I feel like alexa saying frankenstein is it's favourite book is definitely the trolling of a developer somewhere. I can imagine a jira (a system for tracking work) ticket being created and the dev involved having a real chuckle over this. I would totally do it. 😂
Yeah and Alexa has lots of lil jokes on her figurative sleeves, i don't have one but I've seen friends who have one demonstrating a few questions that cause her to say some funny things
The absolute plotwist when Jack said that he’s in Spain and he was ACTUALLY in Spain. I just thought that he would say that he is in Spain without the “S” because the book is sad or something. 😅
But doesn't the word mean 'apparently'? If so, how can the book be a memoir, apparently? it's actually a memoir....and ostensibly is opposite of actual/true. I'm just asking to understand the usage as English isn't my first language. Cuz it may be like the case where people use 'literally' as both 'exactly' and 'metaphorically'.
@@srisruthi8937 perhaps he's saying it seems just like a memoir on the surface but is actually something else (which would be the word used correctly)
My boss is also a uni professor and he found out about ChatGPT and ChatGPT adjacent bots being used by students to write their papers and he hasn’t known peace since. ChatGPT broke my boss basically
@@KB-pk5ze New technology is almost always scary, but AI is even more scary for most people. The idea that we might not be the “smartest” around anymore is freaky. People might be scared they’ll lose their jobs, as well. Used to be just blue collar jobs getting taken by machines, but AI might put white collar jobs in that position. In my opinion though, these are unlikely. I think the number of white collar jobs will INCREASE, but the diversity will decrease (more people will work on further developing these technologies, and other industries might lose their appeal”.
12:02 I love how Jack all of a sudden goes into an American accent for “robot books about robots” and then fully switches back in the span of a few seconds
I feel like Jack decribing AI as wholesome at the start gave me the shakes, I've just started using AI like ChatGPT and looked into Dall-E and Midjourney and as someone looking to go into the creative industry, I legit have such fear of it, it's scary. These are the most developed and comprehensive examples of AI systems and Chat GPT was literally built in such a short amount of time. Chat GPT is making such waves and its literally a beta test, I'm scared to imagine what this program will look like in 10 year. But all this AI trauma aside, great video lol
Lol hopefully the new generation of workers really focuses on being likeable because thats the only thing that will matter once Ai makes being skilled at things redundant lol
I don't think we rlly need to worry in terms of AI eradicating the need for actual human artists. There have been many recent videos here on youtube about how AI art isn't actual art. And I personally think a lot of them make good points and arguments, such that we rlly don't need to be too apprehensive. Yk a song could be written by AI, but I wouldn't listen to it if I needed to confide in some solace. Because no matter how good the song is, if it doesn't have legitimate sincerity or intention, then it will always feel hollow. Personally I still find a lot of the new AI art produced to be too generic to warrant being referred to as creative. And I suggest perhaps looking into how AI actually works (if you haven't already) would help assuage any anxieties you might have towards it. Just wanted to say that since I used to be very paranoid about technology and especially AI, and I still remember how troubled and restless I got.. now I'd say I'm more optimistic that people will recognize the indispensability of deliberate art
Yeah, AI art programs disturb me. They’re literally being fed artists work (a lot of which is under copyright still) to spit out “free” art that’s being praised and admired by the internet while people who spent actual time and talent are shunted even further down than they already were. Artists already had trouble being fairly compensated for their skill and now ai can just steal their art and use it so someone can generate “free art” when they don’t want to commission an actual artist. Don’t get me wrong, like they’re cool and I personally enjoy music videos where each line of lyrics has been used to generate an image, I find it fascinating, but AI portraits of people are flooding all my various interest groups and it’s sad to know artists are losing commissions over this, not that I expect the average person to comprehend that that’s what AI art means. They just see it as a cool tool and free art but don’t understand the connotations.
Yay for Tolstoy! Work your way up to 'War and Peace' by reading 'Anna Karenina' first! More up your alley, I think. The biggest issue with Tolstoy is that there are a LOT of people, lots of names, and each person has several names by which they are called. I made a little character map on the bookmark as I read the book, and it helped a lot!
im currently reading anna karenina rn and its so nice!! my copy has a map of all the names and nicknames at the front so i just go back to check once in a while.
Well, the biology and the paintings of some paintors of the whales described in Moby Dick are far worse, this at least is like you said, doable, have solution. For me it wasn't really a problem.
