Review: The Feather Merchants: A Novel

The Feather Merchants: A Novel by Max Shulman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For me, Max Shulman’s “The Feather Merchants” was a trip to the past. But not the past you’d expect, given this is a satire about a WWII soldier on leave. The trip to the past for me was back to my own younger days reading National Lampoon magazine in the late 70s or early 80s. This book has the style of writing I recall from some of the Lampoon stories, and it could easily fit into the magazine. Typical of some of those stories, “The Feather Merchants” include dozens of goofy, made up names, a far-fetched story line, and a bit of a sudden ending. For this kind of heavy satire, I find less is more – I’d rather read a short story than a short novel. But this was interestingly written, and I thought worth the effort. As I’m a Dobie Gillis fan, I’ll be reading more by Shulman. Note not PC for this era, but pretty common for its time.

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Review: All That Is

All That Is by James Salter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this on a whim, having never before heard of the author. I hoped to find something of interest, something that grabbed me. This both did and didn’t. In the details, the sentences, the book was very good. I remember reading, or rather listening to sections and realizing the descriptiveness was very well done. As to the overall message of the book, I didn’t think as much of it. I write this a week after finishing it, and I realize the overall plot didn’t really lodge in memory, and neither did any of the vignettes that this consisted of. Sometimes this happens based on the mood I’m in instead of the writing. I admit to lazy reading at times. And sometimes this feeling is because of the writing – being depressing. This was, quite often, depressing. So I’d read more of this author, counting on the sentences being good and hoping that there was a reason behind all the writing, or at least one more obvious.

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Review: Exoplanets: Diamond Worlds, Super Earths, Pulsar Planets, and the New Search for Life Beyond Our Solar System

Exoplanets: Diamond Worlds, Super Earths, Pulsar Planets, and the New Search for Life Beyond Our Solar System by Michael Summers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This short science book really tells a story about the planets that exist, or theoretically exist, in the universe, and describes the science behind the descriptions and the history of the discovery of these planets. Two signs of a good pop-science book are vivid descriptions and analogies that simplify the story for lay readers. Both happen in this book. I will remember “hot Jupiters” and how they came to be the first kinds of distant planets discovered. And I will remember the description of diamond worlds, with diamonds thrown from volcanoes. This is a great read about planetary science advances over the past ten years or so.

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Review: The CIO Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT Leadership

The CIO Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT Leadership by Martha Heller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At one time I was a voracious reader of CIO Magazine, to keep track of the corporate IT industry in my role as a new technology introduction analyst for a large company. I learned from the stories and especially appreciated the many sources they quoted, often CIOs in a variety of industries, from companies large and small. There was always something to learn about this role that I aspired to. Although my career took a different turn, I read “The CIO Paradox” understanding that the author was a writer for CIO Magazine, and likely had the kind of style I found easy to learn from, and easy to consume. That is true here. The topics are taken from columns written for CIO by the author. I was able to compare the many tactics and suggestions mentioned in the book to the IT management of companies I have worked for, and could see good and bad. The author comes from a background of recruiting for high level IT jobs, and this informs her book. There are plenty of examples where the author brings in anecdotes of her history of recruiting to describe the types of paradoxes faced by CIOs. My favorite paradox, one that reflects my recent career is illustrated as "As CIO, you are your company's futurist and its archivist." Heller goes on to illustrate this paradox with examples, anecdotes, and at times provides tactics.

The author includes a rather large section on CIO membership on boards. I assume this has become a prominent topic for CIOs related to recruiting, hence this author’s focus, but I didn’t see the obvious relationship to the other paradoxes Heller described. Other than that minor nit, I enjoyed the writing style and most of the topics. This would be a good read for people wanting to become CIOs and for those already there looking for some new analogies they could use in their discussions with business leaders and upper management. I also think this would be a good read right before interviewing for a CIO position for the fresh take on the role. I would gladly read more by this author.


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Review: Xenocide

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

With this book in the Ender series, it feels like Ender has jumped the shark. The action of the first part revolves around some philosophical arguing over dealing with alien species, especially when to save one, or humanity itself, you may have to destroy another. Here, we see the various permutations of 4 sentient species working for or against each other. It gets to be quite involving. Trekkies know “the Prime Directive”, and episodes that dealt with this rule on dealing with alien civilizations involved the most philosophical pondering and actions based on this belief. This Ender story is of the same family. The story concludes with some truly odd occurrences that seem aimed to extend the story, and these events appear to the be basis of the next book in the series. While it seems a pretty weak step in the storytelling, akin to “magic happens”, the next book does seem to have an interesting basis built in this book.

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Review: The Life of an American Slave

The Life of an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like many of the reviewers of this book, I found this quite a chilling story. I was pleasantly pleased by the simple and very readable writing, not as flowery as other writers of the times. And the story of Douglass’ resourcefulness in working his way to freedom was really key. The part of the book that really struck me was near the middle, where Douglass is describing the first of his masters to be mean. He repeats the word mean many times over within a few pages in his descriptions of this master and his behavior. I have teen daughters that over-use the word “mean” to describe the many other girls and boys that have slighted them, and the word had lost meaning to me. But the repetition here tells the story of a master that permanently scarred Douglas, and the way he told this really made the story hit home and to bring back the strength of the word “mean” to me to include the truly heinous. Looking forward to reading other Douglass books.

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Review: An Event in Autumn

An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mankell wrote this for his Dutch readers as a promotional giveaway. It’s relatively short, with a short essay by the author about his detective in the edition I read. I found the book was nice as an example of a Wallander story. Wallander stories are known for their description of location and the feeling of dreariness. This had that in spades, taking place in a dark autumn. I got cold shivers when reading this, and it’s the first day of summer for me now. Books in the series can weigh on you. And as Wallander ages, he is getting more curmudgeonly. Here, he is downright grumpy throughout, and to excess. There’s lots of gruff complaining. If this was the first Wallander you read, you probably wouldn’t want to spend more time with him. I don’t recall any description of food or (non action related) illness or injury, other hallmarks of the series. But as I check Amazon’s Look Inside for this book, I see coffee is actually mentioned 17 times, or about once every 10 pages. That’s about right. You need warm fortification for dealing with the approaching Swedish winter and a historic murder. The mystery itself was a little weak.

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