Two lifelong friends document and share their personal journey as they seek to become financially independent and retire early (FIRE). One achieves his FIRE goal in 2020 during a global pandemic, inspiring the other to play catch-up. Whether you are new to the FIRE movement, already on your FIRE journey, or have retired early, there’s something here for you. Go beyond the numbers and get the personal stories as experienced by Eric and Jason.
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How To Get My Reviews Noticed Podcasts
ReviewCast AI: Turning your 5-star reviews into engaging podcasts that drive results. Get noticed, build trust, and grow your business! Tune in and discover how our spotlight episodes leverage the reputations of your most recommended businesses. We Give Your Reviews A Voice!
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The Zbooks successful authors' podcast is where Bestselling Author Eric Z talks about Independent Publishing, CHALLENGES, and whatever we feel like, with the BEST Authors in the WORLD! Get my new Book "The Power To Publish" (get it now while it's still free!): https://bit.ly/Get-Your-Power Have you noticed? There are no commercials or advertisements on this podcast! Please help keep the podcast free from annoying advertisements! Become a SUPREME MEMBER of this Podcast for as low as ONE dolla ...
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Are we really ready to walk away from Two Sides of FI? In this candid conversation, Jason and Eric reflect on more than four years of recording together, what the project has meant, and whether it still fits into their lives. They talk openly about the rewards of community and connection, the challenges of generating new topics, and the weight of o…
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Early Retirement: How Things Have Changed for Us
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40:55
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40:55Retirement doesn’t follow a script - it rewrites itself in real time. In this episode, Jason and Eric unpack why the classic “phases” of retirement actually overlap and how that feels day to day. They dig into the challenges of switching from super-saver to intentional spender, using side income (like options trading or creative work) to fund exper…
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From Divorce to Financial Freedom: FI at 45
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48:01What happens when the plan was “we”… and now it’s just “me”? At 45, Kayla reached Financial Independence solo after divorce, living in the Bay Area without a tech salary. In this episode of Two Sides of FI, she shares how she rebuilt her finances, overcame her fear of investing, and designed a plan that works without a partner’s income or support. …
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Most don't stop to think about how much they might be missing by working "just one more year." It's impossible to put a price tag on some of the experiences Eric + Jason have had since leaving full time work behind. In today's episode, they talk about things they'd never have done before retiring early, the freedom that FIRE afford, and much more. …
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How Much Can You Really Spend in Retirement?
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45:07In Part 5 of our SWR Toolbox series, we answer your questions about our CAPE-based withdrawal strategy, how it compares to a fixed safe withdrawal rate approach, and much more. See the link below for all of our toolbox videos including tutorials and a host of supportive content in the show notes. FREE SWR tool and show notes: https://twosidesoffi.c…
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Are We Hiding Something? Our Real FIRE Portfolio + Expenses
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30:36Are FIRE content creators being honest about their numbers? YouTuber Duane isn't so sure. In this episode, Eric and Jason share detailed insights about their own FIRE numbers, portfolios, withdrawal rates, and what it actually means to be "retired." They also explain why context matters more than a single number, and get honest about how content cr…
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Bravo Cleaning Services Reviews | Commercial Cleaning Service in Sarasota | Veteran Owned Business
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12:35
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12:35Discover why Bravo Clean LLC is making waves in Sarasota, Florida! Real customer reviews + expert insights — all in one episode. In this episode of ReviewCast AI, we dive deep into the world of Bravo Clean LLC, a veteran-owned cleaning service quickly gaining recognition in Sarasota, Florida. Join us as we explore real customer experiences, highlig…
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What’s the scariest part of retiring early? For many, it's not just about money—it's the unknowns that come after leaving work behind. In this candid conversation, Eric and Jason unpack the biggest fears they and others faced on the path to FIRE, from financial worries and healthcare to identity shifts and societal judgment. Whether you're planning…
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The Mirror Principle: If You Don't Change This, Reality Will Never Change
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13:03Great core principle of self-improvement in this podcast. Enjoy!
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The Way of the Superior Man - David Deida [GREAT Gift Book!]
8:51
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8:51This is one of my favorite books to gift to my men friends. Watch the look on their face when they open their Christmas/Bday gift...PRICELESS!
