Review: Think to Win: Unleashing the Power of Strategic Thinking

Think to Win: Unleashing the Power of Strategic Thinking by John F. Manfredi
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was a very basic decision-making and planning book. If you’ve seen other decision-making books, or taken strategic thinking classes in college, this will look very familiar. In many of these types of books, there is some verbiage or some steps that make it somewhat unique. This was very vanilla. For example, the most unique step in this planning process was to do a SWOT analysis. Very vanilla. There was also a lot of discussion of holding big meetings to set strategies. This felt dated. You could almost smell the cigar smoke given the descriptions of those meetings. The best part of the book wasn’t the process description but the many examples. The examples weren’t all deep, but were varied enough to provide some interesting discussion. I think this book is best for those who haven’t had business or engineering classes involving decision making, but who are responsible for setting strategies and operating to those strategies. I don’t see this as a primary source for those creating a new strategy process, but I could see it used to add color to your existing strategic processes.

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Review: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Relationships, in particular friendships within a group, are dissected here by Murakami. Our protagonist is a not so likable guy, a loner who works on his life-long obsession - train stations. We are shown his past life, the highlight of which was being with four friends from high school. Tazaki is the only one that does not have a color as part of his family name, presaging his being forced from the group while in college. The book follows Tazaki’s life through decades, until he is made to reconsider his ostracism decades later, meeting up with the old friends. The book makes you reflect on the differences between friendships in groups, friendship of two people, and dating relationships by describing Tazaki’s thoughts on what went wrong with many relationships and his investigation later in life. You end up liking him more at the end, realizing that he has grown in self-knowledge. I could identify with his situation. I would consider this a “guy’s book” in that if the story was written with a woman main character, the relationships would be much different, and the story wouldn’t have the same conclusions. Murakami’s prose again stands out to me as written by a reasoned, logical person with a poetic heart. He makes architecting and even waiting at train stations sound romantic. This is one of those books that I suspect I'll be thinking about for a long time. A bonus for me was the repeated discussion of a specific CD of Liszt’s music, which caused me to find and listen to the CD. Very nice, and it really does evoke the pace of the book, which was slow and deliberate. The audio version which I listened to also had one of the songs at the end.

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Review: Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia

Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Michael Korda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This biography of Lawrence of Arabia begins abruptly with a chapter long on action and short on background. The listener of the abridged audio version of this book is thrust into the story midway, and only after this episode’s conclusion is there some context of the situation, early in WWI, mixed in. And only when the bulk of the story is told are we given bits and pieces of Lawrence’s earlier life. The book concludes with what could be considered Lawrence’s second life, that of a lowly soldier and airman, connected and well-off but putting in the hours like the others. The book, and Lawrence’s life, prove how far from the safety of home a man can go, figuratively and metaphorically. And it proves there are second acts, with will, perseverance, and a goal. Note the abridged version that I listened to was over 14 hours long, so I'm not sure how much was cut. The abridgment could have been the cause of the abruptness experienced at the beginning of the book. YMMV. Quite a memorable read, combining real life action, mystery, inventiveness, reward, and, yes, horror.

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Review: An Innocent, a Broad

An Innocent, a Broad by Ann Leary
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading one of Leary’s fiction books and I thought her voice would be entertaining in this more personal memoir telling of her difficult child birth. Her story was quite entertaining. I learned about the British medical system through this book, but I also learned that Leary is like a lot of people, myself included, that read up on a topic and feel that we are smarter than the experts we hire. In this case, Leary time and again worries that these British doctors and nurses don’t know how to do things. We find out throughout the story that, in fact, she was in very capable hands during her extended stay in London after giving birth to a preemie. We also find that with her focus on her child, she missed out on her husband’s increase in fame. You end up seeing Leary as very human. This book evoked some emotion in me, which is rare. I found I wanted to strangle Leary who was showing signs of being a helicopter parent even before her child was born. And I sensed her gradual giving in to the reality of an extended stay in London tied to a hospital. But I also found a few passages caused me to laugh. Well written episode.

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Review: What Comes Next and How to Like It

What Comes Next and How to Like It by Abigail Thomas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Memoir, with somewhat random reflections on the past, with some self-analysis of the author’s life mixed in along the way. I appreciated that the flow was very much like a daily journaling exercise, and the author has a way to explain things simply, the results of a writer who has spent a lot of time thinking about her life. This shows you how this practice can work to build into a more cohesive story by providing examples of actions and thoughts at different times in the authors life, at different events. It is some attempt at understanding herself, while also acknowledging the bad (like drinking too much vanilla). You are left after reading this considering the author as both very strong and very weak, given how events have unfolded in her life. Her focus here seems to be on relationships with friends, daughters, and dogs. Her marriages didn’t seem to last, so you don’t see as much of that here in the analysis. I enjoyed the audiobook version – it was a nice and calming narration that allowed for personal reflection through comparison.

