Sunday, July 29, 2018

Down Below by Leonora Carrington

Down BelowDown Below by Leonora Carrington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

****Spoilers ahead. Definitely****

Wow. That was disturbing. I confess I started reading it without knowing anything about the book (and practically nothing about the author). I thought it was pure fiction until about halfway through, when I read the back cover. Then it was pretty intense. And damn, Max Ernst is a d-bag. Also the tone is interesting. Not a drop of self-pity or anything along those lines. If you happen across this book I would recommend picking it up. If you have an interest in surrealist painters, or in how World War II might affect someone's psyche, then look for it.


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Friday, July 27, 2018

Levitation: Five Fictions by Cynthia Ozick

Levitation: Five FictionsLevitation: Five Fictions by Cynthia Ozick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this, since it reminded me of 1970's New York (the time and place I was born). I must admit, however, I really didn't enjoy it until the last story, which was excellent (and it's a bit of a continuation of the second story, although I don't think the second was necessarily needed).




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Thursday, July 26, 2018

The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz

The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any FieldThe Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A surprisingly useful book. His tone was annoying at times, but that didn't really detract from the substance. This book is very actionable and all the steps seem concrete and are ones you will probably figure out at some point, but reading this book can save you years of wrong turns.

The advice of dumping all the "average" pumpkins to concentrate on the biggest one is good. I also liked other tidbits, like "under-promise and over-deliver 80% of the time (not 100%)", "don't let your chosen clients know they're getting special treatment", and "be transparent about your methods with your clients".

Also, I don't understand those reviewers saying these pieces of advice are "obvious" or "common sense". Are they basically saying they've already followed all his steps and they've attained success thanks to them but they're too obvious to qualify as advice? Otherwise I'm guessing they'd say it's "incorrect" or "incomplete" or something. Or maybe I'm overanalyzing the book reviews.



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Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yōko Tawada

Memoirs of a Polar BearMemoirs of a Polar Bear by Yōko Tawada
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What an odd book. I'd rate it somewhere between 1 and 5 stars. Probably rounded up to a 4, since I think more people should read this. Makes me want to read more contemporary German literature. Or does it?


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Saturday, July 21, 2018

Homecoming (K-Fiction 008) by Cheon Myeong-kwan, Jeon Miseli (Translator)

Homecoming (K-Fiction 008)Homecoming by Cheon Myeong-kwan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure why, but the economics of this book annoyed me. I think I just let it get to me. Anyway, "overly capitalist society divided into 1% haves and 99% have-nots" aside (entirely ignoring the overly anti-capitalist society divided into <1 and="" haves="">99% have-nots just to the North), it was actually an engaging and very poignant novella.


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Friday, July 20, 2018

God Has No Grandchildren by Kim Gyeong-uk

God Has No GrandchildrenGod Has No Grandchildren by Kim Gyeong-uk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These stories were entertaining and interesting. The commentary at the end was enlightening as well. The stories deal mostly with being able to commit to something (or not), and general values, etc. They all have a certain ambience, somewhere between spooky and lonely. My favorites were probably "99 percent", "The runner" and "The ups and downs of Hurricane Joe".


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Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard P. Rumelt

Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It MattersGood Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard P. Rumelt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maybe I just expected something different from this book. It seemed to be a collection of case studies. These were mostly based on the author's personal experience, and definitely seemed like good examples of bad and good strategy (or no strategy at all), but that's all they were. Every now and then general rules could be extracted, but it would have been nice to then have everything boiled down to the main principles that constitute a viable strategy, and how these can be applied.

All the examples are with big companies, or governments and the like, so it is sometimes hard to adapt them to more personal use, unless you run a very big organization (or government).



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Thursday, July 12, 2018

Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong - and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster

Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong - and What You Really Need to KnowExpecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong - and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Probably the best book my wife and I have read thus far during her pregnancy. This is by no means a scientific paper or study, but she takes us through her pregnancy and consults with all the studies she can find for every stage and issue she encounters during this time. Anyway, here you will find data behind most of the issues encountered during pregnancy (with all the sources in the endnotes, in case you're interested in the original studies).

I was amazed how, considering humans have been getting pregnant since before we were humans, so much advice and "common knowledge" isn't based on any reliable data, but just repeated as fact.



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Sunday, July 08, 2018

Son of Man by Yi Mun-Yol

Son of ManSon of Man by Yi Mun-Yol
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tempted to give it 5 stars. Maybe I'll see how I feel about it after some time has passed. It starts off as a detective novel but becomes more of a voyage into various gnostic-like apocrypha theories. All quite interesting, although toward the end it really started losing me. I loved his discussions on why evil had to exist and how he looks at some of the stories of the Gospels from different points of view. And it made me read up on "The Wandering Jew".
The detective part of the novel falls pretty flat, however, and it pretty easy to figure out.





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