Review: The Stolen Bicycle

The Stolen Bicycle by Wu Ming-Yi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So, this book was longlisted for the Man Booker prize, and there was some controversy since Man Booker first listed the author as Taiwanese, then switched to Chinese (under pressure from Beijing), which made the author protest on his facebook page. Anyway, the book didn't make the shortlist, and I can't help thinking the whole China/Taiwan drama may have had something to do with it.

Regardless, this was an excellent book, although this may be partly because I love Taiwan, and this book is thoroughly Taiwanese. It delves deep into certain aspects of Taiwanese history that I otherwise would know nothing about. In the process you also get a more Japanese perspective of certain events in WW2.

It's certainly not a clean, straightforward narrative, but it branches out into many avenues. I won't say it gets sidetracked, since the narrator is always in pursuit of the same thing (the bicycle), but in doing so a lot of ground is covered.

There's quite a bit of interesting symbolism (holding onto peoples' waists while riding a bicycle behind them, to then being the person in front with someone holding on behind. Also the parallels between the inanimate bicycle and the animate elephant, and I'm sure there are plenty more I've missed).

The postscript is beautiful. And thanks to it I found my favorite Jonathan Franzen quote: "Fiction meant taking up whatever the world had abandoned by the road and making something beautiful out of it."

A pet peeve though: The Chinese transliteration was really weird. Most of it was done using Wade-Giles (who does that anymore?), but some seemed haphazard (Ssu-Chuan for Sichuan/Szechuan)? I do wish I could read this in the original Chinese though, since I heard his prose is very poetic. I think some of this comes across in translation, but I'm sure a lot of it is lost.

If you're going to read one work of contemporary Taiwanese fiction, this should probably be it.


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Review: The Mysterious Etruscans

The Mysterious Etruscans by Steven L. Tuck
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent overview of the Etruscans, which had been very hard for me to find, whether in English or Italian.

There seemed to be a couple times where he was overreaching and exaggerating a bit. I understand that the evidence is limited, so we have to guess and surmise quite a bit, but sometimes it just seemed taken a tad too far (No, the Romans would not have been going around in fig leafs if the Etruscans hadn't given them togas).

But I shouldn't overemphasize the fact. It doesn't detract (too much) from the overall story of the Etruscans.

Some of my notes:
Ostrich eggs were signs of international trade. Some were engraved by Phoenicians, others by Etruscans.
Warfare: Etruscans were very courageous, but bad at overarching strategies (just charge in for personal glory/machismo, with no real macro strategy)
Women had more power than Greece. Portrayals of childbirth and child rearing. Also literature aimed at women. Also portrayals of women at games and religious rites.

"The Etruscans are almost completely responsible for for the western notion of family, and they originated the very idea of the Family name in Europe."

"Tuscany" comes from the Latin for 'Etruscan'. "Tyrrhenian" comes from the Greek for 'Etruscan'. "Rome" comes from 'Rumon', the Etruscan word for the Tiber river.
Etruscan games were always religious in nature, so bleeding (although not necessarily death) was required in fights as an offering, unlike in Greek games. This then led to Gladiator fights of Ancient Rome.
More things we got from the Etruscans: togas, and aqueducts and stone archways were Etruscan inventions. Agrippa was Etruscan too.
Etruscan was still being used (at least in temples) up to the 4th century (so pretty much to the end of the Roman empire).
Capua (Etruscan city) sided with Hannibal, since he was fighting the Romans.

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Review: The Coming Storm

The Coming Storm by Michael Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I feel like Michael Lewis is a genius at finding interesting topics in nooks and crannies others would have never thought to look. This is another one, showing how basically Barry Myers, slated to be the next head of NOAA, could (and is likely to) suppress weather data, thereby literally killing people, if he is confirmed.

I don't doubt that Myers is basically a gangster. From what little I've read about him (aside from this book), it sounds like he is, and wouldn't flinch at trying to gain personally at the expenses of citizens. However, this book would have been more interesting if Lewis had interviewed someone else at Accuweather. He mentions that Myers declined an interview, which is understandable actually, but there are other board members and employees (and former employees).

I always figured the NWS collected the data, and then companies, like Accuweather, could run their analyses on it (as well as on other data from other countries), and come up with their products. Like market research agencies use demographic data. If Accuweather comes up with good info (or can convince people they do), then they can sell it.

Of course, saying idiotic statements like 'we don't need the NWS because Accuweather is better' is like saying we don't need the census data because Nielsen has more useful reports, but that doesn't mean the private company has no use.

Anyway, a lot of the information was maddening, and Myers is most likely a terrible choice for head of NOAA, but I also think this book could have used more input from the other side.


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Review: The Xiaomi Way: Customer Engagement Strategies That Built One of the Largest Smartphone Companies in the World

The Xiaomi Way: Customer Engagement Strategies That Built One of the Largest Smartphone Companies in the World by Li Wanqiang
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure I would call this a general history of the company. Usually, when people write about a company that is still in operation (or a living person), they emphasize the fact that they were unbiased/had access to all papers/didn't have to give final approval to the subject/etc.etc.
I recently read two books about Alibaba and Jack Ma, and both of them dedicated the entire preface/first chapter to emphasizing this point.
Anyway, this book doesn't pretend to have any of this. However, it is also probably the only place we can find a history of Xiaomi in English, so it is interesting nonetheless.

