Review: The Paradox of Choice

The Paradox of Choice, by Barry Schwartz. Just go and read it. I mean it. It's not often that I could honestly recommend a book to everyone, but here is a rare exception. The content of this book would stand to benefit everyone. Barry approaches the matter of choices in our lives from a variety of angles, and they all point to an important theme - while some degree of choice is needed for us to feel happy, too much choice tends to make us unhappy. Anyone who lives in a relatively wealthy part of the world, in which supermarkets and stores abound with a baffling amount of things for sale, would benefit from reading what Barry has to say in this book. 

Most of us tend to think that we are rational decision-makers, and the pressure of marketing doesn't sway our choices, but the truth is that we are usually wrong about it. Our lives are an ongoing series of choices, and this book highlights how easy it is to act against our own best interests and remaining ignorant while doing so. Barry also makes some useful suggestions for us to tackle the problems of choice.

Final score: 4.5 / 5

Review: The Light Years

The Light Years, by R. W. W. Greene, is a dystopian science fiction novel which I finished reading yesterday. It was thoroughly enjoyable. 

The story is set in a future in which humanity has fled to the stars and colonised several planets. Societies have continued to deteriorate as the schism between rich people and poor people keeps expanding. Most people live out their lives planet side, but others find work in space and spend most of their lives onboard spaceships travelling between the planets at speeds nearing that of light itself. The novel is presented from the perspective of two main characters, told in alternating chapters. One character, Adem, he is a space trader. The other is Hisako, and she isn't even born at the start of the book. And yet they have been arranged to be married when she is an adult. At first it seems bizarre even though the reader is made aware of the impact of relativity. But as the motives of each character's parents are made clear, it's easy to understand why such a marriage would be sought.

As the story progresses we see Hisako go through childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, all while Adem barely ages. As both characters struggle with the internal conflict of the arranged marriage individually, we see the various worlds change around them. Families, people and neighbourhoods come and go in a short span of time for the spacers. But thanks to some excellent storytelling, I never felt that their lives were insignificant; if anything, it made their fleeting lives seem even more valuable. And when Adem and Hisako eventually meet, which is on their wedding day, this novels starts to feel like a good romance novel in which I really wanted the best for the two main characters. 

There are a lot of interesting themes and feelings that came up while reading this book. I won't go into more detail, because I think it's best if you feel the full weight of those emotions as you discover the story for yourself.

Final score: 4 / 5

Unexplained absence

A fair bit of time has passed since my previous blogpost. Obviously, I have been attending to other matters, and I think that's all the explanation I'm going to provide. I hadn't forgotten about this blog, but I simply chose to give my time toward other activities. Maybe I'll write a new post soon. I hope that everyone is doing well.