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Friday, October 21, 2022

Book Review: How to Take Over the World

How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain
Written by Ryan North in 2022

Synopsis:

“It would be easy—too easy—in writing these heists to assure you of my own confidence that they’ll work. The end result would be you thinking me a poor deluded egoist, some lost soul high on the fumes of his own imagination. This is fair. So instead, I have chosen a much more difficult but rewarding task. I won’t convince you that I could pull off these heists.

I’m going to convince you that you can.

This text is your supervillain education, and it begins right now.”


Covering topics such as cloning dinosaurs, digging to the center of the Earth to hold it hostage, and living forever, How to Take Over the World is a hilarious yet not-all-that-ridiculous guide to delusions of grandeur. Presented as a genuine resource, each chapter includes an executive summary, budget, and consequences if you’re caught.


Review: I had a blast with this book. North approaches childish ideas with scientific rigor and often highly intellectual humor, and the author’s own excitement conveyed in his many tangents, sidebars, and footnotes is infectious.


I follow three webcomic artists with a scientific background who have recently written a pop science book (Ryan North: "Dinosaur Comics", Randall Munroe: "XKCD", and Zach Weinersmith: "Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal"). I’ve read parts of Munroe’s What If, and, while its short, punchy chapters about all sorts of questions are entertaining, North’s choices to stick to a unifying theme and directly advise the reader gave the book much more heart. I’ve forgotten each of the answers I enjoyed in What If, whereas I know some parts of How to Take Over the World will stick with me forever. Most notably, the final chapter addresses how to leave a message for the future. North outlines a new detailed plan for each logarithmic increase in time: 1 year, 10 years, 100 years, up to 100,000,000,000 years. The steady walkthrough left me marveling at the universe and laughing at the same time—and North’s writing implies this has been his motivation all along.


Strengths:

  • The book gives the reader the ego of a supervillain. It’s a lot of fun to be addressed in this manner: “Without exception, everyone who thought they’d found a path to immortality was absolutely wrong, this idea has a failure rate of 100%, and not even a single human being has managed to live forever in the 13.8 billion years the universe has existed. Not one. But then again, it’s equally true to say that in all those 13.8 billion years, there’s never been a human being quite like you.

  • North’s explanations of computer architecture (in discussing how to destroy the internet) and high-frequency trading were helpful frameworks, and generally the author conveys complex information effectively.


Weaknesses:

  • Many of the illustrations and captions are weak and could’ve been left out. However, they’re worth it for the joke that introduces them: “Illustrations by Carly Monardo, an associate of mine, are peppered throughout the text because illustrations rule and authors who keep pictures out of their books are cowards, terrified that their slight words will be upstaged by any proximity to an intuitive, evocative, and honestly more charming visual medium.

  • The Time Travel chapter fell flat for me.

  • North shies away from mentioning anything legitimately harmful to maintain the book’s wholesome tone. His discussion of climate change and a few other ethical tangents are forced into an otherwise smooth read, and they may not have the desired effect of educating readers on the issues North wants to discuss.


Rating: 17/20 loopholes in the international treaties surrounding Antarctica


Ideal Setting: Read this book when news about politics gets you thinking, “I could run society so much better than this.”


Sunday, October 9, 2022

Book Review: The Final Empire

Mistborn: The Final Empire
Written by Brandon Sanderson, 2006

Synopsis: Left to pay off her brother’s debt to a thieving crew, Vin can’t imagine any life beyond starving in Luthadel’s underground. Everything promises to change, however, when she’s recruited by another crew to help pull off the greatest job in history. The charismatic Kelsier believes he can overthrow the immortal, omnipotent Lord Ruler and improve the lives of the oppressed skaa race across the empire. That gives Vin one year to infiltrate high society and to master the eight magic abilities she possesses as a Mistborn, while her comrades raise an army and dismantle Luthadel’s garrison. It’s an impossible mission. Especially for a skaa orphan.


Review: Of course, the first book of this instant classic fantasy trilogy follows an orphan who later finds out she has noble blood and incredibly strong magic. However, Sanderson has protagonist Vin share the spotlight with a team of well-developed characters—one of whom, Kelsier, has just as much claim to be the story’s main character. Kelsier and his crew fill what turned out to be a huge gap in fantasy: middle-aged characters, old enough to have cultivated their powers but young enough to excitedly participate in the action and make mistakes while doing so. The dynamic between Kelsier, a lifetime eccentric and only recently a hero, and his brother who labored silently for decades to help skaa, was especially clever.


While I’m unhappy with Vin’s cliche extra strength in the final battle, the magic system in The Final Empire was otherwise fair and unique. Kelsier and Vin have access to more abilities than most other characters, but those forced to specialize are much more powerful in their niche. The lesson each crew member gives Vin about his ability also shows his distinct worldview, serving as a clever device to bring the reader further into these characters and the magic at the same time.


On the whole, Sanderson’s pacing is perfect. Emergencies that surprise the characters similarly interrupt the reader’s expectations for a scene, and the book feels like it takes place over the full year that the plot describes, rather than having long gaps between stand-out days. Sanderson also intentionally opens up new questions about the world as he answers others. I walked away from the last page with closure for the plot but ongoing concerns about the magic and history, which I’m motivated to explore in the rest of the trilogy.


Strengths:

  • Every death had weight. We watch characters wrestle with both grief and with the practical concerns that losing that specific person created. Compared with most action movies just flaring a character's drive for vengeance, the shift in attitudes here was more nuanced and evolved over time.

  • It’s worth restating how well Sanderson wielded a team of characters, many of whom participate off-screen.


Weaknesses: 

  • Some readers will be bothered by not fully understanding how characters’ powers work until more than halfway through the book.

  • For all the sense that the magic system ultimately made, it could’ve made a little more.


Rating: 19/20 different skeletons making up one mistwraith


Ideal Setting: Read this when you’re sick of traditional chosen-one stories.