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Post by fitin14 on Aug 10, 2022 8:01:09 GMT -5
I found the science parts boring to be honest. I did skim in places. I grasped the premise of the different realities but I don't believe in it either. I choose to believe in reality and our own ability to make decisions and actions that have some bearing on our lives.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2022 8:05:21 GMT -5
What about the science? -For those with little scientific knowledge: were the book's scientific passages a detraction, something you had to plow your way through, or maybe just skim over? I’m little science. I loved the concept in the beginning when Jason 2 kidnapped Jason Prime. It was when the other Jasons started appearing and the scientific explanations started that I got a little frustrated with it. I really didn’t “want” to learn how it happened and so I started skimming. -For those strong in the sciences: was the writing too boiled down, merely "popscience"? Or was it a fairly legitimate description of today's scientific theories? N/A. LOL And do you believe multiple universes exist? No. I don’t believe that alternates of us exist. I was willing to suspend that non believe and consider it for purposes of reading the book. I was more drawn to thinking how each decision impacts my life and others. RE: the box. I had the same issues as bernelli. The box was large enough for multiple people. Didn’t they have a fight in there, with several others? And, then they’d be looking for the box like it was smaller than a bread box. The shots were hard to understand, too. It seemed like sometimes they had just a few minutes to get back to the box before the shot wore off. Other instances, they were out and about all over Chicago on one shot.
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Post by corgi on Aug 10, 2022 8:56:57 GMT -5
I was listening to the book while driving so I couldn’t skim, but yeah, my mind did wander a bit at certain points.
And I don’t really believe in other universes, but I admit it ran through my mind after the 2016 election that somewhere out there there’s a universe where Hillary won, and took some solace in that. I’ve no idea why, it just kept running through my mind.
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Post by honeybzzzs on Aug 10, 2022 9:52:37 GMT -5
I also listened to this book. It has been awhile so I don’t really remember the science parts of it. I just sort of went with the flow on that part.
While I don’t believe in multiverses, I do believe that we are constantly at the fork in the road, and making decisions that effect our lives. And others make their decisions that effect our lives. Sometimes I wonder, “if I had chosen the other path, where would that have taken me…”. So throughout this story, I felt like he was seeing what would have happened if he had chosen the ‘other fork in the road’.
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sal
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Post by sal on Aug 10, 2022 11:37:19 GMT -5
I'm strong in biological and chemical sciences, but not physics, so this was out of my wheelhouse. I had to pretty much zone out on what science was there because I'm not convinced it made any sense at all. If someone who is strong in physics wants to explain to me why it did, I'd listen, but otherwise I just treated the multiple realities a bit like magic and moved on with the plot.
Give me a nice cloning book and I'd be all over the science (good or bad).
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Post by ccToast on Aug 10, 2022 16:21:57 GMT -5
I do not have a science background, and like honeybzzzs I just went along with the physics explanations. I didn't have to understand how it worked, just like I don't understand how the children traveled to Narnia through the wardrobe. I want to believe that multiverses exist, that there are many forms of reality existing in the same space. I don't see any proof of it, but it's a fun idea to contemplate. As others have mentioned too, I like the exploration of "what if" in this book. It's so easy to second guess our decisions, and I appreciated Jason1 being able to see that choosing the career that gave him balance with family life was the choice that brought him the most happiness.
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Post by juliajones54 on Aug 10, 2022 16:32:19 GMT -5
Brian Green who is a respected theoretical physicist has written several books for the general public about Quantum physics, parallel universes and the multiverse. Super interesting, not dry, they read like fiction, not heavy theories.
I do think there may be multiverses but I don't think there are parallel versions of us. I don't think that one of us exists in every possible permutation. But if we did, we can't know and wouldn't know because those others of us wouldn't be real until they were observed. We can't observe them, at least right now, so they don't exist.
For me though, it's fun to think about. Maybe because we can't really imagine the end of 'us', we hope that we go on living in some way. Religion often fills this longing, but so does science if we believe in a multiverse. Scientific American has an article titled Death, Physics, and Wishful Thinking by John Horgan that I found online as I was searching for criticisms of multiverse theories.
I do wish I had a brain smart enough to understand beyond the basics!
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suby
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Post by suby on Aug 10, 2022 20:55:58 GMT -5
I think there are multiple similar worlds, but not multiverses with versions of ourselves living the road not taken.
It's not so much I didn't understand the science, more like the idea of an injection and a magic box made it seem no better than Alice in Wonderland.
That being said, I had no trouble putting that aside and accepting they were able to travel between multiverses.
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Post by bernelli on Aug 11, 2022 7:40:19 GMT -5
I'm enjoying your thoughts so much, everyone!
