5 Stars

Best for:
Those who love a meaty philosophical explorations about the meaning of life and the decisions we make.

In a nutshell:
One morning, everyone age 22 and older in the entire world receives a box that says ‘The measure of your life lies within.’ Society quickly learns the strings inside correlate with how long each person will live.

Worth quoting:
“Since the strings arrived, so many of our conversations are about such big, heavy ideas, literally life and death. And I miss talking about the little things, especially in a city filled with so many wonderful little things.”

“Living long is not the same is living well.”

Why I chose it:
My sister-in-law recommended it and I’m so thankful because I found it to be so thought-provoking and so, so good.

Review:
You wake up one morning and find a box on your doorstep. Inside is a string. You quickly learn that everyone other adult in the world has received the same thing, and soon you all discover that the strings are, in fact, truthful. If your string is short, you will die before someone with a longer string.

This book looks at how eight adults handle the receipt of these strings. Do they look at them? What if their partner has a shorter or longer string? What if the string is so short that they know they will die within the year? What if it’s longer but not long enough – like they’ll die in their mid-40s and they’re currently in their early 30s?

Through the eyes of these individuals we learn about all sorts of things that one could predict might happen. Some people with short strings become distraught; other don’t trust the people with the short strings because those people appear to have nothing to lose. Couples break up. Parents fight to get custody from exes who have shorter strings. Insurance companies consider canceling coverage. Politicians and CEOs look for ways to exploit this knowledge for power.

I absolutely loved this book. I think despite following eight characters, each one was developed well enough for the reader to care (or perhaps not care) about them, and to generally understand their feelings about their particular situations. I appreciated the issues that were raised by the author as background national and international issues, but also the interpersonal concerns. The strings impacted everyone, whether they chose to look at them or not.

I could go on and on about this book, but if it sounds even remotely interesting to you, I recommend you check it out.

This is a 350 page book that I read in one day. I only put it down because I was on holiday and had other things I wanted to do.

What’s next for this book:
Recommend to everyone

Three Stars

Best for:
New fans of Formula 1 who are interested in learning about the specifics of a race season and a race weekend.

In a nutshell:
Former F1 strategist for Aston Martin Bernie Collins shares her experience in F1 and gives a detailed behind-the-scenes look a Formula 1.

Worth quoting:
N/A – lots of interesting items but nothing I would choose to revisit.

Why I chose it:
My partner and I have recently started watching F1 and he spotting this book in an airport bookshop. We’ve enjoyed the author’s commentary on Sky F1 coverage so thought the book would be an interesting read.

Review:
A few years back I started watching Drive to Survive on Netflix. Never before did I think I would be interested in cars driving around for a few hours – I didn’t get why it would be interesting, or really understand any of it. I now find myself building weekend activities around when qualifying and races start. I check in on the F1 sub-reddit regularly. Part of my TikTok algorithm is F1 news. And over time I’ve learned things about how F1 works, but not to the level where I understand the choices or the work going on behind the scenes.

This book provides a detailed look at how Formula 1 works. Bernie Collins went to university for engineering and ended up working in F1 for the first part of career in various roles, ending up as a strategist before moving over to the broadcast side. She worked primarily for teams that weren’t vying for championships, but as I learned from Drive to Survive, it’s not just about coming in first – there’s a lot going on throughout the grid.

The first part of the book focuses on Bernie’s background and then moves to looking at F1 overall. I found this section a bit tough to get through as the writing was detailed but felt more like technical writing than a book. The second half was more what I was looking for – each chapter follows each part of the weekend, from free practice one through to debriefing and ending the race weekend.

Overall I think the book could have benefited from a bit more beefing up of the descriptions as it is quite technical, but I did learn a lot I didn’t know before, so on that front it definitely got the job done.

What’s next for this book:
Donate