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Earth Abides - Amazing and Profound! by George R. Stewart
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11:24In this episode we talk about one of the most prophetic doomsday/dystopian novels ever written: EARTH ABIDES. George R. Stewart got so much right in his novel - it is truly amazing!
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Save the Cat - Blake Snyder's Movie Template
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18:59In this episode we talk about the #1 movie template "Save the Cat" by Blake Snyder. It is based on the hero's journey but also has elements of plot and pacing. It is so popular that it has been adapted to books, stories, videos and more!
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Life After FIRE: Your Toughest Questions, Answered
1:17:45
1:17:45
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1:17:45After five years of early retirement and 100 episodes of Two Sides of FI, what have we learned? A lot—and we're sharing it all. To mark this milestone, Eric and Jason sit down for an honest, wide-ranging AMA based on questions from our community. We cover everything from money and mindset shifts to healthcare, travel, and even music choices. Whethe…
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This is an experiment.The voices you hear are robots.AI generated voices of course...you can't tell they are AI!The new Google generated AI voices are amazing.However, they reflect Google's biases too.Enjoy
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Biochemist Argues God Exists using Biology! Sy Garte
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13:55Join us for an exciting and insightful discussion about Biochemist Dr. Sy Garte on his remarkable journey from militant atheism to devout Christianity. For years, Dr. Garte believed God could not possibly exist, a view he held from a family background spanning three generations of atheism. Yet, it was his deep dive into science, particularly bioche…
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2025 Market Chaos Blowing up our FIRE Plans?
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38:53With markets down at one point nearly 20% in 2025, is this the sequence risk moment we feared? In this episode, we reflect on recent market volatility, how it’s impacted our early retirement finances, and whether our original FIRE strategy can still hold up. We also catch up post-Liberation Day and share how our thinking has evolved after real-worl…
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What Should We Do With Bonds and Cash in a Crazy Market?
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35:37How should you respond to market conditions to ensure financial stability? Like the famous Mike Tyson quote says, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth". In this episode, Eric talks with Jason about an unexpected opportunity to update his early retirement portfolio. Topics discussed include bond and cash allocations, asset locati…
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Do some find it hard to retire because they don't know how to stop working? In today's episode, Eric talks with Jason about the challenges he's experienced after achieving FI, finding it hard to ramp down his business. Are we just wired to work hard or is there more to it? We discuss why Eric can't stop working, how it affects his spouse, and what …
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ReviewCast AI Spotlight - Vitality Chiropractic Family Practice | Sarasota Florida
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9:36Join us for an in-depth exploration of Vitality Chiropractic Family Practice in Sarasota, Florida! 🌴✨ 🎙️ In this podcast, we dive into what makes Vitality Chiropractic unique by analyzing their website and a multitude of Google reviews ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to uncover the key themes and experiences shared by real patients. 👩⚕️👨⚕️ Discover how Drs. Jess and Juan …
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How We're Using ProjectionLab in (Early) Retirement
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50:18Why has ProjectionLab quickly become one of the most popular early retirement planning tools? In this episode, learn why PL is an essential software package for both Eric and Jason. Topics covered include how to get started, best practices, and powerful new features. See the link below for how you can try ProjectionLab for free! Check out Projectio…
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Are You on Track? Our 2024 Financial Review
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51:59What are the critical financial elements to track and review each year pre- and post-FI? In this episode, Eric and Jason share their processes and learnings from their 2024 annual review. Topics covered include tracking net worth and withdrawal rate, portfolio management, taxes, and much more. Show notes: https://twosidesoffi.com/2024review…
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How do you know when it's the right time to retire? Most on the FIRE path focus on the financial elements because in essence, they're the easiest part of the equation. But many people struggle with the emotional elements of the decision. In this episode, Jason and Eric talk about their own experiences and what they've found most challenging. Show n…
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What No One Tells You About Purpose and Happiness in Retirement
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36:39Worried about finding purpose in retirement? Most people are, but in reality it's easy to address these fears head-on. In this episode, Eric + Jason are joined by Jordan "Doc G" Grumet, a hospice doctor, podcaster, blogger, and author. Topics discussed include how regret can be motivating, putting excuses behind us, the reality of purpose anxiety, …
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BONUS: Retired Early and I Hated It - How NOT to FIRE, Part 2 (Post-FI/RE)