DAY 4: If you could go into the box to seek out another universe, would you to risk finding a better life? Do you think this theory of different selves would happen (does each decision split us into another universe to live that decision out elsewhere…and what happens to the people around us – do we just take them with us even as they’re making their own decisions?)?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2022 8:11:54 GMT -5
Would you go into the box?
Maybe. First, I’ll say no because I love my life, family, location, my history. So, in that sense, I would not risk what I have for a better life. The exception is, I lost an infant son many years ago. If I could go temporarily and see what the life where he did not die looked like…I might. Temporarily.
I don’t believe it can happen. Probably because my mind can’t wrap around it.
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Post by fitin14 on Aug 11, 2022 9:07:39 GMT -5
@fairazzbueller , hugs. I can see that being something tempting to do
I don't think I would go into the box. I am a firm believer in every action and event in your life happening for a reason. It keeps me sane. lol so to think you could go into another universe and escape something for example doesn't appeal to me.
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Post by peacemama on Aug 11, 2022 10:05:47 GMT -5
@fairazzbueller, Adding on to the hugs from fitin14. "Wherever you are, be there totally." -Eckhart Tolle Nope. No interest in exploring the box. I adore my life and a glimpse at any other version would be a bit of a mindf*ck that I'm not interested in experiencing.
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Post by honeybzzzs on Aug 11, 2022 10:33:47 GMT -5
I wouldn’t go into the box. And I’m happy with my life. I don’t regret any decisions that I have made. But, at times, I wonder how life would have been different with different choices.
As I mentioned, I married young. If I hadn’t married at 18, would I have backpacked in Europe—which was popular at the time. Or moved in with girlfriends and lived a single ladies life? If I had done that would I have met a different man to marry? Or be married at all?
And, other people change your life for you. After 23 years of marriage, my DH informed me I was getting a divorce. Wow! I didn’t see that coming! Because of his decision I was tossed out into the universe to begin a whole other life. Different people came into my life—including my sweet DH2. (And, the interesting part of that, is that he had been swirling around in my life without us knowing that. We had never met before, but we had brushed edges. What does that say about all this? 🤔🤔)
Do we take people with us throughout our lives? I’m not sure of the answer to that. There are so many encounters and so many Forks in the Road to take. I like to ponder it all. So I enjoyed that part of the book where Jason got to live through his other decisions—not getting married, winning the awards, etc etc.
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Post by bernelli on Aug 11, 2022 11:02:26 GMT -5
I would also not go into that box.
I, too, sometimes wonder "what if" I'd gone down this or that path (finished college immediately after HS, which would've meant I never met my husband), marry that guy I was engaged too first (I never would've met him either if I had've stayed in college), not been super flighty as a young person... HAHA.
All the things I've done and been through have led me to where I am now, and I like who I am (that took a while), and I absolutely adore my family. I feel I've had a lucky life. So while I would not choose to leave it or change how it unfolded, curiosity does make me wonder sometimes "what if". But I'm not sad about it.
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Post by juliajones54 on Aug 11, 2022 11:26:49 GMT -5
fairazzbuller, I am sorry you have had to go through this grief.
When I was 18 or so, I remember saying (and many times after) that when I was old and on the porch in the rocking chair, I wanted to look back on my life and say that I had not hurt anyone and had lived the best life I could. I also married young, had just turned 19. I married a minister, we had both gone to seminary. I thought my life was set. After 16 years and several affairs of his, he announced he was not going to give up his latest affair and that I could just live with it. Of course, I did not and filed for divorce. It was very nasty and our sons were drug through such heartache. I was in my last year of a master's degree but still had a year internship to go. With more loans and graduate assistantships, I did complete my program. I also met my current husband and we have been married for 31 years. My sons love him. Their dad continues to be selfish and hurtful. He has nothing to do with our grandchildren. My life is pretty perfect now and I'm grateful. I have thought many, many times about how my life would be different had I not married my first husband but of course that would have meant not having my sons or grandchildren and not meeting my amazing second husband. So, I would not go into the box to take a different path. I think we all meet 'our box' when we face a crossroads and a decision to stay or go.
I have noticed that in my life at least but my sons and husband have shared this too, that life goes in circles, like completion. Over and over we have made connections with people that were around us in previous years and we didn't know it. People that were in cities where we lived but we just now know them in our current city and they have impacted our lives in important ways. So interesting. So, maybe we do travel in groups. If there is a deeper force at work, I would love to know it. I'm no longer religious in the church sense but I do believe in the spiritual realm and a greater meaning than we can see.
