Thank you to Toito Publishing and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I'll admit I couldn't finish this book, I couldn't even get very far. Honestly, I did not understand what was going on or the purpose of it. It was written like philosophical professors having a 20-hour droning conversation that is so deep and dense, it's indecipherable

I wanted to give this my best shot but it just didn't hit

This book actually took me a while to complete. It is very thought provoking and does make the reader deeply ponder many points of view. The points of view seemed to change throughout the book, but it was in depth. It is not the sort of style I normally read.

Thank you, Toito Publishing and Netgalley, for this opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Story. The Book. The first decision you need to make about Flock without Birds is how to read this ergodotic book. The next decision is how much time you have to spend mulling over the philosophy within. This story makes the reader exert significant effort in reading it.

It's not a light read, but will definitely strike a chord in those who take the time to chew through it.

Adam is a data scientist. He is trying to program what he calls a Faustomat. Because he is so focused on the technicalities of his project, he can't seem to figure out the mechanisms of love and what he is supposed to feel toward Nina. That's the essence of the story, but what you'll encounter in this tale is so complex and so disturbing and so well written, that you must read it to the end. Actually, there are two books, a White Book and a Black Book. The reader is given a choice of which to read first, the story or the story of the story. It helps if the reader is familiar with Pi and the Golden Ratio and other such obscure mathematical theories and philosophies. (If you read this book on a Kindle, you can just tap a word, and its definition will come up in both a dictionary and in Wikipedia.) What was most memorable to me about this book was the author's depiction of a psychotic break. He didn't just describe it, he showed his thoughts as it was happening. Brilliant. I would like to read more of Filip Dousek's work. It was challenging indeed!

Flock Without Birds is a book that a few people will love and many people won't bother to finish. It blends a fairly conventional romantic plotline (a data scientist, Adam, is too preoccupied with his work and various metaphysical issues to properly manage his relationship with his girlfriend) with philosophical ruminations. Most chapters are written in the third person, from Adam's point of view, but occasionally the narrator (possibly an older version of Adam) intrudes to address readers directly. Although the story was slow-moving and occasionally unwieldy, the plot contained enough unusual twists to keep me interested.

All of the above refers to The Story, which is the first (in the ebook) two thirds of the text. There is also The Book, which is meant to be Adam's journal. (Supposedly, The Book comes neither before or after The Story, but it appears afterward in the ebook and it is set at a slightly later time.) In The Book, Adam details his travels and other (mostly unpleasant) adventures. The events described are interesting, but most of The Book is taken up with the same sort of philosophical ruminations that occasionally interrupted The Story.

About those ruminations: they are meant to be a selling point, but I just wasn't sold. Partly, this book is categorized as a novel, not a discourse, and The Book was mostly discourse. Even worse, it just wasn't very good. The philosophical sections were wordy, repetitive, and only modestly insightful. One success, I suppose, was that reading them gave me the impression that I was actually speaking to a very smart, very young, extremely egotistical, and probably high grad student.

I really wanted to like this book because the concept was so fresh and interesting. The problem is the book is written too densely. It is not geared to the average reader and I wasn’t really a fan of the voice it was written in. It also takes too much reading through language that is not quite clear and crisp enough to keep a reader engaged. I applaud the concept. And though I’m sure there is a reader out the for whom this book will be a perfect fit, unfortunately that reader is not me.

Okay. Look, I get what the book is trying to do. The author is a mathy person - and there's a point where mathy people and physicists and philosophers meet. And this book is trying to say… something to that.

Trying.

But this book doesn't know what it wants to be. It's articulate babbling. Highly literate meandering. Name dropping old dead white guys like they are sponsoring the narrator's YouTube channel.

It tries to be both fiction and philosophy but can't quite swing either. If you separate the fiction out, you maybe have a mediocre novella. If you wanted a philosophy treatise....well. It's far too disjointed and incoherently laid out to quite pull that off either.

Points for attempting a novel framing device, but you can't have a framing device and that rails against its own structures. Even in the “story” section, the narrator can’t stop interrupting himself to philosophize. And I have to ask, was there an editor here? It goes from first person to third person in between interruptions and occasionally jumps into other character’s thoughts (which shouldn’t be possible considering it’s a sort of diary).

Sadly, there was a thesis in all this heavy-handed moralizing, but it's largely lost in the babble, the entitlement of the narrator, and the general circular reasoning.

Speaking of entitlement, I was also put off by the icky colonizer vibe of the travel log sections. "Yes, I'm just a rando foreigner but I'm clearly the most interesting person in the room and everyone naturally hangs on my every word." Yikes.

I hate to say the whole idea and setup for this one was a bit over my head.

I had a really hard time not only getting into it but even understanding the flow and dialogue of the book.

This book is definitely meant for someone with a special mind.

