The world is on fire, and Peter Watts wants everyone to know it. In this collection of revised and updated writings from his blog, Watts is loud, smart, abrasive and refreshingly candid as he traverses an array of topics with philosophical and scientific savvy, unperturbed by whom he may offend along the way. Some pieces cover more universal topics: the climate change crisis, unchecked police brutality, censorship, the state of modern literature and its readers, government-instigated violence. Balancing out the heavy and often fatalistic essays, however, are more personal writings about his brother's death; introspection on his own successes and failures in science fiction; his first hallucinogenic experience, as a middle-aged man; and his unlikely survival of flesh-eating disease.
Former marine biologist and Hugo Award-winning author Watts (Starfish, Echopraxia) tackles scientific publications and worldbuilding in zombie television shows with equal vigor and is not afraid of speaking his mind, controversial as his opinions might be. He's angry at "the way we've f**ked up the planet... at the idiotic self-adulation of Human behaviors" and offers not only problems but solutions, some rather extreme: see, "Zika as the potential savior of humanity" and "when it comes to climate change the optimists have always been wrong and the pessimists have always been too optimistic." Those seeking peace of mind and a sunny outlook on life will not find much of them here, but Watts still manages to appreciate moments of good mixed in with the bad. As he says, "Even my most bitter diatribes might not be totally fatalistic." Watts's unflinching honesty, both brave and harsh, is what drives the collection, and whether readers agree with him or not, he certainly knows how to start a conversation. --Jennifer Oleinik, freelance writer and editor