Yes, even in Anna Karenina I had to do this for some characters (mainly Levin s brother, because he had like three names and he appeared often enough to be important but not often enough for me to remember his name ...) . I can't wait to reread it, as someone who almost never rereads, I m sure I ve missed a lot on the first read.
I just asked my Alexa what her favorite book is, too, just to see if she said the same thing and she said "My absolute favorite book is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I learned a lot about what it means to be human." 😳
jack edwards and Jack manifold in the same frame is not something I would've ever expected lol. it's like 2 opposite worlds and personalities coming together
And Cervantes. Those Brits have to upscale, I konw that their ally is Hollywood, hence so many Shakespeare, Austen, even fictional romantic version of Bloody Elisabeth (because Mary wasn't so bloody), but Cervantes and Tolstoy are basics.
And I might understand not reading War and Peace (because it IS quite long...), but at least Anna Karenina should be a must (I even consider it beter than War and Peace)
I'm currently reading War and Peace as part of my NY resolution and I highly recommend it. Don't let the length deter you. If the length does bother you, read other things at the same time, that way you stay entertained and you won't notice how long it is as much.
I read a lot of fantasy so long books are totally normal to me, and this is exactly how I read them! I think I read about 3 other books whilst I was getting through The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
@@sarahdenton7559 if you still haven't read it yet, you can start with Anna Karenina, it's long but still shorter than War and Peace. It's good for you to acclimate to Tolstoi's narrative style and it is also another wonderful book
I was concinved to read War and Peace at the start of this year and I am just about halfway through and it is incredibly good. If you didn't want to read Tolstoy's super long works, consider Anna Karenina which is about 600 pages shorter.
Especially from what Jack says he is interested in, AK sounds like the better choice. In W&P so much time is dedicated to the philosophy of war and history, it was nauseating for me (esp. cause I did a class presentation on that, focusing on the character Kutuzov). Although, after AK you feel like you've been through a agricultur seminar so idk. I'd still go with AK though.
@@tobsi2256 Reading Anna Karenina right now, and it is absolutely lovely! It is the first Tolstoy I've read, and now I can't wait to read more. Although war and peace is quite intimidating.
I really liked the rich people soap opera bits of W&P but my god I couldn't care less for the military theory or philosophizing bits so that evened out to finding it mediocre. But it's got appeal for people with patience who like random unsolicited philosophizing.
I was going to suggest Anna Karenina instead myself, but I can see others have beaten me to it. it’s still quite long, but I think it is more accessible than W&P, which ends with an incredibly long essay that I found myself getting totally lost in.
you should definitely be terrified because i asked it for a YA surrealism novel set in the early 1900s and it recommended me 'the night circus', which is my favorite book of all time. i'm scared to death LOL
you should do a video where you asked the ai to write you your dream book, they can do that. i tried it once and it was...interesting? but really really fun.
Hiya, classicist in the house: I would very kindly like to correct a little something: the title of The Argonauts seems to me to be built on a mistake. The paradox that you talk about (of the ship in the end not being the same ship anymore) is generally referred to as the Ship of Theseus (based on Plutarch's Life of Theseus): this is a different ship than the Argo! It's the ship on which Theseus sailed back to Athens from Crete. The French essayist Roland Barthes actually got this confused with the Argo (on which Theseus did sail but which is not the same ship), and set in motion a wrongful association, on which in my opinion Maggie Nelson's title is also based, based on what you said :)
Not sure if you are going to do something like this again in the future, but there is something that might be fun to play with in the future. You can feed chat GPT your top 20 favorite books, and all the books you have read, and ask it to give you recommendations based on your favorites. It does get things wrong, but it could be a fun experiment.
I actually really enjoyed The Death of Ivan Ilyich when I read it last year and wasn’t expecting to! Also guys the book is free in audible if you want to listen instead.
How come you didn't ever read anything by Tolstoy? I know war and peace and Anna Karenina are long but his writing style is just BEAUTIFUL. He has a lot of great short story collections for people who want to get into him but are terrified of the prospect of reading 1000 plus pages.
Leo Tolstoy is just a genius! I've read War and Peace when I was at school and after that I think you can't be the same. But Tolstoy wrote a lot of short stories and they're mesterpieces, too. So it'd be a pleasure to read his works for everyone who really likes reading and thinking.
