Reviews and Comments

This book does almost exactly what you think it does: Fun facts about fun maps explained in fun, sometimes gimmicky ways. Overall it's nothing more than expected but also nothing less. So if you like Map Men you'll probably like this book

Tl;Dr: Full of stories, it succeeds in showing how maps were "discovered", how they are deeply linked with Mathematics and how impactful they can be in approachable way

This book really surprised me positively. While at first look (being a maths book) I presumed it could become really dry and theoretical the book proved to be a real gem. It is filled to the brim with the practical applications and story of the discovery of the science discussed. This is backed up by illustrations and lots of interviews. Another thing the author does really well is including the stories and difficulties of the hidden female figures, involved in the discovery of most of the things we take for granted today. This all made the book really engaging and fun to read. Of course, being a nerdy maths book it also contains some obligatory fun jokes and references which are much appreciated. Throughout all of this it still stays approachable for amateurs like me. The book also gets a bonus point for being non-binary and trans inclusive <3.

After having enjoyed both "Humble Pi" and "Love Triangle" I hope this one will be a blast too!

TL;DR Really fun to read but don't expect too much suspension or a good plot

Well the heading basically says it all but I'm gonna elaborate further what I mean with it: Stephenson builds a magnificent dystopia of all encompassing capitalism and a total absence of real laws. This world and how the characters interact with it are eerily realistic but still so over the top that they stay funny. The plot however comes over far less realistically and feels very constructed. It feels like it is continually fed to you in little pieces of complicated and boring infodumping about ancient religions which was honestly nothing I'd expect from an otherwise futuristic novel. This does not make it boring though. Because of the great worldbuilding the novel still stays fun to read and is a reccomendation for anyone who wants to find out how fucked up it was of Zuck to rename his company after this capitalist shithole called "Metaverse".