Aldor
Growing up culturally insulated to the wonders of the world, I missed this tale and many other giants of literature.
I now understand where so many fantasy references and tropes originated. It was a pleasant read featuring delightful prose.
I did raise my eyebrow a few times, especially during the constant association of physiological characteristics to the quality of character. However, I expected this considering the socio-cultural context. I did take slight umbrage at those notions, but after all, most of those tropes are still prevalent today.
All and all, it is a book I highly recommend anybody interested in fantasy to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Even if you don't like it, this book will significantly deepen your understanding of the genre.
Cracking the PM is a dense workbook/reference that is well-written and fulfills its promise.
Despite its age, it is still an outstanding book to prepare for Product Management interviews, whether you are looking for a job or recruiting professionals that fit your organization's needs.
I would argue that most of the advice also applies to Product Design interviews or any business-centric type of interview.
Please note that the book clearly focuses on Product Management in the context of tech companies and, consequently, has a bias towards engineers-as-product-managers. Nevertheless, technical background of note, there is a ton of value to unpack here.
This book could have been named: “Product Management: The Manual.”
It features listicles among listicles of best practices in the field. What it doesn't feature is a list of vivid examples that could have illustrated those examples. Or any sort of compelling narrative, really. It is also a particularly opinionated book; however, the author has the experience to back those opinions even though some didn't age particularly well.
Those minor points shouldn't prevent you from picking up this book. Truth be told, I wish I had read that book much earlier in my career as the blueprints are insightful and invite the reader to explore and learn more about those. It is also a fantastic book to share with colleagues; it will help them understand how transformative an excellent Product Management practice is.
Fun and surprising relevant read in today's context. It's difficult when reading this story not to see parallels with all the stories that are making the news today, from Theranos trial to the revelation of the disregard of Facebook/Meta on the consequence of their software on our children's mental health.
African Samurai was one of the best books I read this year so far. I love my daily dose of historical fiction, and I particularly enjoyed its solid academical foundations. It is, simply put, a research paper that got out of hand then got storied. The book's last part entirely focuses on the anthropological studies and resources that helped the author craft this story.
I want to add that the name of this book honestly doesn't do it justice. I would argue that the main character of that book is Japan and its relationship to the world during the era of Oda Nobunaga. The peculiar story of Yasuke is there to illustrate the extremes of it.
Between other topics, I learned about the slave trade in that part of the world, the Indian Empire, the complexities of the relationship between Japan, China, and Korea, the importance of merchants, the mechanics of proselytization, the sacrifices required to stop the constant internal wars in Japan.
This book is an outstanding window into a different time and place.
It's not often that I pause a book because I got too emotionally engaged while reading it. “She Would Be King” from Wayétu Moore joined that club multiple-time. Leynes shared a great in-depth review (beware, spoils) if you want to know much more, however, don't hesitate to plunge into it without knowing anything other than the genre is historical fantasy, there is magic, and the setting is pre-Civil War.
Time spent reading this book: 2h35m
Reading sessions: 7
What I Liked: The book is well written and clear. It's a breeze to read as the author and his editor did a great job at conveying the message they intended. The author seems to be an honest person. It could be in a specific context a good entry book when it comes to productivity techniques and self-help globally.
What I disliked: Do you remember the Pareto principle? It can be applied here. If you're in doubt about reading this book, you might as well watch the commencement talk that it is based upon. It's a good talk. The book is that talk content expanded with examples taken from anecdotes from his military career. That's it.
Now comes the real issue. What works for a motivational talk might not work for a book. Here, in particular, the whole tone of that book can be particularly preachy and lacking nuances. Things like “They would regret”, “were always more important” and so and so are regular occurrences here. It's an example of personal experience in an ultra-specific context generalized as universal laws. That works for motivational talks and posters, much less when you buy a book to go beyond that and look for some depth. What is odd is that I am very similar in mindset to the author when it comes to the importance of discipline, yet the whole piece of work rubbed me the wrong way. Perhaps the lack of sympathy? Perhaps the survivorship bias?
Having read already a few productivity books, there was nothing that I didn't know and already applied. It wasn't a book relatable to me and there wasn't much value apart of knowing more about the training and life of Navy SEALs.
I recommend watching the talk, expand to the book for military-focused emotionally-driven examples if that's something you're interested in. It's a short-read, so why not?
Manga Analogy: The whole book felt like the first chapter of a Shōnen, were everything is really simple and binary, giving you the stepstone for a more complex reality. Admiral William H. McRaven would then be Uchiha Fugaku from Naruto. Like the Admiral, Fugaku is a military leader who obeys to a simple but strict ruleset and is driven by discipline and his responsibility to protect his people. Everyone that deviates from the rulebook or can't apply it is a failure in that respect.
