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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