Review: Voices from the Beautiful Island

Voices from the Beautiful Island by Chiu, Tzuhsiu Beryl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A nice collection of bilingual poetry and stories from various authors, with the Chinese and English side by side. My favorites were "Spring rain" (春雨), by Cheng, ching-wen, and "Soul Palanquin" (魂轎), By Tonfang Po.

Apparently the version of Spring Rain is slightly altered here, at least the English translation is. I also noticed there is a story by Husluman Vava, which was featured in The anthology of Taiwan indigenous literature, and this was different as well. I'm not sure why in either case.

Still, a good mix, also with an indigenous story and an ode to the military compounds that many mainland Chinese grew up in when they came here.



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Review: Twain’s Feast

Twain’s Feast by Audible Originals
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More of a chat amongst friends than a book. If these friends happen to be experts on Mark Twain or subjects related to him.

This is also a fascinating journey into certain aspects of Americana from Mark Twain's time, stemming from a couple dishes and types of food he writes about.

It would have been much better had they actually tried eating the food mentioned (every dish seems to be a "vegetarian" or "Wagyu beef" version of what Mark Twain once had). It would have been interesting to at least hear what his favorite foods tasted like.

Very anecdotal, very colloquial, but also entertaining.

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Review: A New Illustrated History of Taiwan

A New Illustrated History of Taiwan by Wan-yao Chou
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is probably the definitive history of Taiwan to read (in English) for those who are interested in the subject. It is actually quite a quick read, and the illustrations are excellent.

The complicated history of how Taiwan feels vis-a-vis Japan, China, the ROC, and Taiwan itself is outlined very clearly, as well as how its history relates to the region, including Okinawa and Korea. I also appreciated that the author touched upon issues such as the frivolity of the news in Taiwan, which one notices when living here, but is hardly ever addressed.

A couple of my notes:
- The name "Taiwan" comes from an indigenous word
- Japan was able to use Taiwan to have China recognize it (Japan) as ruler of Okinawa
- Suniuo, an Amis, went to Indonesia as a soldier for Japan, and then hid in the forests of Indonesia for 30 years following the defeat of Japan in WWII.

A couple issues:
Why Wade-giles?? I understand it might have made sense when it was first written, in the 90s, but now they include a Wade-giles - Pinyin glossary at the end, which seems would be more trouble than just changing everything to Pinyin.

Would be interesting to have an update for the past 20 years or so, especially the whole China-Taiwan relationship and lack of recognition on an international stage, and maybe another look at the 90s from more of a historical perspective. An update would make me revise this to 5 stars.

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Review: Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies

Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies by Reid Hoffman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I'm not sure how I feel about these books that try to make a point without any sort of comprehensive study, just some personal anecdotes of the author's. Granted, the author giving the personal anecdotes is one of the biggest success stories out there.

This also seems to apply only to people trying to make their businesses go viral, so it might not be applicable to B2B companies, or local restaurants, etc. To be fair, he addresses this (around halfway through the book), but he then states that most businesses will be online businesses (or already are). While this is true, it would have been handier (and frankly, more honest), to state this at the beginning, or on the dust jacket, so people who pick this book up know who its target market is right away.

All of this isn't to say I don't believe in his message. On the contrary, for some businesses this book is probably essential reading. This may even, at some point, include mine, in which case I should probably re-read it at that point. In the meantime, these are some of the notes I took:

The only time to blitzscale is when you have determined that speed is THE critical strategy to achieve massive outcomes. (This means greater uncertainty)

8 Transitions in Management Innovation:
1. Small teams to large teams
2. Generalists to Specialists
(Marines, army and police analogy)
3. Contributors to managers to executives
4. Dialogue to Broadcasting
5. Inspiration to Data
6. Single focus to multi-threading
"Freedom just means you have nothing to lose"
7. Pirate to Navy
(If I wanted to compete with myself, what would I do?)
8. Scale yourself (Founder to leader)

Always have a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan Z

Launch a product that embarrasses you (no time for perfection)



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Review: Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets

Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets by Stephen Fry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A delightful listen. Of course, these are all anecdotes - so don't expect a thorough or scientific study of any sort - and they concentrate on the scandalous, outrageous, etc. etc. But still, impeccably narrated, and with many interesting tidbits, facts and names that I had never heard before.

