The Last Invention The Day Death Died by Diane Lilli; Echoes of Resilience: Stories to Inspire by Nabraj Lama; Cooee Baby by Charles Moberly

 The Last Invention The Day Death Died by Diane Lilli; Echoes of Resilience: Stories to Inspire by Nabraj Lama; Cooee Baby by Charles Moberly 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

The Last Invention: The Day Death Died by Diane Lilli 

This is a short review. The full review is on LitPick.

The Last Invention is a sharp and brilliant commentary on the overabundance of technology and the potential sentience of AI. It is also an insightful and compelling character study about two sisters dealing with grief and loss while exploring their different experiences with and views on the AI. 

In the near future, MetaX Tech Guru Clive presents the first sentient AI that creates a virtual world that is as close to the real one as possible. For now, Clive needs some human guinea pigs to test and enter into the AI. One of the testers is Amanda Carducci. Amanda's son, Dylan has died and she suffers from intense grief. She quickly signs up if it means reuniting with Dylan in the AI world and shutting out the real one. Amanda's activist sister, Emily, however is outside the system trying to uncover the ulterior motives and potential harm that this new technology will bring. One sister embraces the virtual world while the other tries to save her and bring her back to the real one.

It definitely is a Science Fiction dystopian novel that says just as much about our times as it does about the near future. Clive is clearly meant to be a composite of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and especially Elon Musk, tech CEOs with a lot of money, a lot of intelligence, and a lot of ego. 

The Last Invention gives us two sisters who represent the different sides of the AI vs. Real debate. Emily represents the real world. Emily worries about the docile addicted shell that her sister is turning into and the physical torture that her body is going through. She sees that this isn't just happening to Amanda. It's happening all over. She's on the outside choosing to live a life of reality and wants to free her sister from her passive accepting prison.

Amanda represents the AI and is understandable within her grief. Who wouldn't want a do over and have a deceased loved one back, even if they aren't a completely real one? Who wouldn't want to live a better life of one's choosing? It may not be a full life but it is one that provides soothing comfort and an escape.

 It's this fascinating dichotomy in which different perspectives are given equal time that make this book memorable. It asks difficult questions about when AI hits will you submit to it or fight against it?

Echoes of Resilience: Stories to Inspire by Nabraj Lama 

Nabraj Lama’s book Echoes of Resilience: Stories to Inspire, is an inspirational book filled with stories to encourage Readers to work hard, prepare, be innovative, help others, and use their gifts wisely to achieve not only outward success but personal happiness.

Each story follows the same pattern: One page gives us the moral or main lesson. The next page features a short five paragraph story about someone faced with some sort of conflict, how they dealt with that problem by displaying or not displaying certain virtues and then what the results were.

One example is “Learning from the past is the beginning; applying it to shape the future is the goal.” Lama then penned a story about a wise man who was known for his sage advice and recall of the village’s history. He was challenged by a local boy about why he didn't use his wisdom to help fix current problems concerning the village now. 

The wise man changed his outlook and became more proactive towards current issues. The lesson is while it's great to study and learn about the past and research information, it's more important to use that vast knowledge to address the world around you.

Many of the stories are about people who struggled with their scholastic or career pursuits. One called “Challenge your past and prepare for your future.” A junior drafter was upset about his stagnating career. A life coach advised him to improve on what he did yesterday. The drafter focused on enhancing his daily work, improving his skills, and becoming more organized. 

Eventually, the drafter improved his position and received accolades from his employers and peers. The takeaway is there is always room for improvement and one must be humble enough to recognize those spots and work towards fixing them.

Some of these stories are similar to fairy tales because they feature two characters, one who follows a good path and the other who doesn't with the former being successful and the latter being met with misfortune. 

One such story has the lesson of “Build your identity on your own aspirations, not on societal expectations.” One of a pair of brothers embraced the conventional path forced on him by his community and family. The other was often misunderstood and seen as rebellious. He had a unique vision and his own aspirations. 

The conventional son lived a solid life but always chose the safe path, never standing out. The iconoclastic son studied in a specialized field and explored innovative ways, enhancing his unique interests. His dedication led to success not just within his community but within the nation. While convention has its merits, sometimes one has to take risks and do something different to make their mark.

