Fantastic so far. I found this because of a Dave Eggers interview on the RU Sirus show, and its incredible and heartbreaking all at once. True stories of the falsely imprisoned, which is hard to read, but still somehow provides hope that these stories can help bring about the change needed to reform this system that would kill the innocent out of laziness.

This is a great Heinlein book, but should definitely not be read early in your Heinlein consumption. A real appreciation requires a familiarity with the characters and the history present in previous books. As this was one of the last written, its best to wait to read this one after you’ve been through most of the rest. You should at least get through Stranger, Time Enough for Love, and Number of the Beast, although there are probably more that I haven’t read yet either.

I did feel the end flagged a bit as it got bogged down in the backstory, and I would have liked to see this book stand alone from the previous Lazarus universe. But it was still quite good.

A good opportunity to see Heinlein’s early writing before he had attained the mastery he showed much later. The narrative is a bit loose and the characters aren’t fully developed though you can clearly see the beginnings of archetypes he’d return to again and again and introduces some of his themes that will return later as well. Best read after the other classics (Stranger, Starship Troopers, Time Enough for Love, etc.)

A much better effort than Study in Scarlet in terms of keeping the story going without unnecessary explication.

A good intro to Holmes, but the whole Utah scene is seriously taxing to get through for not enough payoff. I’m told that Doyle’s style improves along the way.

Awesome, but slow going at first. Keep going its gets much better and crazier. I thought it would be painful to get through (like the last 100 pages or so of Magister Ludi) but by once I finally hit “Treatise” it just flew from there on.

Intriguing if more than a little slow exploration of education and the way the exceptional are treated in most societies. Also gets into the nature of intelligence. Takes some effort but worth it.

Astonishing.

Very interesting examination into ethics as demonstated by the events of the last hundred years.

Classic and an insight into the elegant simplicity of Feynman’s genius.