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Post by ccToast on Aug 11, 2022 18:23:55 GMT -5
If you could go into the box to seek out another universe, would you to risk finding a better life? I have a good life, and I wouldn't give up any part of it. However if offered the chance to just see what my life would have been like if I had made different choices, I would most certainly do it. I would not want to have the other life, but if I could see it, like watching on TV and changing the channel, curiosity would get the better of me.
Do you think this theory of different selves would happen? Would I be a different person in a reality where I had made different decisions? I'm sure that I would be. If I had taken a different job, if I had lived in a different city/state, if I had lived closer to my family, if I had fewer or more children–all of these things would have shaped me in different ways, and I would want to see all of it if I could.
The exploration of the "what if" is what made this story so compelling to me.
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Post by ccToast on Aug 11, 2022 18:29:36 GMT -5
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig also explores this idea:
"Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?"
Are there other books with a similar focus?
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Post by bernelli on Aug 12, 2022 7:41:33 GMT -5
LAST DAY:
What was your favorite thing about this story and what was your least favorite things about this story?
What other thoughts that you haven't shared yet do you have about this book, the ideas or the author?
Thanks everyone for participating! I really enjoyed learning your thoughts on this story.
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Post by bernelli on Aug 12, 2022 7:45:44 GMT -5
My least favorite thing about this story was the heavy science stuff that was way over my head and flatlined my brain. snoozer
My favorite part about the book was the idea that love matters and the relationship the "real" Jason realized he had with his family mattered to him more than he even realized initially. I loved that Charlie recognized his father. Family is important to me, and I felt that in this story. That was the best part to me.
I did like forcing my brain to consider the multi-verse..even though I've poo-poo'd the idea that it's our reality. Someday I'll be dead and the universe reality will be revealed to me, and if that's how things are then I'll understand it better then. But for now, my puny human brain says, NAH.
And, as always, I loved being able to discuss and learn your thoughts on the story because it just broadens the story and the ideas for me.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2022 8:01:33 GMT -5
Favorite thing was the suspense in the original kidnapping scene. That’s what hooked me. On a broader perspective, it seemed like a courageous attempt at wrapping a novel around a very complicated subject. I think this will be my last book on quantum and/or time travel. I don’t love sci/fi and I think this met my lifetime quota. Thanks bernelli for leading the discussion. I enjoyed it.
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Post by fitin14 on Aug 12, 2022 9:54:53 GMT -5
gotta say the science snooze part was my least favorite too although I realize it was integral to the story lol I think the power of love for family is what I liked the best. first in the sense that Jason Prime gave up his chance at fame for it and then the journey to get them back.
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Post by juliajones54 on Aug 12, 2022 10:20:49 GMT -5
I love Sci-Fi and really enjoyed reading Dark Matter again. I rarely re-read books because there are so many great books - I'll never get to them all! The most important part of the story to me was that what we have now is to be appreciated and taken care of. The old 'the grass is always greener' isn't usually true. I also liked the fact that Jason1 had the most pure motives of the others - he deeply loved his wife and son and while he had thought about 'what if', he really just wanted more than anything his life back with them. My least favorite part was the many Jasons who were fighting each other even to death. To me, it was kind of the old wild west where the best cowboy gets the girl, but these stories of good vs. bad get told over and over and I'm always glad when good wins out.
Great discussion, it's fun to read others opinions. Thank you bernelli for nominating this book and for leading the discussion!
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Post by ccToast on Aug 12, 2022 17:30:20 GMT -5
bernelli, Thank you for leading the discussion this week! I have read a few other books by Blake Crouch and found them to be enjoyable, quick thrillers. The Wayward Pines series was much better as a book than as a TV series IMHO. Blake Crouch called Recursion and Dark Matter two sides of the same coin. Last night I got a good start in Upgrade, and I think that I'll like it too. These are all sci-fi books. I haven't read any of the non-sci fi like the Letty Dobesh stories, although I saw the first season of the TV show Good Behavior that is based on these. Any recommendations for his other work?
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suby
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Post by suby on Aug 12, 2022 20:03:07 GMT -5
I forgot to answer yesterday’s even though I read the responses. I get freaked out even thinking about roads not taken.
My least favorite is that it felt like there were too many trips to alternate worlds, like okay, I get it.
My favorite is that they let their son pick the world they settled in.
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sal
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Post by sal on Aug 12, 2022 20:06:13 GMT -5
Favorites, already mentioned by others: the "family matters" and "your best life isn't necessarily your most overtly successful one" messages, and that kidnapping scene.
Least favorite: the 102 Jasons at the end. OMG. That got damn tedious, FAST.
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