I'm also intrigued by the book now - and the story of your son was hilarious, given that 1) the fact of non-specialness was a deep comfort to me in my acute grief over my daughter, and 2) i just said this to my young adult child two days ago about a struggle of her own (one that is the topic of a million pieces of literature), and was emphatically told how uncomforting it was.
Ah Luke is his own man! Rand never engages in her fiction with the requirements of caregiving even though striving to care for others and care for oneself is the challenge.
I never read "The Emperors New Clothes," but the way it was told (read?) to me, the people of the town were *intimidated* into pretending to see the emperor's clothes. The tailors asserted that you had to be an innocent soul to see the garments. No one wanted to admit that he saw no clothing. Each thought that the others saw them but he, stained and guilty creature that he thought he was, was the only one who didn't see them.
Enjoyed this review. I finished this book and would recommend it. However, about a third of the way through, I got the queasy feeling of jumping between Burgis' own hand and AI written material (shot through with metanoia which your previous Substack essay drew my attention to). I'm curious if your eyes discerned AI-written material in this book, and if so, did it detract from your experience of reading it? Moreover, moving forward, should we have some kind of specialized acknowledgement section in books that details how AI was used in the composition? It seems odd that Burgis doesn't mention it in his acknowledgements section (though he tweeted in January 2026 that he plans to "operationalize" AI for his own writing purposes--so maybe it is just assumed AI was used).
I'm also intrigued by the book now - and the story of your son was hilarious, given that 1) the fact of non-specialness was a deep comfort to me in my acute grief over my daughter, and 2) i just said this to my young adult child two days ago about a struggle of her own (one that is the topic of a million pieces of literature), and was emphatically told how uncomforting it was.
How does his thesis compare to Rand's theme of "the second hander" in The Fountainhead?
Ah Luke is his own man! Rand never engages in her fiction with the requirements of caregiving even though striving to care for others and care for oneself is the challenge.
Love this review.
It felt incarnate.
The kind Luke described.
I never read "The Emperors New Clothes," but the way it was told (read?) to me, the people of the town were *intimidated* into pretending to see the emperor's clothes. The tailors asserted that you had to be an innocent soul to see the garments. No one wanted to admit that he saw no clothing. Each thought that the others saw them but he, stained and guilty creature that he thought he was, was the only one who didn't see them.
Yes that's the standard reading. It's not my reading.
Looking forward to this--thanks for the preview!
Wow, you have made me want to read this book before I read anything else. (I have done a fair amount of caregiving in my life.)
Enjoyed this review. I finished this book and would recommend it. However, about a third of the way through, I got the queasy feeling of jumping between Burgis' own hand and AI written material (shot through with metanoia which your previous Substack essay drew my attention to). I'm curious if your eyes discerned AI-written material in this book, and if so, did it detract from your experience of reading it? Moreover, moving forward, should we have some kind of specialized acknowledgement section in books that details how AI was used in the composition? It seems odd that Burgis doesn't mention it in his acknowledgements section (though he tweeted in January 2026 that he plans to "operationalize" AI for his own writing purposes--so maybe it is just assumed AI was used).
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