Marius

A supremely charming and effortlessly memorable book. Positively brimming with quotable gems, incisive remarks, and wise musings that hit hard from left field.

Bizarrely typeset, as if presenting a stream of consciousness, but the format encourages the kind of attentive reading that allows the book's full effect to be appreciated.

Unique, brisk, and well worth the short time it will take to read.

This is a rare book. It took me on an unexpected journey: from thinking that I was going to put it down, to being drawn further and further in by the bewitching descriptions of this improbable circus, and finally — viscerally — to being overwhelmed by the beauty and imaginative weight of the ending.

It lingers. I did not quite struggle through the first third of the book, but I wasn't as compelled to continue it as I would have thought. Past the introduction, the beginnings of the tapestry are woven for you on a scale that is impossible to grasp on a first read-through. For some readers, I suspect they will stop here, frustrated and disappointed, and move on to books less patient, less layered, and less demanding.

The demands are simple, but increasingly unfamiliar in today's literary world: “Just read,” the book asks, “have patience, absorb the details, surrender your hurry.” You cannot skim, because on each page that initially seems to contain nothing but enchanting descriptions, pieces of the puzzle are being carefully assembled for you on a board you cannot yet see, for a purpose that remains deliberately beyond your reach.

Somewhere toward the book's final third, you become aware of a certain momentum gathering. Do not let yourself reach this point in the book if you do not have time to spend with it. Where the book's beginning was patient, its latter half accelerates almost imperceptibly, going from tame to tumultuous so that you hardly notice how it has happened.

One of the many acts described as part of the circus are a series of performers who, seeming still as statues on their platforms, are nevertheless moving, changing, and while it may be difficult to muster the patience to observe the shifts, they are surprising and deeply satisfying as you recognize them.

I made the mistake of reaching the final third of the book yesterday night. I was unable to stop reading until I had finished the book, and sleep was elusive even then.

Brisker and brighter than Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and more fascinating and imaginative than a show of Cirque du Soleil's, The Night Circus is a complicated delight.

I cannot stop thinking about it, and that is a wonderful feeling.

This is a challenging book to assess. My first question, upon finishing it, is “who is this for?”

The science is too involved for a scientifically illiterate fundamentalist creationist audience, the sardonic tone likewise off-putting to them, and the atheists like me who share his broad perspective hardly need a hand-held walk through the garden of nature's wonders and weirdnesses.

Then again, maybe we do: it should be emphasised that this book makes for a fantastic full spectrum look at the subject of evolutionary theory, one complete with some excellent analogies, stunning facts, and wise correlations. Anyone with a high school level understanding of biology will be more than equipped to follow along and learn.

Unfortunately, Dawkins' extensive expertise in the subject matter often falls prey to his fairly direct sense of humour, expressed via a mocking tone that does more to further the stereotype of him as a shrill British ponce than to reveal his truer nature as a passionate humanist.

Inevitably, I am drawn to wonder what the inimitable Christopher Hitchens would have done with a similar task, equipped with Dawkins' subject expertise. I suspect his subtler wit, fantastically evocative writing, and sophisticated understanding of debate would have produced a finer work.

Nevertheless, I would not hesitate to recommend The Greatest Show On Earth to anyone who seeks a peerless introduction to the current state of evolutionary theory, or to a thicker-skinned creationist seeking to inform themselves about the opposing side in the debate about the origins of life.

A tremendous reminder of Gaiman's skill — one that I preferred to Coraline, whose enjoyable narrative is nevertheless revealed to be flat and (ironically) lifeless when compared to the vibrant and moving characters and situations of The Graveyard Book. Both have their merits, but I found this to be the superior read.

This is a ridiculous book.

Jenny Lawson's blogging career is a pale curtain disguising a life so breathtakingly wild that even with the suspicion that much of this book is exaggerated, the fact remains that she's lived a magnificently hilarious life. Reading about it is a consistently compelling experience.

Also, be aware that you will likely split your sides laughing, because the stream-of-consciousness tangents and improbable anecdotes paint the picture of a person so bizarre and off the wall that we find her effortlessly charming in ways that are familiar to all introverts, nerds, and socially awkward people.

Highly recommended.

A satisfying, comfortably in-depth exploration of one of the most defining game mythologies in the history of the medium. Reveals a number of illuminating facets and presents everything in the familiar tone of everyone's favourite narrator, Deckard ‘stay awhile and listen' Cain.

Recommended for fans and game lore collectors.

Fans of linguistics, of communication, and of non-fiction books in general will find a lot to love in Okrent's quirky examination of the secret lives of invented languages.

She has a sense of humour, which in the opinion of this reviewer helps immensely with her discussion of what could have quickly become a dry topic in less capable hands. Her wit does not detract from the erudite and balanced portrayal of the subject and its history, and her ability to describe the invented languages in terms of the strange and wonderful people who created them helps keep the story grounded.

Overall, a worthy book by an author whose love for the subject matter shines through. I'll be keeping my eyes out for more of her work in the future.

While it preaches to the choir to a certain extent, many incisive and eye-opening facts are presented in a very engaging manner.

The core message of the book is that the vast majority of what is written and read today about “health” and “diets” and other similar subjects concerning our well-being are in actual fact supported by claims that have utterly vacuous science behind them — if any at all. If you're into homeopathy or any New Age-y methodologies for improving your quality of life, you're in for some rude awakenings.

One subject that is thankfully covered in detail is the complexity of the placebo effect. Because many of the readers of Goldacre's critique will quickly fire back the expected “but they DO work for me!” arguments, he has taken the time to explain what the placebo effect actually is — why it “working” may not mean quite what you expect — and how truly fascinating the science behind it is.

He is also quick to point out that the placebo effect, carefully dressed, is also what has allowed the book's villainous charlatans to mislead and exploit the gullible, the tired, the sick, and the stupid for so long.

As far as a pop-lit critique of modern scientific marketing goes, I consider it required reading. As a scholarly effort, it's not without its problems, but those neither diminish its value nor cloud the integrity of its point.

The world would be a better place if all highschool students had “Bad Science” on their mandatory reading lists.

Embarrassing example of what happens when good writers are paid to adapt material that isn't their own at a pace that isn't conducive to good work. Micro is rushed, messy, flat, and boring — which is a tragic set of adjectives to use for a book that draws even the slightest amount of content from Michael Crichton.

A magnificent compendium of wit and wisdom from one of the greatest thinkers we've ever had.

Hitchens wrote with a fearless, peerless vehemence that struck terror in the hearts of his enemies and ignited passionate inspiration in those whose willingness to think outweighed their fear of doing so. He will be remembered for many things, and this book serves as a refreshing bottle of some of his finer moments — to be enjoyed responsibly.

It hardly encompasses the full breadth of his contributions to the world, but it doesn't pretend to either. It is a starting point, a ledge overlooking the verdant fields of verbiage he left us. You should have a look.