the whole book more interesting and much more simpler to understand when it talks about all the pretty heavy stuff which makes it to a book that everyone can read even thou it talks about black holes, general relativity and other science stuff.

I am a big fan of Stephen Hawking’s books so of course I needed to read this one. And after having read it am I love it and will recommend this book to anyone if I ever hear that someone says that things.

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“Brief Answers to the Big Questions” By Stephen Hawking Review

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Stephen Hawking was recognized as one of the greatest minds of our time and a figure of inspiration after defying his ALS diagnosis at age twenty-one. He is known for both his breakthroughs in theoretical physics as well as his ability to make complex concepts accessible for all, and was beloved for his mischievous sense of humor. At the time of his death, Hawking was working on a final project: a book compiling his answers to the “big” questions that he was so often posed–questions that ranged beyond his academic field.

I gotta say that I truly love Stephen Hawking’s books since they talk about really big and difficult topics but the way Stephen Hawking explains them makes them seem very easy like everyone can understand them and enjoy his books about the pretty heavy topics.

This book gives us scientific answers to questions as “Is there a God?”,  “Is there other intelligent life in the universe? “, “ Is time travel possible?” and “Will artificial intelligence outsmart humans?”. And I gotta say that this book is really interesting because it doesn’t give us Stephen Hawking’s thoughts but rather answer from the scientific point of view which I really really loved a lot.

The writing style in this book is very good because its very easy to read and it makes the heavy topics really easy to understand which made me give this book some extra points for doing that and it really made me love this book much more than I already did.

This book is very interesting and enjoyable. During my time reading this book I was complete clued to it and I just couldn’t put this book away because I wanted to keep reading this book.

I Give This Book 4 / 5

“Ghost Hunters” By Lorraine Warren & Ed Warren &  Robert David Chase Review

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Ghosts know no season, respect no boundaries, and offer no mercy. Ed and Lorraine Warren, the world’s most famous and respected demonologists, have devoted decades to exploring, authenticating, and conclusively documenting countless cases of otherworldly phenomena. From the grounds of the United States military academy at West Point, New York to the backwoods of Tennessee, Ghost Hunters chronicles their first-hand confrontations with the unknown, the unholy, and the unspeakable.

So this is another book about Ed and Lorraine Warren’s cases. And I gotta say that I’m not a big fan of their books but they have some pretty decent good stories.

This book discuss 10 different cases from the Ed and Lorraine Warren’s case file. And I gotta say that they were too short to really get into them and enjoy them. I would say that this book would have been better if it focused on one case rather than 10 cases. Because each case gets like 20 – 30 pages which isn’t a lot to get into them. So you only get a brief introduction to these case rather than taking the deep dive which I wanted to do in this book.

This book doesn’t give you a lot of information about each of the 10 cases in this book which really disappointed me because I wanted to learn more about those cases so its why I purchased and read this book. And this book leads you to do more research about each of the cases because it doesn’t give you that much about them. 

In my opinion this book was all over the place because each case in this book would get very little time and the chapters in this book were short. 

The writing style in this book isn’t the greatest but it is at least much better than in some other books by the Warrens. And because of this I gave this book some extra points for solely this aspect.

At the same time this book isn’t a really a book but rather a collection of case briefs and quotes from the Warrens which in the long run wasn’t that interesting at least not for me personally. Which explains the low rating I gave this book.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Spaceman: An Astronaut’s Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe” By Mike Massimino Review

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to find yourself strapped to a giant rocket that’s about to go from zero to 17,500 miles per hour? Or to look back on the earth from outer space and see the surprisingly precise line between day and night? Or to stand in front of the Hubble telescope, wondering if the emergency repair you’re about to make will inadvertently ruin humankind’s chance to unlock the universe’s secrets? Mike Massimino has been there, and in Spaceman he puts you inside the suit, with all the zip and buoyancy of life in microgravity.

Its important to say that I didn’t know anything about this book before getting into it. So I didn’t have any expectations for this book.

This book is surprisingly very Inspiring and relatable which really made give this book some extra points because of this. 

I personally feel like that the beginning was a little bit boring because the beginning is about the author and about why he wanted to become a astronaut, the test he failed the first time to become astronaut and then what he did after he failed the test. Which I personally found to be more on the boring side because I want to read about astronauts not a guy who failed his astronaut test.

The writing style her is okay, but it is far from being good. But at the same thing the writing style makes everything more understandable and easy. So its not all bad even thou I didn’t like the writing style so much in this book.

The moment where the author actually gets into the program the books starts to get interesting because then we actually follow the journey of what it takes once you are in the space program.

