Review: Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You

Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You by Bill Burnett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I remember when I was listening to this audiobook that there were a number of good ideas here on thinking of your life as a design problem, and using tools that designers would use to create new designs. I really like that analogy. On writing this, a week later, I find that not much stuck. A major reason for this is that this book described the way I know I should think about life plans, or more career plans. I didn’t get a lot of new content from the book, but I appreciated the review of concepts and tools that designers bring to the table, like prototyping and building teams of advisers or experts for validation. Note that this was not focused on “life” planning, but more career planning. While many of the concepts have applicability to those looking for other life guidance, like retirement plans or spiritual plans, mostly the advice is aimed at people looking for work alternatives.

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Review: Lifeskills for Adult Children

Lifeskills for Adult Children by Janet Geringer Woititz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a short book that describes methods for a person to keep things together when faced with issues relating to others. Some of the ideas expressed include ending bad relationships with others, starting and maintaining conversations, and the like - basic life skills that may require an extra level of explanation for some. I found it a bit difficult to decide who this was written for. The book repeats that it is for “adult children” many, many times, but I feel this could be taken as a term of belittlement by some of the target audience. Because of this, I think the intended audience is not “adult children” but is the caregivers and friends of people who might be described as adult children. But the advice is more universal -- anyone who sometimes feels some difficulties in common social interaction and relationships would find the suggestions useful.

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Review: The Valkyries

The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Coelho’s hero here is his stand-in, a follower of magic and spirituality that seems quite overwhelming to the story, a big personality. This character’s wife is more of a normal person. The book is about how they both relate to the spiritual quest of the hero, with the wife dragged along and by the end appearing to learn more. This one just didn’t grab me. I found the story similar to other hero quest stories, but this seemed too familiar, reminding me of late night B movies about witches and demons and such. Not the best of Coelho’s stories.

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Review: Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys

Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys by Billy Crystal
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Interesting book, one that I found in terms fascinating and redundant. I listened to this on audio, with Crystal doing the narrating. In the case of this book, I should call it performing, though. The book begins with Crystal recorded performing in front of a live audience, and he’s not telling stories of his life, he’s doing standup about being old. And to my taste, not very good standup – I didn’t get any chuckles out of his live performances. But the book takes a turn toward the more interesting as Crystal changes to telling the story of his life and his career. That part was good, interesting anecdotes and funny bits. He ends the book with more kvetching about aging which I could have done without. The anecdote I find most memorable (and I find this very strange on reflection) is his story about coming up with a one-liner while hosting the Oscars and cutting off Hollywood old-timer Hal Roach who was speaking from his seat so no one heard him clearly “Well, it’s only fitting. He got his start in silent films.” Crystal does his impersonations along the way, and you hear his Ali and Mickey Mantle a lot. The Mickey stories are truly poignant. The saving grace is that Crystal seems shocked that he was as lucky in life as he’s been, and he sounds so appreciative throughout. I found this one hard to rank -- one star for the bad standup combined with four stars for the life story, but I’ll round up to 3 because his stories are so memorable.

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Review: Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old STATS That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think about Baseball

Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old STATS That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think about Baseball by Keith Law
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I seemed to have latched on to many of the raft of books about modern baseball statistics. In this, like many of the others out there, the author drills into the details of why old-school baseball stats are not good now, and in some cases were never good measurements or predictors. And, like most other books of its kind, it’s written in a snarky manner, which I forthwith dub “Snarklish”. This book goes in depth on the historic stats, like a pitcher’s won-loss record, defensive ratios, batting average, and the like. He dissects the backs of baseball cards and suggests better stats. As baseball statistical study is really hitting a golden age, with additional computing power, additional measurements being made and published, and new focus by the teams, this is a reasonable book to explain the state of affairs for those that aren’t well read on the sabermetric state of statistics. For those that religiously read Bill James, this will mostly seem very familiar, even the level of snark.

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Review: The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America

The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America by Don Lattin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The seminal figures in early popularization of acid are all here. Author Lattin describes the social network, as it existed, that connected all of these people together. Plenty of interesting stories, but on reflection not many heartwarming or even, strangely, enlightening ones. The players struck me, in the end, as mostly sad, which is not what I expected. I figured they would be represented as learning and growing, but they seem to be regressing throughout the book. The worst of the bunch seemed to be Andrew Weil, but most all were “conniving” in some way. Nice book to see the connections of trippers and their start in the ivy halls of Harvard.

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Review: How Smart Machines Think

How Smart Machines Think by Sean Gerrish
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found “How Smart Machines Think” to cover the same ground as many articles in magazines such as Wired and Fast Business, but with more in-depth examples. In fact, after I finished the book I started reading an article by Clive Thompson in Wired (12/18) who also used some of the same examples to make some of the same points. I liked “How Smart Machines Think” for its overview of the state of affairs of AI and machine learning, and its readable style. You don’t need to be a scientist or developer to enjoy this.

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