Review #28 - Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini

Be More Chill is a book about Jeremy Heere who is at the bottom of the social ladder (side note - there are so many books and films about people at the bottom of the social ladder - what about people in the middle?). He gets a mini supercomputer implanted in his brain so he can become cool and get the girl.

Be More Chill is written by the same author who wrote It's Kind of a Funny Story. I expected this to be a book on depression as I know Ned Vizzini struggled with depression all his life and killed himself last year. It wasn't at all. It was about social status and getting through High School and it was very different to what I was expecting which I really enjoyed. It was funny and observational and just fun to read.

Be More Chill was pretty hard to put down. It really is everything that is wonderful about Ned Vizzini in one book and that was wonderful. It just had a great plot idea and the squip had wonderful dialogue. There was a lot of social commentary hidden beneath the surface: how hard it is to be popular in high school, what computers and modern society are doing to us, and why popularity isn't the be all and end all.

I did feel it was quite gender specific which I did find a shame because of this infatuation with a girl and getting a guy to like you is so different for getting a girl to like you that it locked me out a bit. The rest was really accessible though, so sorry for my criticisms. I found it accessible even though senior school sounds really different to High School.

I would recommend this if:
You loved It's Kind of a Funny Story
You want a book about High School popularity with a twist
You want a book that's funny and accessible.

I gave this four stars.


P.S. My friend Nina did an amazing book haul which you should totally check out.

A Working Theory of Love - The AI vs Humans

I decided to talk to some humans and a computer about pride and prejudice because LIZZIE BENNET OH MY GOD.




One of the main plots in AWTOL was the whole "is it AI is it human" and if computers can feel emotions. By asking both the same question I realised that one) people who have read pride and prejudice don't spend their time on omegle



The computer:
What is a truth universally acknowledged?
OMG.
What?
I'm 15.
What is a truth universally acknowledged?
All men are created equal.

Omegle:
You: What is a truth universally acknowledged?
Stranger: men likes s**

You: What is a truth universally acknowledged?
Stranger: Hi, 19 m India
Stranger: death
You: Thank you.
Stranger: welcome

You: What is a truth universally acknowledged?
Stranger: :) hi. i'm 22/F/usa :) you?
You: What is a truth universally acknowledged?
Stranger: great. wann webcam?

I lost faith in people around this point.

One of the main plots in AWTOL was the whole "is it AI is it human" and if computers can feel emotions. By asking both the same question I realised that one) people who have read pride and prejudice don't spend their time on omegle two) cleverbot doesn't follow a particularly clear train of thought because it spends most of it's time talking to humans and I KNOW I KNOW it will recite the whole of Getting Back to Hogwarts from AVPM but that isn't the point.

Computers will never talk like humans because we're so complicated and ever evolving and dependant on emotions and nature and nurture.

Sophie, you've been on omegle for 10 minutes, stop making sweeping generalisations about the human race.

A Working Theory of Love - Review

A Working Theory of Love was published in 2012 by The Penguin Press and was written by Scott Hutchins. (n.b. there shall be two fonts in this review, spoiler font (this bad boy)and non spoiler font (the one the rest of the review is in)). This is not a book for teens, it is an adult book, but it is also not a book for older adults, I think so NICHE MARKET.

A Working Theory of Love is about a man named Neill who is divorced, living with his cat and trying to create an AI (artificial intelligence) of his own dead (to see spoiler see note one) father. If you don't understand what an AI is I suggest you talk to one here: http://cleverbot.com/

There are two main plots through this book, the artificial intelligence computer one which I find much more entertaining and the oh my god I'm falling in love with a woman (see note two). Also, there is huge volumes about this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPpeC_GW0cg

It got a little boring to be honest with you. Especially the clicking plot line (THAT IS NOT A SPOILER YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT IS). I didn't understand why it was necessary to go on and on about it when it excludes some of the demographic

I found the beginning a little slow moving and thinking of it as a love story made it pretty demotivating as it isn't a great one. However, after that it becomes much more AI oriented and I found it much more interesting as a novel as it was different as the two leads weren't particularly attractive characters (I mean their personalities, this isn't Twilight).

I would recommend this to the young as it is heavily based around computers and without that background knowledge I think the knowledge may be more difficult to access. (See Spoiler 3. Warning. It's a biggie)

Overall I gave it 4 stars because the computer plot line was fantastic and made up most of the book but the love plot line lacked a lot.

I mainly bought it because it was orange.

Oh the beauty of consumerism.

Au revoir mes petits pois

Note one: -by-suicide

Note two: 16 years younger than me

Note three: One of the characters wants to create an AI that is basically chats you up and other things that adults do alone together (don't judge me I don't know how old you are). I didn't really understand why that subplot was necessary.