Review: The Tyranny of Metrics

The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Z. Muller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This approaches the role of metrics in running and in judging organizations. The authors illustrate the mismatches a focus on metrics typically provides within mission-driven organizations – think education, national defense, policing, and non-profits. This highlights the expenses and often questionable value of spending on optimizing metrics and rankings, as opposed to focusing on roles like “teaching” or “national security”. One point often repeated here is that schools are not for-profit companies, and will tend to keep increasing effort on metrics without concern for cost. And there is always gaming the system when the rules are well defined and accessible in a number or ranking format. So what is the alternative to these metrics? Professional judgement based on experience and reduced decision transparency while decisions are being made. This certainly harkens back to the days before spreadsheets, and that seems to be the point of this – not to throw out the good methods of the past just because measurement is easier now. The author simplifies his argument by disregarding the good that those changes have made. For instance, government transparency helps reduce corruption. Transparency is not just to expose decision points. The author also points out that the use of metrics for compensation purposes allows people to game the system to optimize their own returns at the expense of the organization as a whole or others in the organization. In my mind, metrics just sets down the rules. People in organizations without dependence on metrics also gamed the system (see corruption or “brown-nosing”). The author also inadvertently makes his own case that non-experts make too many assumptions when he describes jobs that can well be managed by metrics, including piecework assembly and, oddly, sales. The author seems to think these could be jobs replaced by robots. There can be different qualities of a sale that can be subjectively measured because they don’t appear until the future, but treating sales like one-size-fits-all doesn’t do justice to the profession and the value it provides to the organization. One is led to wonder if any job can truly be defined wholly through non-subjective numeric measures.

In summary I found this a good book for documenting some of the issues with over-reliance on metrics to run an organization and to provide guidance on individual’s compensation. The author provides guidance to eliminate some metrics, but the best advice is hinted at throughout the book – better understand what your metrics really measure and what they incent, and include the costs of gathering metrics in your analysis. Personally, I see the costs of gathering information, especially if technology is involved, is rapidly falling, and the use of technology tools for optimization such as AI and machine learning is greatly increasing. There is no escape from wider use of metrics.


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Review: A Simplified Life: Tactical Tools for Intentional Living

A Simplified Life: Tactical Tools for Intentional Living by Emily Ley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another life simplification tome. Best attribute of this book is its short length. It covers a wide variety of topics, from technology to kids, but is able to provide some useful suggestions. I’ve read most of the advice in other books (such as just buying one set of socks for each kid to ease sorting), but there were a few new nuggets here. A minor weakness is that while most of the advice works for anyone, there are a number aimed specifically at mothers that are mixed in along the way. This is also a Christian take on simplification, so you get a few mentions of scripture, but not an overwhelming amount. Overall, it was OK for me, a male reader who has listened to a lot of similar audiobooks. I could see this being a very good book for those who are just starting to read life simplification books.

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Review: Confessions of a Murder Suspect

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The first thing this reminded me of was the movie “Spy Kids”. Precocious kids, excessively smart, solving mysteries. But the kids here, and the parents, are all excessively smart, and rich. And unlike the family friendly “Spy Kids”, this book begins with the murder of both parents through what appears to be a poisoning. (view spoiler)[And on an even less family friendly note, the surprise twist is that the parents committed suicide. Ugh. (hide spoiler)] Overall, though, the plot was juvenile. I somewhat enjoyed the characters, but the flow of events just kept getting more far-fetched. I won’t be running out to read the next in this series.

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Review: Baseball Forever!: 50 Years of Radio Highlights Celebrating the History and Hijinks of America's Pastime

Baseball Forever!: 50 Years of Radio Highlights Celebrating the History and Hijinks of America's Pastime by Jason Turbow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found this a somewhat enjoyable review of highlights of old-time radio broadcasts of baseball games. The choices were pleasingly varied, and focused on topics such as famous announcers, famous plays, interviews, and famous game endings. Many of the snippets of audio were chosen for historic significance of the events, such as three (!) versions of the play where “The Giants win the pennant!” from different radio networks, an interview with Roger Maris right after tying the home run record, and Carl Hubbell striking out 5 of the best hitters in history in the 1934 All Star Game. One weakness of the collection is that, due to the technology of the era, many of the pre-1960 game recordings are a bit hazy from static and can be difficult to listen to, and that covers a good percentage of the content in this collection. A highlight for me was hearing Harry Caray calling a Cardinals World Series game with owner Gussie Busch cheering like crazy right next to him in the broadcast booth. Comparing these older broadcasts to the current day, you understand the massive change in content provided by the analytic data now available. There also seems to be two eras before the current “analytic” era. The earliest recordings are just play-by-play announcing – nothing flowery, lots of silence and crowd noise, occasional emotion. The big change you notice in the 50s or so, with Red Barber, Vin Scully, Harry Caray, and the like, was that the announcers were more willing to “wax poetic” about the game. Seems like game calling has gone from reporting to literature to science. Makes you wonder what’s next.

