Review: Why Digital Transformations Fail: The Surprising Disciplines of How to Take Off and Stay Ahead

Why Digital Transformations Fail: The Surprising Disciplines of How to Take Off and Stay Ahead by Tony Saldanha
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The author’s answer to the title question is “Because you didn’t plan well enough”. And he lists and goes through some of the steps to plan for transformation coming at it from a top-down strategic perspective. I liked that there were not too many steps called out. I also liked that the author included some reasonably interesting examples of companies that have competed (or failed to complete) steps in a transformation process. Many of the examples revolved around the author’s experiences in a large company with a “shared services” to manage. I didn’t find much new here – these are the same kinds of recommendations I recall from re-engineering books from decades back, adding an essence of Tom Peters. Also, I listened on audio, and found this book was built around some lists. Lists are difficult to follow on audio, and this book was no exception – the author included lists within lists so at times it was hard to determine where in the “stack” of advice the discussion was focused. This also felt very “big company” focused. Most examples and even the advice was aimed at large IT shops. Overall, a good (and not too long) reminder of what “digital transformation” means, with interesting examples – many from the author’s tenure at P&G.

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Review: Sweet and Lowdown: Woody Allen's Cinema of Regret

Sweet and Lowdown: Woody Allen's Cinema of Regret by Lloyd Michaels
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I haven't been a big movie watcher, but I have enjoyed Allen's movies from his "classic" period. And I always enjoy the music. There are scenes in his movies that get etched in my mind, and are memorable years later. I can't say that for most other movies, or for most other directors. And I haven't ever read a book about Allen's films. I enjoyed this one. The author does mostly what you would expect here. He categorizes Allen's films into different styles and periods, then provides some description and some analysis tied to that classification. After you are done reading, you feel you could hold your own in a coffeeshop discussion of Allen movies. Or better, in line for a movie in the city. The miss here was on expectation given the title - Sweet and Lowdown was but one of many films analyzed here and it didn't seem to stick out in comparison to the rest. Another nit to pick is that there are few photos, although the author seems to have sensed that and discussed the few photos he includes at length. Overall, if you don't read many books on film and want to get some of those inside references and see how a career's worth of films adds up to more than it's sum, this is a good book.

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Review: Nevada

Nevada by Zane Grey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm glad I read this one after the first one in this two-book series. In the first book, you learn that Nevada has a secret past, but the book shows he can be a good fellow, not just a devil-may-care gunslinger. Here he comes across as a too-cool-for-school type as he goes undercover to, in effect, right all wrongs in his part of Arizona. It's a kind of spy story in Western garb. On audio, I found it a bit confusing to keep up with the players and the curious plot, but the action, once it got going, kept going. I see from looking at the "inside look" on Amazon that the author uses vernacular with non-standard spelling for some of the dialog. When I read that I usually don't like that it slows me down, but the audio didn't have that problem. It was understandable throughout. I found it interesting in the use of some words and phrases in this book from the 1920s. Those words today would denote a book considered "racy". Use the alternative, dated definitions for highest enjoyment of this (mostly) chaste story (although there is some kissin' -- after all this is a Western).

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Review: Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment

Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I get the feeling this is one of those “it’s not you, it’s me” books. I wanted to like this, and expected to like this a lot given the topic and many excellent reviews by other readers. But I found the book different than I expected, less on Buddhism in general, more on psychology and research. It reads like a pop psychology book. I found the writing was entertaining, but the examples where so similar to other pop-psychology and meditation books I’ve listened to recently it did not stand out. I suspect I wasn’t in the mood. I may need to try this again at a later time to see if my focus could be sharper…

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Review: American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China

American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China by Matthew Polly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book starts with the background of the author, who writes himself as a character. He’s smart – he gets into an Ivy college, but he’s a free spirit – working on a religion degree instead of a degree conferring money-making skills. He paints himself a bit of a fool, deciding to go to China soon after the Tiananmen Square demonstrations to learn Kung Fu from a school that he doesn’t even know is real. The early part of the trip is a humorous fish-out-of-water story, which did nothing to dispel his image as a bit of a fool. However, as the story proceeds, you get the idea that he is using his head to better understand Kung Fu, treating it not as a religious practice but more a sporting competition. He applies thought into approaching his fighting opponents to look for weaknesses, which appears to be a tactic used only by the best fighters he runs up against. The author makes it quite a way in the sport, and meets a number of individuals in his training, many with unique personalities and stories (e.g. Iron Crotch - just what you'd think given a sport that focuses on kicks). The combination of the fish-out-of-water story with the sports paradigm, and with the display of growth in understanding the sport as well as the culture makes this a doubly interesting book. I really enjoyed the story – I am near the same age as the author and I recall my cousin buying mimeographed Karate instruction books when we were in junior high, planning on using the martial arts to beat up those bullies that cross us. That’s a very similar story to how the author got invested in martial arts, and I suspect many boys had similar thoughts, especially when martial arts movies or TV shows were popular (David Carradine’s “Kung Fu” for me, “Karate Kid” for the next generation.) I found the thoughts of the writer quite familiar, and really wanted to know where the story went. I found myself cheering on the author as he succeeded in his martial arts training as well as his understanding of the Chinese people. Enjoyable.

