Review: The 100: Count ONLY Sugar Calories and Lose Up to 18 Lbs. in 2 Weeks

The 100: Count ONLY Sugar Calories and Lose Up to 18 Lbs. in 2 Weeks by Jorge Cruise
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I don’t read diet books, but I found this short audiobook at the library, and thought I would try one. I probably picked the wrong one. The audiobook covered about what I expected. Of the three CDs in the set, the first two went over what the author finds wrong with other diets. The third CD covered the diet, which really was to limit (specific) sugar-based calories to 100 per day. Sounds like a lot of work if you are tracking these things manually. Unfortunately, the publishers of this audiobook decided that three entire chapters would be withheld from audio, and only made available as PDFs. The publishers apparently forgot that people buy audiobooks in order to listen to them, not to read them. While there is certainly some content that is better read than listened to, and in this case that might have been these chapters that actually gave details on how this diet works through recipes and menus, I was left after finishing the audiobook unable to determine if the author had a point or not. For all I know, he could have told you to only eat eye of newt. In cases where the content may be unsuitable for audio, generally where there are long lists, extensive photos or charts, or recipes or Web URLs, publishers would do their readers a favor by providing an audio summary of the extracted content. Authors really should push back if the audio production of their work gets this kind of treatment. The format of this CD set should be listed as partial e-text with abridged audio. Book was going to rate between 1 and 3 stars if I could have listened to all of it, but the audio version gets a 1.

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Review: The Million Dollar Writer: How to Have a Legitimate - and Lucrative - Career as a Writer

The Million Dollar Writer: How to Have a Legitimate - and Lucrative - Career as a Writer by Richard Gallagher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like many other “how to make money writing” books out there. This one suggests focusing on a specialty area of writing, like for technical documentation or writing for trade magazines or for online company marketing efforts. Also describes the author’s ghostwriting practice, but suggests it is very difficult to enter this market. I found the writing was fine, and the stories interesting, making this one of the better of the bunch.

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Review: The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Digital Money Are Challenging the Global Economic Order

The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Digital Money Are Challenging the Global Economic Order by Paul Vigna
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A history of money begins this book on cryptocurrency. Following the history (and interesting philosophy discussion about the meaning of value), the book drills into the history of cryptocurrency and the use of blockchain technology to track its use. The author takes what could be a technical subject and gives just enough description to help non-technical readers understand what is going on when they hear these terms. The book provides a lot of recent history on cryptocurrency, including magazine-style profiles of many leading figures in the industry. Many of the ups and downs of the value of cryptocurrency and attempts at regulation are documented. The book ends with a discussion of the future of cryptocurrency. Written in a popular style, not academic. Good for those wanting a readable introduction.

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Review: Retire Securely: Insights on Money Management from an Award-Winning Financial Columnist

Retire Securely: Insights on Money Management from an Award-Winning Financial Columnist by Julie Jason
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jason has provided a compilation of articles she has written on personal finance topics, organized by theme. I am well read in popular personal finance and retirement planning books, and a majority of the information presented here is covered in other places. Jason does a nice job of organizing the information, and I found that at times she tended to drill a little deeper on topics than, say a Money magazine article. While some times this was useful, at times she included information appropriate when written, such as a discussion on changed savings limits that have, or could, change again in the future. Also, a few topics strayed from the titular intent of this book, such as college funding. Still, overall a good reminder of the issues found when planning for retirement. Two and a half stars, rounded up.

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Review: American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company

American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company by Bryce G. Hoffman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quite an extensive look at the state of the American auto industry during and immediately prior to the financial crisis of 2008, including the story of Ford avoiding bankruptcy. The book starts with Ford’s declining fortunes under Bill Ford, who steps aside as CEO to bring in Alan Mulally from Boeing. The book did an excellent job in setting the background for Mulally’s early tenure at Ford, including describing the board and Bill Ford’s management and style, Mulally’s experience at Boeing, and the detailed pursuit of Mulally for the CEO’s role. The second half of the book described Mulally’s management style and the company’s response to financial issues that ended with Ford’s American competitors in bankruptcy, but with Ford still operating without those protections. Mulally is often described here as having an engineer mindset, and his ability to manage the complexities of Ford through these financial issues is a good explanation of what that means. I found this to be a great story, and a great example of a business book that lets the reader take away ideas about how to approach problems, especially those managing many people with varied alliances within the company.

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Review: The Octopus: A Story of California

The Octopus: A Story of California by Frank Norris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

With more carnage and destruction than a typical Rambo movie, “The Octopus” shows the battle of the farmers against the railroad, but serves as a comparable stand in for the little guy against big business. As Norris writes it, there are winners and losers, but even the winners face a deserved bad ending. I found the story here more depressing than my normal fare, but it’s what I expect from Norris. In Norris’ “McTeague” the dentist main character tells others “don’t make small of me”. That same term comes up here, as a small farmer, specifically one who seems more lucky than smart, worries about others making small of him. Norris chronicles the growing pissing contest between the railroad and the farmers, with carnage, physical and familial, resulting. It seems the smartest guys in the book are the businessmen, so I wonder where Norris’ allegiance lay. I found the description of the farmer’s and the railroad owner’s parties to be quite interesting, and it surprised me that so much of this book’s action revolved around parties. He seemed to be comparing the farmers to the rich businessmen here, who acted in similar ways. One key lesson: stay away from the grain handling equipment.

I listened to the Librivox audio edition of this book. The narrator, Delmar H. Dolbier, used distinctive voices for the many characters in this book. His voices helped distinguish characters throughout the book, and helped with my enjoyment and recollection.

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Review: Daddy, Stop Talking! And Other Things My Kids Want But Won't Be Getting

Daddy, Stop Talking! And Other Things My Kids Want But Won't Be Getting by Adam Carolla
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In short, uncomfortably funny, to me. The overuse of profanity and the general trashing of his own parents are not what I’d consider highlights, but he has some funny bits here, some that seem very familiar to this Dad of two kids. I listened on audio, and this has to be the best way to experience this book. Carolla (apparently) goes off script a number of times, conversing with his producer and bringing his kids to the studio to have their say on how they were raised. Many years ago I enjoyed Carolla’s radio show online, and this was like a cable version of his old show, rants and all. I suspect this is an acquired taste, so ymmv.

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