Review: The Queen's Gambit

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading this story of an orphaned child chess prodigy who is also addicted to painkillers, I got that same kind of feeling that I got reading one of my favorite series of books. This felt very similar to Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game” series (or more his follow-on books on character Bean). “The Queen’s Gambit” is similar to these other series in that you have a child with almost superhuman capabilities figuring out how to put things together for the first time. This book is all about learning and growth on an intellectual level, while also facing the problems involved in growing up. This book replaces the moral issues faced in Card’s books with the more personal drug problem, so on reflection I see the differences. (Card had it easier in a sci-fi environment.) But altogether I very much enjoyed this book. I felt an emotional connection to this story and found it easy to listen to. I will be looking for more by this author.

View all my reviews

Review: They're Playing Our Song

They're Playing Our Song by Carole Bayer Sager
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read many music industry books because I like reading about the creative process and I like reading about the business aspects of a creative industry. Successful pop song lyricist Bayer Sager, I would think, would have a lot to say on the creative process and perhaps on the industry. But in this book, the focus is more on her life story, centered mostly on her romances and marriages and friendships. To her credit, she runs in an a-list crowd, having Elizabeth Taylor as a good friend, dating George Lucas and Davy Jones, and marrying Burt Bacharach. There are some interesting stories about the people she interacts with, and that accounts for most of the book.

But I was more interested in song writing and the music industry. Here, Bayer Sager sheds light on the process she used to write with a variety of other writers, including Bacharach, Paul Simon, Michael Jackson, and Bob Dylan. Ends up they are all have their unique creating styles, but also seem to be similar in the basic approach to songwriting. As for industry insight, you get a lot of grousing that the author feels underappreciated, but then she slips into a personal story, which leads me to wonder how seriously upset she really was. You do get some aspects of the industry through her marriages. She married a record producer, a songwriter/performer, and a music company executive, working her way up the “steady income” ladder of the music business. Interestingly, she seems happiest with the husband that is in the least creative line of work.

I found her descriptions of the writing process to be the best parts in the book. And her characterizations of Burt Bacharach’s comments and voice were often hilariously odd. I learned a bit about song writing, but I learned a lot about the author that I probably didn’t need to know.


View all my reviews

Review: A Wild Sheep Chase

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Surreal book that I sheepishly enjoyed. I’m reading Murakami’s “The Rat” series in order, but this can stand alone. Wonderful descriptions of an old house off in the mountains in Japan.

View all my reviews

Review: Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream

Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream by Nicholas Lemann
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I tend to enjoy these kinds of books. I found this to be the same kind of book as Alvin Toffler’s “The Third Wave”. Toffler divides human history into 3 “waves”, or defining eras. Here, the author divides the post WW1 times into 3 “eras” related to economics. Interesting, and with some similar thoughts as following reading Toffler. The author focuses on a few individuals for each era, making this a reasonably readable book. Interesting framing, but I will need to think through the consequences of looking through this lens, if any. My doubt is because the progression the author describes, from organizational man to transactional man to network man, is how I pictured the world prior to reading the book. Here you get the author’s naming, as well as history and back stories.

View all my reviews

Review: Agent of Influence: How to Use Spy Skills to Persuade Anyone, Sell Anything, and Build a Successful Business

Agent of Influence: How to Use Spy Skills to Persuade Anyone, Sell Anything, and Build a Successful Business by Jason Hanson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This felt like many other sales persuasion books I’ve read, with the hook that the underlying capabilities of a good influencer are the same as good spies. That was an excellent way to get me to read this book – as kids we didn’t play soldier or fireman or cowboy, we played spies. I found the content pretty similar to other sales persuasion books, with a focus on planning and stick-to-it-iveness. The author does mix in some stories to set the stage for each chapter, and provides some simple breakdowns of different aspects of the spycraft he is discussing. The author also tells how he got on TV (spoiler: it involves persistence and planning). All together, a fun read, though not earth shattering. Also note – I listened to the audiobook version. I see (using Amazon’s “look inside” feature) that the book has a large number of bulleted lists. While listening, I found the content sometimes confusing and as a result forgettable. I think a big part of the problem is that bulleted lists, especially ones that contain multiple sentences, are very difficult to make understood on an audio production. What looks nice and organized on a printed page runs together in audio and sounds disorganized. For that reason, I think I would suggest the written version of this book over the audio.

View all my reviews

Review: Guilty Not Guilty

Guilty Not Guilty by Felix Francis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Our typical Francis hero, a smart fellow in a dangerous situation that he has to survive by wits. But in this one, the smart fellow spends more time recovering. Very similar to Felix's father Dick's stories where the protagonist barely survives. This type of story is oft repeated in the Francis oeuvre, and it works as the plot, with plentiful attempts to harm a hero you can identify with, causes this reader to cringe and worry and want to see what happens next.

View all my reviews

Review: A Lost Lady

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sad story of the slow decline of a small town’s leading lady to a more squalid end. I found the writing itself was well done, mostly from the lady’s younger lawyer’s perspective. The book maintained my interest better than I would have expected given the author. The is the first Cather book I’ve finished. I hope the others are as interesting and well written as I plan to read more.

View all my reviews