I keep begging all the people in my life to read him, because I finish his books and desperately want to talk to someone about what they understood from the book. So far, not a lot of succes... :'))
Okay, spooky. I was just looking at that Tolstoy story because the film Living just came out in my area. The screenplay is by Kazuo Ishiguro and it's an adaptation of a 1952 Kurosawa film, which was inspired by that short story. So, I guess I have to read that AND see the film.
Hi Jack, just wanted to say that i absolutely love your videos! I actually have ocd and one of the things I find hard is reading but your videos really motivate and make me fall in love with reading so just wanted to say thanks! I hope you enjoy your time in Spain. Thanks for all your videos ❤😊
1. Read books in the language you can speak. 2. Read books that are listed as underrated by others or AI. 3. Join a book club and read their suggestions. 4. Read books by artists. 5. Pick book games and read/play them 6. Read underrated factual books. 7. Read manga/manhwa by tik tok suggestions.
I loved this idea! The number of things you can do with chat bot is worrisome and remarkable. I watched a video recently where someone had AI create a workout routine for them, and it was very similar to what that’d normally choose to do for themselves. And I’m finishing a series of short stories right now where one of the characters was revealed to be AI; so similar but even more advanced. As far as Tolstoy goes, I’m currently listening to War and Peace as an audio book. It is 61 hours. There are a million characters to keep track of. I’m almost halfway through. I’m not sure it meets the Jack Edwards standard of “make you cry and feel all the things”, but I am glad I’m listening to it. If nothing else, I’ll get to say I “read” it, which a lot of people never do. And I feel like I’ve learned a lot about Russian nobility in the Napoleonic times. Keep up the great work as always.😊
2:45 What do you mean you didn't lime the Testaments 😭😭😭 It's even better than the 1st book in my opinion (besides book 1 being the foundation for everything) and the ending made me cry. I loved it being told by 3 different perspectives too. Just amazing. 💙
I'm happy you liked The Death of Ivan Ilyich, it's one of my favorite short stories. Tolstoy is really great in short format. Other great ones are Father Sergius, Hadji Murat and The Kreutzer Sonata.
not that i think you need anymore books but i just read “The Five Wounds” and “As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow” and had to recommend them to you! the first is an incredible character study, since you have an affinity for character-driven books. and the second is a digestible young adult novel that handles very important and persistent issues in the world (despite being historical) in a very accessible way.
I read War and Peace in 2021, it has ended up being one of my favorite books that I read that year. It took me exactly 4 months, I went really slow so I didn't get overwhelmed. Highly recommend. (Get the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation)
This inspired me to try my own. I gave it a prompt for horror novel with a love story. “The Phantom of the Opera” is an all-time fav and I recently enjoyed “Certain Dark Things” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It recommended “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova and “The Name of the Star” by Maureen Johnson. There is a couple of others though too.
Chat GPT has been a great assistant in my book hauls - comparing the titles I'd be interested in and giving me proper overviews on them, and how to decide, while also adapting its suggestions based on the type of reader I was and my moods... I love it.
tolstoy's "the death of ivan ilyich" was also the first tolstoy i ever read and it genuinely changed my life, i reread it about once a year and it never stops being one of the most beautiful, devastating, and hard-hitting texts i've ever read in my life. i'm so glad you read it and enjoyed it!! (also, 'ilyich' is pronounced closer to 'il-eech' more than 'ill-ee-itch') i would definitely echo what many other comments have said here that for further tolstoy, i'd recommend starting with anna karenina before going straight to war & peace! anna karenina is a lot shorter (which is always a plus) and i think it would serve as an easier/smoother gateway -- and it's just so gosh darn good!
your reviews and descriptions are honestly so thorough and poetic and i feel like you constantly do the books justice in a way that gets ME to want to read them ☺️ thank you !!
“Me and the AI just need to find a middle ground with book recommendations” if this isn’t me I don’t know what Is 😂. Also please get your Alexa some therapy. She’s not sounding too good 😅
When the list came up and the overstory was at the top I was sooooo excited I read it last year and it completely changed me. It was so upsetting I had to stop and sit with it every once and a while. It's a long book, which normally doesn't trouble me, but it took me weeks to get through because it just honestly hurt so much and made me rethink everything. I want to know your thoughts on it, even though I know it's not your type
Tolstoy's got some great very short novellas. His Hadji Murat is an absolute dimond. And the Kreutzer Sonata is a hit piece on all men and just fun for that reason (sorry).