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Review: Fear of the Dark

Fear of the Dark by Walter Mosley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found myself mildly more interested in this episode of Paris Minton and Fearless Jones than the previous two. The entanglement of family ties, the evil eye, and the continual namecalling of cousin “Useless” was kind of funny. The plot was similar to others in the series, and the book contains interesting descriptions of the times and place – post-WWII LA. Lots of knocking on doors. And some of the action occurs off-stage and is related to the protagonists through a long story. But this felt more polished than the earlier ones in the series, like Mosley is optimizing his writing for the Minton/Jones pair as time goes on. The story, on reflection, was less of-its-time, and more character/personality driven.

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Review: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I expected this to be more of a how-to book than it ended up being. Magnusson mostly tells stories of her life, and of the times she’s had to clean up the houses of people, mostly relatives, that had passed away. Through her often funny stories, I was reminded of the times when my Mother was responsible for her Mother’s house after she passed. I saw the angst, and although it was decades ago, I still remember the weight of the decisions of what to do with every item in the house. Magnusson captures the issue cause by those weighty decisions, and suggests, in persuasive ways like a grandmother would use, to clean up your stuff while you still can, so you don’t excessively burden your relatives and friends after you pass. Nice and short read.

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Review: Purposeful Retirement: How to Bring Happiness and Meaning to Your Retirement

Purposeful Retirement: How to Bring Happiness and Meaning to Your Retirement by Hyrum W. Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This audiobook was quite enjoyable. The author was one of the creators of the Franklin Day Planner, and you can tell he is experienced at teaching his system to large audiences – he has a way to tell anecdotes that seems well practiced. His stories are often personal, and they feel different than others, unique. And the sense of humor is not the antiseptic, safe-from-innuendo stuff that you almost always read in these kinds of books. This felt more like your uncle telling you what he’s learned in his retirement. And what made this even more interesting? The narrator reminded me of the pompous baritone of Ted Baxter, from Mary Tyler Moore. The personality in the writing was a great match for this. Very appropriate!

The advice tended to the get-off-your-ass variety. Wholly appropriate. Some help in finding purpose.


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Review: The Awakened Millionaire: A Manifesto for the Spiritual Wealth Movement

The Awakened Millionaire: A Manifesto for the Spiritual Wealth Movement by Joe Vitale
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Should really be called “The Awakened Would-Love-To-Be-A-Millionaire, And Thinks He’d Be Really Good With Lots Of Money And Could Do Some Good Things For People, But Probably Won’t Earn That Much”. I was disappointed with this. It is not a how-to book, it is heavily motivational. And it seemed like it was aimed at people without means. I get the feel of Steve Martin’s bit on “How You Can Be a Millionaire and Never Pay Taxes”. (“First, get a million dollars…”) No thanks. I like the concept, but not this execution.

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Review: Architecting the Future Enterprise

Architecting the Future Enterprise by Deborah J. Nightingale
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve read a number of books and manuals on enterprise architecture. Many provide help in creating architectures from a high level down to a low level. “Architecting the Future Enterprise” is like most of the books I’ve read on architecture, but the aim was a little higher. The book spends a lot of time on documenting the company and its needs at a very high level. Think mission/vision/values, but deeper drill-downs on those kinds of topics. The book covers the architecting process from this high level down through scenario planning and architecture documentation, not to the deep technical level but more to the story level. This certainly isn’t the process you would use to architect, say your cloud computing environment, but you would use it to architect at a higher level.

Like most architecture processes, doing everything that is recommended generates huge amounts of documentation, and would take massive time investments, including time from high level executives. When I read these books, I look for suggestions on economizing and timeboxing the processes. I didn’t get that here. That’s why you pay consultants to manage these processes, I guess, including the authors I suspect. I liked how the authors described the process and the kinds of issues that need to be analyzed and documented. This certainly could be a useful book for those going through an architecture exercise at work, to help you think through your process and to avoid missing something that you might need.