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Review: Dog Soldiers

Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Detailed busted drug deal that is very much of its time, the 70s. Much senseless violence, much weird goings on, from dumpy apartments to dreary hidden hippy hangouts in the mountains. What happens when you get a bunch of folks who believe that they are tough guys on the take, when they are actually a bit slow. Was mostly depressing to read, but with interesting dialog that would work well matched with a plot that wasn't such a downer. This doesn't make me want to run out and read another by Stone, but I know I'll take another shot at his work.

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Review: Business for Authors: How to Be an Author Entrepreneur

Business for Authors: How to Be an Author Entrepreneur by Joanna Penn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Perhaps not exhaustive, but if you are a budding author, this book will give you plenty to think about. Covered are the basics of accounting, as well as detailed discussions of self-publishing down to the best software for creating covers, international rights, and the basics of hiring editors, proofreaders, and agents. Substantially answers most of my basic questions.

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Review: Wake Up!: A Handbook to Living in the Here and Now-54 Playful Strategies to Help You Snap Out of Autopilot

Wake Up!: A Handbook to Living in the Here and Now-54 Playful Strategies to Help You Snap Out of Autopilot by Chris Barez-Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The author provides a number of examples of how to "wake yourself up". Many of the "strategies" are described with the instructions of trying it for four days. I found nothing earth-shattering here, but I can see that I have the issue of often operating on autopilot, and I can imagine many of these strategies would allow me to become a bit more mindful, at least for a bit. Pleasant.

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Review: Senlin Ascends

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really liked the concept behind this novel – a massive Tower where each level contains a world, bringing to mind ascending social levels as one rises, as well as getting closer to one’s God. Bancroft built a very compelling steampunk-y world, and his characters provide some interesting conjectures on purpose that provide the impetus for me to consider reading more books in the series. However, I felt the concept was familiar, similar to “Martin Dressler” in the era and the magical kind of world it describes. And I felt the book lost some of its steam in the last third or so, as our hero, a country headmaster and bumpkin at the beginning of the book, suddenly and without warning becomes an astute and politic leader of men and schemer. Much of the last third of the book is positioning for further episodes, and this is done in a heavy-handed way. I might read more in the series, but I might not.

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Review: Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required

Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required by Kristy Shen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another in the recent crop of books on young people saving enough money to reach financial independence and retire early. I’ve read quite a few of these books, and many, if not most, tend to the how-to, with some personal details of the journey to provide insight into the unique ways that the author pulled off their financial feat. This was very similar to most of the others, with some distinct differences that really set it apart. First, the author begins her story in her youth, as a very poor child in China. She relates tales of her family and her upbringing, which started with need and hunger. She uses these anecdotes, at times shocking, to help explain her “scarcity mindset”, which is what she attributes much of her ability to save prodigious amounts of money. Note the author is married, and her husband did not seem to have this mindset, but still worked with the author to save over half their pay for many years. The author then described the steps in her financial development, figuring out the ability to become financially independent over time and through a few leaps of thought. This reads like a book by a researcher explaining where they got their ideas. I found this very interesting and similar to my own lines of thought. Shen then describes the issues she has dealt with and what she has learned along the way, with topics such as budgets, financial benefits of travel, tax avoidance, buckets for planning, insurance, and more. I found the idea of buckets well described. Shen is good at coming up with names for some of the strategies she followed, such as her cash cushion and yield shield. Nicely done. And while she provides mostly generic budget information or samples in the body of the book, she saves a few appendices for her actual budget and savings numbers. Quite interesting. The writing has attitude I have come to expect from the millennial generation, where cursing is second nature. I found the attitude unnecessary and a bit overwhelming from the story.

