This is a book that blended a story with insights into philosophy, science, technology and art relating to how societies evolve and how people relate to each other. It made me think about how the world has changed historically as well as in my own life time.

Flock Without Birds
By Filip Dousek

I tried very hard to work my way through this book. It was a really tough go, and I must admit that I finally skipped around trying to determine where the author was going here – and finally gave up.

It seems to me that this book is either so packed with ideas, insights, contradictions that it is almost incomprehensible or it has no point at all.

If you want to understand a book, does that mean you should to read it?

The prologue triggered me immediately. It also made me wish that I could follow more than one path and read both the book and the story first, mix them up or maybe read them at the same time. In the end, I started with the story because that was the first part in the ebook.

In the story, Adam tests his understanding of the world through his relationships with other people, such as his girlfriend Nina whose artistic project turns out te be rather interesting. He searches for universal order with his programming of the Faustomat and goes in search of the Cambridge archives with alumni data to use as human input for calculating karma. But what is he really looking for with this project?

Who is telling the story?

The storyteller is a competent narrator, but who is he? Where does the author end and Adam begin? There are chapters nestled in between that don’t “fit,” mixing another voice with one that is Adam’s. Time and story lines are fluid and so is the boundary between what is inside the story and what is outside it. Flock Without Birds combines many of my interests as it touches on topics such as technology, philosophy, myths, religion, social intelligence, art and science.

“Intuitively, their disparate time and space fractals had to merge in order to thrust the self into a new dimension.”

The possibility of alternate realities weighs heavily on Adam as he considers how hundreds of surrogate infidel Adams crowd the only faithful one. His dilemma makes you think about the things you do and the things you give up. The idea is that even if you do only half of the calculated sum totals of your life, you might avoid boredom. Although you lose all other paths when you choose, the old portraits that fascinate Adam for a long time show that with time come new possibilities.

The many lives not lived remain as unexplored as the many possible stories in Mallarmé’s book Le Livre. It shows that when what you are trying to accomplish has a gigantic scope, it can prevent you from accomplishing smaller parts and you might never deliver anything at all. Even myths are built from smaller tropes. It’s good to dream big and have the audacity to go for the absolute. The elderly version of you is not better than you: he or she has only experienced what you decide to do.

Infinite possibilities

“Perhaps the enigma of the world hides not in what escapes me, but in what I see.”

After the story comes the book, with some deliberate self-reflection and more philosophy. I won’t say more as not to ruin your chance to find out how they go together. I want to reread Flock Without Birds to catch what I missed on the first read, so I ordered the hardcover edition to do just that; that’s how intrigued I was by this book. It is a book full of terminal paradoxes. How would you explain Adam?

I enjoyed trying to see the world as Adam sees it. The story is well-crafted. The author introduces many concepts and illustrates them in different ways. I like the narrative tone, the scope of the topics, and the choices and challenges the author voices. Flock Without Birds is focused on the future.

Recommendation

Filip Dousek wrote a fascinating book; one that is thoroughly unique. It’s been a while since I read a book that made me pause and consider what’s being said this much. So far my favorite read of this year. Read this if you crave something challenging that can serve as inspiration for your future.

One last takeaway (not per se groundbreaking): if you take a step away from pursuing your individual dreams and convictions, you may discover that you are right in the middle of where you aspired to be unintentionally.

This won't be for everyone. It has an interesting approach, and one I haven't come across. This one is a bit of a "thinker" and philosophical. Thus, it is likely to stick with readers for a while.

I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!