Colorado Reader

The Eyre Affair

2010-12-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is a great story about the office of special operations in an alternative history England. Thursday Next is introduced as a Literica Ops (Special Ops 27) agent who investigates literature issues. She is plunged into the exciting world of Special Ops 5 when a manuscript is stolen in a bizarre fashion.

The world that Thursday inhabits is an alternative to what we know. Winston Churchill tripped and died as a child, Wales is a walled off state behind an iron curtain, cloning animals is common with Dodos being favored pets, and airships are the preferred mode of transport as airplanes never became popular.

Above all, this story is fun. The writing style is entertaining with colorful commentary such as "I was born on a Thursday so my parents named me Thursday. My brother was born on a Wednesday so they named him Anton."

Also, the story is full of literary references, half of which I'm sure I missed. The Eyre of the title is none other than Jane Eyre who you meet through the course of the story.
I'll definitely be reading more Thursday Next novels.

Have a Little Faith

2010-12-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

Have a Little Faith: A True Story is Mitch Albom's second non-fiction work after Tuesdays with Morrie which I enjoyed. This story followed Mitch as he met with his rabbi for several years because his childhood rabbi had asked him to give his eulogy. At roughly the same time, Mitch came to know of a struggling Detroit pastor who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and was preaching from a church with no heat and a giant hole in the roof.

The story seemed mostly of a growth story of Mitch's character as he met with his rabbi. This was a good story, but Mitch tried to mix in the story about the Detroit pastor and did a poor job of convincing the reader that his rabbi and this other pastor were of equal importance or in someway had their stories intermingled.

Fatherhood

2010-09-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

Fatherhood by Bill Cosby is a great book. This is Bill Cosby's tongue in cheek guide to being a father. It really stands out when compared to other humorous books about parenting in that Bill Cosby genuinely loves kids and loves being a father. While he does chastise his children for not listening, he also takes the time to mention that they are still loved and valued. This is markedly different and came across clearly while I was reading.

Whenever your kids are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that even God's omnipotence did not extend to His kids. After creating the heaven, the earth, the oceans, and the entire animal kingdom, God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing He said to them was "Don't"-he hurled no negatives at the elephant-but to the brightest of His creatures, teh ones who get into Yale, He said "Don't."

"Don't what?" Adam replied.

"Don't eat the forbidden fruit."

"Forbidden fruit? Really? Where is it?"

Is this beginning to sound familiar? You never realized that the pattern of your life had been laid down in the Garden of Eden.

One Two Three... Infinity

2010-09-14T05:50:00.000-07:00

One Two Three... Infinity by George Gamow is a survey of scientific topics. I really enjoyed the section "Playing with Numbers" and "Macrocosmos".

The book starts with a poem which tickles my funny bone.

There was a young fellow from Trinity

Who took the square root of infinity

But the number of digits

Gave him the fidgets;

He dropped Math and took up Divinity.

The book includes a survey of several scientific topics and the number theory was the most interesting. It discussed the concept of infinity in a way that was very familiar after reading The Mystery of the Aleph. Prior to this reading, I hadn't considered the difficulty of expressing large numbers. Imagine a roman citizen trying to express the concept of 1 Million. Here is 1E6 or 1 * 10^6 or 1,000,000 in Roman Numerals :

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

I'd recommend picking up the book and skimming it to find sections that interest you.

Permission Marketing

2010-09-14T05:42:00.000-07:00

Permission Marketing by Seth Godin was a good read. It's mostly a discussion of how the broadcast medium has changed over the last several decades and how you should react to that by developing a culture of marketing through customer permission. This includes opt-in messages, events, and long term interactive campaigns.

We think of television as still being a mass market and yet Godin points this out:

The final episode of Seinfeld made media headlines. Yet thirty years ago Seinfeld's ratings wouldn't have made Nielsen's list of top twenty-five shows of the season.

Permission Marketings is summarized as being anticipated, personal, and relevant.

Anticipated - people look forward to hearing from you.

Personal - the messages are directly related to the individual.

Relevant - the marketing is about something the prospect is interested in.

The Millionaire Next Door

2010-08-29T06:07:00.000-07:00

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. This is a popular book that describes what the average millionaire really looks like. I've read this book before, but it was good enough to warrant a reread.

The book was split into a couple of large sections. First, they discuss who the average millionaire is and how they got to be that way. The book characterizes most millionaires as first generation millionaires who drive older cars and wear "normal" clothes. Several interesting anecdotes are shared describing the surprise between how people perceive "millionaires" and what real millionaires are like.

