Sci-Fi & Scary

The Johnson Project is a book to make you think. On the surface, it’s an engrossing look at a world that could have turned into a dystopia, but looks to go the opposite way. A utopia – all caused by a virus that renders every single woman in the world infertile. After the glut of dystopians flooding the market, a book that takes things in the opposite direction is a breath of fresh air. Interestingly enough, it’s set in a very near (possible) future. A future where Hillary Clinton is president.

When Dr. Ted Johnson finds a cure for the infertility, he – and the others in his association – do something unexpected. Instead of distributing the cure far and wide, they take a chance to cure a lot of the world’s problems. It’s called The Johnson Project. In addressing the question of who should be parents, they set some very easy to understand guidelines in place. Needless to say, lots of people get up in arms over their guidelines.

The author takes this chance to really take a close look at who should be parents, and to examine the objections that people inevitably raise. I found myself nodding as I read, making mental notes, and marking pages frequently. Approaching the question logically means trodding on lots of people’s toes, but… logical is the way to go.

Apart from deciding who should be parents, the author also addresses a few more key issues disturbing society today. Things like America’s crappy economics. The un-liveable wage. The bloated paychecks of CEOs. The seeming stranglehold that a few rich asshats and idiots have on power they should never have gained in the first place. The solution is a bit shocking and curious at first, but soon enough you see the logic behind it. Even if you can’t exactly buy into the fact that it would ever happen, it’s interesting to see how it would play out.

There’s a disturbing revelation that seems like it’s going to turn things upside down near the end of the book. Then you’re hit with pages and pages of disturbing facts that depress you and make you re-examine things yet again. The times that logic and emotion battle in this book will send your head into a spin.

Then there’s that ending. The last 8th or so of this book is a solid roller coaster of “what the…” that left me literally yelling at it. Then I put it aside. Then I picked it up, and gestured wildly with it at my partner and yelled about it. Then I put it aside. Then I yelled at it again and promptly told almost all my friends that they needed to read this book right now so that I’d have someone to talk about it with.

Is it a perfect book? No. Can I even truly say that I like it? No. I don’t think this is the type of book that you ‘like’. But it should be required reading. It takes theoretical questions and lays them out in an easy to understand format that make them easier to grasp. It brings questions that we -as a society-need to grapple with to the forefront and makes it impossible to look away. It’s not entirely realistic, but it is very good.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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