Sometimes the stories don't have a happy ending. They aren't depressing in that the experience that the protagonist faced was a learning one and they can use that lesson to make better decisions in the future. But they are faced with disappointments and setbacks all the same. 

One story begins with “Avoid dwelling on trivialities to the extent that you lose sight of what's truly important.” It tells of an art master at a prestigious institution who was noted as a great instructor who inspired students to embrace their creativity. Overtime, he became absorbed in the inconsequential details of the school like itemizing expenses, managing staff behaviors, and handling administrative tasks, things that he could have delegated to others. 

Because of this, the instructor's teaching suffered and the quality of his instruction diminished. The board, noticing the decline in his teaching and classroom size, relieved him of his duties. The message is not to absorb oneself with mundane tasks that take away from the main one. Trust others to do them and keep focused.

In a true example of “experience being its own teacher,” Lama himself has a story of his own in a chapter called “Ordinary efforts do not yield extraordinary results.” Lama explained how he worked on his manuscript for years. He edited and rejected his book and received nothing but rejection. Undaunted, he sought advice from other authors, colleagues, peers, writer's guides, and Readers. He took their advice and made his writing clear and precise. 

Lama wrote articles on the Internet and received different perspectives that gave him a sharper focus on his work. Within two months, Lama's book had greatly improved with collective wisdom and a refined purpose. The publishers recognized the effort and the book was accepted. This story reminds us to never be afraid to reach out and ask for advice, even refine our approach and voice, to truly make a lasting impact and success.

Echoes of Resilience is a lovely and compassionate book that reminds us that everyone has a story in which they struggled. They may have succeeded and they might not have. But they always learned something.

Cooee Baby by Charles Moberly 

Cooee Baby by Charles Moberly is an intriguing captivating book about a protagonist who thinks that she knows everything until she is put into a situation where she realizes that she knows absolutely nothing.

Awhina Fernandez, who sometimes goes by the name Athena, is a woman of great intelligence, plenty to say, and a large ego. She does not get along with her indifferent father and her intrusive mother, the latter of whom she calls, “The T-Rex.” She's a Cambridge student who majors in astrophysics. After graduation and before she begins her PhD studies, Awhina goes with her mother on a cruise around Indonesia and is cast asea during a diving mishap in the Straits of Sundabang. She finds herself stranded in West Papua and is caught in between two warring tribes, the Walukek and Suamu. She has to find the inner strength and resilience to survive in a world where her intelligence and education don't mean anything. 

Cooee Baby has an interesting premise with a protagonist who is not always likeable. Awhina is the worst kind of academic who is fixated, insufferable, and extremely arrogant. 

While a student, she brags about her arguments with her professors where she insists that she's right and everyone else is an idiot. She has self-deprecating moments concerning her name which is often mispronounced and her appearance which some think of as Polynesian and makes her stand out. She sets herself higher than everyone around her so she has few friends and lovers. She insults everyone around her in a way that is not self-aware but is instead ingratiating.

 Granted, Awhina is diagnosed with Asperger's and she marks the symptoms point by point but it doesn't help make her beyond a character sketch of those symptoms without giving her depth beyond them. At times, this Reader wanted her to shut up.

Awhina comes into her own when she is stranded in West Papua. There are comic scenes where since she doesn't speak the language, she uses cultural references and a variety of movements like the haka to communicate with the tribes. She displays some creativity and survival instincts to think on her feet. She bonds with many of the people on the island such as a visiting anthropologist and a female villager, the latter of whom almost becomes a love interest.

Awhina also becomes aware that her actions have consequences. She plays the part of a mythological figure from their legends and gets off on their worship and obedience to her every word. She is told that this is a dangerous move because they might respect her when things are great but will turn against her when things go wrong. She pays no heed to that warning until it happens and she is put into danger. It becomes a huge blow to an ego that needed to get a little bruised before she learned something. It is through this experience that she becomes a better, more enlightened person who learns through failure as much as success.

The ending somewhat drags as Awhina deals with the instant fame that her story brings. At times, she falls back to some of her earlier character flaws but she also acts as a bridge between the person that she was to the person that she becomes.