The second half of the book talks about children of millionaires and the concept of Economic Outpatient Care (EOC). EOC is when rich parents provide financial support to their children and the book discusses how that financial support, though well meaning, is often detrimental to their children's success in life.

My wife and I like this story as an explanation for how "stuff" can motivate you to spend more money:

Take, for example, the affluent parents who gave their son Bill and daughter-in-law Helen a $9,000 rug that we were told contained millions of hand-tied knots. Bill is a civil engineer who works for the state. He earns less than $55,000 a year. His parents feel compelled to help him maintain a lifestyle and level of dignity congruent with someone with a graduate degree from a prestigious university. Of course, the expensive rug looked out of place in a room filled with hand-me-down furniture and inexpensive light fixtures. So Bill and Helen felt compelled to purchase expensive walnut dining room furniture, a crystal chandelier, a solid-silver service, and expensive lamps. Thus the gift of the $9,000 rug precipitated the consumption of nearly that same amount for the other "affluent artifacts."

Meatball Sundae

2010-07-02T08:22:00.001-07:00

Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin was an entertaining read as is are most of Seth Godin's books. The unappetizing title is supposed to represent how traditional companies (referred to as factories, producing a widget) try to use "new media" and social media as "toppings" on their existing business plans.

Godin describes that reality is that new media and old companies don't go well together. New media, embracing your customers more directly, requires a new business model to succeed.

This is a good read if you are trying to adapt your company to use new media/social media to market yourself.

The Stolen Child

2010-06-30T00:28:00.001-07:00

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue was an amazing page turner. This is the tale of the changeling myth. The myth goes that forest creatures live in the forest, spying on our families, seeking out a child with whom they can swap places. The changeling converts their shape, voice, and mannerisms to match those of the child. Meanwhile, the child who is stolen is magically converted into a changeling.

This tale follows the story of the changeling who becomes a boy and the boy he replaces who becomes a changeling. The story is told in a way that causes you to care for both the boy and the changeling and to desperately turn pages to see what happens next.

Proverbs

2010-06-30T00:23:00.000-07:00

Proverbs from The Message is Eugene Peterson's bible translation of just the book of Proverbs. I've always enjoyed Proverbs, definitely my favorite book of the bible. This thin, small book is a great size for carrying with you for easy reading. It's also the right price, currently $2.49 at Amazon.

Timeline

2010-06-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

Timeline by Michael Crichton is pretty typical Crichton. The science in Jurassic Park was much more believable, but if you can let yourself think past the outrageous science claims, it has a good story with time travel at the heart of it. The plot is a fast paced romp through the historical French countryside

The Slight Edge

2010-06-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

They Slight Edge by Jeff Olson was a good read. I particularly chuckled when Olson called his book not a how-to book even though it is.

"The formula for success is quite simple: double your rate of failure. -Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (founder of IBM)"

The major point of the book seemed to be that slight changes, both easy to do and easy not to do will make large impacts in our lives over time. In fact, an action taken on a single day will likely not have a visible result that day.

Olson also advocates journaling progress against your goals. At the end of the day, record what you have done to work towards or away from your goals. I'm looking forward to trying this out.

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010

2010-04-05T23:00:00.001-07:00

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010 is a fairly thorough guide that we used for planning a trip to Disney World. This was a great help to us in avoiding lines and having a great time in Disney World. It gave advice in a very playful way that was fun to read.

I like this Q&A included in the book from another reader:

Your book reads like the operations plan for an amphibious landing: Go here, do this, proceed to Step 15. You must think that everyone is a hyperactive, type-A theme-park commando. What happened to the satisfaction of self-discovery or the joy of spontaneity? Next you will be telling us when to empty our bladders.

As it happens, Unofficial Guide researchers are a pretty existential crew. We are big on self-discovery if the activity is walking in the woods or watching birds. Some of us are able to improvise jazz, and others can whip up a mean pot of chili without a recipe. When it comes to Disney World, however, we all agree that you need either a good plan or a frontal labotomy. The operational definition of self-discovery and spontaneity at Walt Disney World is the "pleasure" of heat prostration and the "joy" of standing in line.
...
We aren't saying that you can't have a great time at Walt Disney World. What we are saying is that you need a plan. You don't have to be compulsive or inflexible; just think about what you want to do before you go.

The Big Red Fez

2010-02-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

The Big Red Fez by Seth Godin is a quick survey of various website design issues presented in a very easy to read format. I finished this quick book (107 pages) in an evening. It is composed of a screenshot of a web page followed by some commentary. Through this example-based survey of real web sites Seth Godin asks "Where's the Banana?" His catch-phrase is to show that on every page of your site, the next step should be fairly obvious.

