Mere Mortals Book Reviews

Would you rather evolve into an Eloi or a Morlock?

In this episode, I dive into H.G. Wells ’The Time Machine', a short but hugely influential classic that may be one of the earliest stories to imagine time travel as a machine-driven journey into the future. I walk through the novel’s framing device, the Time Traveller’s unsettling visit to roughly 800,000 AD, and the split future of humanity into the carefree Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks. From there, I unpack why the book still holds up: its eerie vision of evolution, class division, and social decay, plus the way Wells blends scientific curiosity with imaginative speculation to create a compelling early sci-fi adventure.

I also share what stood out to me most as a reader: the novel’s clever structure, its surprisingly gritty tone, and Wells’ deeply pessimistic view of humanity’s future. While I don’t rate it as an all-time personal favourite, I do think it’s well worth reading if you’re interested in the roots of science fiction, time travel stories, or how late-19th-century anxieties about class, progress and civilisation found their way into fiction. It’s a quick read, historically important, and full of ideas that still feel worth discussing today. 

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Timeline:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:15) The Time Traveller sets off and reaches the far future
(00:02:44) Eloi paradise and the horror of the Morlocks
(00:04:49) Social themes and evolution gone backwards
(00:08:30) Science fiction ideas and suspended disbelief
(00:11:47) Narrative structure and standout moments
(00:14:01) H G Wells and his bleak view of humanity
(00:17:23) Final verdict and why the book still matters
(00:19:18) Comparisons, Weena and the book's darker edge
(00:21:59) What I am reading next 

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A bigger world. More perspectives. Nearly 900 pages. But is A Clash of Kings actually better than A Game of Thrones?

In this Mere Mortals book review, I share my honest thoughts on George R. R. Martin’s second A Song of Ice and Fire novel—as someone reading the books without having watched the television series.

I enjoyed the journey, particularly Tyrion’s chapters, Arya’s perspective and Martin’s immersive writing. But the slower build, scattered storylines and unresolved threads left me missing some of the first book’s intensity.

00:00 Is bigger actually better?
00:15 A Clash of Kings: the setup
01:59 My verdict versus A Game of Thrones
04:07 A bigger world, more unfinished stories
06:44 Tyrion shines—but where is Robb?
08:04 Pacing and the Battle of the Blackwater
09:05 Arya, food and immersive detail
10:15 Was it worth the read?
11:09 Your thoughts—and what comes next

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Sure is a lot of hanky panky going on in a sexually repressive time.

In this episode, I review John Steinbeck’s The Wayward Bus, a 1947 novel that sits somewhere in his middle period and while not usually counted among his greatest literary achievements is clearly packed with the sort of vivid, messy human character work he does so well. I walk through the book’s loose premise — a stranded bus, a roadside station, and a cast of passengers and workers thrown together — and talk about why the story feels less like a tightly structured plot and more like a vehicle for Steinbeck to explore personality, motive and tension. For me, that’s where the novel really shines: not in grand narrative payoff, but in the way Steinbeck builds believable people and lets their inner thoughts drive their actions.

I also dig into what I saw as one of the book’s strongest undercurrents: the sexual tension running through nearly every interaction. Set in a more outwardly modest post-WWII, the novel still reveals how little human nature really changes beneath the surface. I reflect on the ways desire, jealousy, insecurity and attraction shape the characters and how Steinbeck captures those dynamics with an honesty that still feels recognisable today. My overall take: The Wayward Bus is a solid, casual Steinbeck read — not on the level of East of Eden or The Grapes of Wrath, but still an enjoyable novel if you love sharp character observation. I gave it a 6.5/10.

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Timeline:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:20) The Wayward Bus synopsis and cast of characters
(00:04:13) Steinbeck's loose storytelling and postwar setting
(00:06:45) Camille, desire and repression on the bus
(00:09:58) Can men and women be just friends
(00:12:33) Why human nature has not changed much
(00:15:15) A real life example of social and sexual tension
(00:17:29) Final verdict and where this book fits in Steinbeck
(00:19:42) What Kyrin is reading and episode wrap up 

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My first Franz Kafka read was weird, vivid and surprisingly enjoyable. In this Mere Mortals Book Review, I share my thoughts on Metamorphosis and the other short stories in this Penguin collection.