I personally feel like there are some part of this book which should have been removed from the final version since they didn’t bring anything to the table and were only boring for me at least.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Phantom” By Jo Nesbø Review

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When Harry left Oslo again for Hong Kong—fleeing the traumas of life as a cop—he thought he was there for good. But then the unthinkable happened. The son of the woman he loved, lost, and still loves is arrested for murder: Oleg, the boy Harry helped raise but couldn’t help deserting when he fled. Harry has come back to prove that Oleg is not a killer. Barred from rejoining the police force, he sets out on a solitary, increasingly dangerous investigation that takes him deep into the world of the most virulent drug to ever hit the streets of Oslo (and the careers of some of the city’s highest officials), and into the maze of his own past, where he will find the wrenching truth that finally matters to Oleg, and to himself.

This book is the 9th book of the “Harry Hole” series by Jo Nesbø. And I gotta say that this book isn’t the greatest in the series in fact it is very far from being it.

My main issue with this book is that this book pushes the boundaries way too far, and because of this this book makes Harry feel like a superhero rather than a police detective. 

This book is a wild ride because it has a tone of twists, unexpected turns in the plot, action and surely way too many characters than it needed to have. Which really made me in a way dislike this book. Because this book is very hard too follow because of all those things I mentioned.

The writing style in this book is meh, to be very honest I feel like the writing style has been worse since “The Snowman” which is the 7th book in this series. In my opinion Jo Nesbø has stopped trying to give us actually a good series and rather focus on the cash he will get after publishing the next book.

The plot is way too much for my liking. Because there is so much happening that you can process it before something new happens in the plot. I personally feel like there was just filed with action just to keep readers not DNF this series because after book 7 this series is going down hill or at least it is doing so for me. 

Characters in this book, there are just too many of them for me and because of this it is hard to keep track of the characters. And because of the quantity of the characters I feel like none of the characters were good it even involves harry which of course is the main character in this whole series.

At the same time in this book Harry starts to become the biggest asshole I have ever heard of which really made me pissed of becomes I love Harry Hole.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“The Leopard” By Jo Nesbø Review

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Inspector Harry Hole has retreated to Hong Kong, escaping the trauma of his last case in squalid opium dens, when two young women are found dead in Oslo, both drowned in their own blood. Media coverage quickly reaches a fever pitch. There are no clues, the police investigation is stalled, and Harry—the one man who might be able to help—can’t be found. After he returns to Oslo, the killer strikes again, Harry’s instincts take over, and nothing can keep him from the investigation, though there is little to go on. Worse, he will soon come to understand that he is dealing with a psychopath who will put him to the test, both professionally and personally, as never before.

This book is the 8th book in the “Harry Hole” book series by Jo Nesbø. Even thou I loved a lot the previous book in this series I have to say that this book is much more less impressive and much less fun than the previous book in this series.

To be very honest here this book goes more under it being a noir category book rather than crime. Because in this book Harry sort of goes on his own and completely leaves behind his police work and any help he could have gotten from his colleges in the police force.

In my opinion this book is very slow and there is not a lot of moments I liked in this book but there were a few. It easily could have been 100 pages shorter and it would have made this book better without all the side quests Harry undertakes in this book.

The writing style in this book is okay, but it wasn’t as good is in the previous books in this series. Which really disappointed me a lot. Because I was expecting this very good writing style in this book which didn’t really happen. 

I personally thing after reading this book that the series is going down hill since book 7. But hopefully the rest of the series isn’t what I’m expecting it to be.

Plot here was very very slow at the beginning, but then the plot had good increase in the plot actually being interesting but then when you come closer and closer to the end the plot again starts to be very slow and not as good as the previous books in this series.

At the same time this book reuses the exactly same plot as the previous book in this series. Which means that it contains the exactly same aspects which are a serial killer on the lose, a woman is found dead and only Harry Hole is able to catch the serial killer and solve the mystery. Like come on Jo Nesbø is it so hard to write something unique and not reuse the same plot ? 

The thing which surprised me the most in this book was that Harry complete forgets about his alcohol problem and just stops drinking Jim beam in this book. If you have read the previous 7 books in this series then you will know that Harry has a huge problem with alcohol but in this book its like the author completely forgets about this aspect and you are left wondering what the fuck happened to Harry which got him to stop drinking. And the author doesn’t give a you anything.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“A Promised Land” By Barack Obama Review

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A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making—from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy. In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency—a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.

So I’ve been wanting to read this book ever since it first came out in late 2020. But after reading it I just don’t understand why it won the  “Best Memoir & Autobiography” category on Goodreads in 2020. Because its very far from being a good book. But let me explain by this.