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Review: Daisy Jones & The Six

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What makes “Daisy Jones and the Six” stand out is the way it is written. The author uses the gimmick of presenting this story as if it were a non-fiction book about a band, written entirely using strung together quotes from a variety of characters, from the band members to people the band interacted with. If you have ever watched VH1’s “Behind the Music”, this will seem very familiar. If you read “Live from New York”, it was written in much the same way. This book feels like those documentary takes on bands and a show. But the author has extended this made-up documentary into an interesting story, dropping some surprises into the story near the end, making you really want to finish the book to find out what happens to the band members. I found the story fun to listen to, and I could picture the band being part of the 70s band scene. The author even duplicated the typical discussion of song lyrics you hear and see in documentary sources on rock bands. This felt very realistic.

I listened to this on audio, and I believe that greatly increased my enjoyment of this book. Those snippets of quotes were often very short, a few words or a sentence by one character. The audiobook used different voice actors for each character, and it made them very distinctive. I can imagine if I were to have read the book, I would have had to work harder to recall each character by name, and I suspect that extra effort would have lessened my enjoyment. In addition, many of the narrators’ lines were very well acted, more emphatic and emotional than most audiobooks. The audiobook was very well done.


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Review: Ain't No Place for a Hero: Borderlands

Ain't No Place for a Hero: Borderlands by Kaitlin Tremblay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the second Pop Classics book I’ve read, and I enjoy the topics chosen and the writing. Here, you get some edge to that writing, as author Tremblay provides a very personal and impassioned take on a video game that I knew nothing about. The author provides some deep analyses of the game Borderlands, focusing on the inclusivity designed into the game. This is apparently quite novel in gaming. I enjoy this kind of deep analysis of media properties, with the understanding that people often find patterns when there aren’t intentional patterns existing. She made it interesting, though, by finding plenty and corroborating intentions in some cases with the game developers. Probably the best audience is those that know the game and that are interested in broader societal impacts of game design, but many will find interest.

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Review: Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship

Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship by John Baldwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

You get a good idea of the story here by reading the blurb on the cover – Confederate ship harassing Federal maritime industry doesn’t know the war has ended. That is a good, short description. The book adds a lot to this story, but also misses some opportunities. The main source for the book is the diary/ship logs of Executive Officer Conway Whittle, who comes across as a true Southerner in manner and temperament, charming the occasional woman while pining for his true love, and planning a duel for honor near the end of the book. After learning of Whittle’s work with the Confederacy, we learn about the ship procured for the Confederacy and of the efforts to sneak away from Britain. We then follow Whittle and his ship the Shenandoah on a year long voyage with stops in Australia and Pacific islands, and capturing US whaling ships in the Arctic Ocean. And then, we follow them back to Britain, their choice of venue to lower the odds of being hung as pirates. Their tour was a mix of terror from weather issues, visits to ports where the crew is treated quite well, capturing and firing whaling and other merchant vessels, and typical boredom from many long and continuous days at sea. You learn a lot about sailing and cruising during the war years, and you understand how difficult the work could be. Missing from the story was additional context that would have analyzed the place of the Shenandoah in the strategy of the Confederacy, summarized the impact of the ship on the war, and positioned the story of the warriors fighting beyond the end of their war with other examples from history.

One story, from near the end of the book, was an example of how the author approached this material. Sailors on the boat were held captive by the British government after they surrendered their ship at the completion of their voyage. The British decided to free the sailors, unless they were British citizens who had, in effect, joined a foreign Navy. Those sailors would be put to death. The crew, many of whom were British, according to the author had no time to collaborate, yet all answered under interrogation that they were Southerners. The author expresses surprise that this has happened, and stretches this section out to draw out some drama. Yet it seems to me that the best explanation is that all these British sailors knew this was the case, and had talked about this during the long trip back to Britain. No surprise. But it was a kind of obvious attempt at drama by the author that wasn’t necessary.

Overall, I enjoyed learning about the voyage of the Shenandoah, and getting to know and to understand some of the sailors and officers. It is quite a story, and the Executive Officer’s diary was a great source to mine.


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Review: Maybe I'll Pitch Forever: A Great Baseball Player Tells the Hilarious Story Behind the Legend

Maybe I'll Pitch Forever: A Great Baseball Player Tells the Hilarious Story Behind the Legend by Leroy Satchel Paige
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

What a great story, by a larger-than-life storyteller. You never know if what you read is 100% true, or exaggerated, but what Paige describes is a hard scrabble life of a guy who knows how to make money by capitalizing on his freakish abilities to play baseball, and who knows how to spend said money. Time and again, Paige tells of needing money, often after realizing a big payday or signing a playing contract. You learn a lot about his life, the ups and downs, family life, his difficulty in driving a car below the speed limit, and you learn about baseball at the time. You learn a lot about baseball, from the Negro League to pro ball, international play, and barnstorming for entertainment over the decades that Paige played. Paige has wonderful things to say about Bill Veeck. Paige also drops a couple of ethnic slurs along the way. But what I’ll remember about this book is how much of a character Paige was, and how funny he could be. This was one of those audiobooks I found myself guffawing at while driving. Quite a hoot.

