PLOT: 3.5/5 CHARACTERS: 3.5/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 CLIMAX: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5
Humans are peculiar creatures. Their history of evolution suggests that they did not most probably drop down on this planet out of nowhere and were created by an incredible Creator that is beyond the capacities of human understanding and intellect. Yet, it is the same human being that has attributes of its Maker, such as that of being a creator himself.
Human creativity when unleashed has shown the world and the human race the multi-faceted capacities of humans, their reach, and their intellect that at times may evoke the pride of being more of creators and less of created creatures with a fixed term on this planet.
On the one hand, they are the epitome of being the best, most meticulously created creation by a process of Nature that has evolved over time to be termed God. On the other, they are slowly playing God by adhering to the models and patterns of creative instinct that are inclined toward scientific discovery and research-oriented analytical studies.
This book is a work of non-fiction aimed at the young adult mind. It is suitable for ages 10-18. The logic of this book is based on physics and cosmology, wherein it particularly deals with the Simulation Hypothesis.
The Simulation Hypothesis considers the entire world, including its inhabitants and all that it comprises, as an artificially realistic space akin to a video game. This book focuses on the question that also serves as the subtitle placed on the cover of the book: “What if we’re not creators, but creations!?”
This relates to the simulation hypothesis in the manner in which the people and other creatures are all inside of a video game, like artificially simulated ambiance, that encompasses not just the living and non-living beings, but also places the role of each creation in light of a cosmos that has a pre-determined destiny, while each creation has a pre-determined destination.
In short, the book lays bare the God question and pushes readers to traverse the fine line between that which can be seen and that which cannot be seen to get them thinking for themselves with a free mind and in a new perspective about their existence vis a vis the world around them.
Real Unreal Cosmos is not fantastical. It does not play with imaginary ideas. It opens up the facts behind some myths and the logic behind certain kinds of reasoning to drive home the point that humans are not as powerful and as ever-lasting, as they think themselves to be.
This makes the reading experience thoroughly humbling and deeply informative. The book has a seamless mix of science, philosophy, myth, and logical reasoning.
In Real Unreal Cosmos, the writing style is simple, easy going, with a moderate pace of narration that goes on with ideas and introduces facts between the second and third-person narrative modes.
The words are easy to read and understand. Some technical terms have been explained in depth so that there is no issue in understanding them because the book is aimed at young adults. It is this relatability of the concepts and the simple mode of narration that makes the book easy to follow for young readers of intermediate to advanced levels.
This does not mean that beginner-level readers should not pick this book. It is an interesting read, no doubt, and hence beginner-level readers will enjoy the book though the depth of the conceptual framework may be a bit of a hurdle.
Any kind of pre-requisite knowledge about evolution theories, cosmology, permutation, physics, astrophysics, dynamics, atomic chemistry, and quantum mechanics will be extremely helpful as the book is rather technical and niche specific.
So, while the book may seem on the superficial level to be dealing with philosophical ideas and thoughts, but at its base, it holds much too high technical knowledge and information that needs time to soak in and calls for the reader to think things through. However, to ease things for the young readers, the different terms and terminologies are put in capital letters with the explanations given one after them.
However, certain expressions are simply mind-boggling and startling, to say the least, and to a great extent even groundbreaking. For example, the term programmer instead of creator puts the whole perspective of the world in a computational framework that is programmed, controlled, and pre-determined.
Such startling expressions are scattered throughout the text and they make reading the book a thoroughly enjoyable and refreshing reading experience, although it does not determine if these ideas have not been mentioned or rationalization not placed in front of the world before.
In other words, the creative expressions and the articulate though not flowery writing style makes the book interesting to read and lays emphasis on the multiple climaxes that are bound to grab the attention of the reader and set them questioning things around them.
At 144 pages, the Real Unreal Cosmos is a moderately lengthy read for young adults with a beautifully done book cover.
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