October’s pick for my work book club was Halloween themed with Dracula or Frankenstein as candidates and I voted for Frankenstein and was pleased it won as I see it as a perfectly timely story given the hype around AGI and P(doom) and was interested in insights that could be gleamed from a 200+ year old novel and it did not disappoint!

I think this quote said by the monster to Victor pretty much captures the potential danger AGI presents and what I saw over in over in the movies I watched preparing for the AI apocalypse:

“You are my creator, but i am your master; obey!”

Title: Frankenstein
Author: Mary Shelley
Publication date: 1818
Pages: 280
Format: ebook
Price: free (Project Gutenberg)
Started:  21/11/2025
Finished: 02/12/2025

My rough notes (careful could contain spoilers):

• It is true and really great horror story that keeps you on the edge of your seat (if you can make it through Victor’s whining)
• Victor Frankenstein is a whiner and super annoying. He spends 4 months creating the monster, but one second after giving him life repents it and runs, hides, and falls into one of his many bouts of dishabilating illnesses.
• The monster has three books that form his foundation and basis of learning:
  Paradise Lost, a volume of Plutarch’s Lives, and the Sorrows of Werter.
• Plot twist: the monster wants victor to create a second monster!
• Creating sentient life has its risks (as all parents know)
• I like how the story is told through different people throughout:
  • starts as a letter from a ship captain to sister
  • then from the eyes of Frankenstein
  • then from eyes of the monster
  • then back to ship captain

Thanks for reading and feel free to give feedback or comments via email (andrew@jupiterstation.net).