I really like the idea of the Primer but the book also basically has as a theme that strong AI is impossible, which was less cool.

I felt that book was half "yep, I can see things going that way, interesting" and half "no, stop, things don't work that way."

This is probably one of the better children's books in existence, but it may not hold an adult's attention.

Have you read The Jungle Books, which it was (in some ways) styled after? I found Kipling's significantly better.