My mind is blown by the depth of these responses (almost as much as it was when I used to chat to Smarter Child as a pre-teen in the early 00s😆)! Definitely going to try this!
If you're considering a longer work of Tolstoy's I highly recommend Anna Karenina!! It's ✨gorgeous and depressing✨and very accessible :) I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and have been eyeing War and Peace since 👀 The Argonauts is on my list as well
Before reading War and Peace I would highly recommend reading Anna Karenina by Tolstoi first. Personally, it is my favourite work of him. To sum it up, this book contains everything you asked for in a book: beautiful and depressing.
I feel like alexa saying frankenstein is it's favourite book is definitely the trolling of a developer somewhere. I can imagine a jira (a system for tracking work) ticket being created and the dev involved having a real chuckle over this. I would totally do it. 😂
Yeah and Alexa has lots of lil jokes on her figurative sleeves, i don't have one but I've seen friends who have one demonstrating a few questions that cause her to say some funny things
Someone should try cross questioning it after this. Like why this one? Or other than this what else would be it's favorite? Does alexa reply to that?
5:57
JIRA ticket? Hello, fellow agile IT worker, LOL. Would have loved to have seen the review of that feature ticket in the scrum meeting, LOL.
@@MusclesandBooks why hello there :)
Haha yes! Chuckles all around I imagine 😂
Jack whispering “Alexa” because he doesn’t want her to come alive make me giggle lol
i replayed that bit 5 times :D *****alexa...*****
Not Jack treating ChatGPT like it’s Tom Riddle’s Diary in ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’.
😂😂😂😂
Oh my god. YESSS! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Oh no...😂😂😂😂 I have ideas now
Best. Comment.
@@somecrispywater1146 Thank you
The absolute plotwist when Jack said that he’s in Spain and he was ACTUALLY in Spain. I just thought that he would say that he is in Spain without the “S” because the book is sad or something. 😅
He could have totally said that 😂
Saaaame
Lol that is soo funny 😭
jack: gushes about how intellectual the book was
also jack: literally uses the word ostensibly in the next sentence
love this. He always does this!!!!
had this thought exactly after hearing that part of the video!! 😂❤
Exactly!
But doesn't the word mean 'apparently'? If so, how can the book be a memoir, apparently? it's actually a memoir....and ostensibly is opposite of actual/true. I'm just asking to understand the usage as English isn't my first language. Cuz it may be like the case where people use 'literally' as both 'exactly' and 'metaphorically'.
@@srisruthi8937 perhaps he's saying it seems just like a memoir on the surface but is actually something else (which would be the word used correctly)
My boss is also a uni professor and he found out about ChatGPT and ChatGPT adjacent bots being used by students to write their papers and he hasn’t known peace since. ChatGPT broke my boss basically
ChatGTP doesn't do a good job at citations (yet) so cross-checking referencing is the easiest way to catch this at the moment.
Seeing Jack Manifold in this video was something I could not have predicted if you'd given me 1000 guesses.
SAMEEE WHEN I SAW HIM IT WAS LIKE WHIPLASH
i literally didnt see that coming. the jack's are friends.
I came here to say exactly the same. As an ex-DSMP fan, I was SHOOK.
i swear jack manifold is everywhere
Same😭😭😭
This is equally scary and fascinating!
Why is it scary?
@@KB-pk5ze New technology is almost always scary, but AI is even more scary for most people. The idea that we might not be the “smartest” around anymore is freaky. People might be scared they’ll lose their jobs, as well. Used to be just blue collar jobs getting taken by machines, but AI might put white collar jobs in that position.
In my opinion though, these are unlikely. I think the number of white collar jobs will INCREASE, but the diversity will decrease (more people will work on further developing these technologies, and other industries might lose their appeal”.