I love all things philosophical, but this one may be a bit deeper into philosophical inquiry than my mind has been trained to understand.

I did love the general concept and appreciated the author taking such an unconventional chance with the setup of this book.

I think those who love to dissect what they are reading and really take it slow will find some of what they are looking for in here.

This seems like the book that one sits down with for hours and leaves enlightened, but definitely for the more studious of readers.

How might a tech bro (excuse me, data scientist) have a spiritual awakening? Through fractals, fractals everywhere! I mean, there are infinite ways to turn back in on oneself, right? And if this is one of them, then it gives me hope. Just when I thought the tech bro’s were lost. Turns out with new technology comes new ways of becoming aware of the underlying metaphors and repeating similar patterns of the universe; and using that as a bridge to recognizing the interconnectedness of everything; as well as finding and learning to accept the other side of infinity—nothingness, the void.

The comparison and contrast between the artist perspective and the logical, mathematical perspective was cleverly done, I thought, the way it was interwoven and sequenced. Even having read the Black Book/The Book first and the White Book/The Story second. I liked how each perspective came with a bit of summarized history that explained how the held philosophical views came to be and be maintained: the artist versus the mathematician. Feeling versus thinking. Relationship versus Object, Whole versus Individual.

This was pretty good, and I really enjoyed it! The title drew me in, and the cover drew me in even more. What is a flock without the birds that make it up? My mind went immediately to Plato’s perfect Forms, and it turned out that was about right because with Greek philosophy and Aristotle is where the Western obsession with objects instead of relationships, and absolute truth instead of subjective reality all begin.

The commentary on communism showed a misunderstanding of its nuances, confusing it with absolutist philosophies like fascism, and not realizing Marxism-Leninism as dialectical materialism based on the present needs of people; that is, a scientific approach to society that responds to the moment, not some promised future or romanticized past.

Overall very good, captivating, and definitely worth a read.

This book started off in such a clever way - giving the reader the “choice” of whether to read the Book or the Story, but of course, most readers want to read everything - much like the protagonist (Adam) wants to KNOW everything.
There’s a lot to take in - this is a mystery, a love story, a review of philosophy and mathematics, and a trip into one man’s madness and journey to finding himself. It is a warning in regards to analysis paralysis. What it is not is easy to read. My recommendation about whether to read the Black tome or the White tome is to take the advice given in the prologue.

A Brilliant start, unusual premise, and lofty claims of what the book contained. I was buzzing with excitement but wary, I’ve been let down before. This however, did not disappoint. I'm grateful to Netgalley for the chance to review this stunning work! Beautifully intertwined themes play through the course of this book, arguably books. As we follow Adam on his search for timeless questions about humanity and if the unquantifiable can in fact be quantified. I could see a lot of some of my friends in the characters and they all felt real, though some exchanges felt forced or overly simplified. But there’s a way to interpret the writing where it makes sense. It’s hard to say more without spoilers and in my opinion, you should read this spoiler free.

Writing a novel about Big Ideas without being boring or pedantic is really hard. Filip Dousek has managed to pull it off. Like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, or Sophie's World, Flock Without Birds focuses on the story of its central character in order to explore how we relate to the world around us, managing to weave the philosophy into the narrative rather than the other way around. The main character is a data scientist attempting to write his PhD on a unified computer theory that will explain and predict anything. His two main antagonists are his romantic girlfriend and a professor of cultural studies who is a shaman and a tarot reader. The narrator moves through the complications of love and challenges to his rational authority, realizing in the end that relationships are truth rather than a static logical order. Highly recommended for philosophy and theology nerds who need to get into their heads in order to get out of their heads.

This is a compelling book. It was a very interesting examination of the meaning of existence, however at times meandered too much into philosophical ponderings, and made it hard to get through. I nonetheless enjoyed it.

This was certainly a book with lots to think about. I started with The Story but could not continue reading that part since I felt the writing was disjointed and hard to read. Then I read The Book which I thoroughly enjoyed. I learned a lot from his comparative analyses, so I may try a second attempt at The Story. The author certainly has a lot of knowledge on many subjects. Because of his writing style in The Story I regret that I can only give it a 3 star rating, This work will be different from most books you will ever read but you may just come away with a very different outlook on life. I am thankful I have had the opportunity to get to know the author’s mind and will now attempt a second reading of The Story.

Thought provoking.
This was quite an interesting read. This is listed as a work of fiction; but, is it? You decide. As you delve into the mind of a young mathematical PhD student, Adam, at Cambridge in early 2000's . This young man is on the autism spectrum and it is eye-opening to see how his mind perceives things that we may take for granted or as our truths. This story, in 2 books, runs across genres. I believe there is something in it for everyone. It asks the fundamental question of whether or not there is a God and if so; is God dead or alive? Adam spends many years trying to create a program that will answer that question. The reader is taken on a journey through mathematics, science, programming, religion, philosophy, relationships (of the human and non-human variety). I thought that it makes the reader question THE WORLD as we know it. Truly, what is a flock without birds?