26:42
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26:42This is the second of two bonus episodes, pulled from the year one archives of Two Sides of FI. Imagine hitting your FI number, retiring early, and discovering you hate it? In this episode we discuss four examples of such an outcome: from quitting the perfect job and regretting it, to feelings of depression and lack of purpose. Some are unable to f…
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BONUS: How NOT to FIRE - Part 1 (Pre-FI/RE)
36:12
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36:12This is the first of two bonus episodes, pulled from the year one archives of Two Sides of FI. On the path to financial independence, there are ample opportunities for mistakes and missteps. In this episode, we review stories from people who shared their FIRE experiences online in the hopes of educating others. Here we review five of these tales: i…
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How to Embrace Your Shadow (C.G. Jung Review)
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7:59How do you embrace your shadow? LISTEN IN AND FIND OUT! :-) https://amzn.to/4gzb42F In this, his most famous and influential work, Carl Jung made a dramatic break from the psychoanalytic tradition established by his mentor, Sigmund Freud. Rather than focusing on psychopathology and its symptoms, the Swiss psychiatrist studied dreams, mythology, and…
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What's it really like to be 5 days away from early retirement? Join Laura, a 51-year-old scientist, as she discusses her final days running her research lab. From wrestling with the "Am I really ready?" question to unexpected tears at faculty meetings to cleaning out decades of research, she opens up about the reality of choosing early retirement a…
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Get the book here https://amzn.to/4edE525 The Law was originally published in French in 1850 by Frederic Bastiat. It was written two years after the third French Revolution of 1848 and a few months before his death of tuberculosis at age 49. It is the work for which Bastiat is most famous. This translation to American English is from 1874.…
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Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3zwDedW Written during the turmoil of the English Civil War, Leviathan is an ambitious and highly original work of political philosophy. Claiming that man's essential nature is competitive and selfish, Hobbes formulates the case for a powerful sovereign—or "Leviathan"—to enforce peace and the law, substituting sec…
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How Options Trading Led this Engineer to Financial Independence in His 30s
48:04
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48:04How can a hobby turn into a second career and lead to financial independence before 40? In this episode, Jason talks with David Sun, an electrical engineer who stumbled into options trading after hearing about it from a fellow grad student. Only ten years later he launched his first hedge fund. Now in his mid-30s, David shares the keys to his succe…
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Get the book here: https://amzn.to/4ddEGje A lively new translation of Rousseau's best-known work, accompanied by additional political writings "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains" are the famous opening words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract, a work of political philosophy that has stirred vigorous debate ever since its pub…
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Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3BrwwX5 A profoundly beautiful and uniquely insightful description of the universe, Benedict de Spinoza's Ethics is one of the masterpieces of Enlightenment-era philosophy. Published shortly after his death, the Ethics is undoubtedly Spinoza's greatest work - an elegant, fully cohesive cosmology derived from first…
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Early Retirement + Group Travel: What Works, What Doesn’t
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59:17Are group tours the ultimate hassle-free way to travel, or do they come with unexpected challenges? In this episode, Eric talks with Jason about his first experiences with group travel after a recent trip to Peru. They explore the pros, cons, and key lessons Jason learned—offering insights to help you plan your own adventure, whether you’re retired…
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Get the book here: https://amzn.to/47KrEIP Embark on a literary odyssey through ancient Greece with Homer's timeless epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey. In The Iliad, witness the ravages of the Trojan War as gods and mortals clash in a tale of honor, heroism, and the consequences of unchecked pride. Then, journey alongside Odysseus in The Odyssey as …
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Get the book here: https://amzn.to/4egw9xe - Created by provocative bestselling author Scott Adams, this book features the internationally influential God’s Debris (2001) and its sequel, The Religion War (2004), plus a short story entitled Lucky House that is set in 2120 after the AI War. Nothing about this book is normal. The author is a trained h…
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Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3Xy6pp3 - Nearly seventy years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most …
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Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3zw3vcf t is not enough to have a good mind; it is more important to use it well" René Descartes was a central figure in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. In his Discourse on Method he outlined the contrast between mathematics and experimental sciences, and the extent to which each one can achi…
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A Clockwork Orange - a Dystopian MASTERPIECE by Anthony Burgess
