is honest enough to admit that. I’m sorry if ignorance scares you. I’m sorry if you can’t stand the thought of dying before you’ve found the meta-yes. But that’s how this works, for now. And in the meantime, bookended by birth and death, riding about in bodies of carbon, loving, suffering, striving, for a short, short time, we get to be. If we’re forced to be in a mysterious universe, and that universe is mute on the subject of its own motivations for existing, I’ll still take living in honest ignorance over your metaphysical posturing any day. That’s real bravery. Not concocting blatantly contradictory stories to comfort oneself, not appealing to the vague transcendent every time you get your worldview in a twist. Ignorance. Brave, honest admission of one’s ignorance, and living with that ignorance in a kind, compassionate manner, treating each other well even if we know we eventually all go to dust and never happen again. We must try to be wise, to be good women, to be good men. The rite of adulthood is the admission”

I've read some of exurb1a’s short stories and they're splendid. Finishing this book solidifies him in my mind as a nihilistic, sharp-witted writer and content creator whose style begets works that hit dark and sharp. With extremely engaging prose, he weaves familiar ideas into a breathtakingly original and fast-paced mix that leaves me thinking. Just left and right, and Saturday and Sunday, and eating and screwing, and foraging about on the beach of truth for decades, alone, unmoored, searching, the tide coming and going, apathetic to you, to everyone. Then all of it paying off—suddenly you glimpse a perfect promise of wisdom on that beach, something to give all the misery meaning: a message in a bottle; a message in a bottle just waiting there for you in the sand, just waiting there to explain everything, to reward you for all your misery and searching, the Truth Behind It All. I've heard of exurb1a oft described as "a drunk British version of Kurzgesagt". In contrast to Kurzgesagt's take of "optimistic nihilism", exurb1a's videos are darker and more nihilistic, sparkled with expletives and hard-hitting in a way that reminds me of Mark Manson's works. Is there a more opulent society imaginable than one that builds spaceships while its population starves?”Hard sci-fi spanning the age of all things, with a convincing and heartfelt moral and a pitch-perfect plot for the genre. My one major qualm is the whole magicalness of appearing as an animal is entirely unnecessary (the title wouldn't even have to change) and sort of only serves to differentiate Devas from non-Devas...it just isn't utilized well enough to make up for the fact that it really feels otherworldly and reminds the reader they're in fiction. The only other faults I find: 1) Chekhov's Gun is very clumsily introduced and obvious, 2) it probably could be condensed at parts to be a bit smoother of a read, and 3) it's not perfectly edited, and the editing mistakes are a bit frontloaded.

The space opera is a familiar recipe that I have not read very much. Not sure how more prolific readers would think, but this book was incredibly refreshing and potent for me. It reminds me somewhat of psychedelics and beams of light.

Open Library

Urinating one morning he became transfixed with an intricate pattern on the plaster of the toilet and mangled the tip of his penis in his trouser zip. I really liked the dynamic and conflict yet the coordinated needed between science and theology. The tight tie between the narrative and character arcs. Each of the chapters are super bite-sized. I feel like this was one of the captivating reading experiences I've ever had. Highly, highly recommend! Unlike my experience with Neal Stephenson's works, I found the world-building here thorough but easy to comprehend. Each chapter is short and approachable, leaving me excited to find out what's next for the characters and the world.