BOOK TITLE: The
second lives of Honest men
ISBN: 9780993621505
AUTHOR: John
R. Cameron
GENRE: Fiction
NUMBER OF PAGES: 340
FORMAT: Digital
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
REVIEW BY: Dhivya
Balaji
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: We
got a copy for review purposes.
SUMMARY:
On the evening of April 14th, 1865, a
flawless duplicate replaced the 16th President an instant prior to his
assassination. Two centuries later, Honest Abe opened his eyes to a world in
desperate need of guidance.
THE SECOND LIVES OF HONEST MEN is a
prescient vision of where society's dependence on technology could be taking
us. It's a character driven story about love, redemption, and hope, with deep
philosophical underpinnings related to how we think, feel, and reason in a
world where it's ironically easy to feel disconnected
REVIEW:
The Second Lives of Honest Men is a
different kind of book. The concept is new, the story line is new and the
presentation is also new. The story is unique in a few aspects. First and
foremost being the idea of going back in time and bringing a person from the
past into the future to solve the current problems. What happens when the most
popular honest man in America’s history, a man better known as ‘Honest Abe’
comes into the future and witnesses the country at its worst?
The United States of America is under
the influence of a corporate vested interest, known as ‘The Company’ that
controls people using an augmented reality device called as ‘the interface’.
People of the nation are forced to wear the lenses that transmit images, videos
and music online, keeping them thoroughly, mindlessly entertained. The
population gets used to the numbing entertainment and is lost to the age where
every communication is online and easily monitored by The Company.
In this era, lives an old professor,
Jacob Wentworth, who detests the whole concept of interface and refuses to live
with it. But he deems himself powerless to fight with the Company and rather
lives a resigned life until he sees in Bryce Trent, a student of great
capabilities. Bryce Trent is slowly drawn into the professor’s philosophies and
gets his own moment of reckoning when he decides to fight the mind numbing
interface and destroy what he himself was one of the reasons for creating.
On the other hand, the power mongers
try to suppress this group and ensure that their smooth functioning is not
hampered. In a race against time, the professor, his student and an young
intern doctor join hands and hatch a plan to overthrow the autocratic Company.
If and how they do it forms the rest of the story.
The summary of the book sounded promising,
and the book was only half as much. There are a few gaping logic holes that
might have been avoided but since both the story and the premise are new to us,
the author is allowed certain liberties in logic. Next comes the continuity,
and here are a few noticeable jumps, but none too big to hamper the smooth
narrative. The plot makes one conscious of the banes of exponentially growing
technology and can be considered an eye opener in modern times, where caution
must be exercised in handling technology.
Sometimes, the book does make one wish
that the brave leaders of the past were alive today to lead us into a better,
clearer, more positive future environment. Read this book if you want your mind
befuddled by how the reach of technology might affect the human populace in the
coming years!
WHAT I LIKED: the
new premise of the story and the nice concept of bringing back from the past!
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: Certain
logic and continuation errors could have been smoothed over!
VERDICT: go
for it as a breath of fresh air from the run of the mill books!
RATING: 4/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: (In
his own words)
My family often drives me to the brink
of madness; not a difficult thing to do, considering how close to the edge I
already am. My daughter is a hellion. At the age of five, she’s both bright and
bold, obstinate, and pushes every button I have. My wife blames my genetics: “I
was never like that,” she claims. I deny it, despite knowing that I was also an
uncontrollable child.
I’m a teacher, but I consider myself a modern philosopher. I’m very worried about the current state of education. I’m concerned about the future, in general. I don’t think we all necessarily need to be alarmists, though I do believe that if you look at the world around you and aren’t a little worried, you and I probably aren’t going to agree on much. (I’ll pretend not to look while you navigate elsewhere. There’s plenty of other entertainment on-line. Crushing Candy, and so forth…)
I’m a teacher, but I consider myself a modern philosopher. I’m very worried about the current state of education. I’m concerned about the future, in general. I don’t think we all necessarily need to be alarmists, though I do believe that if you look at the world around you and aren’t a little worried, you and I probably aren’t going to agree on much. (I’ll pretend not to look while you navigate elsewhere. There’s plenty of other entertainment on-line. Crushing Candy, and so forth…)
EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Paperback/Digital/Kindle
PRICE: Rs.
995 for paperback, Rs. 49 for kindle