As for the advice, it seems mostly reasonable. Shen is Canadian, so provides both American and Canadian examples throughout. As I compare her situation to mine, I see that her advice really revolves around not owning real estate, trusting medical insurance will always be there (Canadians, nuf said), having a mindset to massively save from large engineering salaries, and not having kids (although her chapter on kids say retiring early is done with kids all the time, they don’t have them). Most interesting advice -- foreign travel to lower costs. I’ve heard this before, but Shen’s descriptions were compelling.

Note that the author is a computer engineer with a head for math, which she talks about quite a few times throughout the book. I found one of the few math equations in the book, on page 179 of the paperback, had a set of parentheses missing, leaving the equation incorrect. While she might have gotten her math order of operations out of whack, Shen seems to have her financial operations in order..


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Review: The Rational Optimist

The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some times you just need to put on some rose-colored glasses. I picked this one up to read positive news, something I rarely get on the local TV news here, or in much of my reading. I was surprised the author took a long view, going back to pre-history to set a baseline for growth of the species, starting with the birth of homo sapiens and waning of other humanoids. So you start off with a win for our team. And each chapter is another chapter where the author makes a case for a win for the "home" team, through issues of trade, population explosion, food shortages, etc. I enjoyed the trip, and the author provided some different ways to frame progress that I hadn't considered. At times, though, the writing seemed a bit off. For instance, the author kept making assumptions about violent males and passive females that lead into his theses on prehistory and trade, presenting in a flip way. That makes things readable, but it made it a bit questionable. So I got the rose-colored glasses here, and maybe a bit more. There seems to have been a number of these kinds of books written in the recent past, I need to see if the newer ones are better than this or not.

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Review: Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide

Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I haven't heard their podcasts, but I expected from a cursory look at the book's blurbs that this would be just podcasts in book form. I was mistaken, this is a backgrounder of the podcasters and nothing much about crime. Except some of their own crimes committed while growing up. You get life stories from what I would stereotype as high school bad girls, so cue the stories of smoking, drinking, and partying. I found I liked the in-your-face personalities, more than the stories themselves, and I suspect I would enjoy their podcasts.

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Review: Herrin: The Brief History of an Infamous American City

Herrin: The Brief History of an Infamous American City by John Griswold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I hadn't heard of Herrin, except as a "big" town the county over from where my Dad grew up. But you don't often find books covering recent history in Southern Illinois, so I downloaded this from the library. I found it quite excellent. Herrin didn't have 15 minutes of fame, but it has had 15 minutes of infamy a few times, covered by this book. You get some very early history of the area to start the book, laying out the early growth of the city and county. The author includes an anecdote concerning John James Audubon dealing with Herrinites wanting to steal his watch, which contains one of the pithiest comments I've ever read as a punchline, something like "and he was a watercolorist". Funny, and well written. The book then covers the rise and fall of the coal industry in the county, as well as the battles between the pro-Prohibition KKK and the anti-Prohibition bootleggers that involved government officials on both sides, and regular callouts of state troops. Interesting was the use of the town hospital as a hangout for the bootleggers, which was at one point the subject of a shootout. The author also covers the rise and decline of the unions. Note that the author's family was involved in the union, and the writing tends to highlight the union cause. The end of the book covers much of the lawlessness of battling bootleggers, including a mention of an early aerial bombing of a gang bar/hangout in the county. Through most of the anecdotes, people, usually county residents, are killed. There are as many people killed in the stories in this book as in a typical war movie. Amazing. Interesting, colorful, and nicely written.

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Review: Pagan Kennedy's Living: A Handbook for Maturing Hipsters

Pagan Kennedy's Living: A Handbook for Maturing Hipsters by Pagan Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Collection of zine articles and comics.If you can imagine what a maturing hipster is, you can probably guess at least some of the topics of these collected articles. There's dating and sex, but there's also a story about a guy who lives in a large robot in his college office. Reminds me of articles from older zines, or Whole Earth Digest. Eclectic, liberal, and fun.

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Review: Whisper Network

Whisper Network by Chandler Baker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At times, I felt it was written like a TC Boyle book, providing me a sense of how others think and feel in a literary way. And at times it read like a basic mystery or chick lit book, aimed at a mass market paperback audience. I came into this with low expectations, as I read none of the blurbs and received this from the publisher on release before I saw any reviews. I noticed the author had written what looked to be books aimed at teens. I was pleasantly surprised that this was written better than I expected, and provided me with a new perspective. But this wasn't great literature, the characters were a bit confusing, and the mystery plot seemed tacked on. All in all, an OK read in the chick lit genre.

