Kirk
An interesting history of the pulls of the progressive movement and how we got to the point today where nothing can be built and the strange bedfellows of modern politics. Unfortunately, the author chickens out in the epilogue and says that he will not be providing any answers on how to fix the issues he's raised. First rule of business (and authorship) have an answer to the problem you're presenting.
This book is for hardcore baseball fans. A lot of people compare it to Moneyball but that book could be read by someone that has a passing interest in baseball. This is the deep end and exactly what I wanted. I'm too old to start up the chain but it was fascinating to me how front offices have changed in the past decade. It goes into the gory details on scouting and structures and what people look for.
A lot of the book was covered in the financial media (and it's fairly short) so if you read some of the excerpts and listened to the news stories you get the basic jist of the book. It's kind of like how some trailers give away the entire movie. You know what's coming before the book does and it gets distracting.
If you go in cold, it's an interesting enough view of a financial underbelly and as I mentioned it's a rather quick read. It tries hard to be Michael Lewis with the story but doesn't quite get there.
This is a great YA novel if you are willing to overlook a few things.
First, the author made up several slang terms so that the characters could curse without actually cursing. It's pretty obvious what the substitutions are and can get annoying as it happens extremely frequently.
Second, there are more than a couple of times that a deus ex machina device is used to get out of a tight corner. I don't really want to spoiler more than that but if you consider that to be lazy writing this isn't the book for you.
Outside of those two items, I really enjoyed the book. It's fast paced and a relatively quick read.
As one of my friends said, this isn't a book about deep theological or cultural problems. It's a fairly straight forward action flick (er, book) but a fun one nonetheless. At a couple of hundred pages it was a quick read and I really look forward to the Ridley Scott movie coming out next year.
Warning: there is some math, which you can largely skip other than to kind of know what the end product is. I know that it's turned off some people but what he figures out is the important part if you don't want to follow the math.
This is one of those times I really wish Goodreads did half starts, because 3 and a half is more like it.
While I almost gave up on the book several times in the first third, I was glad that I ultimately stuck with it. It was an interesting tale of the spread of meth and its effects mainly in one small town in Iowa. While there are asides to other towns and other locales, most of the action focuses on Oelwein, IA. You meet quite the cast of characters including the mayor, police chief, small town doctor, and a few tweakers that were willing to tell their stories. The author also delves in to how the meth makes it Oelwein first from California (via Ottumwa, IA) and then from Mexico. I drove through Ottumwa all the time on my way to/from college and had no idea of it's seedy underbelly or the fact that it's a major distribution point of methamphetamine in the Midwest.
All in all, a good read. Especially if you live in area that has been infested with meth.
I didn't like this book as much as Hosseini's other books and actually struggled to get through it in places. I nearly gave up about 40 pages to the end but I knew that the main story would eventually resolve itself (and I was satisfied in how it did).
I guess my only complaint is the sidestory of the doctor (this isn't really a spoiler). I understand that the character is important and that the story is important to why he's important but it seemed like a diversion and was the hardest part for me to get through.
I think actually reading this now rather than what it was released was a help. I was far enough away from the elections that it was more of a reminder of recent history rather than immediate rehash. A lot of “oh, I remember that” items. If you pay attention to this stuff, you probably already know the most juicy bits.
None of the protagonists come out smelling like roses, but the authors do try to redeem both candidates in the final chapter (and epilogue).
This is the Bible as if it read as a novel. We read through it as a Church. The entire Bible is broken down into 31 chapters that follow a narrative with highlights of the material left out intersped between the stories. It is good for getting a high level view of the Bible but shouldn't be confused for reading the entire thing.
Obviously, I knew in generalities where the story was going to go as a Red Wings fan but the book did surprise me in a couple of ways. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get through it given that it's basically him speaking into a tape recorder and then having it transcribed. It actually ended up working fairly well.
If you're a fan of the Red Wings the book is worth it. Otherwise, I'd probably skip it.
It's hard to say that a 535 page book never drags but it never really did. It's written as a novel of the week that nearly killed the American financial system and is a fascinating read if you can take the detail.
The hardest part is keeping all of the “characters” straight but Sorkin provides 8 pages of who is who and who they work for at the beginning if someone can't be remembered.
All in all a fantastic book (again if you are into this sort of thing). Certainly not for everyone but a homerun for those who have an interest in finance and/or government.