The best thing you can learn from reading this book is how to critically look at your website and presentation materials to evaluate how they are performing.

It's All About Him

2009-12-31T13:55:00.000-08:00

It's All About Him by Denise Jackson is the autobiographical story of Denise Jackson, wife to country super star Alan Jackson. The story is a compelling tale of the transition from "It's all about him [Alan Jackson, husband]" to "It's all about him [Christ]".

The text is full of short, simple sentences that sounds more conversational than most of the books I read.

A Dirty Job

2009-11-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

This is a hilarious tale about the personification of Death (akin to On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony) in which "Death Merchants" inherit the job of a helper to Death. Christopher Moore has a hilariously dead-pan comic delivery that frequently had me laughing out loud. The story could have finished better, but Christopher Moore's story telling and comic style is definitely worth reading.

It was two weeks before Charlie left the apartment and walked down to the auto-teller on Columbus Avenue where he first killed a guy. His weapon of choice was the number forty-one bus, on its way from the Trans Bay station, by the Bay Bridge, to the Presidio, by the Golden Gate Bridge. If you're going to get hit by a bus in San Francisco, you want to go with the forty-one, because you can pretty much figure on there being a nice bridge view. Charlie hadn't really counted on killing a guy that morning.

Later, the protagonist Charlie... acquires some Hell Hounds. They are entertaining creatures.

"So, you're hellish beasts from another dimension, and you like toast. Okay."
Then, as Charlie started to toast four more slices, he stopped, feeling stupid. "You don't really care if it's toasted, do you?" He flipped a slice of bread to the closest of the dogs, who snapped it out of the air. "Okay, that will speed things up." Charlie fed tehm the remainder of the loaf of bread. He spread a few slices with a thick coat of peanut butter, which did nothing whatsoever, then a half dozen more he spread with lemon dishwasher gel, which appeared to have no ill effect except that it made them burp neat, aquamarine-colored bubbles.

Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy

2009-09-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy by Lindsay Moran

Lindsay Moran wrote this tale of joining the CIA and gives a realistic picture of what it is like to be in the Directorate of Operations (DO). This was interesting and humorous at the same time as you listen to her tales of training and field work. To sum up, the CIA is nothing like 007 and is full of paperwork.

For more background, Lindsay was interviewed by CNN at the book release and discussed briefly her dissatisfaction with the US Intelligence department.

Revelation Space

2009-09-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds

This is a fun science fiction read that explores a fun universe including space travel slower than light speed. Faster than Light (ftl) travel seems a staple of most sci-fi books that a novel without ftl is intriguing by itself.

It did take about 100 pages to get into the story and finally piece everything together in a way that you could follow the separate tales being told. This is longer than I typically like, but the book was pretty captivating once past the first 100 pages of exposition. It told the story of Sylveste investigating a previously unknown species that became extinct approximately 900,000 years ago.

Release It! Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software

2009-09-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

Release It! Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software by Michael T. Nygard is a very practical read on building production-ready software. There is an entirely under-rated skill set related to building a system for production and this book shows some of what it takes to build systems. Creating a quality software application is not just clever algorithms and easy-to-use screens, it also includes redundancy, planning, upgrades, extensibility, uptime, etc.

One highlight:

Avoid fiddling:
Human intervention leads to problems. Eliminate the need for
recurring human intervention. Your system should run at least for a
typical deployment cycle without manual disk cleanups or nightly
restarts.

And I loved this sidebar on Object-Pooling. You don't hear much about this anymore.

In early versions of Java (around the 1.2 time frame), the idea that long-lived objects were good gained currency. I specifically remember being told that "creating an object is the second most expensive thing you can do in Java." (the first being creation of a new thread). The answer, supposedly, was to avoid creating objects whenever possible. Instead you were supposed to keep objects around and reuse them.

Whether that was ever true is the subject of heated debate in the Java community. Either way, with the current JVMs, object pooling is not the answer. Some systems have gone to ridiculous lengths to avoid creating new objects. They add so much complexity and bookkeeping that any possible performance gains will be wiped out.

The following table shows timing from a simple application that uses a NameFormatter to format 50,000 names. In the "pooled" configuration, the Jakarta "commons-pool" package is used to make an object pool to reuse the NameFormatter. In the "unpooled" configuration, 50,000 individual NameFormatters are created. The data clearly shows that the bookkeeping overhead of the pool overwhelms the expense of constructing the objects. (All tests are against JDK 1.4.2)

OS CPU Speed Overhead Pooled Overhead Disposable
Windows XP Pro 1.86 GHz 20.30% 10.17%
Linux 2.6.14 2.66 GHz 31.46% 23.42%
Mac OS 10.4.4 1.67 GHz 24.69% 15.69%

Reserve object pooling for objects that really are expensive to create, such as network connections, database connections, and worker threads.

