Mark Opalski
Really great/interesting telling of things that happened. Def recommend to all followers of organized crime in Brooklyn and the other boroughs.
A page turning adventure of life at sea. Fun character development and descriptions of life lived under naval command a few centuries ago. The quest of discovering the world and the motives to control it all told through the tiny lens of a solitary sailing vessel.
Interesting details including: life among the Irish ship hands, Gaelic was considered a language of ill-bred and ignorant people, the many definitions of what makes one a gentlemen vs the il-bred, socially acceptable behaviors and rituals, the ill fated life of the people stolen from their lands, Spain's secret trade route with the orient. Englands desires for Spain's secrets and treasures.
This story would've taken place around the same time as a few other books I've read:
- Shogun, James Clavel
- The Wagner, David Grann
- Sharpe's Trafalgar, Bernard Cornwell
It's here I came across an idea I've found rather poignant. “innovation labs don't fail due to a lack of ideas, they fail because they require teams to work in new ways.” I've found this to be true at many places large and small.
An intriguing and delightfully rich tale told with exceptionally descriptive illustrations and a bare amount of words.
The hunt continues
The expanding world kvoth travels gets darker and more dangerous. New knowledge leads him closer to his goal. Many more new unanswered questions emerge. Some clues seem to point to larger mysteries. Can't wait to read the next one to see how the pieces come together.
I loved this book. From the first to the last chapter,this story never left me. The characters and the world and the writing style were original, wicked delightful and haunting.
This is one I will most certainly read many many more times.
I knew a little about Neil Gaiman before this book... I look forward to checking out everything else he's written.
Ahhhhhh so goood
I loved the way this story is told so much I've reread it three times in a row. I'm in love with this author. Ahhh so good!!
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More words until a character count of 200 has been reached.
Finished!
A glimpse inside the Steve Jobs era of design
Remember the popularity of the crackberry? You might remember being a bit fascinated and skeptical about typing on the new iPhone touchscreen keyboard.
We take it all for granted now. But there was a time when no one knew if it would work. This story is told by Ken, the software developer who was at the heart of the unknown outcome and the steps he went through with his team to make the software into the pervasive Interface control we all know and use everyday.
It's easy to take for granted now, but success wasn't assured. Apple had to overcome the risk of failing in the market like it did with the Newton. So the pressure was on and this team delivered, so how did they do it?
Ken walks us through how he made it, what it was like to demo it to Steve Jobs. What it was like to work at Apple during the company's highest moments and how his smart and humble team helped him get it done.
This book is for...
It's an interesting read if your at all interested in the mystery of Apple's top secret product creation process. I'm in the tech business myself, I imagine many of my peers in usability and product design enjoying this book.
The recreation of the time period was fascinating. It truly deserves the accolades it had recieved. That was the only reason I was able to finish the book, because the story was a mess.
It's a good story told well
The science
A city on the moon is interesting thing to contemplate, I've read many other sci-fi books about it, but this was the first one that didn't bypass the ever present dangers of maintaining a survivable life in the vacuum of space. I appreciated every detail of the ‘hard science' to help its plausibility.
The story
I was entertained by the viewpoint it was told from. The perspective of a small time smuggler working the remote Wild West system was irreverent and authentic.
The audio narration
I mostly listened to the book. I was curious how well Rosario Dawson would read it. I couldn't imagine she had a lot of range based on the parts I've seen her play. I was surprised and came to love her reading style. Her voices added so much to the characters. I will ding her for her Irish brogue, it needs more work. But I give her passing grade overall because she did such a superb job with all the other characters. I think that knowing Rosario grew up near the lower east side neighborhood of NYC. I have no doubt that she would have known the types of characters she was reading about. A petty thief, a marine, a cop. A nerd, a thief, a traditional Muslim father. The syndicate street soldiers. An Irish bar keep. If you knew the lower east side in the 70, 80' & 90's, it isn't hard to imagine the characters from that hood on the moon.
Andy's words read by Rosario = perfect.
I hope they create something else.
I love murderbot. The whole series is great. It's full of some of the most hilarious writing I've come across in sci-fi. I will re-read it endlessly.
I will say one negative thing - The pricing of the series is greedy AF. Someone made a poor choice to overcharge for what is essentially a single book and broke it up into a few smaller stories then charged full price for each of them... smelly greediness is not good business. That said, I will not let that monkey brained decision taint my love for the story itself.
Slow start, strong finish. Our goodman hasn't lost his touch.
I was worried the story had become lost, darrow's circumstances felt shallow and boring. Things for his character just weren't a compelling as the original series. In hindsight, I see why that might have been necessary.
The end of the first series left things off hopeful, optimistic. The future seemed bold and the unknown future was exciting. What we get is not that. Our new story brings into a world that's been undone by the reaper, and many aren't happy about it.
Pierce's new characters really grabbed me. I wasn't sure I wanted to know about lysander, Ephraim or lyria, To my surprise, are fantastic.
I truly enjoyed the second half of the book and read through it as fast as the rising series. I'm only disappointed that I have to wait until the fall for to see how the story unfolds.
Authentic cop tale
Loved the voice of the cop more than the story itself. Overall the story was alright. Can't say the fear is something that comes across convincingky.