Age Of Earthquakes:A Guide To The Extreme Past

Age Of Earthquakes: A Guide To The Extreme Past

Robert Ruiz

Age Of Earthquakes was an interesting and unique read, but one that I thought was lacking in

overall depth of ideas.  The novel shines as an abundance of thought-provoking ideas but none

I felt were given the development they deserved. Even the novel's name, age of earthquakes, is

presented as an underdeveloped idea in the text, as the novel presents the idea early on with little

development.  The statement “we’ve changed the structure of our planet” that presumably fuels

this idea is not supported whatsoever throughout the text, which I found to be extremely frustrating.

If there is 1 exception, it would be the concept of “the person in the world most like you”, and I

think this is where the text shines the most in its delivery and explanation.  It introduces a rather

mundane idea to start, as the idea of clones and people similar to us has been explored in depth

by science fiction, and explores a new facet of this idea that is possible with the internet age.

This idea is developed throughout the book, and by the end of it I felt like this was the sole idea

that was presented in a believable and interesting way.  This message, however, is muddled down

by other, lesser developed ideas that ultimately did not enhance the text as a whole and proved

unnecessary. This may have been the author's intention, however I felt that it was frustrating and

unnecessary for the text as a whole. Multiple fascinating ideas are wasted here, and this is what

ultimately made the text frustrating for me.  I would have much prefered the text as a whole if it we

re longer and more cohesive, and I feel as this would have enhanced the text if it was executed in

this way.