Majority of this book feels like a personal therapy session rather than a biography about 44th president of USA. And there are a lot of times it feels like Barack Obama is trying to defend himself from the people who don’t like him or his presidency. At the same time there were many times I got the feeling that Barack Obama tries to glorify himself and make you think that during his political career he never did anything wrong at all.

This book feels like a very broad and shallow chronological timeline of Obama’s political career, from his start in community organizer to him becoming president and ordering the killing / capture of Osama bin Laden. 

If you have seen at least one speech from Barack Obama you would have notices that his speeches are filled with inspiration, hope or motivation. But this book is written by the same guy but this doesn’t feel like it. Because were is the inspiration, hope or motivation in it?

At the same time Barack Obama is very reserved and way too kind to himself in this book which really made me have the impression that he is way too full of himself. Even thou I like Barack Obama and think that he was the best president since JFK.

Of course there are some good parts about this book, like it having the occasional acknowledgement of moments or situation that the press didn’t captured or report on but should which proved that he was better president than people on the right give him the credit for. And this book has few interesting anecdotes which really made me learn something more about Barack Obama and which I found to be very interring and fun to read about. But those moments were very rare and I personally wish that we had gotten more of them.

This book has over 700 pages (which depends on the edition of the book you got), and it feels like Barack Obama have written a love letter to himself which turned out to be 750 pages long. Which really made me view him in a different light than I did before reading this book.

There were a lot of moments during reading this book where I found myself bored of it, uninterested and thinking about if I should DNF this book because I was very bored at times.

The edition I got of this book is 752 pages long, and after reading this whole book I think that it should have been shorter and it would only make this book better than it is now. Because as it is now it feels more like a boring text book from high school which everyone hate but which everyone needed to read.

At the same time this book doesn’t talk or even mention about the major events which happened during his presidency but rather this book talks about the insignificant events which no one really cares about. 

Throughout this book keeps mentioning how much it sucks to be president of USA and how hard of a job it is. I personally think that being a president must be a hard job and not just sitting on the couch all day everyday and making some decisions, but Barack Obama signed himself to being possibly a  president when he started his presidential campaign. 

The writing style in this book wasn’t the best. Of course it had some good moments. But for the most part it feels like a writing style worthy of a high school text book rather than a biography book about a president.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“The Woman in Me” By Britney Spears Review

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In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.

I really dislike reviewing autobiographies and memoir books since to me it feels like judging the experience the person had in their life. But lets review this book and keep in mind that I’m talking about this BOOK not about anything else.

This book is quick read, because its short and its actually interesting. I didn’t know much about Britney Spears before reading this book, I never was a fan of her even thou I liked a few of her songs. I knew very basic things about her like she was in a very shady conservatorship, her love life wasn’t the greatest and she making weird videos on instagram in the recent years.

After reading this book I’ve realized how much she actually went through in her life and reading this book was really so sad because you learn about how much shit she went through since she was born. And it really makes me feel very sad for her.

The writing style in this book was on the 5th grade level which really was pretty painful at times especially when she talked about being forced to do things she didn’t want, be manipulated by her parents or being forced to stay somewhere which she wanted to leave.

The chapters are over the place in this book. The chapters aren’t chronological but instead they jump back and forward in time without any reason. The chapters would go to where she was still in school to her giving birth to her kids like 17 years later and then it would jump back to where she was starting her career and the things she done to kick star her career.

The chapter ending were very abrupt and it felt like the author didn’t bother to give us any details than whats absolutely necessary for us to feel sad about what Britney Spears went through in her life. Which really didn’t help me to like the book.

But this book was very inserting and enjoyable even thou it had its fair share of things which didn’t work out for me. But I still like it and would recommend this book if you are interested in learning more about Britney Spears.

It is said on wikipedia that this book was written together with a ghostwriter named  Sam Lansky. But of course anything taken off of Wikipedia needs to be taken with a lot of salt. If it is true then it might explain why I didn’t like this book as much as I wanted to.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Głosy z zaświatów” By Remigiusz Mróz Review

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Seweryn Zaorski stara się na nowo ułożyć sobie życie, kiedy do zakładu patomorfologii w Żeromicach zaczynają trafiać ciała małych dzieci z okolicy. Nikt nie potrafi rozwiązać zagadki śmierci młodych ofiar, nic bowiem nie wskazuje na to, by zostały zamordowane. Seweryn jest jednak przekonany, że może stać się głosem tych, którzy mówią już jedynie z zaświatów. Kto i dlaczego zabija niewinne dzieci? I jaki związek ma to z tajemniczymi wiadomościami, które Zaorski zaczyna otrzymywać?

At the time of writing this review this book is only available in polish.