8:33
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8:33Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3Y0f19v - One of Esquire's 50 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time “A brilliant novel.… [A] savage satire on the distortions of the single and collective minds.”―New York Times In Anthony Burgess’s influential nightmare vision of the future, where the criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central chara…
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Get the book here: https://amzn.to/47Lwt4D George Orwell's timeless and timely allegorical novel—a scathing satire on a downtrodden society’s blind march towards totalitarianism. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogan…
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How would you feel if you worked hard to retire early and later realized you hated being retired? Sadly, online forums make it clear that a number of people who achieve FIRE are disappointed, bored, or otherwise unhappy in retirement. In this episode, Eric and Jason discuss their feelings on this topic. Join us to hear Jason's thoughts in his fifth…
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The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. AMAZING! [Book Review]
9:29
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9:29Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3TzzHlU - A 50th-anniversary Deluxe Edition of the incomparable 20th-century masterpiece of satire and fantasy, in a newly revised version of the acclaimed Pevear and Volokhonsky translation Nothing in the whole of literature compares with The Master and Margarita. One spring afternoon, the Devil, trailing fire an…
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Get the book here: https://amzn.to/4ecXRLb Step into the cobbled streets of Victorian London with this deluxe slipcased collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, presented in six handsome clothbound volumes. Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective Sherlock Holmes has captivated readers for over a century. This 6-volume boxset brings together his most fa…
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Bad Luck and Trouble by LEE CHILD [THRILLER Book Review!]
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9:36Get the book here: https://amzn.to/47FVs9t - THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING JACK REACHER SERIES • The inspiration for season two of the hit streaming series Reacher! “Electrifying . . . this series [is] utterly addictive.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times From a helicopter high above the California desert, a man is sent free-falling into the nig…
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Get the books here: https://amzn.to/3MZjLWg NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The complete four-book boxed set of the greatest fantasy epic of all time: The Lord of the Rings and its enchanting prequel, The Hobbit When Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves embark upon a dangerous quest to reclaim the hoard of gold stolen from them by the evil dragon Smaug…
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Night Watch - Terry Pratchett (Book Review)
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11:52Get the book here: https://amzn.to/4dly5TZ "Night Watch turns out to be an unexpectedly moving novel about sacrifice and responsibility, its final scenes leaving one near tears. . . Terry Pratchett may still be pegged as a comic novelist, but . . . he’s a lot more.” — Washington Post Book World Getting knocked back in time thirty years, Sam Vines, …
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Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (Book Review)
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7:28Get the book here: https://amzn.to/4eDDvLb - First a legendary radio series, then a bestselling book, then a blockbuster movie, the immensely successful Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams needs no introduction. This paperback boxset collection includes all five parts of the trilogy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restauran…
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The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimove [Awesome!Book Review!]
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12:07Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZzupKX - In the twenty-second century Earth obtains limitless, free energy from a source science little understands: an exchange between Earth and a parallel universe, using a process devised by the aliens. But even free energy has a price. The transference process itself will eventually lead to the destruction o…
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GOLIAH - Jack London's AMAZING(?) Socialist Dreams [Book Review]
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13:00Did you know Jack London was a HARDCORE socialist? Yep - listen in and find out! And get the book here! https://amzn.to/3zL1iKk 100 years ago Jack London envisioned the GREAT RESET! In this book he methodically and painstakingly pours out his structure, his ideas, of utopia, of the brave new world... Peer directly into the mind of 20th century soci…
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American Democracy - Alexis de Tocqueville [Book Review]
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8:24Get the book here on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zqJqEa - Two robots go in depth in the review of this amazing and PROFOUND book! Enjoy Eric
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Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3XA6ad8 - This classic science fiction masterwork by Isaac Asimov weaves stories about robots, humanity, and the deep questions of existence into a novel of shocking intelligence and heart. “A must-read for science-fiction buffs and literature enjoyers alike.”—The Guardian I, Robot, the first and most widely read …
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