fyodoralekseyev's reviews
176 reviews

I never knew that the psychoanalysis fans were just spreading lies about Freud. What an interesting biography! 

This book I think is actually quite good academic philosophy in my non expert opinion, so if that is something you are interested in this is probably a great read. I thought that "Philosophy at 3 AM" meant that these top minds would be answering stupid questions. Unfortunately 3 AM is actually a serious magazine and hence the title isn't referring to academics pulling silly all-nighters. BUYER BEWARE!

I legitimately don't understand the reviews which give this book a poor rating solely because Natasha (the main character and narrator) is an annoying and evil bastard. She most certainly is, which I thought was the point of the book. There isn't much of a plot, frankly, but I think that's fine with just how awful everyone was.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It is pretty funny, and I loved cringing at whatever liberal millennials are up to.

I loved the "Olinka" subplot, too, especially given that "Olinka" is the real Ukrainian name "Olenka" spelled wrong. Shows how people who are educated can be deceived by blindspots. So much fun.

I recommend this book if you're not someone who thinks that every character must be likable (I'm unsure if there's even one in the whole book, other than perhaps Olinka) and you enjoy (liberal) millennial cringe.

Underwhelming and not as interesting as I had hoped. I did not like the choice to present the series of events in a non-chronological order. I understand that the FBI stuff had to come first for the book to make much sense, but the rest did not need to be in seemingly random order. This book is relatively comprehensive, which is good, but I honestly felt like it was unnecessary to read 10 different accounts of people redeeming the winning McDonald's token. If you are like me and not so interested in the minutiae of the scheme, then the "Scam Goddess" podcast episode is a good comedic look at it, and I'm sure the documentary series the book is based off of is solid too.

Also, why was it written like a novel? How on Earth would they know what was spoken? Were their interviewers that accurate? I'm curious. The book is written so dramatically, which leads to the characters all seeming incredibly annoying. With the courtroom bits at the end... surely courts aren't actually like that? I've never been to one myself, but there seemed to be too many shenanigans on the page.

Interesting inside look into the modern machinations of the Tobacco Industry. My only complaint is that the editor made some mistakes: "payed" was used instead of "paid" and a period was missed at least once.

Wendler inserts his anti-femboy agenda in the book for no reason, but other than that 5/3/1 itself is an amazing program me and others have used to great success.

Enjoyed this book, but I think it should've been advertised as a YA novel because of the young main character and simple writing. Love girl bosses:)

Insightful look into the foundations of the modern American fascist movement, still relevant ~15 years later. I was awfully mad the entire time reading the creeds of these secret Satanists, but it was informative.

Do GOMAD in 2024

I wonder how I would have experienced this book if I hadn't seen the film.

This book is hilarious and piercing in its satire. I loved reading "My Pafology" in the middle; actually reading it makes hearing the literary world's reaction to it so much better.