As Mark struggles with with this delusion, one brought on by a physical brain state (usually damage to the prefrontal cortex), a number of characters, the first and foremost being his sister, Karin, Powers meditates on how human beings deal with the suggestion that they are merely physical mechanisms responding in kind to the biological sublimity of the natural world. This twist tests Karin’s trust and leads the characters to question the authenticity of their shared experiences and memories. Weber may be a partial fictionalization of Oliver Sacks, 1933–2015, who was a neurologist, best-selling author, and professor of neurology at NYU School of Medicine. I finished it because, well, that's what I do, and because there was a bit of mystery, but I found the relationships and dialogue utterly unbelievable, the characters less sympathetic with every chapter, and the supposedly deep, intimate struggles simply dull. In Weber's case, this is a literal shortcoming, since Weber is based on the eminent neurologist Oliver Sacks.

dar ambalajul ṣi abordarea greoaie nu au ajutat deloc ṣi au frânat bruma aia de interes pe care mi-a trezit-o accidentul lui Mark. So in The Echo Maker, some of the sentences (and images) are certainly gorgeous -- but everything surrounding them is convoluted and frustrating.

It's possible this is a result of his formidable intellect; an honest-to-goodness polymath, he sets blisteringly smart, highly literary novels not in politics or high fashion or journalism, but in the worlds of genetics, chemical manufacturing, paediatrics, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, even opera. He is particularly interested in human creativity (and explored this in some depth in Plowing The Dark).

Please, if you've never read Richard Powers before, are considering it, and are put off by these reviews, take the chance and read his work anyway. I am an RN that works in a neuro-psychiatric treatment center on an adolescent ward, so I usually avoid the subject matter in novels and look for different experiences; however, this story transcends the subject matter.His scientific discourses point to how the world works, but the struggles of his characters, whether down-and-out misfits like Mark or well-heeled magicians like Weber, help us understand how we work. It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. It doesn't mean you're stupid or I'm stupid or the person who legitimately liked this book is stupid -- it just means the book isn't a fucking masterpiece. Per cercare di capire cosa possa spingere qualcuno in una gelida notte di febbraio a mettersi al volante del proprio furgone e lanciarlo a velocità folle lungo la North Line nei pressi di Kearney, Nebraska, consiglio di aprire Google Maps, e poi Street View, e guardare la North Line, prima, Kearney, poi, e infine iniziare a spostarsi lungo quelle strade che si susseguono geometricamente e ortogonalmente nei centri abitati, che di centro hanno veramente poco, per perdersi nel nulla che da Kearney, lungo la North Line, attraversa il Nebraska, fino a fuggirne per centinaia di miglia che, sempre uguali a se stesse, sembrano non portare mai da nessuna parte, in quelle settimane di aria sottozero incrostata di neve, i venti che si riversavano dal Dakota senza niente a rallentarli per centinaia di chilometri. As a birder, I loved the crane info too, tho I can see why it all the poetic images of them might seem blithering to many.