Book review: The Rosie Project

I have described this book as a sequel to The Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, with the protagonist now an adult.

Professor Don Tillman and I have quite a bit in common, and I found him a very likeable and relatable character. We both have a background in genetics, we both love the Natural History Museum, and we are both very project-oriented. In this book, Don narrates his efforts to complete the Teach Daphne Genetics Project, the Wife Project, the Father Project and the Rosie Project. When the time comes for him to design a questionnaire for his social life, I appreciated that he had “followed beast practice in questionnaire design, including multiple-choice questions, Likert scales, validation, dummy questions and surrogates.” As an epidemiologist, survey design is very important to me.

This was a very pleasant read, and I enjoyed it even more the second time around, when I could read it with less anxiety. I do love a book that is set in a lab, and this was a wonderful antidote to Stoner. However, the genetic analyses did seem to be accomplished a little too quickly and easily, though the author does note that the lab is equipped with a “vastly-over specified machine”. I thought that at times perhaps Don was a little too socially-adept for someone on the autism spectrum, at odds with his behaviour during other moments in the book. Also, the ending too seemed a little abrupt, and lacked the talented pacing that had accompanied the previous chapters.

“No assistance is required” I said “I recommend reading a book”. I watched Rosie walk to my bookshelf, briefly peruse the contents, then walk away. Perhaps she used IBM rather than Mac software, although many of the manuals applied to both.

I am an expert at being laughed at… I scanned the audience to see who was not laughing, an excellent means of identifying friends.

I could engage in the protocols that others followed and move undetected among them. And how could I be sure that other people were not doing the same – playing the game to be accepted buy suspecting all the time that they were different?

Don Tillman has also tempted me to implement the Standardised Meal System in my own life.
Advantages:
1. No need to accumulate recipe books.
2. Standard shopping list – hence very efficient shopping.
3. Amost zero waste – nothing in the refigerator or pantry unless required for one of the recipes.
4. Diet planned and nutritionally balanced in advance.
5. No time wasted wondering what to cook.
6. No mistakes, no unpleasant surprises.
7. Excellent food, lower price.
8. Minimal cognitive load required.