Reading this memoir felt like it found me at exactly the right time, striking a chord with its authentic and profound storytelling and hitting home for a variety of reasons too personal to share on this platform. The author's writing deeply resonated with me, setting a remarkable standard for what memoirs can be. It’s a testament to authenticity and the kind of soul-baring honesty that reaches deep within, touching those untamed parts of our souls. While I may not be setting off on the Pacific Crest Trail myself, the narrative has inspired me to confront my own significant challenges. This journey, marked by physical demands and emotional revelations, speaks to our collective yearning for something beyond the ordinary, urging us to explore our own "wild" adventures.<br><br>The way this narrative weaves through the complexities of personal transformation and healing underscores a universal truth about the power of resilience and the pursuit of self-discovery. It's not merely about the physical journey but the internal voyage that challenges our perceptions and pushes us beyond our limits. The author's journey is a compelling reminder of the strength found in vulnerability (something I must constantly repeat to myself: "strength in vulnerability") and the beauty of embracing life's unpredictable wilderness. This memoir is more than a story; it's a beacon for anyone standing at the crossroads of change, offering both a map and the courage to take that first step into the unknown.
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March 2026
DNF’d at 55%. More textbook than I expected, and worse… dated. I’m sure it was a good read 8-10 years ago, but today it felt like the entire front half of the book was a history lesson. Possibly a better read early on when diving into the subject matter.
<div>Let’s not pretend we didn’t know. We all knew. We knew Facebook was a problem—like, a “poison-your-water-supply, destabilize-democracies, monetize-your-grandma’s-conspiracy-theories” kind of problem. But reading Careless People makes it painfully, viscerally clear that the word “problem” is doing far too much diplomatic heavy lifting.<br><br>This is not just a book. It’s testimony. Sarah Wynn-Williams is the witness we needed. From inside the walls of Meta, she pulls back the curtain not on some shadowy backroom dealings, but on the glaringly obvious truth: they didn’t care. Not about safety. Not about the truth. Not about you. Growth was the god, the algorithm its prophet, and ethics were roadkill on the highway to another quarterly earnings call.<br><br>You want horror stories? They’re here—plastered across meetings where hate speech was a known issue and nothing changed. Internal memos that might as well have been written in gasoline. A leadership team so allergic to accountability they’d rather watch the world burn than admit the match was theirs.<br><br>Facebook could have been the town square. Instead, it became the coliseum.<br><br>Wynn-Williams tells the story with the precision of a policy expert and the urgency of someone who’s seen the plane crash in slow motion. And the worst part? We’re still on the plane.<br><br>This is not a book for the bookshelf. It’s a flare shot into the night sky. Read it. And then ask yourself if maybe, just maybe, it’s time we stopped treating Facebook like a social network and started calling it what it really is: <br><br>A weapon of mass disinformation. </div>
<div>Three and a half stars for this one, and I want to be clear that at least one of those stars is earned purely on the basis that this book actually matters to the bigger picture. After some of the more disconnected side projects, having a story that plugs directly into the larger Cosmere narrative was a massive relief and a lot of fun. I also have to give credit to the breakneck pacing, which rarely lets up and keeps the tension high from start to finish.<br><br></div><div>The absolute highlight for me was the reveal of the protagonist's true identity. Spending the entire book getting to know this guy only to have that light bulb go off, that "Oh hey, I know him!" moment, was incredibly satisfying and instantly made the whole story more compelling. It left me genuinely excited to see how all these new pieces fit into the puzzle Sanderson is building. This book feels less like a side quest and more like a crucial chapter, and for that, I'm all in.</div>
<div>I went into this expecting something different. I love Cheryl Strayed’s Wild is an all-time favorite but I didn’t realize this was a collection of her advice columns. I gave it a real shot, making it to 85%, but eventually, I had to admit it just wasn’t for me.<br><br>That’s not to say it’s a bad book. There’s wisdom in these pages, and Strayed’s signature empathy and raw honesty shine through. But the format—question, answer, repeat—started to feel repetitive, and I struggled to stay engaged. Maybe I wasn’t in the right headspace, or maybe this kind of book just doesn’t click with me.<br><br></div><div><br></div><div>Either way, I’m still a fan of Strayed, and I’d read anything else she writes. This one just wasn’t what I was looking for.<br><br></div><div><br></div>
I gave it my best shot, but this book just didn't quite hit the mark for me. Despite giving it a fair chance and reading up to 38%, I ultimately decided to put it down. The story took too long to pick up momentum, and by the time it did, I found myself already disengaged. It's a shame, really, because I sensed there was potential in the premise. Nonetheless, with a towering TBR list, I had to make the tough call to move on.
I read this entire book in a single 6 hour sitting. I was apprehensive going into it, as I've avoided this genre for quite some time, but after some several recommendations and seeing it's short length (I've mostly been reading 1000 page tomes before this) I decided what the hell.<br><br>Other than a quick lunch (which I read during), I could not put this down. Probably the fastest read I've had all year. <br><br>Definitely worth a read!
Scott Weiland’s death was the first I remember having a big affect on me. I wasn’t a huge fan of Nirvana, but STP? They were the soundtrack of my teenage years. While this book was completed before Scott’s tragic passing, it still offered a peak into the struggles he was dealing with, and more importantly, those struggles Mary was working through. This book is well written and fills in the blanks pretty well regarding some of what it’s like to deal with addiction and mental illness.
This was a book I did not at all see coming. Again, a random recommendation had me reading this horror-adjacent book (really more of a creepy thriller), but this was something that I could not put down. Read in a little over a day, it's something that not only is a hell of a page turner, but also a biting commentary.