Recursion Paperback – January 9, 2020

Give me a moment while I catch my breath. Then give me another minute to try to formulate the words to describe how incredible “Recursion” is.Honestly, I can’t put into words how amazing “Recursion” is. I haven’t read such a thrilling and exciting page-turner in years. “Recursion” had me at the edge of my seat (to use a movie term) and ready to burst with anticipation of what was coming next. But, before I start gushing over this book with a string of superlatives, I have to mention a brief synopsis to give you an idea of what the book is about.“Recursion” is ostensibly a time travel story, but not in the traditional sense. Think “Butterfly Effect” (an Ashton Kutcher movie that was pretty darn good) but better.A machine was created whereby a person could travel back in time, via their consciousness, to an earlier version of him/herself. The two main caveats are that 1.) you can only travel back to a point in time that you distinctly remember and 2.) it is a one way ticket. Oh yeah, there’s also this issue of False Memory Syndrome (aka dead memories) that’s a real fly in the ointment, and really distinguishes this time travel story from any other.The main characters are Helena Smith, the inventor of the “memory chair,” and Barry Sutton, an NYPD detective who got roped into the whole matter by trying to find answers to a suicide.It’s wild, it’s hair-raising, it’s suspenseful, and it’s over before you know it. I couldn’t put the book down. I was reading at work, at my son’s baseball games, at bowling league, everywhere. There were times I was reading fast to find out as quickly as I could what was going to happen next, and there were times I read ever so slowly to fully digest what I was reading, but at no moment did I skip even a word. I can’t praise the book enough nor the author, Blake Crouch.Do yourself a favor: go buy the book, tear right into it, and enjoy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️In looking for a change from my recent lighter reads, I happened upon this contemporary science fiction read because I was intrigued by the premise. A book about memory and a phenomenon called False Memory Syndrome. A book about losing memory, finding memory and a hope of controlling memory.The story centers on 2 characters, Barry and Helene, and the chapters flip between the two voices at different timelines. Barry is a New York cop, and Helene is a scientist. Helene’s mother is suffering from Alzheimers, and Helene dedicates herself to studying memory in an effort to develop technology that can help preserve memories. She has the best of intentions, yet once presented with the prospect of virtually unending funding, she hesitatingly accepts a proposal from an unnamed source in order to continue her work on the technology.There is such an insightful line Helene gives in the book:“What teachers and professors never told her was about the dark side of finding your purpose. The part where it consumes you. Where it becomes a destroyer of relationships and happiness. And still, she wouldn’t trade it. This is the only person she knows how to be.”As one might image, things don’t go as planned. The book is about the relationship between Barry and Helene, her discovery, the use of that discovery, the effects on the world from her discovery, and the way they seek to prevent further harm.Thankfully the author was adept at allowing the reader to develop enough of an understanding to track with the story without needing to understand all of the physics concepts. The book takes you on a fast-paced and tense journey through multiple years as they race through time and memories.I definitely recommend!“…perhaps there’s a reason our memories are kept hazy and out of focus. Maybe their abstraction serves as an anesthetic, a buffer protecting us from the agony of time and all that it steals and erases.” Barry from Recursion

Read it, even if it isn’t your normal genre. It’s addictive and mind-bending, while being just long enough. Highly enjoyed!