Review: Dick Francis's Damage

Dick Francis's Damage by Felix Francis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Son Felix takes on the role of Dick Francis as writer of horse racing-themed mysteries. He does a passable take on his father’s writing and stories. I found this a bit more pedestrian than most of the Dick Francis stories. Dick would add in some well researched details on non-racing “stuff”, like glass blowing, or accounting standards, or computer viruses. In this book by Felix, there wasn’t anything that really struck me as memorable that wasn’t pretty closely related to security at horse tracks. In that aspect, this didn’t feel the same. I also felt that the bad guys were a bit too “super human” in this one – the plot on reflection seemed hard to believe. But these kinds of issues don’t detract (much) from the continuation of the Dick Francis legacy. I look forward to reading the next one by Felix.

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Review: The Sniper Mind: Eliminate Fear, Deal with Uncertainty, and Make Better Decisions

The Sniper Mind: Eliminate Fear, Deal with Uncertainty, and Make Better Decisions by David Amerland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As someone who played wargames and plenty of war-based computer games (first person shooters), I am familiar with the simplest definition of the job of the sniper. “The Sniper’s Mind” delves into many more nuances than I was familiar with, skills snipers must have in order to make the shot, but also skills needed to put themselves into position to make the shot, as well as understanding how the environment can modify the shot. There is a lot going on besides pulling a trigger. The author maps the skills required of snipers to skills required in business. It’s a pretty good match, and makes for some interesting reading. I tend to enjoy when a book makes me reframe what I know in a new way, and this book did this well. For example, a sniper often must embed themselves into a location, becoming as innocuous as a local, in order to blend in and collect intelligence on the target. Sounds like market intelligence to me, and I can see where that description might lead a business leader to do his market research differently. The author includes plenty of stories about snipers, so you get some military history here as well as business.

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Review: Effortless: Make It Easy to Get the Right Things Done

Effortless: Make It Easy to Get the Right Things Done by Greg McKeown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading McKeown’s follow-on to his “Essentialism”. I found this to be full of interesting real-world examples that provided much food for thought concerning the topics being discussed, on getting things done. Here he breaks down getting things done into 15 concepts and provides a chapter for each. Examples are reducing work by eliminating requirements, rethinking (or “inverting” a problem to find a simpler way to handle it and using automation to do something once and have it repeated. While the concepts and the organization weren’t new or earth shattering, the content was interesting and well put together.

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Review: How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Wow, was this title wrong. I have read a number of books about attention in modern society, and hoped that this was similar to those pop science/self help books, but updated. Instead, this is a personal screed on, among other things, working to walk back progress. Unlike other books on attention written from a scientific perspective or intending to help the reader fix an issue, this was written from an artist/protester perspective, and gave no guidance. This is more a philosophy or personal memoir kind of book. About half the book is about the author’s thoughts and actions, which lean to protesting the current state of the world. If you are looking for the author’s take on Diogenes, who appeared here to have never “done nothing” given the authors extended examples from his life, this is the place. If you are interested in dealing with issues concerning attention, look elsewhere.

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Review: Prefabulous Small Houses

Prefabulous Small Houses by Sheri Koones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nice variety of homes featured, in order from small to large. The small ones were very small, and the large ones were larger than I would have expected, but provided some good ideas when thinking about designing and building your own small house. I enjoyed the pictures, the home "metadata" and floorplan, and the brief writeups featuring technologies used. For design ideas, this was fine. I had enough questions on some of the homes that I wanted to see more pictures or find more information. I can imagine a more detailed look at some of these houses, perhaps using video, would fill that need. Hint, hint...

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Review: Microtrends Squared: The New Small Forces Driving the Big Disruptions Today

Microtrends Squared: The New Small Forces Driving the Big Disruptions Today by Mark Penn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another reviewer wrote that a futurist book like this is a kind of time capsule, highlighting the topics that are top of mind during the time period when the book was written, and often focused on the author’s interests. This seems true here. The author, from both the political and tech realms, provides some interesting food for thought on trends in these areas. He also provides interesting analysis on trends in other areas, especially social and health. The author writes dozens of chapters, all on different topics. I appreciated the organization, which made it easier to follow. I had read the author’s earlier “Microtrends” book, written more than a decade ago, just a couple of years ago. I found the author’s take on future trends interesting then as well, but I noted that he had missed a few, like cloud computing. Here he changes tune to correct that mis-prediction. Feels more correct now, making me wonder if just the opposite will happen.

I’ve always found these type of futurist books, covering a wide variety of topics, are great food for thought when doing long term planning. The analysis, and often odd choice of topics, helps creativity, and reminds that not everything happens using straight line projections. You can sense some of the prose seems very pro conservative, and other seems just the opposite. Quite interesting to follow the author’s reasoning. You can also see the author’s suggestions as to making elections better, written after the 2016 elections and reflecting what I believe was the liberal thought at the time, now reads like the post-2020 election conservative viewpoint. Talk about a time capsule.

I listened to this on audio. There are a large number of chapters on different topics. I found it a little hard to keep track what was being discussed, but this was not a huge problem, just something to look out for when listening – this may require more attention than some audiobooks. I also note that the author quotes from a prodigious number of sources. This includes quotes as well as statistical information. On audio, this can be difficult to listen to and follow, and this is probably a good reason to recommend the print/ebook versions if you have great interest in these topics.


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Review: The Color of Magic

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I realize there are many, many books in the Ringworld series, and I’m surprised I hadn’t gotten into them. I enjoy occasional forays into fantasy/sci-fi series, but have always been behind on the ones I had started. So finding myself wanting to explore a little, I picked up the first of this series. I found bits that were quite funny, especially the involvement of an insurance salesman tourist in a fantasy world, as well as his mobile luggage. Quite entertaining. The characters were interesting as well. On reflection, I found that the story felt too episodic, like stand-alone short stories, without a driving force putting them together in a compelling way. This was fine but unexpected, being the first in a series. I also felt the satire, or the humor, was a bit too overwhelming for the story at times. I found the story not quite what I expected, and I found I enjoyed the story less than I hoped. I can see the cleverness of the author here, though, and I know some times it takes me a while to better appreciate a work. I’ll be considering reading more in this series when the mood hits me again for this kind of humor.

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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.

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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.


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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.

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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.

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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.

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