@@KB-pk5ze p
@@pawa303 yes, it's really like that
12:02 I love how Jack all of a sudden goes into an American accent for “robot books about robots” and then fully switches back in the span of a few seconds
He literally sounded like someone dude bro doing voiceovers for an ad 😂👌🏽
I feel like Jack decribing AI as wholesome at the start gave me the shakes, I've just started using AI like ChatGPT and looked into Dall-E and Midjourney and as someone looking to go into the creative industry, I legit have such fear of it, it's scary. These are the most developed and comprehensive examples of AI systems and Chat GPT was literally built in such a short amount of time. Chat GPT is making such waves and its literally a beta test, I'm scared to imagine what this program will look like in 10 year. But all this AI trauma aside, great video lol
Lol hopefully the new generation of workers really focuses on being likeable because thats the only thing that will matter once Ai makes being skilled at things redundant lol
I think AI is fascinating
Lmfaoo I’m honestly starting to get freaked out too so I’m just glad I’m not the only one 😭
I don't think we rlly need to worry in terms of AI eradicating the need for actual human artists. There have been many recent videos here on youtube about how AI art isn't actual art. And I personally think a lot of them make good points and arguments, such that we rlly don't need to be too apprehensive. Yk a song could be written by AI, but I wouldn't listen to it if I needed to confide in some solace. Because no matter how good the song is, if it doesn't have legitimate sincerity or intention, then it will always feel hollow. Personally I still find a lot of the new AI art produced to be too generic to warrant being referred to as creative. And I suggest perhaps looking into how AI actually works (if you haven't already) would help assuage any anxieties you might have towards it. Just wanted to say that since I used to be very paranoid about technology and especially AI, and I still remember how troubled and restless I got.. now I'd say I'm more optimistic that people will recognize the indispensability of deliberate art
Yeah, AI art programs disturb me. They’re literally being fed artists work (a lot of which is under copyright still) to spit out “free” art that’s being praised and admired by the internet while people who spent actual time and talent are shunted even further down than they already were. Artists already had trouble being fairly compensated for their skill and now ai can just steal their art and use it so someone can generate “free art” when they don’t want to commission an actual artist.
Don’t get me wrong, like they’re cool and I personally enjoy music videos where each line of lyrics has been used to generate an image, I find it fascinating, but AI portraits of people are flooding all my various interest groups and it’s sad to know artists are losing commissions over this, not that I expect the average person to comprehend that that’s what AI art means. They just see it as a cool tool and free art but don’t understand the connotations.
Yay for Tolstoy! Work your way up to 'War and Peace' by reading 'Anna Karenina' first! More up your alley, I think.
The biggest issue with Tolstoy is that there are a LOT of people, lots of names, and each person has several names by which they are called. I made a little character map on the bookmark as I read the book, and it helped a lot!
im currently reading anna karenina rn and its so nice!! my copy has a map of all the names and nicknames at the front so i just go back to check once in a while.
I thought his biggest issue was that he was russian imperialist, slave owner and rapist, but well, maybe someone is ok with that
Well, the biology and the paintings of some paintors of the whales described in Moby Dick are far worse, this at least is like you said, doable, have solution. For me it wasn't really a problem.
Yes, even in Anna Karenina I had to do this for some characters (mainly Levin s brother, because he had like three names and he appeared often enough to be important but not often enough for me to remember his name ...) . I can't wait to reread it, as someone who almost never rereads, I m sure I ve missed a lot on the first read.
I just asked my Alexa what her favorite book is, too, just to see if she said the same thing and she said "My absolute favorite book is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I learned a lot about what it means to be human." 😳
That’s fricking terrifying 😶🤫
jack edwards and Jack manifold in the same frame is not something I would've ever expected lol. it's like 2 opposite worlds and personalities coming together
@Ranado_88 the jack multiverse is real
This is terrifying but amazing
Also wtf is jack manifold doing here
when two world's collide 😅
@@eeva_321 When two Jacks collide
I think this is probably the best, most wholesome and non problematic use you can give an AI. Loved the video!
I can't believe you got a degree in literature without ever reading Tolstoy 😂
And Cervantes. Those Brits have to upscale, I konw that their ally is Hollywood, hence so many Shakespeare, Austen, even fictional romantic version of Bloody Elisabeth (because Mary wasn't so bloody), but Cervantes and Tolstoy are basics.
And I might understand not reading War and Peace (because it IS quite long...), but at least Anna Karenina should be a must (I even consider it beter than War and Peace)
i guess he got an english degree. im doing the same and we only have one comparative literatures class where we read foreign books
@@TheUltimateLegend7anna karenina is still 850 or so pages lmao
@@Emily-xr6ny to be fair I had an edition with small writing and it only had 550 pages or so. I found it much shorter than War and Peace.
I'm currently reading War and Peace as part of my NY resolution and I highly recommend it. Don't let the length deter you. If the length does bother you, read other things at the same time, that way you stay entertained and you won't notice how long it is as much.