OS	CPU Speed	Overhead Pooled	Overhead Disposable
Windows XP Pro	1.86 GHz	20.30%	10.17%
Linux 2.6.14	2.66 GHz	31.46%	23.42%
Mac OS 10.4.4	1.67 GHz	24.69%	15.69%

The Mystery of the Aleph

2009-09-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

The Mystery of the Aleph: Mathematics, the Kabbalah, and the Search for Infinity by Amir D. Aczel tells the story of Georg Cantor, a mathematician who pursued the concept of Infinity and tried to define it. This book was an interesting guide to mathematics research in the late 1800s and early 1900s. An easy read, the story also gives incite to the complexity of infinity. Below are some excerpts that discuss some of the puzzles of infinity.

Nicholas likened the knowledge of God to a circle. He visualized human knowledge of God to a circle. He visualized human knowledge as a polygon inscribed within the circle. From these principles, Nicholas constructed a limit argument whereby as human knowledge increases, the polygon gains more and more sides, their number approaching infinity. But Nicholas concluded that no matter how much such knowledge grows, it could never reach God's knowledge in the same way that an inscribed polygon never actually becomes the circle - no matter how many sides it has.

Salviati sets up a one-to-one correspondence between the integers and all he squares of integers and says "We must conclude that there are as many squares as there are numbers." Thus an infinite set, the set of all whole numbers, is shown to be "equal in number" to the set of all squares of whole numbers, which is a proper subset of the set of whole numbers. How can this be possible?

He looked at a very simple mathematical function, y=2x. He let this function act on all the numbers in the domain space: all the numbers between zero and one. For each of these numbers, the function y=2x assigns a unique number in the range space: the space of all numbers between zero and two. For example, the number 0.5, which lives int he domain between 0 and 1 is now assigned a value in the range (0 to 2) given by: y=2x=2(0.5)=1. In the same way, every real number (real number means a rational number or an irrational number) between 0 and 1 is assigned a unique companion between 0 and 2. Therefore, Bolzano concluded, there are as many numbers between 0 and 1 as there are in the interval 0 to 2, which has twice the length of the 0 to 1 interval.

Guerrilla Marketing

2009-08-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson is sold as an underdog's guide to marketing for the entrepreneur. Levinson has written so many "Guerrilla" books, it was difficult to track down this original volume that started the Levinson craze. I read the 4th edition and enjoyed all of Levinson's specific advice, but really hated the tone which permeated the book. His style stunk of "I'm better than you" and "Everything you are doing is wrong, I am your savior". Here's a brief excerpt that shows what I am talking about. I could have easily picked an example from almost any page in the book.

Traditional marketing would have you believe that advertising works, that having a Web site works, that direct mail and e-mail work. To those antiquated notions, guerrilla marketing says nonsense, nonsense, and nonsense. Advertising doesn't work. Not anymore it doesn't. Web-sites? Get serious. People learn daily that they are paths to financial oblivion and shattered dreams. Direct mail and e-mail used to work. But not anymore. [Doesn't this sound like Levinson is saying that none of those methods work and you are an idiot for using any of them in any way?] So what does work? Guerrillas know that marketing combinations work. If you run a series of ads, have a Web site, and then do a direct mailing or an e-mailing. they'll all work, and they'll each help the others work.

His conclusions are valid, but his style is offensive. It's almost as though there wasn't enough content in the book without him insulting his target audience.

His book also includes occasional plugs for services as in the following excerpt.

Naturally, people are quick to open priority and express mail. But it costs a lot to send - unless you're a guerrilla. Envelopes that look like priority and express envelopes that are approved by the U.S. Postal Service are availble to be sent first class or bulk rate. To get a free sample, call [phone number omitted]. If it's important to you to get your envelope opened, you'll call that number.

Do we really need to have a plug in this hardcopy book for a phone number that most likely doesn't work anymore? How much did Levinson get paid for that plug I wonder?

Also, I hate getting "fake" priority mail envelopes. Nothing says scam louder than an envelope that is attempting to mislead me.

A Shortage of Engineers

2009-07-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

A Shortage of Engineers by Robert Grossbach is a novel about a young engineer named Zack Zaremba. Zack is a new engineer working on a transceiver for International Instruments, a defense contractor working on the latest projects for the department of defense.

