3 out of 4 stars
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This is a review of the book The Girl From Spaceship Earth by Patricia Ravasio. This is a true story of a woman whose life is torn between fulfilling her family responsibilities and acting on her calling in life.
Patricia, the author of this book and the protagonist, is inspired by the work and the inventions of the American genius Richard Buckminster Fuller (also known as “Bucky”). She is drawn by the compelling arguments of Bucky about big corporations covering up the inventions and the technologies that would fulfill the energy requirements of the world permanently. Bucky shares his predictions to her in 1982, which Patricia promises to share with the public. When bad things happen in the United States on 9/11 as per Bucky’s predictions, Patricia realizes the urgency of the situation and resolves to act. But she is pulled down by her family commitments. Also, her husband asks her to see a psychologist to check her mental health. The reader is motivated to find out if she makes Bucky’s predictions public and how she handles her pressing family responsibilities.
As a memoir, the book fairs very well because of its narration of the protagonist’s spiritual experiences and her interactions with Bucky. The discussions of Patricia with Bucky and Bucky’s predictions are awe-inspiring and motivate the reader to continue reading the book without a break. There are several good points shared from Bucky’s sayings that are valuable to the reader. For example, Bucky’s suggestion to the public to be generalists and not to be subject specialists is of great value in today’s ever-changing work and career dynamics. A few good ideas of Bucky are shared in the story. For example, his idea of using singing and dancing to convey something to the public struck a chord with me. The author’s struggles have been described in an impressive fashion. A few noteworthy examples are Patricia’s struggles to convince her own family about Bucky’s thoughts, the hassles she goes through because of Bucky’s distractors, handling her husband’s suspicion that she might be suffering from mental illness, her struggles to come up with a workable plan to spread Bucky’s ideas, and her own self-doubt about whether everything is alright with herself.
For the most part, the writing style is natural and uncomplicated with a tinge of humor, which makes the reading pleasurable. The pace of the story is managed well while juggling between Patricia’s past and the current. The storytelling sounds a bit quirky and may need improvement to appeal to Bucky’s fans. I have to mention that there’s too much of an emotional overload in the narration while describing Patricia’s struggles. The formatting of the book is perfect.
Overall, I found this book an interesting read for all audiences, especially for youngsters who are yearning to make a difference in the world. The information and the experiences shared in the book will serve as great pointers to take action on making the world a better place to live. What is being advocated in this book is a compassionate and coordinated political leadership with the correct technology to make the world better. I didn’t find any mechanical error in the book. The formatting throughout the book is perfect. I was tempted to rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. Since I felt that the storytelling is somewhat quirky which may not appeal to Bucky’s intellectual fans, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.
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The Girl from Spaceship Earth
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