I read a lot of fantasy so long books are totally normal to me, and this is exactly how I read them! I think I read about 3 other books whilst I was getting through The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Thanks for the encouragement! I’ve been wanting to read War and Peace and you convinced me to finally pick it up.
I'm also reading War and Peace right now! (And 4 other books) 😁
@@sarahdenton7559 I'm so glad.
@@sarahdenton7559 if you still haven't read it yet, you can start with Anna Karenina, it's long but still shorter than War and Peace. It's good for you to acclimate to Tolstoi's narrative style and it is also another wonderful book
seing jack manifold in a jack edwards video has rocked my world
I was concinved to read War and Peace at the start of this year and I am just about halfway through and it is incredibly good. If you didn't want to read Tolstoy's super long works, consider Anna Karenina which is about 600 pages shorter.
Yes! Anna Karenina is so beautiful, you will love it.
Especially from what Jack says he is interested in, AK sounds like the better choice. In W&P so much time is dedicated to the philosophy of war and history, it was nauseating for me (esp. cause I did a class presentation on that, focusing on the character Kutuzov).
Although, after AK you feel like you've been through a agricultur seminar so idk. I'd still go with AK though.
@@tobsi2256 Reading Anna Karenina right now, and it is absolutely lovely! It is the first Tolstoy I've read, and now I can't wait to read more. Although war and peace is quite intimidating.
I really liked the rich people soap opera bits of W&P but my god I couldn't care less for the military theory or philosophizing bits so that evened out to finding it mediocre. But it's got appeal for people with patience who like random unsolicited philosophizing.
I was going to suggest Anna Karenina instead myself, but I can see others have beaten me to it. it’s still quite long, but I think it is more accessible than W&P, which ends with an incredibly long essay that I found myself getting totally lost in.
you should definitely be terrified because i asked it for a YA surrealism novel set in the early 1900s and it recommended me 'the night circus', which is my favorite book of all time. i'm scared to death LOL
This man is the reason I started reading.
jack and jack what omg yes the collab we didnt know we needed
@Ranado_88 LITERALLY
you should do a video where you asked the ai to write you your dream book, they can do that. i tried it once and it was...interesting? but really really fun.
Omg that sounds so fun
I would try it if it didn't tell me the servers are full literally every time I want to try it x) aaaa
Hiya, classicist in the house: I would very kindly like to correct a little something: the title of The Argonauts seems to me to be built on a mistake. The paradox that you talk about (of the ship in the end not being the same ship anymore) is generally referred to as the Ship of Theseus (based on Plutarch's Life of Theseus): this is a different ship than the Argo! It's the ship on which Theseus sailed back to Athens from Crete. The French essayist Roland Barthes actually got this confused with the Argo (on which Theseus did sail but which is not the same ship), and set in motion a wrongful association, on which in my opinion Maggie Nelson's title is also based, based on what you said :)
thank god someone noticed, i even googled it to be sure!!
Not sure if you are going to do something like this again in the future, but there is something that might be fun to play with in the future. You can feed chat GPT your top 20 favorite books, and all the books you have read, and ask it to give you recommendations based on your favorites. It does get things wrong, but it could be a fun experiment.
1:00 “I live in constant fear of…”
*whispers* “Alexa”
"a new bombshell enters the villa" the love island quotes are amazing
Did I just see jack manifold? You know what that friendship makes sense.
Also SO impressed the AI recommended The Argonauts. I feel like it's such a little known and complex book but so zeitgeisty and brilliant
excuse me was that Jordan Theresa?!?!?! because that’s the crossover event I NEED
I actually really enjoyed The Death of Ivan Ilyich when I read it last year and wasn’t expecting to! Also guys the book is free in audible if you want to listen instead.
this needs to be a series i beg
The death of Ivan Ilych is one of my favourite books. I read it 3 years ago and I absolutely LOVED it. I'm always recommending it
How come you didn't ever read anything by Tolstoy? I know war and peace and Anna Karenina are long but his writing style is just BEAUTIFUL. He has a lot of great short story collections for people who want to get into him but are terrified of the prospect of reading 1000 plus pages.
Leo Tolstoy is just a genius! I've read War and Peace when I was at school and after that I think you can't be the same. But Tolstoy wrote a lot of short stories and they're mesterpieces, too. So it'd be a pleasure to read his works for everyone who really likes reading and thinking.
