1Q84

A sprawling, confusing, and ultimately very Japanese book. Taking place in a fictionalized 1984 (authoritarian themes there) and from the dual perspective of Aomame and Tengu.

They have been in love since they were 10, but haven't seen each other since then, and are now lost in a parallel universe where "The Little People" control the world from behind the scenes.

The writing is amazing, layered, and at some points very dense and confusing. But it pulls you in even as it confuses you. Worth a read... a very long read.

Ready Player One

A fun book... after the fall of easy energy, what's left to have life worth living?

Virtual reality gaming, that's what.

Bloom County is Back!

Bloom County is Back!

Seveneves

In Neal Stephenson's new novel, Seveneaves, the moon mysteriously explodes. This conceit drives the rest of the novel, spanning 5000 years and 1100 pages -- first of all with the exodus of some 1500 humans from planet earth into LEO to escape the "hard rain" of the lunar debris, then to the terraforming of the earth after the debris ends.

The book is a fun read, at least the first part near present day. A lot of things are conveniently discarded, like how an even small group of humans could live in space without constant resupply from earth. As is discarded why the moon blew up to begin with.

The future part is pretty meh. Sure, humans have survived and thrived in space, but the massive space "bolos" capable of supporting whole cities and yet not repopulating earth... plus, in five thousand years we won't have exceeded modern computing technology, or propulsion?

A decent, if flawed and finally exhausting read.

The Peripheral

Fantastic new book by William Gibson. Essentially two parallel (and confusing) universes happening simultaneously: one taking place within a vast and detailed game running on a server no-one knows where, and one in the 'real world.'

Intentionally confusing, you dive into the book feeling instantly perplexed and lost. But the characters and world building is so compelling, and so well written, that it's an instant classic.

John Carter

This movie is good. Very very good adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs work. Don't know why people aren't seeing it.

REAMDE

The first thing that you have to know is this book is long. Too long, actually, but by less than you'd think at 933 pages (on my iPad).

A terrific thriller novel that is fast-paced and easily could've been three techno-thriller books packed into one.
A must read.

Scar Tissue

Amazing book about Anthony Keidis' life and the starting of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but ultimately weighed down by story after story of drug abuse. The first dozen are shocking, the second dozen are interesting, and after that they become... boring.
Well worth a read though.

What the CEO wants you to know

Very dry, dull book with some basic financial info like ROI and cash flow. Not a lot here.

Four Hour Body

A very fun and interesting book. Not worth the hype though; tried the slo-carb diet for almost a month and lost about 5 pounds. I think it's not from the lack of carbs as much as the reduction in eating -- if you're not eating carbs chances are you're not snacking.

Will try some of the other ideas potentially, but aside from some interesting ideas not sure it actually works.

Planets 3

A very fun compilation of 3 short stories from the 1950's golden era of pulp sci-fi. Great fun to read!

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Great book on how to create a high functioning, interactive, and engaged team. A must read.

Decoding reality

A difficult and ultimately unconvincing look at the notion that reality is ultimately defined by information.
The key points:
1. Quantum theory is defined by information.
2. Entropy (information) can start from nothing and can always be locally created even though the total entropy of a system is zero.
3. Time's arrow can be defined by entropy.
4. Information is created by the boundary between objects.
5. Hence the universe can be defined by information.

The missing chapter is, "so what?"

This isn't helped by the authors rambling first half of the book or the stilted obviously eastern European difficult narrative structure. Spelling an grammar mistakes are found throughout the work which is a distraction. Whole paragraphs needed to be re-read because they didn't make sense.

An interesting theory which may be true but a disappointing read.

Rework

Absolutely brilliant book. It's a series of very small chapters, one to two pages framed by a simple sketch to introduce the idea.
Some examples:
Embrace constraints
Don't copy
Pick a fight
Illusions of agreement
ASAP is poison

Key ideas:
1. Plans are harmful. They're an illusion that you can predict the future. Respond better to reality.
2. Ignore the competition. You'll end up copying their ideas if you don't rather than developing your own.
3. You don't need to waste time in meetings or paperwork. 90% of this will go away on it's own.
4. Most business functions are excuses. Do it yourself.

The 80/20 Principle

If you haven't heard of this, read this book. If you have, read it anyway. Pareto's principle changed my career and my outlook on much of my life. Simply put, redirect your attention and energy towards the 20% of effort that yields 80% of the results. Doubling this effort yields a 160% output on only 40% of the effort. Sally forth and kick ass, my friends.

Hull Zero Three

This is a very fun short novel from Greg Bear, the author of Eon and Forge of God -- two books that I love.

Hull Zero Three isn't without it's flaws. It's confusing, strange, the first third is very fast paced while the last two thirds aren't... but it's a lot of fun and very creative. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend for a quick read.

The Lost Symbol

The new Dan Brown book "The Lost Symbol" was a decent enough thriller listen on my ipod.

 At 16 hours long it seemed longer than neccessary and yet at the same time very light on the details of things like Noetics -- literally the study of thought. Again it takes place in real places but with very loose and embellished details. Takes place in D.C. which sounds a lot more interesting than I ever thought.

Worth a read/listen but not as compelling as "The Da Vinci Code " And the new-agey ending fell quite flat.

