FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

A retiree blends memoir with political philosophy in this debut nonfiction book.

Adams offers readers an engaging memoir of his successful career as a chemist and computer engineer. In clear, detailed prose, this book’s autobiographical narratives relate the experiences of a budding scientist whose firsthand experiences ranged from cutting-edge software development to the daily grind of a laboratory worker. It’s more than just a survey of Adams’ life, however; entwined throughout these personal recollections are discursive reflections on the nature of liberty. Some are short, paragraph-long riffs, while others are entire essays. At first glance, many of the book’s political takes have a strong libertarian ethos, emphasizing personal responsibility, self-improvement, and individualism and warning readers of the dangers of authoritarian governments. However, Adams is careful to thoughtfully separate his own idiosyncratic political philosophy from modern conservativism by asserting skepticism toward religion (whose followers, he says, are “supervised” by a “thin-skinned God”) and regarding “antimask ‘freedom fighters,’ ” whose failure “to use their liberties responsibly,” he says, demonstrates their lack of respect for freedom. As a self-described “middle-class white American male,” the author also effectively acknowledges how his privilege provided him with career opportunities. The book optimistically sees right-wing demonization of critical race theory and former President Donald Trump’s “feeble and laughable attempt to reinstate 1950s history classes” as the last gasps of a dying political order. The book’s memoir portions will appeal to other career scientists by providing humorous insights into academic culture and the early years of software development. Its political commentary, however, as astute and erudite as it is, often makes for a disjointed read; it would perhaps have been better suited as a stand-alone volume.

An often engaging, if overly eclectic, work of remembrance and analysis.