Complete

This starts off sounding like it is directly describing Elon Musk and SpaceX.  I haven't bothered to look up the exact timing of this book's writing and the founding or inspiration of SpaceX.  Sadly the rocket launches don't really continue (I think I would have loved something more like all of the rocket launches in Seveneves).  The first half of the book earns the great rating that I am giving and the second half is good enough to not drag the rating back down.  And I think I will read the sequels.

Standard Dan Brown story (I read The Da Vinci Code way back when, plus maybe one other of his).

When I started reading this book I actually thought it was plausibly a real diary.  I grew more skeptical while reading it, but thought maybe just possibly someone could be dumb enough to write a few of the things that were making me doubt.  So when I finished the book and then looked at some reviews online it was not a shock to see that it was fiction.  It made me think of how the movie Fargo claims at the beginning that it is a true story.  And I also recall someone saying that the producers of Fargo admitted in an interview or something that of course it is not a true story but that making that claim at the beginning is a powerful device to suck the viewer in.

That device did positively affect my enjoyment of the book.

My main take-away from the book is that the parents really failed.  Letting your child go to a party without verifying the circumstances of it is pretty whack.  Of course this is coming from the guy who did not go to parties in high school so...whatever.  But the whole plot in my mind hinges on the parents being idiots.

A reasonable collection of stories. "The Ugly Little Boy" and "The Treasure Of Odirex" were my favorites. A couple I skipped because the first page or two didn't hook me and one had a really annoying dialect for some characters ("The Alley Man").

I think this was a great look into what Buddhism is.

Half the book is an appendix, which is interesting but I have only read half of it.  Still counting it as completed!

My thoughts a few months after reading this: I should read the sequel because this was a pretty good book.