From Bookmarks Magazine
"Together again," proclaimed the Wall Street Journal, "an exciting thriller and a tedious sermon"—a view shared by many critics, who remarked on Brown's ability to build suspense into a dizzying, ever-accelerating narrative through short chapters and breathless cliffhangers, but panned his philosophical ruminations and his "habit of turning characters into docents" (Washington Post). Several critics also noted that, while The Lost Symbol shares many of The Da Vinci Code's shortcomings, including melodramatic prose, stock characters, and far-fetched plot devices, it lacks the former novel's emotional punch and audacity. Those who appreciated Symbol most were able to overlook its flaws and lose themselves in the story. Da Vinci Code fans may experience some déjà vu, but they should find this latest novel just as entertaining.

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Symbol-Dan-Brown/dp/0385504225

Outliers: The Story of Success

Not sure what exactly to think of this book.

The core idea is that success comes from a combination of

1. hard work (10K hours in your discipline)
2. lucky timing (did you know most excecs in silicon valley were born within 2 years of each other in the 50's)
3. natural cultural advantage
   

From Publishers Weekly
Reviewed by Leslie Chang
In Outliers, Gladwell (The Tipping Point) once again proves masterful in a genre he essentially pioneered—the book that illuminates secret patterns behind everyday phenomena. His gift for spotting an intriguing mystery, luring the reader in, then gradually revealing his lessons in lucid prose, is on vivid display. Outliers begins with a provocative look at why certain five-year-old boys enjoy an advantage in ice hockey, and how these advantages accumulate over time. We learn what Bill Gates, the Beatles and Mozart had in common: along with talent and ambition, each enjoyed an unusual opportunity to intensively cultivate a skill that allowed them to rise above their peers. A detailed investigation of the unique culture and skills of Eastern European Jewish immigrants persuasively explains their rise in 20th-century New York, first in the garment trade and then in the legal profession. Through case studies ranging from Canadian junior hockey champions to the robber barons of the Gilded Age, from Asian math whizzes to software entrepreneurs to the rise of his own family in Jamaica, Gladwell tears down the myth of individual merit to explore how culture, circumstance, timing, birth and luck account for success—and how historical legacies can hold others back despite ample individual gifts. Even as we know how many of these stories end, Gladwell restores the suspense and serendipity to these narratives that make them fresh and surprising.One hazard of this genre is glibness. In seeking to understand why Asian children score higher on math tests, Gladwell explores the persistence and painstaking labor required to cultivate rice as it has been done in East Asia for thousands of years; though fascinating in its details, the study does not prove that a rice-growing heritage explains math prowess, as Gladwell asserts. Another pitfall is the urge to state the obvious: No one, Gladwell concludes in a chapter comparing a high-IQ failure named Chris Langan with the brilliantly successful J. Robert Oppenheimer, not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires and not even geniuses—ever makes it alone. But who in this day and age believes that a high intelligence quotient in itself promises success? In structuring his book against that assumption, Gladwell has set up a decidedly flimsy straw man. In the end it is the seemingly airtight nature of Gladwell's arguments that works against him. His conclusions are built almost exclusively on the findings of others—sociologists, psychologists, economists, historians—yet he rarely delves into the methodology behind those studies. And he is free to cherry-pick those cases that best illustrate his points; one is always left wondering about the data he evaluated and rejected because it did not support his argument, or perhaps contradicted it altogether. Real life is seldom as neat as it appears in a Malcolm Gladwell book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922

Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life

Decent reinforcement of the GTD ideas but not much new here.

From Publishers Weekly
A rehashing of old—if successful—ground from his 2001 book Getting Things Done, Allen revisits his simple yet comprehensive system of organizing every aspect of one's life for career, professional and personal development—even addressing how to plan a vacation, choose a babysitter or arrange eldercare for a parent. The author's inarguable premise is that a complete and current inventory of commitments organized and reviewed in a systematic way can sharpen focus and allow for wiser decision making. Allen cautions that the book does not provide answers to tricky life choices; its methods will aid in developing the self-assurance to trust one's own solutions. Readers are guided through the process of obtaining control and perspective, organizing tasks and goals to reach the Getting Things Done (GTD) holy grail of an empty in-basket and e-mail inbox. Although the book purports to expand on the principles of GTD, there's very little new material in this latest offering, which serves more as a sales tool for the first one than for a project all on its own. Those seeking organizational nirvana would do best to invest in the original and give this one a pass. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 

http://www.amazon.com/Making-All-Work-Winning-Business/dp/067001995X

Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age

 

An interesting behind the scenes look at the politics and personalities behind the launch of Sputnik and the US's paranoid reaction.

 

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The writing is fast-paced and crisp, the stakes high and the tension palpable from the first pages of this high-flying account of the early days of the space race between the U.S. and U.S.S.R., a race ignited by the Soviet launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957. Brzezinski (Fortress America), a contributor to the New York Times Magazine, says this battle for military and technological control of space, part of the larger Cold War, had lasting consequences. Brzezinski illuminates how the space race divided Americans: for instance, then Sen. Lyndon Johnson wanted to aggressively pursue the race, but President Eisenhower thought the ambitious senator was merely seeking publicity. The author also dissects the failed American spin: despite White House claims that Sputnik was no big deal, the media knew it was huge. Sputnik II, launched a month later, was even more unsettling for Americans, causing them to question their way of life. The principals—Khrushchev, Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles, rocket scientist Werner von Braun—are vividly realized. Yet even more than his absorbing narrative, Brzezinski's final analysis has staying power: although the U.S. caught up to the U.S.S.R., it was the Russians' early dominance in space that established the Soviet Union as a superpower equal to America. (Sept.) 

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Moon-Rising-Sputnik-Rivalries/dp/080508858X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240064154&sr=8-2