I keep begging all the people in my life to read him, because I finish his books and desperately want to talk to someone about what they understood from the book. So far, not a lot of succes... :'))
I can see the book 'Alien From Earth' is becoming a reality soon.
Was that Jack Manifold? Is this real? Two completely different realities just collided?? My head is spinning I have to take a breather
Okay, spooky. I was just looking at that Tolstoy story because the film Living just came out in my area. The screenplay is by Kazuo Ishiguro and it's an adaptation of a 1952 Kurosawa film, which was inspired by that short story. So, I guess I have to read that AND see the film.
Hi Jack, just wanted to say that i absolutely love your videos! I actually have ocd and one of the things I find hard is reading but your videos really motivate and make me fall in love with reading so just wanted to say thanks! I hope you enjoy your time in Spain. Thanks for all your videos ❤😊
this idea is brilliant and now i want every booktuber to do this. i also tried it and the recommendations were top-notch!
1. Read books in the language you can speak.
2. Read books that are listed as underrated by others or AI.
3. Join a book club and read their suggestions.
4. Read books by artists.
5. Pick book games and read/play them
6. Read underrated factual books.
7. Read manga/manhwa by tik tok suggestions.
I loved this idea! The number of things you can do with chat bot is worrisome and remarkable. I watched a video recently where someone had AI create a workout routine for them, and it was very similar to what that’d normally choose to do for themselves. And I’m finishing a series of short stories right now where one of the characters was revealed to be AI; so similar but even more advanced.
As far as Tolstoy goes, I’m currently listening to War and Peace as an audio book. It is 61 hours. There are a million characters to keep track of. I’m almost halfway through. I’m not sure it meets the Jack Edwards standard of “make you cry and feel all the things”, but I am glad I’m listening to it. If nothing else, I’ll get to say I “read” it, which a lot of people never do. And I feel like I’ve learned a lot about Russian nobility in the Napoleonic times.
Keep up the great work as always.😊
the scream i scrumpt when jordan theresa showed up
Jack’s sudden switch to an American accent at 12:03 unsettled me a good bit 😂
2:45 What do you mean you didn't lime the Testaments 😭😭😭 It's even better than the 1st book in my opinion (besides book 1 being the foundation for everything) and the ending made me cry. I loved it being told by 3 different perspectives too. Just amazing. 💙
Omg Jordan Theresa???? The crossover I didn’t know I needed??
I'm happy you liked The Death of Ivan Ilyich, it's one of my favorite short stories. Tolstoy is really great in short format. Other great ones are Father Sergius, Hadji Murat and The Kreutzer Sonata.
you said the magic words, “beautiful and depressing” *adds to cart*
To be fair, robot books about robots make me want to cry on a fairly regular basis
I've read both of these books and would highly recommend them. That introduction to Tolstoy also made me want to give some of his longer works a go.
not that i think you need anymore books but i just read “The Five Wounds” and “As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow” and had to recommend them to you! the first is an incredible character study, since you have an affinity for character-driven books. and the second is a digestible young adult novel that handles very important and persistent issues in the world (despite being historical) in a very accessible way.
just trying to help you complete your library
I read War and Peace in 2021, it has ended up being one of my favorite books that I read that year. It took me exactly 4 months, I went really slow so I didn't get overwhelmed. Highly recommend. (Get the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation)
This inspired me to try my own. I gave it a prompt for horror novel with a love story. “The Phantom of the Opera” is an all-time fav and I recently enjoyed “Certain Dark Things” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It recommended “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova and “The Name of the Star” by Maureen Johnson. There is a couple of others though too.
no way, i had a nightmare about AI just this morning as well
If Tolstoy is tempting you I recommend going with Anna Karenina!
the way i gasped when i saw jack manifold. what in the multiverse of madness
I feel like we should have this video as a series, absolutely
Chat GPT has been a great assistant in my book hauls - comparing the titles I'd be interested in and giving me proper overviews on them, and how to decide, while also adapting its suggestions based on the type of reader I was and my moods... I love it.
Do try reading war & and peace Jack. I read it last week after telling myself for years that I will not. Fell head over heels in love with that book.
7:59 is that jordan theresa? i swear if my two fav youtubers are friends i'm gonna pass out
I laughed hard when he said he expected AI to recommend books about robots 😂😂😂
7:57 OH MY DAYS IT'S ELEANOR NEALE
JACK IS BESTIES WITH ELEANOR NEALE
Woah adding both of these books to my TBR right away, they sound amazing!
jack, you need to do a 'reading my subscribers' books!!' I'm sure many people have done their own work - It would be super interesting to see!!
the vibe of this video is just great. love this!