From Gregor Samsa’s transformation to a tense taxi dispute and an unexpected insight about achievement, Kafka packs strange situations, precise details and memorable ideas into remarkably short stories.

I discuss alienation, family dependence, Kafka’s writing style, and why reading at a conversational pace helped me enjoy this collection.

⚠️ Spoilers: the Metamorphosis plot discussion starts at 07:39 and includes the ending. Skip to 09:59 to avoid it.

CHAPTERS
00:00 My first encounter with Kafka
00:30 Kafka’s background and literary legacy
01:55 What’s in this short-story collection?
03:03 Kafka’s style and finding my reading pace
04:29 Tiny details that make the writing vivid
05:58 A short reading and everyday observations
07:39 Metamorphosis plot and themes — spoilers
09:59 Point of view and writing outside a day job
11:05 The Aeroplanes at Brescia: the taxi dispute
13:07 The biplane and perfect achievement
14:30 Final thoughts: would I recommend Kafka?

Have you read Kafka? What did Gregor’s transformation mean to you—and which Kafka book should I read next?

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The best way to understand apathy is to not understand at all.

In this episode, I’m back with a review of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the 1966 classic that helped define the true crime genre. I unpack the book’s retelling of the brutal Clutter family murders in Kansas, the psychology of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock and Capote’s readable, gripping style. While I can appreciate the book’s historical importance, strong reporting and the way it gives readers close access to the killers, I kept coming back to the same question: why? For me, the most unsettling part was that there doesn’t seem to be any satisfying meaning behind the crime beyond damaged people committing senseless violence.

I also reflect on why true crime generally doesn’t work for me, despite how popular it is. Reading this didn’t leave me feeling wiser or more understanding of the world — it mostly left me feeling sad. I touch on the ethical questions around capital punishment, the lack of redemption in the story and why meaningless suffering makes this such a heavy read. My final take: it’s an important and well-written book for those interested in true crime, but personally it wasn’t for me and I land at roughly a 2.5 out of 10. 

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Timeline:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:01) What In Cold Blood is about
(00:02:19) The killers and the senseless motive
(00:07:05) Why true crime leaves him cold
(00:09:54) Truman Capote and the book's reporting style
(00:11:52) Capital punishment and moral questions
(00:15:42) Final verdict and whether it is worth reading
(00:18:13) What is next for the book reviews 

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Can a book about stupidity leave you feeling stupider? The Psychology of Stupidity, edited by Jean-François Marmion, promises explanations from some of the world's smartest people. I finished it wondering how it became a bestseller.

In this Mere Mortals Book Review, I explain why the collection disappointed me: repetitive discussions of terminology, arguments I found one-sided, and interviews that didn't deliver the depth I was hoping for.

I also discuss the handful of ideas I did find interesting, before looking more closely at the book's treatment of artificial intelligence, meat-eating and intelligence, and its conversation with Daniel Kahneman.
These are my reactions to the book and the way its arguments are presented. If you enjoyed it, I'd love to hear what worked for you.

CHAPTERS
00:00 The book and its big promise
00:21 Red flags—and my dad's warning
01:01 What I hoped to learn
01:41 The “world's smartest people” pitch
02:37 How the collection is structured
03:06 My verdict—and the few bright spots
04:09 Repetition instead of insight
05:30 The artificial intelligence argument
08:19 Meat-eating, intelligence and missing balance
10:30 The interviews I wanted more from
11:47 What did I actually learn?
12:23 Would I recommend it?

BOOK
The Psychology of Stupidity
Edited by Jean-François Marmion

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Can uncertainty make you stronger and does Antifragile actually show you how?

In this Mere Mortals Book Review, Juan explores Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. There are powerful ideas here, but I finished the book with mixed feelings about its practical application, repetition and relentless personal attacks.

I unpack the difference between fragile, robust and antifragile, explore the barbell strategy and question how easily these frameworks translate into everyday life.

My biggest takeaway? Via negativa: improving by removing harmful habits and unnecessary complexity. Sometimes progress comes from subtraction.

We also explore why a system can benefit from failures that hurt its individual members, my pushback on Taleb’s views about technology, and the ethics of becoming stronger at someone else’s expense.

Glad I read it, but would I recommend reading every page?

