Genomics: A Very Short Introduction by John M Archibald
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Covers the history of genomics and provides a view into the future given the availability of newer tools and assuming further rapid growth in the industry. I found it hard to listen to the audio version of this book given the acronyms and the industry-specific nomenclature -- this is really a history of technologies. I did enjoy the speculation that concluded the book.
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1.1.20
Review: Chaplin's Vintage Year: The History of the Mutual-Chaplin Specials
Chaplin's Vintage Year: The History of the Mutual-Chaplin Specials by Michael J. Hayde
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Not quite what I expected. I assumed this was a critical review of some of Chaplin's silent movies, or a kind of movie biography. The book does cover the art in these Chaplin movies, as well as others done around the same time, but that wasn't the main purpose. Instead, we get the business behind these movies. The author provides a well-researched history of the early film industry, including the film creators/studios, but also the distributors and the theaters. These different groups of companies interact in different ways over the early years of the industry, with power moving back and forth over time as new contract terms are developed and spread throughout the industries, and as companies combined through mergers or investments or other agreements. This book follows the flow of ownership of these movies, as well as showing how the money flowed. If you are looking for something like this, it is well done. I was also impressed that the book didn't stop at the end of the silent movie era, but continues to near the present day. I grew up in the Quad Cities area, where there was a company that sold copies of silent movies including these Chaplin Mutual films, Blackhawk Films. I still have a couple of their catalogs from the 70s. I was surprised and happy to see Blackhawk covered in some depth near the end of this book as holders of many of the original copies of Chaplin's silent movies. Overall, I found this enjoyable as a business history revolving around early films. And I appreciated the descriptions of Chaplin's early silent films, including those by Mutual Chaplin.
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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Not quite what I expected. I assumed this was a critical review of some of Chaplin's silent movies, or a kind of movie biography. The book does cover the art in these Chaplin movies, as well as others done around the same time, but that wasn't the main purpose. Instead, we get the business behind these movies. The author provides a well-researched history of the early film industry, including the film creators/studios, but also the distributors and the theaters. These different groups of companies interact in different ways over the early years of the industry, with power moving back and forth over time as new contract terms are developed and spread throughout the industries, and as companies combined through mergers or investments or other agreements. This book follows the flow of ownership of these movies, as well as showing how the money flowed. If you are looking for something like this, it is well done. I was also impressed that the book didn't stop at the end of the silent movie era, but continues to near the present day. I grew up in the Quad Cities area, where there was a company that sold copies of silent movies including these Chaplin Mutual films, Blackhawk Films. I still have a couple of their catalogs from the 70s. I was surprised and happy to see Blackhawk covered in some depth near the end of this book as holders of many of the original copies of Chaplin's silent movies. Overall, I found this enjoyable as a business history revolving around early films. And I appreciated the descriptions of Chaplin's early silent films, including those by Mutual Chaplin.
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Review: Secretariat: Thoroughbred Legends
Secretariat: Thoroughbred Legends by Timothy T. Capps
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
In a way, these racehorse biographies are limited in what they cover and in many ways how it is covered. They tend to be chronological, starting with ancestry, followed by breeding, training, racing, breeding, and progeny following, and with owners covered along the way. This book was no exception. I found the first part of the book was a bit more confusing, following many, many horses related, closely and tangentially, to Secretariat. This was overkill for this short book. The author turned it around on the rest of the book. The racing stories were well written and held interest, and the story of Secretariat's non-optimal breeding career was well done. Overall, one of the better ones in the Thoroughbred Legends series. Note that I hadn't previously read a book on Secretariat, so the novelty helped in my opinion. Had I already read one of the many books on Secretariat, I may not have rated this one as high.
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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
In a way, these racehorse biographies are limited in what they cover and in many ways how it is covered. They tend to be chronological, starting with ancestry, followed by breeding, training, racing, breeding, and progeny following, and with owners covered along the way. This book was no exception. I found the first part of the book was a bit more confusing, following many, many horses related, closely and tangentially, to Secretariat. This was overkill for this short book. The author turned it around on the rest of the book. The racing stories were well written and held interest, and the story of Secretariat's non-optimal breeding career was well done. Overall, one of the better ones in the Thoroughbred Legends series. Note that I hadn't previously read a book on Secretariat, so the novelty helped in my opinion. Had I already read one of the many books on Secretariat, I may not have rated this one as high.