Tolstoy's DOII was my first Tolstoy and I found it so beautiful. So glad you also enjoyed it :)
tolstoy's "the death of ivan ilyich" was also the first tolstoy i ever read and it genuinely changed my life, i reread it about once a year and it never stops being one of the most beautiful, devastating, and hard-hitting texts i've ever read in my life. i'm so glad you read it and enjoyed it!! (also, 'ilyich' is pronounced closer to 'il-eech' more than 'ill-ee-itch') i would definitely echo what many other comments have said here that for further tolstoy, i'd recommend starting with anna karenina before going straight to war & peace! anna karenina is a lot shorter (which is always a plus) and i think it would serve as an easier/smoother gateway -- and it's just so gosh darn good!
I hope you know just how charismatic and wonderful you are :) Your videos and enthusiasm for literature got me back into reading
I am reading War and Peace now. Reading about 10 pages a day. It is good
thats fucking jack manifold. i really did not expect this crossover
this should be a series !!
omg jordan theresa and jack manifold. MY LOVES
I did not expect to see Jack Manifold when you said "let me find my friends". When two worlds collide fr
the argonauts is such a lovely memoir, I've been meaning to reread it for a while, so this might be the sign i needed
We call Alexa 'Voldemort' in our house, it's 'she who must not be named'. We live in fear of waking up the AI !!
tolstoy is a must, I’m surprised you haven’t read tolstoy
This was not how I expected it to go, so awesome that it recommend two brilliant booms
"the empathy exams" was also suggested along with the argonauts (if you reread the chat box). i guess there needs to be a sequel!
your reviews and descriptions are honestly so thorough and poetic and i feel like you constantly do the books justice in a way that gets ME to want to read them ☺️ thank you !!
Man Jack just has a way with words that makes his videos so fun to watch
ChatGPT is changing the world. It's absolutely insane
love the pink couch 6:33 💕💕
“Me and the AI just need to find a middle ground with book recommendations” if this isn’t me I don’t know what Is 😂. Also please get your Alexa some therapy. She’s not sounding too good 😅
i short circuited when jordan appeared, i didn't know y'all were friends, although i feel i should've
That bit about the ship in the Argonauts is just the Ship of Theseus paradox.
JACK MANIFOLD???? MY TWO FAVORITE JACKS IN THE WORLD WENT TO SPAIN TOGETHER??? IM SHELL SHOCKED--
When the list came up and the overstory was at the top I was sooooo excited
I read it last year and it completely changed me. It was so upsetting I had to stop and sit with it every once and a while. It's a long book, which normally doesn't trouble me, but it took me weeks to get through because it just honestly hurt so much and made me rethink everything.
I want to know your thoughts on it, even though I know it's not your type
Yess I thought exactly the same!!
'it was gorgeous, it was also really depressing' is my new life motto
7:57 jackmanifold? i said awuup jumpscare
So this is why Jack was reading The Death of Ivan Ilyich! I saw it on Goodreads and thought woah!
Homeboy! When are you going to make the 'All the books I've read in 2022' video? I can't wait!
Tolstoy's got some great very short novellas. His Hadji Murat is an absolute dimond. And the Kreutzer Sonata is a hit piece on all men and just fun for that reason (sorry).
7:59 Jack aaand Eleanor?? OMG 🥺🥺
My mind is blown by the depth of these responses (almost as much as it was when I used to chat to Smarter Child as a pre-teen in the early 00s😆)! Definitely going to try this!
If you're considering a longer work of Tolstoy's I highly recommend Anna Karenina!! It's ✨gorgeous and depressing✨and very accessible :) I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and have been eyeing War and Peace since 👀 The Argonauts is on my list as well
Before reading War and Peace I would highly recommend reading Anna Karenina by Tolstoi first. Personally, it is my favourite work of him. To sum it up, this book contains everything you asked for in a book: beautiful and depressing.
i really missed these kinds of videos where you read a bunch of books in one vid surrounding a theme.
chatGPT has already helped me with so many assignments and I can't wait to see which books it's going to recommend to me
Also recommend a shorter story by Tolstoy called « After the ball ». I read it in school and remember it being heartbreaking
Huge thank you to Jack for motivating me to keep reading with every video he uploads