The book was definitely more crude than what I prefer, but I loved the depiction of the engineers working in the closed facility. When Zack shows up to work, he has a desk in a room alone, with no power outlets and is given no direction for several weeks. This isn't fiction :) I laughed several times while reading it and it was a quick read.

Dreams From My Father

2009-06-17T11:16:00.001-07:00

Dreams From My Father was written by Barack Obama while he was senator-elect for Illinois.

I have a distaste for political books written during an election year (Audacity of Hope) because I never know which parts of the book really represent the author and which parts are pure vote-generating doublespeak. That's why I chose to read Dreams From My Father because it was written before Obama vaulted into national politics, hoping it would give me insight into what kind of man he was.

It was enlightening and a little disappointing. I chuckled when Obama struggled to define what exactly a "Community Organizer" does when given several chapters to do so.

In this auto-biography subtitled "A story of race and inheritance" Obama portrays himself time and time again as a lonely, confused black american who needs to do good for the sake of african american's everywhere. If a project did not benefit the blacks of Chicago, it didn't seem worth his time. This was a disappointing viewpoint that I did not expect to find when reading through his auto-biography.

This was a good read, an interesting growing up tale of being lost and searching for what you are called to do. The book showed Obama's great love for people (of a certain color) and how he could help them as well as demonstrating his excellent communication skills. I just wish that it didn't seem that his desire to help others was so focused on a single racial group.

The Broker

2009-05-06T15:58:00.001-07:00

The Broker by John Grisham

The Broker is a great cloak-and-dagger tale of a larger-than-life Washington power-broker who ends up with a secret that puts him into prison, earns him a presidential pardon, and puts him on the run. John Grisham delivers great reads that are fun and compel you to finish them quickly. I think this is one of Grisham's better novels.

Only A Few Bones

2009-05-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

Only A Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and its Aftermath by John Colletta

This book is a true account summarizing research done by John Colletta into the tragic burning of an old family store many generations ago. Using thorough research techniques he writes a research tome about his family in narrative form. Unfortunately, reading this book is like watching a dancing bear. It is amazing that the bear dances, but the bear does not dance well. It was interesting to read a true tale of life at the mouth of the Mississippi river, but his writing style was more like dry research than interesting story.

I also disliked the implication the author gives that "anyone" could write such a story. He chose a well documented event from his history that included depositions and several newspaper stories. From having done a minimal amount of family research, finding such an event in your past from more than 50 years ago is quite a treasure chest of family information and not common.

The book presents an interesting concept (putting family history into narrative form) but does not deliver any interest in finishing the book.

No Enemy But Time

2009-04-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

No Enemy But Time by Martin Bishop

At the library, without my list of recommended books I picked a Nebula Winner (1982) in hopes of finding some exciting new science fiction. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. In fact, half way through I stopped reading.

The story is about Joshua Kampa who can "dream" himself back in time and his involvement with the military in a time traveling program that leverages his ability. He joins a "pack"/"herd"/?? of habilines (pre-homosapiens) and after becoming infatuated with a dominant female (Helen), impregnates her. At this point, I stopped reading because the writing wasn't convincing enough to me to believe his situation or environment. Had I been engrossed, immersed in his world, I would have finished the book. I've heard that the ending of the book is quite good with a surprise twist, but if I have to read more of Bishop's unconvincing narrative to get there, it isn't worth it.

Wild at Heart

2009-04-05T13:56:00.000-07:00

Wild at Heart: Discovering The Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldredge

Wild at Heart was a Christmas gift for me that languished under my bookshelf for some time. I pulled it out and devoured it because I found the book so compelling. This book is about the heart of a man and what it means to be "wild." I had a friend who wanted to be dangerous for Christ and I think this book describes that mindset.

From the author's introduction:

I know. I almost want to apologize. Dear Lord-do we really need another book for men?
Nope. We need something else. We need permission.
Permission to be what we are-men made in God's image. Permission to live from the heart and not from the list of "should" and "ought to" that has left so many of us tired and bored.
Most messages for men ultimately fail. The reason is simple: They ignore what is deep and true to a man's heart, his real passions, and simply try to shape him up through various forms of pressure. "This is the man you ought to be. This is what a good husband/father/Christian/churchgoer ought to do." Fill in the blanks from there. He is responsible, sensitive, disciplined, faithful, diligent, dutiful, etc. Many of these are good qualities. That these messengers are well-intentioned I have no doubt. But the road to hell, as we remember, is paved with good intentions. That they are a near total failure should seem obvious by now.
No, men need something else. They need a deeper understanding of why they long for adventures and battles and a Beauty-and why God made them just like that. And they need a deeper understanding of why women long to be fought for, to be swept up into adventure, and to be the Beauty. For that is how God made them as well.

