This book will have you thinking....hard.
351949
This book made me really think about life and what you get out of it. It made me realise you only get one life so live it. Thank you so much Tali, you have written such a wonderful, emotional book. Well done.
345065
This book requires a lot of thought. You'll agree disagree be confused angry and in the end you'll be glad you read it. This book is for mature believers only given the challenging content. Makes you think and rethink.
3911567
Utterly surprised to be the first to have reviewed this. :| This book made me think about the possibility of alternate histories that could very well be proven true before the socially accepted histories.  As with everything, the "what ifs" take over and have you looking up things before you are finished reading the book.  Chances are if you are actually considering buying this book you like to take notes of some sort..if you don't..you should probably heed the warning (you will want to).  As with the 12th Planet, things that I have come across since reading this have made me question things I read within the pages, but it is a very stimulating read nonetheless.
1780980
I FOUND MYSELF UNDERLINING SECTIONS OF THIS DEEP, AND SELF CONSCIOUS BOOK. TO HAVE SOMEONE'S WAY OF THINKING CHANGE BEFORE YOUR EYES IN A BOOK, GEE!  IT WAS A DIFFICULT READ THOUGH, BUT THAT THE BEST PART. I FELT I HAD GAINED KNOWLEDGE, AND I HAD TO WORK FOR IT.  IT HAS INSPIRED MY POETRY, AND MY THINKING.  THIS IS NOT A BOOK FOR A NOVEL READER, BE WARNED.
1471031
Not a book you can expect to finish quickly! Really makes you think and think and think.  Some fascinating questions to consider sprinkled liberally throughout the book to show the points he's making. I'm more aware of my biases and the ease of jumping to faulty conclusions now, and my thinking processes will reflect this in my "watercooler discussions".

How I wish that this were required reading for all Members of Congress and in fact anyone entering the political scene - to keep them thinking through their decisions more carefully.
1532449
In all probability I never would have picked this book up on my own, but now that I have
I find it hard to put down.  Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was not written
to change the world; it was written by a man who learned to change himself.  This book
was also not written to be a self-help book that gives easy answers.  Most of its answers
aren't that easy to come by; this book has very challenging ideas and concepts that at
times take a great deal of patience and gumption to wade through.  One can't pick it up
expecting a light, easy read.  And as the title itself should imply, it is not for adventure
buffs, romantics, or people who need a lot of character action in their reading.  It is for
those who wish to broaden their views of understanding their world.  I've used quotes
from this book on different occasions in conversation or for school reports.  The things
Robert Pirsig has to say apply to many facets of life, or rather they can apply to as many as
the reader wants them to.  This book can only be read with time and an open mind.  If the
reader has these two qualities, I highly recommend it.
615979
Think you know what it means to be a "biblical woman"?  Think again.  This book will challenge everything you think you know.
4891742
This book will challenge you in a way that takes hold of you and won't let go. You cannot walk away and ignore it. A choice of how to live out our lives has to be made!
1848813
Well written, heartbreaking....... much food for thought.  A good step back to look at what matters in life.  Not an easy read, not something you pick up for fun, but well worth the time spent. I would recommend this book with that cautionary note.  My husband has terminal cancer and perhaps it struck a chord with me more than it might in others........... I read it in one weekend.
3232453
There is a lot to be learnt from this challenging book. You will find yourself reading and rereading it.
4339307
This book is not one I can zip through.  It really makes you think and realize how one need's to review their life.
4863599
Excellent tome on a difficult and foreboding subject- difficult to appreciate, and difficult to accept.
Heads up to creationists, 6000-year-old universe believers, and other active or honorary members of the flat earth society: you will not appreciate the subject or evidence presented in this book.  For the rest of the intelligent, critical thinking population, highly recommended. At the end you will feel frustrated at your impotence, but perhaps find yourself motivated to take steps.
4657127
It will make you rethink the frantic pace of your life.
1077383
This book gave me a lot to think about and is challenging me to step out of my comfort zone in ways I hadn't considered prior to reading this book.
1690274
A strikingly thought-provoking book, Yuval Harari's "Homo Deus" is not something that you will be able to read without having your opinions challenged. Whether or not you believe in the future that Harari envisions, the author makes some convincing arguments for the current and future development of the "superhuman". But beware, Harari is a bit of a chameleon, and often I found myself not knowing what the author really believes himself. This is appropriate in a book designed to have you trying to reach your own conclusions. Some of the book rephrases and extends parts "Sapiens", an earlier volume by the same author (and well worth the read, if you have not already).
In a short review it would be difficult and perhaps misleading to try and summarize such a far-reaching book, but here are some topics discussed:
 Differences between humans and other animals
 Human domination of the planet, how and why, and for how long?
 Are humans "superior" to other animals?
 Humanism as the most important religion, and how biotech and A.I. might threaten it
 What comes after humanism?

This book should be required reading in American high-schools, but, sadly, for obvious reasons this is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

One final note: The opening section of the book may strike some readers as too outrageous, what with its science fiction-like descriptions of a future world. I find in general that the author is too optimistic in terms of what he imagines our technology is capable of.
3541436
This is a difficult book.

Difficult to read. Difficult to understand. And, I'm finding, difficult to review. What's it about? Good question. The author, himself, isn't very clear on this point, describing it as "a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll." I'm not sure I can do better than that. I will tell you this, however: if the book has a "point," it does seem to be that man's consciousness is ultimately mechanical and, therefore, that there is no reason that machines cannot finally be intelligent in the same sense that man is. (And, in fact, be as man in just about every internal way.)

While I take issue with this conclusion, and some of Hofstadter's reasoning along the way, I don't think that my debating his points is the basis on which a prospective reader should decide whether or not to pick up this book. Instead, the prospective reader should know: that this is a lengthy and deep work. It will take a *long* time to read properly, and most readers should not read more than a chapter a day. Many of the sections, and especially the various dialogues that preface the chapters, are quite clever. (These dialogues are usually between Achilles and the Tortoise, of Zeno's paradoxes, and their friends.) Some of the chapters grow incredibly technical. The subject matters vary, wildly and rapidly, and there will be points in reading where you will question your investment.

In the end, you will feel good for having pushed through the hard bits. It will coalesce, more or less, into a whole. Whether you finally agree with Hofstadter's conclusions or not, you'll have learned much and thought about important topics you might otherwise not have.

A good book, certainly not for everyone... but, if you're the "right" audience--someone deeply interested in questions of intelligence, mathematics, computer science and free will, and possessed of a bit of an ironic sense of humor--then this book cannot be recommended highly enough.

Five stars, for the work it represents, and the doors it opens to the reader.
909664
this book will turn your brain inside-out, polish it, and then jam it back into your head whether you want it to or not.