This was a somewhat over convoluted novel, with multiple obvious nods to Foucault’s Pendulum, and some other works by Eco. At times, it reminded me of The Rule of Four - but only fleetingly, at best.

This book attempts to soar high and aim even higher, but I couldn’t find a single compelling storyline that could hold all this phantasmagoria through its hundreds of pages! True there is Adam and Nina and Marquis and the Faustomat, and some other even-more obtuse characters, that reminded me so much of those afternoon soap operas that repeat incredulous statements only to justify their burgeoning runtime and have precious little, if anything, to offer.

In its most basic form, the story is an attempted love story that takes the route of philosophy to come to fruition, and to get its justification. There are interesting detours along the way, and every 30-odd pages or so, there’s an interesting quip, but other than that, the boom ironically contradicts its own philosophy and its own stated words numerous times.

If I had to give a single example, somewhere in the beginning of The Book, the narrator states: “It is very important that what I have to say is not lost in metaphor.” Having said that, he dives right back into using metaphors from the immediate next line!

The metaphors add weight, no doubt, but somewhere along the way, the metaphors seem to have taken over the storytelling, and the reader is left untethered, at sea.

I must admit I was intrigued enough to read through The Story portion of the novel, but The Book takes the metaphors to a whole new level of literary liberties, bordering on the absurd.

Meandering, at best.

I had high expectations for this book; I loved the premise (“a novel about the illusions that create our world”) and the opening sentence was enticing: “See, this is the magic of books.” YES! I’m ready to go, I thought. The author offers two imaginative ways to begin the journey, and I chose to start with the white book.

Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the book ended with the prologue. The story is not a story. The philosophy, I guess you could call it, is nonsensical and self-indulgent. As I took notes to attempt to organize my understanding of what might be happening with this incoherent pseudo-narrative, I devolved to furiously scribbling phrases like “what is the point” and “this means nothing” to vent my frustration. The author asks, “ . . . tell me this first: if one wants to understand a book — any book — is reading it even the right way to go?” In this case, nope.

I’m going to stop there with my review since I can’t offer much in the way of explaining or describing these 450 rambling pages. Maybe I’m just pedestrian? This is either too pretentious or too sophisticated for me.

Flock Without Birds by Filip Dousek tells the story of Adam a data scientist who wants to write a program to determine God. I’m not sure what to say about this book. It was very philosophical. But there was the story of Adam and his love for Nina woven into it and written from his older self perspective. I have to admit I did skim through some of it. I continued reading to find out what happened between Adam and Nina. This book is not a read for everyone. Thank you for allowing me to review this book.

This is a highly inventive and audacious novel about a data scientist trying to use computers to define the existence (or lack of existence) of God. And love. And other totally ineffable things. It contains brilliant discourses on philosophy. I'll put a few quotes at the bottom here. The writing is brilliant, to say the least. I loved the informality of the language, and the flow of it.

However, I am not going to finish the book right now, after reaching 25%. The reason is that it feels like a book for millennials (which I am not). The main character seems like he's on the spectrum, and his relationships are problematic. He's quite cynical. Right now, I am in an emotional place where I want to find meaning and purpose, and I don't want to spend time in the company of Adam, the main character. This is despite the fact that I really wanted to see what the author was going to do with such a fascinating premise for a book. Perhaps I'm just not the right target reader at this point in my life. I think millennials, on the other hand, would totally "get" the characters and feel quite at home with the tone.

"As soon as he wrote it [Nietsche writing that God is dead], something rather curious happened: nothing at all. Lightning did not strike him down. Nobody burned him at a stake. And no one disproved his claim... It quickly became irrelevant whether God had really died. The mere possibility became too important; it became the reality of possibility. And God sank further down: from a hypothesis, he became a risk. The rating of the church and its notes, redeemable the day after death, suddenly dropped from AAA to B+, by the analysts' consensus. And people don't base their savings on such instruments, nor empires their fates. Such currency is only fit for speculation."

"Nietsche clearly described the domino effect After the death of God, the entire Western moral and philosophical structure would collapse. And with it, the balance between nations, classes, and people; and with that, the power held by the church and monarchs. What follows is a clueless place... The 20th and 21st centuries: a clueless place. Experience offers no advice. The past is cut off from the future. The mind is flooded by an infinity of equal, undecidable possibilities. People even have a special word for this tortured place: freedom."

"I watch the most destructive force my century has seen: the loss of meaning and direction."

Interesting and provocative read. However, it (science fiction and fantasy) are not my preferred genre. Was not able to finish book. Would not recommend for readers like myself.