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Review: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you’ve read a book on creating habits, you’ll find this treading familiar territory. I found this was one of the better ones in terms of providing practical advice with interesting anecdotes. The focus here is on two methods – breaking yourself of existing bad habits while supporting the creation of new better habits. The author has a way with simplifying a topic.

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Review: Airbnb: A 21st-Century Goldmine

Airbnb: A 21st-Century Goldmine by Andrew Keene
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The concept of offering a cabin as an Airbnb rental is intriguing to me. My rural hometown has no current short term rentals, no nearby hotels, no B&Bs. It is in a place with plentiful tourist activities, a key annual event that draws thousands, history, restaurants (well, taverns), great scenery, and it would be the closest traveler housing to a few large plants. As for culture, there’s a big plastic statue, and those taverns. I know people that could operate such an establishment if I’m not nearby. I’m sensing an unmet need and opportunity. I chose to read this book to get an inside view on how Airbnb worked from someone who is making money at it. The author owns a handful of units that he rents out, in different cities. He provides information on the steps that it takes to choose property, to make the investment work considering different financing options and pricing options, to handle the day-to-day operations, creating descriptions and marketing your rental, and handling risk. As a bonus, he also describes how he has used Airbnb rentals in his own travels, including some hints as to what to look for. The author hires out a lot of the day-to-day operations, so while he describes what should happen and while he has some anecdotes, I wasn’t completely comfortable going on his analysis. Additional research will be required. But that’s not to say this isn’t a good introduction – I think it does a great job of describing the pros and cons of entering this business, and provides a glimpse into the life of one who does this with what appears to be a very good return.

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Review: Wishing on the Moon: The Life and Times of Billie Holiday

Wishing on the Moon: The Life and Times of Billie Holiday by Donald Clarke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Thought I’d learn a bit about Billie Holiday. I’ve not been a big fan, but I appreciated her style, her approach to, as the author says in this book, sing a bit behind the beat. I always pictured her as being a bit slurry and slow from something like cough syrup. And the author provides plentiful stories that say that while that was her style, she also had drug use and hard living weighing on her. It was interesting that the author compiled many, many stories from different sources that illustrated the good and the bad parts of her personality. You probably couldn’t come up with an adjective that didn’t describer her behavior at one time or another. Sybil with musical style.

The book is driven by interviews from many different sources. The author notes repeatedly that some of the details were suspect given the length of time that had passed from events described to the interviews, and many of the interviewees were obviously mistaken. You also get themes that stand out. I’m not sure the author intended for these themes to be repeated so much, or if their choice was more selected based on who was interviewed. This aspect of the book felt directionless. The topics I heard repeatedly were details about her drug use, her often violent sex life, her family (especially her mother), and, near the end, her finances were repeatedly discussed. Often after reading a biography I have a new respect for the subject and I think how good it would have been to meet them. With this one, I have respect of Lady Day as a talented scrapper, but she didn’t seem the kind of person that I’d want to meet. Too much mean with the good. As for the book, I'd have preferred a bit more focus on set themes, and/or some editing out the repeated stories. There are times an event is described through different interviewees' eyes, and perhaps because I listened to this on audio I found it somewhat confusing. Overall, the book seems quite thorough, but getting a firm grasp on the subject remains elusive.


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Review: Last Flag Flying

Last Flag Flying by Darryl Ponicsan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read Ponicsan’s earlier book, “The Last Detail”, a few years ago, but I can’t say I recalled the details. This is the sequel to that book, taking place a few decades down the road. Prior to reading this, I read some of the reviews, many of which complained about the re-animating of one of the characters killed in the first book. It was handled, albeit clumsily, but in a way that helped explain the characters’ history, and it didn’t impact the story line beyond the first few mentions. I enjoyed this book of aging veterans on a road trip, rethinking their place in the world, and rethinking how being veterans has changed their lives. And they also reflect at length about the events in the first book, how that detail changed each of their lives. An interesting read – now to see the movie.

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Review: One Perfect Word

One Perfect Word by Debbie Macomber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I was younger, I was more of a “deep thinker” than I am today. I spent a lot of time thinking, often about my place in the world. Being an analytical person, there were times when I noticed repetition of a theme or concept in my thoughts and concerns over a short period of time. On reflecting on these repetitions (meta thinking?) I came to a realization that I had somewhat annual themes that caught my attention. Themes were identified by a word and a phrase, like ‘justice’, or ‘good vs evil’, or ‘role models’, or ‘building a career’. So being analytical, I focused on that theme, often for a year, reading things that related, watching TV shows with awareness, and discussing with friends. When I read the description of Debbie Macomber’s “One Perfect Word”, I believed I had found a fellow traveler. Macomber has gone through decades focusing on a single word over each year. Her words, or themes, were generally chosen from Bible passages, but tied to events happening in her life. She says that words felt like they were chosen for her. I have had that feeling as well, although my sources tended to the non-secular, especially music lyrics that caught my ear. I appreciated her examination of this habit, and found her sources from scripture and the ways she examined her world through the lens of that year’s theme to be different than mine, familiar yet interesting in the differences. I would have appreciated her take on the non-secular influences on her word, but Macomber aimed this squarely at Christian readers with repeated scripture quotes. I would also have appreciated more of a description of the positive consequences of decades of this practice. I knowingly followed this practice for about a decade, yet I still find myself referring to the things that I think I learned, especially when I am trying to relate a learning to my grown children. To me, this is a, if not the, source of wisdom. Anything that can convince people to approach their world with the level of awareness this practice provides is a good thing. Glad I found the book.

