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¹⁾

I greatly prefer the UK title — Northern Lights — over The Golden Compass. While the latter matches the naming convention for the rest of the trilogy, Northern Lights is a much more alluring title to me. I would have read the book much earlier had I known its original title.

²⁾

His Dark Materials is the single best “fantasty” fiction book series I've ever read. I really regret not reading it earlier, as it asks a lot of questions about religion and belief that I found hard to grapple with when I was younger. Lyra & Will are likely to stick with me in a much more permanent way than anyone in Harry Potter did.

³⁾

Consider reading Alexey Guzey's post, Matthew Walker's "Why We Sleep" Is Riddled with Scientific and Factual Errors instead of this book, and just sleep more if you feel tired during the day. I do think the book is valuable as a wake up call if you don't already sleep enough, and you need something to kick you over the edge. If you're constantly falling asleep at work, feeling tired, or feel dead inside each day, try sleeping. You should just set a constant bedtime, turn the lights off, turn on night shift or flux, and attempt to fall asleep naturally. Don't bother with sleep tracking, attempting to hit a target number of hours, or anything else. A good measure is this: if you're able to wake up without an alarm and you're awake in time to go to work or start your day, you're doing it right. You should feel mostly refreshed at this point, even if you're a night owl. If you constantly wish you could sleep in more, that's a sign you aren't getting enough sleep.

⁴⁾

Not a lot of content in this airport-sold book. Probably not worth reading.

⁵⁾

Offers a lot of insight and ideas, but runs somewhat contrary to my idea of constantly exploring new technology and taking risks with it.

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