Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Friday, June 10, 2022

Book Review: Inferno

 

This is the fourth in what is, as of this writing, five novels by Dan Brown centered around the character of Robert Langdon, who is a symbolism professor at Harvard University. In this novel, he wakes up a hospital in Florence, Italy with a head wound and no memory of the last few days. He is told that his memory loss is likely temporary, but before he can figure out what has happened to him he, and his doctor, Sienna Brooks, have to evade an assassin who is targeting Langdon. The attempt to retrace his steps and discovers a plot by Bertrand Zobrist, a transhumanist genius scientist who is obsessed with Dante's Inferno, who intends to release a virus to solve the world's overpopulation issue. 

The novel is a good story that blends action and dramatic moments. It definitely has some of the same elements that the prior novels (and the movie adaptations of those) have had. Langdon has to race around trying to solve various puzzles and riddles, this time based on clues tied to Dante's Inferno. There are twists in the story, much like in the other novels. Some are kind of eye-rolling inducing and others I think work pretty well. I do like the fact that the story is centered around the issue of overpopulation, which is a real thing. Overall, I would say that this is not as good as The Da Vinci Code, or even quite as good as Angels & Demons, but it is still very good. So, if you are a fan of his other novels, this is worth the read. 

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