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introducing Antifragile and Taleb
01:30 Why I picked it up
02:08 Structure, maths and optional chapters
03:23 Fragile vs robust vs antifragile
04:51 The limits of antifragility
06:25 The Hydra, aviation and individual sacrifice
08:58 Longevity and Taleb’s confrontational style
10:45 Where I push back on health and nature
12:00 The barbell strategy: can you apply it?
13:49 Convexity, concavity and practical usefulness
16:06 Via negativa: improvement through subtraction
17:04 The Lindy effect, technology and AI
18:34 Too long, too repetitive, too many attacks?
19:43 The ethics of shifting risk onto others
20:51 My verdict: should you read it?
21:40 What I’ll apply to my own life

What’s one thing you could REMOVE from your life to make it better? Let me know in the comments.

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Can we slow AI development down while everyone is still trying to win the race?

In this episode of Mere Mortals Book Reviews, I'm reviewing an article: “We Must Pace the Frontier” by Dario Amodei.

I unpack the proposals for embedded evaluators, coordination between AI companies and international cooperation. Then I share where I'm supportive, where I'm sceptical, and why reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Antifragile has me questioning the comparison between AI safety and aviation.

We also explore recursive self-improvement, the tension between global cooperation and US–China competition, and whether today's AI capabilities already give us enough to work with.

This is my personal reading and critique of the article. Read it yourself and tell me where you agree or disagree.

READ THE ARTICLE
https://darioamodei.com/post/we-must-pace-the-frontier

CHAPTERS
00:00 An article review with big implications
00:32 The controversy behind the conversation
02:25 What does “pacing the frontier” mean?
03:36 Embedded evaluators: independent eyes inside AI labs
05:29 Antifragile, aviation and learning from failure
07:23 Recursive self-improvement and company coordination
09:18 Global cooperation meets US–China competition
11:32 Different levels of AI pacing
12:17 My verdict: slow down, pause or keep going?

Should AI companies slow down, pause completely or keep pushing forward? What would change your mind?

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I never watched Game of Thrones. Then I finally picked up George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones and I get it now.

I went into the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire with almost no connection to the TV series. In fact, years ago I made it about four minutes into episode one before turning it off.

The book was a very different story.

It starts slowly enough, building the people, families, politics and world but somewhere around the first third it starts accelerating. By the final few hundred pages I was absolutely smashing through chapters just trying to find out what happened next.

In this review I get into:

Why George R. R. Martin's POV structure works so well
How he manages to interweave so many characters and storylines
Why the world somehow feels enormous while remaining grounded
The comparison with The Lord of the Rings
The brutality, darkness and unpredictability of the story
Why the final third completely hooked me
The slightly uncomfortable reality of starting an unfinished series
Whether you should read the book if you've already watched the show

My rating: 9/10.

00:00 I finally read A Game of Thrones
01:02 Going in without watching the TV series
03:09 The problem with starting an unfinished series
05:11 Bigger than The Lord of the Rings?
06:19 Why the POV structure works so well
08:15 When the book hits overdrive
10:47 The dialogue, brutality & darkness
11:51 Why the fantasy still feels grounded
13:46 My final thoughts
14:47 Should you read A Game of Thrones?

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I read The Book of Elon by Eric Jorgenson, a collection of Elon Musk’s most useful ideas on purpose, engineering, business, hiring, intensity and problem-solving, presented largely through Musk’s own words.

Rather than another Elon Musk biography, this book attempts to distil his operating system: how he thinks, why he works with such extreme intensity and which principles have shaped companies including Tesla and SpaceX.

But does it offer anything genuinely new?

00:00 What is The Book of Elon?
00:28 How I received the book
01:03 This is not an Elon Musk biography
01:48 Three million words distilled
02:24 More than 1,000 source references
03:10 The 69 Core Musk Methods
03:35 How the book is designed
03:56 My background with Elon Musk
04:42 Why so much of it felt familiar
05:45 Is it useful as a reference book?
06:35 Why I probably wouldn’t reread it
07:19 Who should read this book?
07:55 Elon’s “ultra hardcore” philosophy
08:24 Success because of—or despite—his methods?
08:43 My biggest criticism of the book
09:49 The reader who may find it transformative
10:26 My final recommendation
10:58 Elon Musk’s recommended reading list
12:01 Final verdict

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