The Peopleware Papers

2008-10-28T22:35:00.001-07:00

The Peopleware Papers: Notes on the Human Side of Software by Larry Constantine

This is the revised version of Constantine on Peopleware. The book is a great collection of short articles and essays on the human side of software including team dynamics, planning, software tools, and software engineer personalities including the infamous Cowboy Coder persona.

I particularly liked this description of the problem of software reuse.

We recycle so many things, from grocery bags to toner cartridges, why not recycle code? Why not reuse our design and models rather than always starting from scratch? The rewards of reuse seem enormous. What code is cheaper to write than the code you don't have to write at all? With higher levels of reuse supported by larger component libraries, we might double or triple effective productivity. All we have to do is change the whole culture of software development and maybe the personalities of programmers.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

2008-10-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

What an outstanding book on relationships and working with others! Written in 1936 using anecdotes ands tories from Dale Carnegie's career as a speaker and professional teacher/trainer the book teaches how to communicate with others in ways that are mutually beneficial. With chapters titled as simply as "Smile" this communicates clearly how to better communicate with others and encourage them to work with you towards what Steven Covey would call a "Win-Win" scenario.

This is an excellent must read that I'll have to pick up a copy of to keep in my library and read over and over. I admittedly give a small chuckle that I have been reading recommended books for so long, but had not stumbled across this classic before.

The Crystal City

2008-10-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

The Crystal City by Orson Scott Card

Book 6 of the Alvin Maker series is the last one that is currently published. It was a great, quick read that I finished very quickly. It was definitely one of the better books in the Alvin Maker Series and it makes me anxious to see the final book in the series, Master Alvin, which Orson Scott Card has promised will rap up the series.

Scratch Beginnings

2008-07-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

Scratch Beginnings - Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard

I learned about the book Scratch Beginnings from an interview with Adam Shepard posted on Get Rich Slowly that I found intriguing. The premise of the book is that Adam left home and started with $25 to see if he could "make it" starting with nothing. This is a great story about overcoming challenges and making sacrifices to succeed at your goals.

"I am going to start almost literally from scratch with one 8’ x 10’ tarp, a sleeping bag, an empty gym bag, $25, and the clothes on my back. Via train, I will be dropped at a random place somewhere in the southeastern United States that is not in my home state of North Carolina. I have 365 days to become free of the realities of homelessness and become a “regular” member of society. After one year, for my project to be considered successful, I have to possess an operable automobile, live in a furnished apartment (alone or with a roommate), have $2,500 in cash, and, most importantly, I have to be in a position in which I can continue to improve my circumstances by either going to school or starting my own business." - Premise of the project from the introduction to Scratch Beginnings.

The majority of the book is a recap of what happened during the experience without many conclusions being drawn until the last chapter. This made the book read much more like a narrative tale and I was expecting more conclusions and insight throughout the book as opposed to saved only for the conclusion and epilogue.

Heartfire (The Tales of Alvin Maker V)

2008-07-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

Heartfire by Orson Scott Card

This is the fifth book in the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card. This is much better than book Prentice Alvin (book 3) and slightly better than Alvin Journeyman (book 4). I'm already halfway through The Crystal City (book 5) because of how much I enjoyed Alvin Journeyman.

The world of Alvin Maker is gearing up for an abolitionist battle between free and slave at the same time that Alvin's little brother (Calvin Maker) is learning his abilities as maker.

The Psychology of Everyday Things

2008-07-21T10:17:00.001-07:00

The Psychology of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman, later republished as The Design of Everyday Things.

The Psychology of Everyday Things (nicknamed POET by the author) is a great read on design. The book was published in 1988 and is incredibly helpful to software usability design. Great analysis of everyday objects like door handles and car radios easily demonstrate several concepts that make a great design such as having immediate feedback, providing a mapping between the controls for an object and the object itself, etc. The book does talk briefly about computers and their interfaces, even taking some time to try and explain the new concept called "hypertext" but the great benefit to software design is the explanation of various real world objects and how they fail at usable design.

A great example from the book is the interior of an airplane. The switch that controls the landing gear looks identical and is placed next to the switch that controls the flaps. It is a common mistake to retract the landing gear while on the ground when the pilot only desired to adjust the flaps. This is a failure of design, not pilot error. Too often, we blame users if they click the wrong button, but don't look to the designer for why the "delete all data" button is right next to the "save" button.