I don't have too much experience with this brand, but when I lived in China, in 2014, it was certainly pervasive. We used the Xiaomibox (小米盒子）and still do on occasion, and I also still use mi-fit, and I definitely saw the cell phone around a lot.
The last chapter was odd. Mostly about his love for art. I imagine as an explanation for their style (maybe to counteract the accusations of copying?). Still, it was pretty interesting and made me want to read more about Muji.
Also, it was written in 2014. Since the company started in 2010, this means it basically covers the 1st half of the company's existence. Curious about the second half.


Bad points:
They NEVER did anything wrong. This is odd, but they don't mention one mistake they've made. An example:
An employee wanted to leave, so whenever he mentioned this, the boss would take him drinking until 5am, and do so for several nights in a row, until the employee felt guilty about wanting to leave. This is an interesting anecdote, but I doubt it would work with all employees. Anyway, I very much doubt any company of that size got by without any missteps. Alibaba certainly had plenty.
The quote: "Motorola invented the smartphone, but Nokia popularized it"(p. 15). I'm guessing this was a typo and was supposed to say "mobile phone". But this is a book about a smartphone company, so it stuck out.
Illustrations were not translated. So some of them are diagrams all in Chinese (p. 131, many others).
Some illustrations were just weird. (Figure 5.1, 5.2, etc.). Not sure what they mean.
Some contradictions, including two on one page (p.92: "we wanted to reach a mass market through conventional media" and then "This ad was for Xiaomi employees, Mi Fans and our partners."). Not that bad, but still made it confusing.
I do wish they had addressed the whole "copying Apple" issue (Lei Jun, Xiaomi's CEO, being called a "counterfeit Steve Jobs"). They seem to sidestep it, and just mention other inspirations (user input, Art, Muji).


Good points:
Very interesting to have an inside look at Xiaomi. I liked the analogy of using "air, ground and naval forces" to "attack the market".
Very interesting to see how they opened R&D to users and proceeded with their input. This seems to be the opposite of Apple. This could also account for the flak they get for being accused of "copying" other companies. Maybe their users just want better versions of whatever's out there.
Interesting to see how they tested their e-commerce on their own employees first, to see their reactions.
Interesting to see how they styled their customer service after Haidilao hotpot, since I'm a big fan of that chain --> Make employees love their job, and this will show.
Like the idea of "Mi homes". Like Apple stores, but not for sales, just after-sale service. So they're located in offices inside buildings, but very welcoming.


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Review: The Impossible Fairy Tale

The Impossible Fairy Tale by Han Yujoo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ok, I think I have to join all the other reviewers who have no idea what to make of this book. It was disturbing, and the writing style was odd but somehow catching. The second half made it more confusing, but also much more interesting. For some reason I really enjoyed the afterword.

I have to confess, however, that I didn't fully understand the style, and it probably needs to be read in the original language to be fully appreciated (or understood).

SERIOUS SPOILERS BELOW
The first half had that ambience of pointlessness that I've come across in other contemporary Korean fiction, but the writing style definitely added to the general feeling of hopelessness. The second half was the oddest part. It was from a teacher's point of view, although I don't think it was the teacher from the first half, but rather the author herself, and the person she's talking to is the main character from the first half. Somewhat reminiscent of Pirandello's "Six characters in search of an Author", but here she finds her author and has some questions for her. At least that's how I saw it. Then again, maybe I'm wrong. The writing style was definitely not one of the clearest. Oddly enough I really liked the afterword.

4 stars, for now

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Review: The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money

The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money by Bryan Caplan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This should probably be required reading not only for lawmakers, but for all voters (since lawmakers won't make uncomfortable changes without having voters on board).
It deals with Signaling in education, and the Sheepskin effect.
I'm not sure about the makeshift dialog of the final chapter. It's in a Socratic style (which tends to annoy me), although it's probably useful if some of the main points didn't stick the first time around.

Some of my notes:
Signaling exists, but not the only factor (Around 80% signaling, 20% not)
High school is almost always worth it.
College worth it if you're a decent student
Masters is almost never worth it.

Implications: If not signaling, if everyone gets a degree it's better. More education for everyone.
If signaling, if everyone gets a degree it's worse. Everyone is at the same level, so like no one got education.
Signaling is zero sum (it doesn't increase the pie). So, society doesn't benefit from more education if education is signaling.
Most education spending is useless, so--> make it harder to attend schools? Not for skills they will actually use in life (bad readers are better than illiterate people). For other subjects, Yes. Only the best should study Arts, Music, etc.
Signaling: If we subsidize diamond rings for marriage, the rich will find something else to show wealth. Diamond rings will be deemed worthless.
We are against child labor unless A) It is unpaid (internships must not be to company's benefit) or B) It is school (so, no real use for the future if 80% signaling)
If people were interested in cultural issues, they would find everything they need on the internet--> humanities is shoving cultural topics down the throats of the unwilling.
Most professors (around 51% for universities) are liberal, but most students tend to become more conservative the more they are educated.
More education raises levels of civic awareness and lowers racism and sexism. More education raises support for capitalism, free markets, and globalization.
More education makes individuals less religious, but makes society more religious.

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Review: My Son's Girlfriend

My Son's Girlfriend by Mi-Kyung Jung
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Giving another 4 stars, since Goodreads doesn't allow much subtlety in their rating system. Anyway, the translation seemed a bit shoddy at times, but overall I enjoyed this a lot.

Oddly enough, I kept guessing the gender of the narrator incorrectly at the beginning of each story for some reason. Not sure why.

My favorite is probably the last story, about a rival who has bested you at everything (including a little etymology of the word rival, which makes me wonder what the original version says in Korean), only to find out things are different and how it affects you. It's hard to make too many comments without giving it away.

But I really liked all of them, with the possible exception of the first story, which just didn't pull me in much.



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