You also get to hear a recording of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle speaking!




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Review: Down the Common: A Year in the Life of a Medieval Woman

Down the Common: A Year in the Life of a Medieval Woman by Ann Baer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very pleasant surprise. Picked this up on spec in a used book store in Southern Taiwan. I was afraid it would be overly simplistic, or a children's book or something along those lines. It turned out to be entertaining and, as far as I can tell, quite accurate. The author goes into so much detail, it is obvious she has a passion for this subject (and she illustrated the book as well!).

All in all, an excellent perspective on life for a medieval woman somewhere in England, and it also makes you wonder how many stories like this there have been throughout time: people living their lives, with their family, friends, neighbors, dreams, desires, and thoughts.





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Review: Discovering Language

Discovering Language by Thomas Nash
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So this is a textbook, complete with exercises at the end of each chapter. It is a Linguistics primer, and the target audience is English speaking students in Taiwan. Taking all this into account, it is a rather interesting book, especially if English and Chinese are two of your languages. 3 stars, but rounded up to 4 because I should have know it would be a normal textbook ahead of time.

Some interesting notes:
- Words with /sl/ are said to convey unpleasant associations (slime, slither, slug, sloppy, etc.)
- Most words ending in -ump suggest heaviness and bluntness (rump, dump, hump, mump, lump, chump, thump, bump)
- The section on the different ways of being polite for Americans vs. Chinese (P. 55)
- The p's in the words "pit" and "spit" are pronounced differently, though English speakers do not normally realize this.
- Relatively new in-fix in English: "ma" (as in edu-ma-cation)
- Peoples' names have become common words: lumberjack, jack of all trades, Tomboy, tomcat, jimmy open
- 蒙古大夫 for a quack
- Languages with inclusive and exclusive "we": Taiwanese, Quechua, Tok Pisin, Hawaiian
- "gamel" became gamble. Same process added "d" to thunder and tender, and "p" to empty
- "Dog" used to mean a certain breed, and "hound" meant all breeds of dogs. Now the opposite.
- Silly used to mean Happy, then naive, now Foolish.
- Want used to mean "lack"


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Review: Cultural Discourse in Taiwan

Cultural Discourse in Taiwan by Chin-Chuan Cheng
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A collection of essays, most of which deal with Taiwanese literature in some form. As with any collection of essays, these are hit or miss. Some points I found interesting:

- The similarities between post-war Taiwan and Korea, from having a (US-backed) dictator, to the Kaohsiong incident in 1979 and the Kwangju uprising in 1980, to protests and gradual reform, to democratic elections (Seoul olympics in 88 and Chiang Ching-kuo's death in 87 both helped).
- The essay on Malaysian-Chinese authors in Taiwan.
- The ancestral origin entry in birth certificates was only removed in 1992!
- The whole essay on the various origins of people living in Taiwan

Also, most of the essays seem to mention or refer to Homi Bhabha's "The Location of Culture" for some reason, so I think I should read that at some point.

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Review: Under the Phoenix Tree

Under the Phoenix Tree by Catherine Dai
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this book. It deals with a family of 外省人, or Chinese who came to Taiwan to escape the communists. I don't usually enjoys these types of books too much because the stories are usually just about how much they miss their home province, but this was interesting. A story of a family in Taiwan, which is changing from a more traditional place to a more modern one. I especially enjoyed the little anecdotal stories about Taipei's history, like how Tianmu (allegedly) got its name, and the first foreign coffee shop in Taipei (Cafe Astoria), etc.



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