The Copper Scroll

2008-07-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

The Copper Scroll by Joel C. Rosenberg

This sequel to The Ezekiel Option continues this end-times fiction tale just after most of Russia, Iran, and the middle east were destroyed in a firestorm. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, one scroll was different than the others, the Copper Scroll. It told of treasures and riches hidden in secret locations and according to this novel, it was a treasure map of sorts to the hidden treasures from the Jewish Temple.

The Ezekiel Option was a great novel because of how real it felt while reading it. The Ezekiel Option felt more like a political thriller that was about to happen whereas The Copper Scroll reads more like an Indiana Jones story, set in a fictional environment. It was much less enjoyable than the Ezekiel Option.

Rocket Boys

2008-06-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam Jr.

This is a memoir of life growing up in a small coal town in West Virginia. Homer Hickam Jr. (called Sonny by most) was in school when Sputnik was launched. This spawned an interest in space and rocketry. With the help of some friends who become known as the "Rocket Boys" they start building and launching rockets. They experiment with different fuels, diameters, lengths, fin designs, and nozzles to attempt to build bigger and better rockets.

Family interactions were a big part of this book as you see the relationship between Sonny and his father. Sonny had a strained relationship and his father did not express much towards him.

The story is an exciting read that concludes with several launches of the groups rockets, each going higher than the last.

I had seen October Sky (movie adaption of the book) a while ago and didn't remember thinking much of it. This book on the other hand is an outstanding story about rocketry as well as a view of small town West Virginia in a town built for the sole purpose of mining coal.

This version of the book contained several pages of photos. You can see some of them at Homer Hickam's website.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

2008-06-04T08:45:00.001-07:00

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

This book is written much more like a text book than a book you can casually pick up and read. The over arching theme is the common aspects of mythological stories across culture and time. Several examples are given as myths that meet the given patterns of a hero and various parts of the hero's journey from calling, creation, battles, etc.

Too hard to read is my conclusion. The chapters or sections do not flow well from one to the next. This is more like reading a textbook with loosely related chapters. It does not seem like you would lose anything from reading chapters in a different order or skipping whole chapters all together.

I didn't enjoy the author's writing style or the book's organization even though I enjoy the subject matter.

Wikipedia has a good summary of the content including this quote defining the concept of the "monomyth":

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

Alvin Journeyman (The Tales of Alvin Maker IV)

2008-05-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

Alvin Journeyman by Orson Scott Card

This is book 4 of the Tales of Alvin Maker Series and is much better than book 3. An important criteria for a series of books is that each book should have a separate plot that is concluded within the book as well as leaving small plot points open for future books. Alvin Journeyman achieves this by telling the tale of false accusations against Alvin Maker related to the golden plow and leaving the plot possibilities of Calvin (Alvin's little brother, also a seventh son of a seventh son) for future story development.

Your Employee Stock Options

2008-05-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Your Employee Stock Options by Alan Ungar

I just finished this book and have to say, it was terrible. There was very, very little information in the book and most of it was focused on promoting further services from the author. I've had stock options at two different companies and this book provided me no useful advice that could have been used with either company. While looking for a cover image, I stumbled across this review which, unlike Alan Ungar's book, I did enjoy reading.

The Ezekiel Option

2008-04-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Ezekiel Option by Joel C. Rosenberg

This suspenseful novel was recommended to me by a coworker. I've read about half of Lahaye and Jenkin's Left Behind series and stopped reading them as they became too slow and dull. A fun read set just before the tribulation that focuses primarily on prophecy in Ezekiel 38 about an attack against Israel by Russia and Iran.

The novel is very well intertwined with current events and Joel Rosenberg does an unusually good job of creating a plausible setting for the end times. If you feel like I do that Left Behind did not create a realistic setting for the beginning of the tribulation than you will enjoy the realistic political manipulation in the Ezekiel Option.

Everything is Miscellaneous

2008-04-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger

David Weinberger writes about the organization of information. He provides three classifications for data:

First Order: actual objects - books on a bookshelf are physical items, made of atoms and can only be in one place at one time.

Second Order: meta data - organize a small amount of meta data about an item. A library card catalog can order info by subject, author, and title. It also includes limited other information like # of pages and publishing year.

Third Order: Every piece of data can be searched or organized on because of it's digital nature. This is very much the idea seen at del.icio.us and flickr with tags. You could search for a book based on a quote or vice-versa.

The book starts with descriptions of the first and second order of information and includes several examples. The book then moves to discuss the third order and celebrates the coming information boon we'll have through "miscellaneous" information.

I agree with the premise of the book, but it was far too long for the subject matter covered. It was hard to finish because the text was redundant. This subject would have been much better covered with a long article in Wired or a similar magazine.

