Giving up on The City in the Middle of the Night was a hard decision that was easy to do once I made it. It has nothing to do with the book. Her writing is great, and I was drawn into the world building. Alas, I realized shortly after I picked it up that I was really, really not in the mood for science fiction. Sometimes that happens.
Charlie Jane Anders is an amazing writer, and I would encourage you to read The City in the Middle of the Night if you are into science fiction.
Avoidance. This book review is about the fact that I’ve been avoiding it for… well, months. The unit is months and that’s kind of embarrassing.
Why? I have no idea. I enjoyed What If? Exploring the extremes of something and doing the math to figure out what happens at those extremes is a useful learning tool. It was funny.
So why don’t I want to write this? Probably because I don’t feel like I have anything new to say that hasn’t been said; and I know this is about how *I* feel about What If? but I don’t know what to say, other than that second paragraph. Yes, this is a good physics/science/math learning tool. Yay?
It didn’t move me. Is this where I have to finally admit to myself that maybe I don’t want to read about math and science recreationally anymore? There was a time – my teenaged years – where I’d read popular science books before I’d read anything else. I’ve kept it up sporadically over the years, but… I guess I just don’t care any more. Nothing to do with this particular tome.
(It’s not you, it’s me.)