Review: Miranda Hart's Joke Shop: The Complete First Radio Series

Miranda Hart's Joke Shop: The Complete First Radio Series by Miranda Hart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While I had never seen the TV series, or even heard of it, I enjoyed the radio series, in all its radio-ness. Well done, and the kind of humor that works well on radio.

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Review: The Pearl

The Pearl by John Steinbeck
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes, you have to leave IMMEDIATELY.

And keeping your mouth shut only works if you do it from the beginning.

Life lessons from Steinbeck.

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Review: Gratitude

Gratitude by Oliver Sacks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well written and short. And, as expected, sweet, yet melancholy.

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Review: The Four Doors

The Four Doors by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nice little motivational book, about thinking through your choices. Nothing new, nice repetitive message.

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Review: From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front-Line Dispatches from the Advertising War

From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front-Line Dispatches from the Advertising War by Jerry Della Femina
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed reading books on advertising in the past, and this one was another good one. What struck me was the playfulness that the author put into the writing. Also, I found his descriptions of selling advertising campaigns to be so very similar to my work selling enterprise software. In Della Femina’s case, he was pitching a concept, but what sold the concept was the team behind the work. It was really the team that was being bought. In my case, we were also selling a concept, one that would require massive time and energy commitments from management to make the benefits come to fruition. And often the project would get reduced along the way. So the customer was buying the idea, as well as the team to implement that idea, the team that could drag a project over the bumps in the road. Idea sales for business has some similarities.

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Review: The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols: Adapted from the Journals of John H. Watson, M.D.

The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols: Adapted from the Journals of John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicholas Meyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Meyer's Holmes romp across Europe to handle a righteous cause that ends up not quite as earthshattering as Holmes expects. At least according to Mycroft. Enjoyable in the action, but too many details tying this into actual history.

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Review: Postcards from Route 66: The Ultimate Collection from America's Main Street

Postcards from Route 66: The Ultimate Collection from America's Main Street by Joe Sonderman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Postcard photos from vintage tourist traps, motels, restaurants, and more along the Route. Cards and summaries are divided by state, running East to West. It's an interesting reminder of the pre-chain days, where each place you visited was in some way unique. Most interesting to me was in how each establishment chose to market itself to travelers through their postcards -- do you show the hotel building, the rooms, the pool, or everything. A lot of places did kind of look the same, even though they weren't chains. I was surprised by some of the cards included, and also surprised by some not included. There's only limited space...

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