Time spent reading this book: 19h39m
Reading sessions: 30
What I Liked: #AskGaryVee is a meaningful book to read in this social marketing era.
The book is organized around 22 themes that cover most of the craft and life of any individual involved in social media marketing. Each theme is treated via a series of questions and answers. The information is top-notch. Even if some of the platforms he talks about are not existing anymore (Merkaat) or less groundbreaking (Insta) the concepts themselves didn't change. It's also an extremely positive and kind book. The sort of book that makes you feel great and prepare a lot of new plans around your own strategies.
What I disliked: The Q&A nature of this book was for me really difficult to read because of the absence of structured storytelling between chapter or even within them. It makes the book a very disjointed experience. I spent 19h studying this book over several months because of this. As every story has its own life, it makes it easy to leave this book on the side without feeling the need to finish it. It probably also works great as an audiobook I imagine. Also, a lot of repetition.
However, this format also tremendously helps to understand the vast scope of application of his key message about listening, empathising/sympathizing and creating content based on that. The theory is straightforward and the book value resides in the myriad of examples that GaryVee provides.
Manga Analogy: GaryVee is Asta from Black Clover. He doesn't have a “proper” education but developed his craft through a ton of practice and dedication since childhood. He values relationship and people above everything, genuinely want people around him to improve and engage with them so they can. That doesn't prevent him from wanting to become the best that ever existed at his craft.
For somebody like me who knew very little about the world within our own, that book was an extremely pleasant and informative read.
My partner who is a medical professional recommended it to me so I do not doubt the pertinence of the information that Dr Giulia Enders shared with us here. To be totally transparent, I enjoyed that book so much that after two chapters, I bought two copies for members of my family that are interested in improving their health and well-being.
Time spent studying this book: 18h54m
Reading Sessions: 19
What I liked: I initially delayed reading this book because of what I heard and read about Peter Thiel. I shouldn't have. Reading somebody is a great way to create at least sympathy – not empathy – to their mindset. Reading Zero to One gave me a much better understanding of how some of the most successful VCs think about the world surrounding them. I understood how they choose the companies they invest in and build their team. It was both informative and helpful as I evolve in that universe. I don't agree with all he is saying and that's okay. I also took this book to better understand Peter Thiel and people like him. In that regard, I wholly got my investment in time back and I am sure it will pay dividends in the future.
What I disliked: Taking innumerable examples from history, there were some shortcuts taken to suit his discourse. It wasn't too bad but still, you have to be cautious stepping into the mind of someone, you might end-up trapped inside it. I also disliked the very PR feeling from some chapters, which make sense as the inception of this book was teaching/recruiting at Stanford.
Comic book analogy: Peter Thiel closer comic-book parallel in my head is Ozymandias. Billionaire contrarian who sees humans on a very macro-level, ready to take the heat and make extremely bold and controversial moves, all for what he believes is “the greater good”. Peter, I know you enjoy Tolkien work, but isn't that analogy great too?
Oh my, oh my! What an enthralling second book and such an intense climax! Everything is there, sensical development of the storylines that started with the first book,solid rhythm that accelerate at all the right moments, superb characters and even relatable depth in the story.
Easiest 5 star since Clash of Kings.
During my read of the Graveyard book, I suffered a loss. I don't know much about fate, however, this book tremendously helped me coping, even though I had to stop it for a while just after the events. It's been a few months now and I finally finished it completely, signalling the fact that I restarted to read. It healed me as much if not more than the best self-help article about grieving, even though I doubt it was intended too. It helped me coping and more importantly hope. Thank you a million for that Mr Gaiman.
I randomly purchased this book based on recommendations. I didn't know who Kurt Vonnegut was. It's a collection of talks given to University freshmen. It's short, funny by moment, insightful and brings oneself to think. Kurt obviously had a huge amount of empathy. What shines in those talks is his ability to make us understand others point of view. I will definitely pick-up his books after this introduction. Recommended.
I just finished this wonderful book that was heavily recommended to me. I enjoyed it very much and following the journey of Lyra, Pantalaimon and Iorek never left me bored nor outpaced: the rhythm is excellent.
I would recommend for both kids and adults as it's one of those story that has several degrees of reading. By fear of spoiling anyone, I will only say that the underlying theme treated here is omniprevalent in our society.
I can't wait to see how this story is going to evolve, as it's time for me to start the second book of this trilogy, “The Subtle Knife”.