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Review: Known and Unknown: A Memoir

Known and Unknown: A Memoir by Donald Rumsfeld
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s not easy to determine whether Rumsfeld is a good guy or a bad guy based on his memoir. I tend to believe the best in people, but Rumsfeld offers plenty of proof why he wasn’t always the best guy to have in the room. I’ve never read an autobiography where the author says that he meant to say A, but instead people heard him say B, but that’s not what he meant, and people don’t believe he meant A. Strangely, this happens to Rumsfeld with regularity, and given that he’s covering the high and low points in his career, this was a big problem for him. He mentions more than a dozen of these anecdotes here. I’m left with the feeling that Rumsfeld operated at too high a speed to always get things right, or to think things through, or to always pay attention. This aspect of his personality is kind of scary given his jobs. Rumsfeld shares his thoughts on many of the people he worked with in government, and it ends up he didn’t like quite a few. He was equal opportunity here, sharing negative stories about folks from both parties. Here, he trashes Jimmy Carter, General Powell, and Condoleezza Rice, generally for poor decision-making or people management skills. Rumsfeld also shared anecdotes about his decision making, and this seemed quite strong, and a reason he was able to hold high responsibility jobs in government and private industry for decades. Overall, Rumsfeld comes across as a decent manager, but with flaws. His anecdotes from his work in private industry, his early elections and time in Congress, and his work with the Ford and Bush administrations (heaviest on the Bush war years) are quite interesting and telling about the times he impacted.

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Review: Rent Collector

Rent Collector by Camron Wright
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I chose to read “The Rent Collector” because from the description it reminded me of Katherine Boo’s “Behind the Beautiful Forevers,” which I enjoyed quite a lot. Both books follow people living in and working in garbage in Asian countries. Both books illustrate the kindness and industry of the poor, and both show that people can behave meanly as well. Boo’s book is considered non-fiction, though it read like a fiction book. “The Rent Collector” is fiction, but based on a documentary. So the books seem very related on the surface. In terms of writing style and intent, “The Rent Collector” felt a more saccharine story, along the lines of a Mitch Albom or Nicholas Sparks book. It felt more popular and American, for example the characters repeatedly say that they live in a “dump”. That seems too judgmental and American a word for these people to describe their homes. There were also observations, such as a passage about wearing Western t-shirts, that seemed like something an American writer would notice, but the characters wouldn’t have noticed. You could see “The Rent Collector” becoming a Hallmark movie. Bad things happen, but there is a little growth in the characters. It felt like a story, whereas BtBF felt like a lesson wrapped in a story, a good kind of sermon. This sounds over the top, but in perspective, reading BtBF changed me, while reading “The Rent Collector” provided me some entertainment.

Another aspect of this book that was interesting is the author’s back story. The author describes in an afterward how he came to write the book. His son created a documentary on people who lived in a dump in Cambodia. The author took stills from the documentary, which followed specific people around in the dump, and built his fictional story on these photos. He included a selection of the photos in the back of the book, with the character names and descriptions that he came up with. Talk about art imitating life. Given the real-world basis for the story, I feel I learned a little while reading a story of another culture.


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Review: Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties

Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties by Elijah Wald
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this story of Dylan’s folk concert surprise. Wald opens with a tease of the event to be fully described later – Dylan rocking. The author then dives into the history behind the event, with extensive bios of Dylan and Pete Seeger, name dropping dozens of others in the folk firmament in the late 50s and early 60s. Wald covers the business aspects, including concert promoting, as well as the music aspects. I found the variety of perspectives really helped set the stage for what was to follow – the night at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 when Dylan broke the code and played rock and roll, backed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. In the frantic description of the concert, perhaps it was Dylan backing Butterfield. Nevertheless, things changed for Dylan and for folk music, as the prince moved on to conquer larger fields. I most enjoyed the stories of concert promoting, especially from the folk music collective, which isn’t a subject I’ve read a lot about. I also enjoyed a story I have read before, Dylan becoming Dylan. Here, there seems to be more direct quotes from sources including film. This has more of a feeling of immediacy than other Dylan-focused books I’ve read. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the focus of the book, the concert. There is a lot of back-stage intrigue, yet what exactly happened is not recorded. Wald weaves a narrative, explaining where he’s making conjectures and what he’s basing them on. This was nice work making a readable story of a confusing event where new paths in popular music were set.

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