Dramatic beginning, but flat pretty much ever after. Some of the characters came across as implausibly, frustratingly, incredibly naive, and while I guess KSR wanted to present a hopeful scenario for massive, positive environmental action, much of this just seemed, again, naive to me, especially in the wake of Trump’s America. While this book is much more international in scope, it just seemed politically too simple. I love this genre of near-future SciFi, though, and I absolutely LOVED KSR’s Aurora (only other book from him I’ve read), but finishing this became more obligation than enjoyment. I much more enjoyed Bacigalupi’s Wind Up Girl, though it’s set further in the future, and Daniel Suarez’s Daemon/Freedom thrillers, set in the present but a much more compelling fictionalization of the death of Capitalism. Ultimately, this reminded me a lot of how I felt reading Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael, the one about the talking ape critiquing mother culture? Just make this a long essay, or collection of essays. The weakness of the storytelling and characters distracted me from the ideas.