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Review: Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I listened to the audiobook of this, and was surprised that I did't get much out of it. I found the author very self-centered, his deep thoughts yielding some trite advice. The author spends the first two thirds of the book giving examples of where he made mistakes and got depressed, and he analyzes events. On occasion, the author generalizes, but providing his personal perspective. It felt like you were listening to a self-centered friend, going through various topics with a loop of: this happened to me, and this is how I think about it. Often, Parker summarizes his thinking with what could be platitudes. One example, in my words, is that sometimes the past can guide your future. Not that the stories aren't interesting, quite a few were. But the outcome of his life experience is the advice to reflect on where you are and where you've been to help you decide where to go in your vocation. Nothing groundbreaking. I was worried that I missed something given all the excellent reviews of this book, so I re-listened to it a few days after first finishing it. My opinion hasn't changed.

Probably the most difficult aspect of this audiobook is that it is capably narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Rudnicki has a very distinctive voice. He narrated much of Orson Scott Card's Ender series of science fiction books, and those books also discussed some deep subjects. Because of that voice, as well as the content, this felt like a digression of an Ender story, and I kept waiting for the action to begin. This was one of the first audiobooks where I thought a good job of narrating was wasted because of typecasting. I suspect I'm one of a very few that will have that reaction, though. Overall, a very short reminder that you can make life decisions based on what you know and have experienced. There's no need to wait for a sign.

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Review: The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I took on this book as a test of my ability to keep up with something for an entire year. I began the book on January 1, planning to read the short blurb for each day, but with the realization that I would certainly miss days. I created a rule for myself that if I got behind, I would only read two days per day in order to catch up. I wanted to limit my catch up reading because I believed that this book was written to prompt personal thought, and I wanted to spend time on reflection. And this is how I read the book.

“The Daily Stoic” provided a short, one or two page reading for each day of the year. The months were divided loosely into themes. Each day’s reading contained a passage from a famous Stoic writer and a discussion by the author. These prompts for thinking were quite general and workmanlike. They were not religious in any way. And in my case, they did allow me to think about the topics discussed and to learn how the Stoics think. There is an appendix that includes definitions used by Stoics as well as a short bibliography. I would recommend reading this with a little time for reflection around each post.

I enjoyed this daily ritual so much that I intend to start again for this year on or near January 1 with a different book. I found the afterward of “The Daily Stoic” a bit of a killjoy, though, in that it recommends that you now have studied enough, you don’t need excuses to read more, and the Stoic way is in the doing. Hmm.


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Review: Business for Bohemians: Live Well, Make Money

Business for Bohemians: Live Well, Make Money by Tom Hodgkinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was not the target market for this book. While I occasionally think of myself as a Bohemian, I'm far from it, with a business and IT background. I've read plenty of books that are about starting businesses. This is of that kind, but with a twist in that the target is for non-traditional businesspeople. Remember the famous textbook/class "Physics for Poets"? This is the same kind of vibe. Hodgkinson provides some pointers as to how to do things for business, things like using spreadsheets. The book doesn't claim that you need to do all the steps in running a business, but you do need to understand what those steps are so you can understand the experts that you use. I didn't find these parts of the book all that insightful, but again I wasn't the target market. I can imagine your run of the mill Bohemian without prior business training would pick up good pointers here. I really enjoyed the stories of Hodgkinson building his Idler business, though. I found his "war" stories interesting, and often humorous. And I found his website, one I hadn't heard of before, quite interesting in its own right. Glad I read this and would read more by the author.

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Review: Pegasus Descending

Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm going a few years back in the Robicheaux backlist to read the few books that I missed while reading through. While I feel a bit jaded about recent Robicheaux stories, this one felt like a breath of familiar bayou air. Again, the humidity drips off the page. The characters act the way you expect (and don't overreact like it seems in Robicheaux stories of more recent vintage). And the bad guys are the ones you've come to expect - mobbed up guys with Miami ties, small business men gone big due to links to casinos, people linked to movies (again with the movie industry baddies, albeit just a passing mention here). And the atmosphere is vintage Burke. My favorite bit in the book is the description of one of the victims, nicknamed Crustacean Man, and his backstory. You can picture the police using that name when referencing the case, giving it some respectability despite its outlandishness. Some interesting personality here from the police department which is more than I usually notice of the officers Robicheaux works with. In most of Burke's books, the other police officers in his and other departments have much the same rolls as redshirts in Star Trek - nondescript characters known for doing the rote work and often becoming victims. I enjoyed this one, more as a throwback to older Robicheaux mysteries. And as normal, the audiobook narrated by Will Patton, is pitch perfect. To me, Patton delivers the mood of this series defined by Burke.

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Review: Genomics: A Very Short Introduction

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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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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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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