Amazon link I was kind of skeptical of this book when Joel handed it to me, but it was surprisingly good. It doesn’t have any original ideas, and didn’t change how I think, but the book was well-written (apparently by Catherine Fredman) and did a good job of describing how Dell had taken some basic […]
Category: reviews
Getting to Yes, by Fisher and Ury
Amazon link This is a classic book on negotiation, introducing the theory of principled negotiation. The idea is that most negotiations tend to become positional negotiations fairly quickly; I offer a book for sale for $20, you offer me $10, I go $18, you go $12, we end up at $15. Positional negotiations make sense […]
The Only Sustainable Edge, by Hagel and Brown
As I mentioned last month, I was reading this book mostly because I enjoyed The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid so much. I finally finished it off last weekend, and figured I should at least do a perfunctory review. It was pretty awful. The writing was terrible – I […]
Positioning, by Ries and Trout
Amazon link This is a classic book in marketing, and therefore one of the books that Joel asked us to read. The main message of the book is that consumers have a limited mindspace. They can only pay attention to a certain number of things before they just lose track and don’t care any more. […]
How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
Amazon link I read this book once long ago, but Joel insisted I re-read it after starting last week. So I took it home for the weekend and read it while taking breaks from unpacking. It’s a quick read, with short chapters. And it’s excellent. What’s interesting to me is that I totally didn’t appreciate […]
V for Vendetta
I was apprehensive about this movie, because I really like the graphic novel on which it was based. The trailers did not inspire confidence since they were edited as if for an action movie. I also read recently that Alan Moore (the graphic novel author) demanded that his name not be associated with the film. […]
The Rhythm Section, by Mark Burnell
Amazon link After reading the Economist’s recommendation, I’d been keeping my eye open for works by Mark Burnell, thinking that his books about “a proficient, imaginative, world-class assassin” would be interesting. I finally saw The Rhythm Section in a used book store a few weeks ago and picked it up. It was kind of disappointing. […]
A Feast for Crows, by George R.R. Martin
Amazon link I’ve been a big fan of George R.R. Martin since I was introduced to the Wild Cards books in high school. I’ve been buying the Song of Ice and Fire books in hardcover because I want to read them right away, which is stupid, because the elapsed time in between book releases is […]
On Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins
Amazon link I’ve been meaning to read this for a while, and I added it to my last Amazon order, but didn’t get around to reading it until a few weeks ago. Jeff Hawkins was one of the driving forces behind Palm and Handspring, and now that he’s set for life, he’s indulging his childhood […]
Quick nonfiction reads
Reinventing Comics, by Scott McCloud I liked Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud a lot, because it had a really thoughtful take on why comics worked, and what the conventions were (representing the dimension of time in space, etc.). When I saw this sequel in the library, I picked it up. I didn’t like it nearly […]