The Winter of Our Discontent

2008-04-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck

This was a fun novel to pick up and read. I stumbled across it because I was looking for Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and when it was absent, I glanced around and was intrigued by the title.

I had heard the phrase "Now is the winter of our discontent" before and thought I'd be interested in hearing more about the origination of the term, especially from the author of "Of Mice and Men". Halfway through the book, I realized that the quote is from Shakespeare and was borrowed by Steinbeck.

The book was a very fun read. Steinbeck has a light-hearted sense of humor, almost whimsical in the way he portrays Ethan Hawley. Ethan is a clerk in a small grocery store, but comes from a long line of prominent men. He feels beaten down and unimportant in the eyes of his ancestors, but works throughout the book to improve his situation in cunning ways.

Near the end of the book, the novel takes a turn from the whimsical to walk with Ethan as he is mentally disturbed. It was a very strange ending that I did not like. The style, pace, and content of the last 20-30 pages are all so different from the rest of the book that it makes you wonder if someone else wrote them.

Fortunately, the rest of the book is filled with great gems like this one:

While Margie and Mary went through their pleasant litany, "What have you done with your hair?" ... "I like it" ... "That's your color. You should always wear it" - the harmless recognition signals of women - I thought of the most feminine story I ever heard. Two women meet. One cries, "What have you done with your hair? It looks like a wig." "It is a wig." "Well, you'd never know it."

Prentice Alvin (The Tales of Alvin Maker III)

2008-04-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

Prentice Alvin by Orson Scott Card

This is the third book in the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card. I am a fan of his Ender series and have read some of the shadow books. The Alvin Maker stories are set in an alternate history of the United States. I find his depiction of the world full of hexes and "knacks" fun to read. The first two novels in the series stood on their own much better than this novel did.

Tuesdays with Morrie

2008-02-29T15:06:00.001-08:00

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is a great story in which Mitch Albom (sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press) meets with one of his old professors. They work together to write a "thesis" about living and dying that is this book.

I've read this book long ago and enjoyed it. Recently, I listened to the book on CD and it was a very good reading. The last CD included a few tracks of Morrie sharing some information which was really touching to hear.

Digital Fortress

2008-02-29T14:57:00.000-08:00

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown is a thriller/mystery novel about encryption, codes, and the NSA. If you know a fair amount about computers, software, or encryption you'll have to suspend some disbelief to enjoy the novel.

Dan Brown's style seems consistent between many of his novels. He likes to give the protagonist a very sequential series of events or puzzles to work through. Once the protagonist solves the present puzzle, a new puzzle is presented that must be solved under peril of death or doom of some sort. To me, this makes many Dan Brown books very formulaic but still fun to read.

I like the cover shown to the left. You can see that "Dan Brown" is in a larger font than "Digital Fortress." Clearly, the focus of the marketing is behind the author of the Davinci Code, not based on the merit of this particular novel.

Tales from Mistwillow

2008-01-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

Tales from Mistwillow by Cindi Myers, Jeff Shelby, Janet Lane, Charlie Callaway, Sally H. Clark, Liz Hill, Jedeane Macdonald, Lauren Patten , Anne Wilcox , Terry Wright

This is a collection of short fiction by the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. The connecting theme between stories is the fictional town of Mistwillow, CO. A friend of mine contributed to this collection and recommended it. I don't have a good source for recommendations of fictional books and after reading this collection I think I might try reading more short story collections in hopes of finding more authors I want to read.

There was a great deal of variety between the different author styles. My favorite story was Kilning Spree by Lauren Patten.

Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service

2008-01-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles

This is a business book about creating "Raving Fans" instead of just satisfied customers. When I read the book, I did identify with the satisfied customer in that I don't expect good service in most situations. The story is told through an allegory about an Area Manager and his Fairy Godmother named Charles. It is a quick read, similar in style to Who Moved My Cheese.

The Rule of Four

2008-01-03T16:58:00.001-08:00

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

I was recommended the Rule of Four as "similar to the Davinci Code." It is a historical fiction work based on a renaissance puzzle included in a 500 year old text called Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. A group of students at Princeton work to uncover the mystery locked in the ancient text.

The narrator is one of the main characters and the story is told in the first person.

Introduction

2008-01-03T16:53:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a bit lately, and this blog is my attempt to remember the books I've read and what they are about.

I keep a list of books that I am interested in based on recommendations I hear while out and about. Prior to now I haven't kept a list of what I have read. I expect each post to be pretty short: a book, description, and whether I liked it or not.