This book is the second book in the “Seweryn Zaorski” series. I have pretty mixed feelings about this book just as I had after finishing the first book in this series.

On the one side this book is much better than the first book in this series but at the same time the plot is even less existing than it was in the first book and the characters are just so much more annoying than in the first book in this series.

The plot in this book is very absurd just think about someone is killing and raping little girls and there is a investigation to find out who is the murder. And all of the absurd things which you think wont happen because they would have been too stupid or lame. They do happen in this book. 

But also the author doesn’t do a good jobbing in hiding who the murder is throughout this book and only reveling it at the end. The author ignores all that. The moment we first met the murder (of course we didn’t know he was the murder) at the beginning of this book I hade a feeling and was already in chapter 3 or 4 pointing fingers to the correct person who might be the murder. And because of this I would get so angry at the main characters for not even suspecting that person that I would scream at them fully knowing that they are fictional character and that they wouldn’t hear me whatsoever.

The characters seem do develop and grow but in the reverse way than forwards. I don’t know if it just me but I feel like the characters make even more stupid decisions than in the first book. And because of this I found them being so damn annoying.

However I liked the ending a lot in this book. Because we get a twist at the end which makes us think “oh, now it makes sense”. Or at least it was how I reacted when I read the ending of this book. 

I personally think that the ending of this book was much better than the ending in the first book in this series. Because as ive said the review for the first book of the series, I thought and still think that it was very confusing and all over the place. But in this book the whole reveling of who the murder is and how he operated was actually pretty logical than in the first book.

There are times when the author drags for too long and describes things which aren’t relevant or just talks about how much the main two character want to bang each other but they cant since the female main character is married to the major of the town and she is a police deputy. Which really made me so annoyed at this book and the author. Because 15% of this book is talking about how much the two main characters want to kiss each other or bang each other but it never happens. So why use so much of this book talking about something which never happens in the end? But at the same time its a crime / mystery book so I don’t want the author use pages and pages talking about how much 2 characters want to bang each other. If I wanted to read about sex I would pick up “fifty shades of gray” or “365 days”.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Listy zza grobu” By Remigiusz Mróz Review

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Dwadzieścia lat po śmierci ojca Kaja Burzyńska wciąż otrzymuje od niego wiadomości. Zadbał o to, przygotowując je zawczasu i zlecając coroczną wysyłkę tego samego, pozornie przypadkowego dnia. Po czasie Kaja traktuje to już jedynie jako zwyczajną tradycję – aż do momentu, gdy w listach zaczyna dostrzegać drugie dno. Tymczasem do miasteczka po dwudziestu dwóch latach wraca Seweryn Zaorski. Patomorfolog i samotny ojciec dwójki dzieci kupuje zrujnowany dom rodzinny Kai i rozpoczyna remont. W zniszczonym garażu odnajduje zamurowaną skrytkę z materiałami, które rzucają nowe światło na sprawę sprzed dwóch dekad.

At the time of writing this review this book is only available in polish.

At this point I was read multiple books written by Remigiusz Mróz, and I gotta say that I’ve read worse books written by the author and I have read better books by this author. So this book is firmly in the middle.

In my opinion this book is all over the place, because there is a lot of things happening in this book and we follow two perspectives in this book.

The plot here is that the wife of the major is a policewoman and her father went missing with no trace 2 decades before and ever since her father went missing she gets weird letters from her father. So we follow her investigation to what happened with her father those 2 decades ago but then we get mob investigation and secret society investigation which really made it very very confusing for me.

The characters in this book were very far from being good. Don’t get me wrong they were okay. But in the end I just didn’t care about them nor did I bother to remember them for a long time after finishing this book.

The main character in this book was very meh, because I didn’t care at all about what will happen with him. In my opinion he makes stupid decisions and was not the smartest character I came across.

Its important to say that this book is the first book in the series of named “Seweryn Zaorski” which at the time of writing this book is a 5 books series. 

I need to be honest here and say that the first part of this book was actually very good, intriguing, interesting and enjoyable. But the second part of it is when the book started going down hill at least in my opinion. Which of course might explain why I gave this book a 3 star rating. 

The writing style in this book is okay. I have no strong feels about the writing style in this book. Because the author uses very simple and easy language which really doubt make you think about what is happening in the book but rather tells you straight away “this happens, then this happens and then this happens”. Which I personally am not a fan of. I prefer when the authors leave space to reader imagination rather than setting the plot in stone.

The ending of this book as Ive said above is all over the place and left me very confused about what had just happened. Which in my opinion isn’t a good thing if the author wants me give his book a good rating.

I Give This Book 3 / 5