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28.12.19
Review: Seize the Day
Seize the Day by Saul Bellow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I can like the writing but not get much out of the story. That happened here. Perhaps this hit too close to home. Perhaps I needed to read something more positive and less urban. Funny in its way, but sad through and through. On to the next.
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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I can like the writing but not get much out of the story. That happened here. Perhaps this hit too close to home. Perhaps I needed to read something more positive and less urban. Funny in its way, but sad through and through. On to the next.
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Review: My Family and Other Animals
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A family’s moves to Corfu. The story revolves around the differences in the children, including one who believes himself a great writer and another who collects animals. The ending was a party that becomes farce as all the animals collected throughout the book make unplanned appearances. I listened to the BBC audio adaptation, and the addition of animal sounds and other sound effects helped the story. I found it a nice, short entertaining story, similar to a comedic television show episode.
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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A family’s moves to Corfu. The story revolves around the differences in the children, including one who believes himself a great writer and another who collects animals. The ending was a party that becomes farce as all the animals collected throughout the book make unplanned appearances. I listened to the BBC audio adaptation, and the addition of animal sounds and other sound effects helped the story. I found it a nice, short entertaining story, similar to a comedic television show episode.
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Review: Selfie Made: Your Ultimate Guide to Social Media Stardom
Selfie Made: Your Ultimate Guide to Social Media Stardom by Meridith Valiando Rojas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m an old hand at the internet and an early user of Facebook and some other social tools. And this was a take on social that is a step beyond what I was familiar with. Rojas approaches her topic from her expertise gained from running her company, DigiTour, which provides a live tour of viral social media “stars”. From her perspective, having a post go viral is key, and she provides advice on how to engineer your social media for optimum virality, if that’s a word. Interspersed with the advice are stories of her business. I found these stories were very interesting, with parts of her experience being a kind of concert promoter mixed in with her learnings in social media. As a how-to book, this was interesting given the currency of the topic, but I couldn’t decide whether the topics have limited audience or not. The audience Rojas describes tends to be young, younger than 25, and you can’t tell if these tactics work with older audiences. The book is very worthwhile if you want to appeal to this demographic. I also enjoyed the “business biography” of DigiTour and Rojas’ growth operating her business. Great tour stories, and great stories about how to blaze trails in creating a new kind of venue, a “talent” show where the “talent” is in acquiring views online.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m an old hand at the internet and an early user of Facebook and some other social tools. And this was a take on social that is a step beyond what I was familiar with. Rojas approaches her topic from her expertise gained from running her company, DigiTour, which provides a live tour of viral social media “stars”. From her perspective, having a post go viral is key, and she provides advice on how to engineer your social media for optimum virality, if that’s a word. Interspersed with the advice are stories of her business. I found these stories were very interesting, with parts of her experience being a kind of concert promoter mixed in with her learnings in social media. As a how-to book, this was interesting given the currency of the topic, but I couldn’t decide whether the topics have limited audience or not. The audience Rojas describes tends to be young, younger than 25, and you can’t tell if these tactics work with older audiences. The book is very worthwhile if you want to appeal to this demographic. I also enjoyed the “business biography” of DigiTour and Rojas’ growth operating her business. Great tour stories, and great stories about how to blaze trails in creating a new kind of venue, a “talent” show where the “talent” is in acquiring views online.
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27.12.19
Review: Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself
Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself by Mark Epstein
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The author provides his take on the Buddhist eight-fold path to enlightenment, informed by his traditional psychological training. I found his friendly discussion an interesting way to learn about the path to enlightenment, with stories that sound more like they are out of the pop psychology books I am familiar with. I will look for more on this topic, and would positively consider books by Epstein.
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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The author provides his take on the Buddhist eight-fold path to enlightenment, informed by his traditional psychological training. I found his friendly discussion an interesting way to learn about the path to enlightenment, with stories that sound more like they are out of the pop psychology books I am familiar with. I will look for more on this topic, and would positively consider books by Epstein.
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Review: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness by Eric Jorgenson My rating: 3 of 5 stars Interesting talk, self-help...
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Foundation by Isaac Asimov My rating: 3 of 5 stars I decided to read the Foundation novels in chronological order, and before this...
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Fortune's Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street by William Pou...
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Habeas Data: Privacy vs. the Rise of Surveillance Tech by Cyrus Farivar My rating: 5 of 5 stars I found ...