I had just finished the book the other month! You sum up events that are otherwise "irreal" so pleasantly. I had some contention for how the audience gets to be almost omniscient to the ongoing events (give or take a few exceptions that won't completely derail the "plot") and that was against the spirit of the book, but nonetheless I enjoyed it immensely. Like an antimeme I can only describe what it is not, and it's not perfect, but it's not the end of the world either.
The question is, was this REALLY your first time reading?
Glad you enjoyed the book! It took me way too long to realize your question was a joke based on the book, for some reason I initially interpreted it as me having a typo somewhere in the review :facepalm:
Parts of the premise remind me of the TV show Severance, where characters are only conscious of their work and all its associated memories when they’re at the office. As soon as they take the elevator down, they forget everything about the day. In this way, with memory so severed, they become two different people. Another testament to memory’s meaning-making power.
I knew the broad concept of Severance but hadn't made that connection, that makes me more excited to watch it! It's been on my to-watch list since it came out but with two little ones mostly all I watch is Bluey and Daniel Tiger 🙃
I loved this book. I also love the fact it is written by an indie author, that the individual "reports" are freely available to read, and yet readers still want to own the book. I've given my paperback copy away. I need another! Great review.
Yeah, absolutely, I have a lot of respect for qntm. He makes a lot of his stuff available online for free.
I like having the physical copies (as well as supporting him) but it’s nice people can enjoy his work even if they don’t.
I think he just recently (in the last year) had a story republished in a traditional “Best of” anthology, and he made some comment online about how he can now claim to be a published science fiction author
Sounds like a wonderful part of a long history of Philip K Dick scenarios like “I can remember it for you wholesale” (Total Recall) and the memory-cum-secret agent ploy; and the off-kilter “Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch” involving drug elicited memories which are invaded by a meme made immortal by alien lichens; and of course “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” (Bladerunner) with the implanted memories; and “Through a Scanner Darkly” where the drug agent can’t remember he’s trailing himself.
I made a movie treatment some time ago about a for-profit prison which gave prisoners a drug which induced amnesia, so they would work on a chem lab producing an illicit street drug distributed by ex con’s which induced hypermimesis. An FBI undercover agent with a faked electronic history who had an implanted cell chip was bashed day 1, and loses his memory and external communication, and the rest of the movie was backtracking into his original memory swinging between hypermimesis from the illegal drugs, and avoiding the amnesia from the other drug.
I read quite a bit of Beaudrillard decades ago..
Thanks for the pointer. Can never have enough Lovecraftian creatures
If you enjoyed it, on the main hub of the antimemetics division (https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/antimemetics-division-hub) there is a sequel and a few other related side stories you might like. It takes a bit of a different turn than the main book, but still just as interesting and in qntm's amazing style.
I had just finished the book the other month! You sum up events that are otherwise "irreal" so pleasantly. I had some contention for how the audience gets to be almost omniscient to the ongoing events (give or take a few exceptions that won't completely derail the "plot") and that was against the spirit of the book, but nonetheless I enjoyed it immensely. Like an antimeme I can only describe what it is not, and it's not perfect, but it's not the end of the world either.
The question is, was this REALLY your first time reading?
Glad you enjoyed the book! It took me way too long to realize your question was a joke based on the book, for some reason I initially interpreted it as me having a typo somewhere in the review :facepalm:
Interesting, will have to check it out.
Parts of the premise remind me of the TV show Severance, where characters are only conscious of their work and all its associated memories when they’re at the office. As soon as they take the elevator down, they forget everything about the day. In this way, with memory so severed, they become two different people. Another testament to memory’s meaning-making power.
I knew the broad concept of Severance but hadn't made that connection, that makes me more excited to watch it! It's been on my to-watch list since it came out but with two little ones mostly all I watch is Bluey and Daniel Tiger 🙃
Adding to my to-read stack.
I suspect/assume you already know about qntm's earlier writing about antimemetics (inter alia) at SCP Foundation, but if not:
https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/qntm-s-author-page
Yep, I'm aware -- super cool that his writing there led to a book that's received a fair amount of attention/acclaim
I loved this book. I also love the fact it is written by an indie author, that the individual "reports" are freely available to read, and yet readers still want to own the book. I've given my paperback copy away. I need another! Great review.
Yeah, absolutely, I have a lot of respect for qntm. He makes a lot of his stuff available online for free.
I like having the physical copies (as well as supporting him) but it’s nice people can enjoy his work even if they don’t.
I think he just recently (in the last year) had a story republished in a traditional “Best of” anthology, and he made some comment online about how he can now claim to be a published science fiction author
I think qntm's work is better than most published science fiction authors. :-)
Agreed!
This sounds challenging!
That's been on my "to read" list for awhile. Time to finally bump it to the top of the list I think.
Sounds like a wonderful part of a long history of Philip K Dick scenarios like “I can remember it for you wholesale” (Total Recall) and the memory-cum-secret agent ploy; and the off-kilter “Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch” involving drug elicited memories which are invaded by a meme made immortal by alien lichens; and of course “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” (Bladerunner) with the implanted memories; and “Through a Scanner Darkly” where the drug agent can’t remember he’s trailing himself.
I made a movie treatment some time ago about a for-profit prison which gave prisoners a drug which induced amnesia, so they would work on a chem lab producing an illicit street drug distributed by ex con’s which induced hypermimesis. An FBI undercover agent with a faked electronic history who had an implanted cell chip was bashed day 1, and loses his memory and external communication, and the rest of the movie was backtracking into his original memory swinging between hypermimesis from the illegal drugs, and avoiding the amnesia from the other drug.
I read quite a bit of Beaudrillard decades ago..
Thanks for the pointer. Can never have enough Lovecraftian creatures
I like this review, and the format you use. And I will also add the book to my list- starting with my library.
Thanks for the feedback! Hope you enjoy the book as much as I did!
Thanks for the recommendation, putting this on my wish list now!
Hope you enjoy it!
Excellent review. I’m now going to read some of qntm’s work. Thank you.
If you enjoyed it, on the main hub of the antimemetics division (https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/antimemetics-division-hub) there is a sequel and a few other related side stories you might like. It takes a bit of a different turn than the main book, but still just as interesting and in qntm's amazing style.