Book-Review

Another classic book that I’ve gone through again lately is The Selfish Gene  by Richard Dawkins. I listened to the 40th Anniversary Edition on Audible as he was narrating it himself, and I particularly wanted to listen to the 40th Anniversary Edition to see how his own thoughts had changed over time.

Dawkins can be a polarizing figure. I’m mindful of how his work would have been received at the time it was written. I understand many of the comments that people make on him, but I find the vast majority are either misunderstanding him (you need to take him very literally but I find people read into his words, things that he’s not actually saying), or are feeling like their deep-held beliefs are being severely challenged. I have no doubt that the latter hurts.

2018-12-28

One of my colleagues Orin Thomas is a prolific writer. I’ve lost count of how many detailed books he’s written, and I’ve no doubt he’s lost count as well. If you’ve worked in Microsoft-related IT for any length of time, I’m sure you’ll have read one of his books, particularly if you’ve been involved in certification. You can see a partial list of his books here.

But the other thing that amazes me about Orin is that he’s also a prolific reader. I can’t believe how many books he gets through, and he’s inspired me to get through way more. I have not the slightest doubt that being a good reader is a prerequisite for being a good writer. Every time I meet with Orin, he mentions books that I should read. I note them down, and slowly make my way through many of them.

2018-12-14

I’m a fan of Pat Flynn. If you haven’t listened to his Smart Passive Income podcast, and you have any interest in being self-sufficient without “working for the man”, Pat’s podcast would be a good start. Pat has people ask him about ideas though and he’s put his ideas on how to work out if an idea is worth pursuing in his book: Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money.

2018-12-07

When I was growing up, we were endlessly shown Mother Teresa (now known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta by Catholics) as an example of a person who had devoted their life to the service of others, and did so in appalling situations. I knew that the myth surrounding this woman was very different to the reality and I’m surprised that I hadn’t previously read Christopher Hitchen’s book: Book Review: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice.

2018-11-30

I’m trying a number of different categories of books lately, because I’m getting through far more than previously. One category I thought it would be interesting to pursue where the conversation/influence areas. One that caught my eye was Exactly what to say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact by Phil M Jones.

This was quite interesting but I’m not sure if I liked it or not.

In this book, Jones takes you through a number of situations, where people often say the wrong thing and make things worse, or where they don’t even know what to say, and he gives formulas for how to structure responses that turn the situation back around the way you want, to keep heading to the right outcome.

2018-11-16

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately doing DevOps related work, and I thought it was important to post a review of what is often considered the first “DevOps fictional book”. I know that sounds like a geeky book but it’s not quite as you might expect. The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford is a bunch of fun.

2018-11-02

One of the things that using Audible has let me do lately is to get through additional books that I’m interested in. Part of that has been to go back through real classics. They don’t come more classic than 1984 by George Orwell.

When I was at high school, this was one of Orwell’s books that I read. Listening to it again now though, two things struck me:

• How much I’d forgotten of the detail in it
• How chillingly relevant it is today

The first two chapters in particular had me simply amazed at how prescient Orwell was. So many aspects of what he described that were clearly intended to be horrific and unthinkable at the time, and yet are so close to the current reality in many places that it’s quite chilling to listen to.

2018-10-26

While continuing on the path of listening to many older but classic books, I had to include The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey.

I remember first reading this book shortly after it was released. I note that the version I listened to in Audible recently was the 25th anniversary edition. I’d say it’s stood the test of time pretty well. An enormous number of copies (over 25 million) have apparently been sold over those years.

2018-10-05

I mentioned in a previous review about how much I enjoyed The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. I couldn’t wait for the sequel to come out and so I eagerly read The Rosie Effect: A Novel as soon as it was released.

The first book introduced us to Don Tillman, working on genetics at a local university and trying to help Rosie find her father. All along, he’s trying to find a wife using scientific principles.

2018-09-28

You would have to be hiding under a rock to have missed the current low-carb ways of eating, and particularly the ketogenic thinking about food. Central to much of this thinking though is cutting carbs in general. The hard part about this for most people, is cutting the primary source of carbs and that’s sugar.

If ever there was a leader of the fight against sugar, it’s Gary Taubes. His book The Case Against Sugar is very significant.

2018-09-21