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Review: Wind/Pinball: Two Novels

Wind/Pinball: Two Novels by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyable Murakami stories, the second more-so due to the bizzare search for a certain pinball machine, as well as odd twin girlfriends. One re-used theme of Murakami’s, wells, is mentioned in a poetic way, tied to a heart. Was this the start? Also good use of music references. Interesting intro with Murakami explaining how he got into writing with these stories. Good, not great, but satisfyingly odd.

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Review: The Data Driven Leader: A Powerful Approach to Delivering Measurable Business Impact Through People Analytics

The Data Driven Leader: A Powerful Approach to Delivering Measurable Business Impact Through People Analytics by Jenny Dearborn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This takes the basic “Intro to Analytics” sales pitch and wraps a simple but well written story around the concepts. The author catches the events large and small in descriptions of meetings. I could almost smell the erasable marker as she described in detail brainstorming sessions used to determine data availability and need. It was like being in such a meeting, without the boredom that often accompanies multi-hour multi-day meetings. Also described as part of the story was dealing with office politics at a high level. If you would like an easy to read introduction to analytics as used to measure performance wrapped in a business story, this covers those bases. If you are already familiar with the basic definitions, such as prescriptive analytics, you probably won’t get much out of this except for an example of how an analytics project works from the perspective of a high level manager, and some fictional examples of dealing with unfriendly senior executives. Slight, unsurprising spoiler – the heroine of our story is justly rewarded at the end for bringing a needed analysis of her new company using data analytics. I just love happy endings.

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Review: Shane

Shane by Jack Schaefer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I attended business school more than 3 decades ago, and my most vivid memory of our many classroom interactive lectures was from Economics, where the professor repeatedly referenced the movie “Shane”, using it as an illustration of the “cow punchers versus the sod busters”, or that people can have competing goals while consuming the same resources. I can still recall a classmate, quoting the movie, bawled up his face and wailed “Come back, Shane, come back”. He most remembered the kid. I didn’t see the movie until much later, but my memory of it was the cinematography. It really showed the Western sky and land to great effect. When I read the book, I was hoping that I would get that same kind of impression, where the land is as much of a character as the characters, like many other Westerns I’ve read. But in this case, I found the book’s focus was the characters and the values they represented. The most cinematic descriptions were of Shane’s fight, and of the removal of the stump. To me these were the most memorable parts of the book. The stump story was an unexpected way to show what would now be called the bromance between Shane and Mr. Starrett. Here, you’d call it bonding through mutual respect and shared work. The other unexpected part was Shane’s fights, where he is described as a “Superman”, moving faster than others and withstanding harm. I wasn’t expecting superhero level descriptions but given when this was written, I can understand the usage, and given the story I understand the point the author was making. In all, as with many Westerns (as with many allegories), there are plenty of things to think about. While not as well written as some of the masters, I found it entertaining, and combined with the movie it will be long remembered.

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Review: American Cultural History: A Very Short Introduction

American Cultural History: A Very Short Introduction by Eric Avila
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one didn’t catch my imagination as much as I thought. Have you ever read a serious conspiracy theory book? In those that I’ve read, the narrative tends to bounce all over the place, tying people, events, history together showing connections, often fantastical. I think of the movie “A Brilliant Mind” where John Nash has notes taped to the wall with strings connecting them in a tangle. That was what this book felt like. The author bounces between topics with ping-pong speed, connecting many topics with odd thoughts, coincidences, trivia, and the occasional ah-ha. Topics touched on include disco, movies, pre-Revolutionary War American Indian appreciation societies, and early American authors. At their best, these kinds of books turn out like James Burke’s “Connections”, and at their worst, or more their most campiest, they turn out like Neal Wilgus’ “The Illuminoids”. This book falls in the middle, closer to Burke’s book. As it is one of the “very short introduction” books, you can’t expect a lot of critical thought about those connections or completeness of topics, but it was fun to read in a casual way due to the wide variety of occasionally compelling history.

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Review: White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America

White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America by Joan C. Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one of those books where the author has apparently “noticed” something in the way people understand what is called here the white working class. What she noticed was that as a group they tended to highly value family and tradition. And in terms of life goals, they aren’t aspiring to be urban intellectuals, they want to live the lives they are familiar with, but with less pressure to make more money. They tend to make enough that they do not qualify for government programs, which informs their thoughts on those programs, and which subsequently sways their beliefs and votes.

The purpose of this book I believe is to provide a reframing of popular thought on conservative voters. I appreciate the attempt, and can see how Williams’ description could hold water. The traditions and the goals that she wrote about hadn’t had as much play in the media I consume. The last part of the book read quite differently, focusing on voting, and it felt like there was a political (or more “intellectual”) bias here. I enjoyed the beginning, not so much the end.


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