wjrobbins2

• Rated 4 stars

“A good bit of plot and erotica. Me likey.”

wjrobbins2 wrote this review Monday, September 28 2009. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“More great Murakami! When recommending his work to people, I usually tell them that he's able to condense the human experience into tantalizing short, declarative sentances.

Though thoroughly enjoyable, this particular novel was a bit odd... I mean- more odd than usual. To know what I mean, you'll just have to read it.”

wjrobbins2 wrote this review Monday, September 28 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“For a child of the '80s, this book offers great insight into the political climate which led to the bits of history we (read: I) vaguely remember seeing on television. Also, in one chapter he details the assumptions which formed the foundation for the deregulation of the financial markets. Since this book was published prior to the economic collapse, it's a pretty "interesting" read for those curious about where we went wrong.”

wjrobbins2 wrote this review Monday, September 28 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Crazy-interesting. By plying assumptions to modern, real-world problems, and turning the mathematical "crank," the author is able to highlight common misconceptions in certain industries.

From my perspective, the most interesting example is of the drug trade. We commonly see references in popular culture to über-rich druglords. So why is is that most drug dealers are poor? A PhD student at UChicago convinced a crack-ring to allow him to collect information about the types of transactions between distributor, and street runner. The answer is, in hindsight, pretty obvious.

There are a few topics that I think a bit too speculative; they draw correlations where there should be none. There's a bit about race and academic performance that still sits badly with me. But I guess it's polarizing issues like this that make economics interesting. ”

wjrobbins2 wrote this review Saturday, May 23 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“This is the iconic Beatnik novel, and it's a quasi-auto-biography, if I remember correctly. Let me preface my review with the fact that I am not well-educated in literature; I could be missing some concept, or key feature that would completely alter the following comments.

I imagine that that the lifestyle and choices presented in the work (e.g., anti-consumerist, and "Beat") were shocking during the 1950s. Coupled with the backlash against the almost totalitarian government of the McCarthy era, I have no doubt that the Beat movement was a partial seed for the counter-culture revolution of the 1960s. In that regard, this is an incredibly important piece of literature. However, to a child of a hippie, who's had his/her own road trips, and reasonably "illicit" experiences, this book doesn't have the same shock-value, or allure. Some of the language (particularly the oft quoted, "The only ones for me are the mad ones ...") is beautiful, and crystalizes the thoughts of the author into words which explode in the reader's mind like Pop Rocks and Pepsi.

If you're interested in the history, or just curious, by all means, read this book. (But also read some Ginseburg poetry, Burrows novels, et alii.) If you're looking for a page-turning plot, you may want to look elsewhere.
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wjrobbins2 wrote this review Saturday, May 23 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Someone told me that this book would change my life; it came close... Murakami has the amazing ability to distill the human experience into short, declarative sentences. Every page of this work of magical realism is thoroughly stimulating. I highly recommend it. ”

wjrobbins2 wrote this review Saturday, May 23 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 1 stars

“There is nothing even remotely appealing about this novel. Someone gets abused. A lot. And it continues for several hundred pages. If you're already reading it, it doesn't get better. Put. It. Down.”

wjrobbins2 wrote this review Tuesday, April 28 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“A wonderful book for the pre-politically conscious -- adolescents, and tweens. ”

wjrobbins2 wrote this review Tuesday, April 28 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Great book. A must-read for anyone planning to be a part of a society.”

wjrobbins2 wrote this review Tuesday, April 28 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Great book for young adults. What's amazing is how many contraptions in this book were actually invented after its publication.”

wjrobbins2 wrote this review Tuesday, April 28 2009. ( reply | permalink )