January 2021 Books of the Month

     

        Max - 

            My January 2021 Book of the Month was Recursion by Blake Crouch. In it, an epidemic of false memories are occurring. People who have FMS (False Memory Syndrome) remember two lives lived, and they can't tell them apart. The only difference is that one set of memories is gray and staticky.  In 2008, Helena is offered a job on a converted oil rig constructing a chair that supposedly should cure Alzheimer's disease. But, Helena's boss takes it too far - and the chair goes further. In 2018, Barry, a police officer, fails to stop an FMS suicide, but then realizes that the whole event turned into a false memory after a nosebleed. I liked this book because it is about an interesting topic, because the entire book is a plot twist, and because it gives you something to think about.  Read to find out how Barry and Helena stop FMS - and what FMS really is. 

        Ben -

            My January 2021 Book of the Month was The Collected What If? by various authors, edited by Robert Cowley. It's filled with essays on one thing and one thing only: alternate history. What if Socrates died in battle? What if Alexander the Great had not died in his thirties? What if Pontius Pilate spared Jesus? What if Confederate battle plans had not been left in a field? What if Hitler had died in World War I? What if D-Day failed? What if these essays are good? Well, they are. I like them because they're accompanied by maps -- which I really like -- and filled with close calls. George Washington would have been captured by the British in Manhattan if it weren't for the brave and valiant efforts of... fog. Overall, I would recommend this to any history buff or cartophile.