Review: The Philosophy of Modern Song

The Philosophy of Modern Song by Bob Dylan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Quite an odd book, especially on audio. Dylan picks about 50 pop songs from the 20s to the 90s or so, songs that he likes. For many of them, he does a kind of slam poetry take off of the song lyrics. Then there is an often bizarre writeup about the song itself, or its singer, or composer, or a place it mentions. One song write-up was mostly a list of American pop songs that were originally foreign songs in other languages. On audio, Dylan himself does the slam poetry reading, while a cast of stars take turns reading the song writeups. Not Nobel quality, though you do get a little insight into how Dylan thinks about songs. I listened to the 2/5 of the songs I hadn't heard, or hadn't remembered, before I read the section on the song. It made the book more interesting, and I wouldn't have understood what was being written about otherwise.

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Review: Cinema Speculation

Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoy movies and I really like reading about the movie business, but I’m not keen on horror. It’s odd that, while Tarantino really likes horror movies, he can talk about them and make his whole commentary interesting. It’s not just that the business side of horror movie making is a big part of what he talks about. It’s that he is just so interested, and has thought about these movies so much, that he has found the most interesting stories to tell, and he tells them with a kind of breathless fan-boy attitude that it sucks you into the book. I really enjoyed how he approaches this book in two aspects – first as a commentary and criticism of a few specific movies that he thought were key. The second aspect is to provide his personal background related (or not so much related) to seeing these movies, and growing up as a movie fan in general. Here, you get to hear about his diet of movies and who he attended them with, which theaters he went to, even how rowdy the crowd was. He has a way with getting you to see through his eyes. Listening to this audiobook was a lot like riffing on the topics of the day with college roommates, enjoying the opportunity to imagine after studying dry materials. Very interesting and entertaining, and I’d gladly read more like this from him.

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Review: Lucky Bastard: My Life, My Dad, and the Things I'm Not Allowed to Say on TV

Lucky Bastard: My Life, My Dad, and the Things I'm Not Allowed to Say on TV by Joe Buck
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I know of Joe Buck through occasionally catching him on baseball broadcasts, but mostly through the complaints I hear -- on the radio, at the office, online – about the way he calls games. I lived in St. Louis for a while, and knew of his dad, legendary Cardinals announcer Jack Buck. I always thought he was good, with a good radio voice. Joe seemed more brash. And after listening to Joe Buck narrate this audiobook, I still consider his voice brash. But I understand better how he approaches broadcasting, and appreciate that professionalism. I always felt when he covered Chicago Cubs games he spent more time fawning over the opponents than speaking well of the Cubs, but I think that comes with being raised in St. Louis. There’s something in the water. Besides spilled Budweiser. I listened to Buck’s book as I was reading a book written by Harry Caray about his career. They were both interesting in what they talked about, especially the career paths and the approach to broadcasting. But they were also both felt a bit different in personality. Harry comes across as a truly unique character. Buck, it seemed to me, is more a typical frat boy, though humorous, self deprecating, and with a well spoken charisma. Buck comes across, though, as more relatable – he did a good job at that in his book. I enjoyed it

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Review: 2030: How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything of Everything

2030: How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything of Everything by Mauro F. Guillén
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The big issue with writing a futurist book is actually writing down predictions. With the written prediction, the reader, as time passes and the world changes, can sense the abilities the author has. Are his predictions turning out to be more or less likely over time? That’s the simplest metric. But readers of many of these kinds of futurists books tend to go another level deeper, to determine if the nuances of the prediction are on target or off. Or if there was an interaction with another prediction that had an impact that the author missed. The exercise is left to the reader. This book was written in a friendly, approachable way, and focused on some bigger changes, as well as the business aspects of change. I didn’t really have any “I didn’t see that coming” moments while reading this book, but I did have a number of “I can see that happening” moments (often followed by a quick consideration of impacts on stocks I follow). This, as well as many other futurist books, is valuable for promoting thought and reflection.

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Review: Call for the Dead

Call for the Dead by John le Carré
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A younger Smiley combines analysis with a bit of action, such as it is. Enjoyable for the writing and the short intro to Smiley.

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Review: Find Your Why: A Practical Guide to Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team

Find Your Why: A Practical Guide to Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team by Simon Sinek
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book is divided into a section on finding your personal WHY and finding a business’ WHY. I found the entire process obvious. A good reminder to rethink your purpose, both personally and throughout your organization.

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Review: Field of Thirteen

Field of Thirteen by Dick Francis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this collection of Francis’ racing related short stories. Having read most of his novels, and noting that the novels tended to have a kind of formula, I wondered how he would approach his short stories. He seemed to have dropped his formula, making these more O Henry in revolving around a twist. Instead of focusing on the hero, some of these stories revolved around the villain. You can tell Francis was having some fun trying things out, and that made these fun to read.

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