The Fifth Science

After discovering the inspirational content creator on YouTube, I sampled some of his writings and was compelled to dig deeper. What a gift we’ve all been given. I don’t typically write reviews, but if this is a sign for someone to nudge them towards taking a the plunge into supporting the man who is this creative, then I feel justified. I will definitely be getting the rest of his works! Such a mind this fellow has! I hope that his creativity will bring him the means to keep on creating great things. We need more of this in our world. His stories can be taken alone, but nicely tie together the timeline of that universe. He is easily read, and delivers so well you can envision his words come to life like a movie in your mind. Help keep this guy going! If you doubt his talents, be sure to check him out on YouTube. Profound, witty, sarcastic, educated, well spoken, hilarious, inspiring, touching. He may just turn into your next stalking target - he’s that good! I just want to pull a Cathy Bates on him and keep him for my very own. Lol.

This novel provides an exciting and thought-provoking look into the future of science. The author does a great job of imagining new technologies and their potential impact on society. The characters are well-developed and the story is engaging, making it a fast-paced and enjoyable read. The scientific concepts are explained in a way that is easy to understand, even for those with little background in the field. Overall, this book is a great read for anyone interested in science and its future possibilities.

It’s dense. But not in that scientific way. In the way of events that occur over millions of years. It intertwines and at times feels disconnected. It’s poetic and honest. Whimsical and sometimes downright magical. New sciences are established and philosophies that breed passion and life. At times it’s difficult to follow the thread, these stories that follow a loose guideline over the future history of an intergalactic empire. So many events occur that you’ll be inspired to keep reading, as I did over 4 days. I enjoyed every second of it, but felt there was a lot of hand waving for some of the mechanisms involved, as is often natural when discussing far future technologies. But it was *fun* Exurb1a has something special that allows him to piece together the remnants of what it means to be human, aiding us in connecting in that deeper, bigger picture way. Of all his novels so far, this is the one that made me feel that the most. And that’s worth something

This book is one of the few artfully-crafted novels where you open it with few expectations, then simply cannot put it down, except in this case, you can't put it down even though you're having the worst existential crisis of your life while simultaneously being overwhelmingly excited for the science that might come in the next few years. Exurbia's relationship with language as a tool has always been able to convey that powerful sense of wonder that exists in the intersection of consciousness as an "oh my god I'm alive and I don't know how or why" moment and fully realizing the beauty of the universe and futurism at the same time. This book is no exception. This book does a lot of things well, but cannot really be placed into a category on its own. You'll be whisked away into a world of robots, machine learning, overindulgence, and societal bliss and in one way, the book will be a regress on the dystopic utopian vision optimistic futurists hold. In another way, the book encapsulates that very feeling of smallness that is experienced when you gaze up into the night sky and realize that you are merely a dumb ape on a small rock floating through space in a massive universe and that nothing you have done or will ever do will ever matter and that the pointless societal sand-castle we're building will just be washed away by the waves of the cosmic oceans of time. I can confidently say I am a better person from reading this book. Nothing has any inherent meaning; that's for us to decide.

Honestly my expectations werent really high going into this. However, there is something in the way that Exurb1a writes that captivates you and keeps you reading and reading. I finished this book in 2 2-hour flights and I enjoyed every minute of it. If you have even an inkling of curiosity about how the future may look I 100% recommend to get this book. P.S. My favorite story was the Lantern. I was really interested in the explanation at the end and the roots of this one as well.

I've been waiting for a book like this for a long time. Great ideas, world building, and characters. What a great respite from the real world, which is awful right now. My favorite story was "Be Awake, Be Good." That one was straight-up cinematic and should be adapted to screen. Who is this writer with the weird pen name? I'll have to seek out more.

Let me first preface this by saying I started the book and only stopped to eat and when my mother said I needed to go to bed. Eighteen hours ago I new I was going to partake of allegory and perhaps a few half decent ideas given the writers channel on YouTube. I can now say that I was in fact wrong: They were all fully decent ideas, and then some. This book for the uninitiated I expect will force (or at least compel with a force-like strength) the reader to look out into the shiny jewel we call creation and then into the murk that is the undiscovered country of human consciousness and try to find that middle ground between the two. I think the ideas in this book are good ideas. They feel to me as though to be on the right track, albeit off color or skewed in perspective. However, this in my opinion is why it's been as good a read as it has been. As someone who has thought on the matter of the idea of sentience, consciousness, our place in the future order of the cosmos, etc., etc., the- Alright, whatever. It was a good book, read it. Think about it. And thank you. For sharing, not the existential dilemmata.

Great short stories. Each of them has grabbed my full attention and interest within the first minutes of reading them. Exurb1a clearly has a wonderful capability of creating new, exciting, dread- and wonderful scenarios which, to me at least, were full of original ideas and stunning new thoughts. Many thanks to the author for this brilliant collection.

I’d absolutely vouch for this book anytime. This is a really interesting read. There’s a lot of deep philosophical ideas subtly embedded all throughput. A really good sci-fi read!

Came early than expected. Delivered fr US to Singapore. Paid almost $30 including shipping. A bit disappointed because of the peeling-off the cover page, thus 3 stars.

The Fifth Science is an incredibly well-crafted piece of art which deserves a much higher price than what it's currently being sold for. Personally, I feel this is more refined than previous masterpieces: Exurb1a - a true Da Vinci of our time - tackles innumerate deep, philosophical questions seamlessly melded with logic and physics in this collection, many of which are directly linked to our lives today. (Although that could be said of any of his books.) It spans an extremely long period of time, mostly set in the future, taking on various perspectives, sometimes deviating a little from the timeline/overall plot. Don't get me wrong here, I feel that this makes the book better. If you're not a big fan of heavy reading, don't be put off by the introductory chapter. The rest of the book is made up of self-sustaining short stories, which deserve to be novels in their own right. One of these stories, The Lantern, is available on Youtube as an audiobook if you want a deeper taste of what you're buying, but I personally feel that The Lantern is the least extraordinary out of the collection, so if you were floored by that, prepare for something unimaginably beautiful. And if you need another incentive to buy the book, well...remember Polly Hare from Logic Beach, part one? There's an ingeniously subtle hint/tip-off for fan theories as to what happened to her/where she went encrypted in here, but I'm not spoiling anything. All I will say is: her work was REALLY groundbreaking, wasn't it? Anyway, you should stop wasting time reading this inexplicably long review, and BUY THE BOOK. What's a few quid for a unique insight into the depths of human nature and an unflinching stare at the fabric of our existence itself? Let's not forget that this is immaculately woven into some of the best prose I have read in a long, long time. Seriously. Buy and read this. Go on. It'll be worth it. You have my word.

A good book to read. I-ve read the prince of milk before this one and it was really really good, not perfect but really good nevertheless. And this one its the same. Keep the good work man