Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in btripp_books' LiveJournal:

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Friday, December 21st, 2012
10:18 pm	Howdy ... After many years of not reading (the details of this strange condition, a side-effect of running my own publishing company, can be found in the early entries here), I got back into the habit around 2002, and in February 2004 began to post (in my main LiveJournal) little reviews of books as I read them. In November 2005, I discovered LibraryThing and began to log in my extensive library. As there is a "review" section for every book listed there, it occurred to me that linking back to my book review posts might be a useful thing to do. However, I didn't want to "blur the lines" dividing what I primarily use LiveJournal for and what I see LibraryThing being. As such, I started this new journal, just for my book reviews, and have copied over all the book review posts from my main journal to this new one. NEW! BTRIPP's Reviews - Alphabetical by Author           {EDIT}           By the way... EVERYTHING ON THIS SITE (http://btripp-books.livejournal.com/ and all subsidiary pages) IS COPYRIGHT © 2007-2010 BY BRENDAN TRIPP. Due to recent developments at LibraryThing.com relating to users' book reviews, I felt a need to make a formal statement of copyright claim. Book Blogger Appreciation Week This journal is a member of: The BooksANDBlogs webring. Power By Ringsurf This blog is on the resource listing! (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 8th, 2010
2:21 pm	Finally, one that makes sense … As those of you paying attention here may have noted, I've started going through a lot of “business” books, much against my historical reading patterns. Obviously, most of these have been in the “job search” or “career management” vein, relating to my own in-search-of-employment endeavors, reinforced recently by my penning the Chicago Tribune's “Chicago Now” blog, The Job Stalker, which has both caused me to buy books suitable for coverage there, and recently to be offered review copies. Gary Vaynerchuck's Crush It! Why Now Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion is one of the books that I bought, having seen it referenced so frequently in other books and on Twitter, that I figured that I really needed to add this to my reading list. I've been focusing a good deal of my recent attention of Social Media, as, frankly, there is a lot more call for it in the current Web than Virtual Worlds. I am very glad that I picked up Crush It!, as it “spoke to me” in a way that many of the other books in the “future of work” or “personal branding” niches haven't. Perhaps it is Vaynerchuk's style, he's talking about how he did what he did, why he did what the did, and how he saw what he did in context of the wider economic landscape, in a very “conversational” mode (indeed, he mentions that he pretty much just talked about this into a recorder, and then sent it off to a writer to pull together into a book). As opposed to a book like Finding Work in the 21st Century, which pontificates on the “new world” of no jobs, but independent contractors, this shows what that could look like, not as some dystopian future but as a current exciting, engaging, and rewarding career path today. As opposed to a book like Me 2.0 this is also not an attempt to set up a “system” for the most driven young professionals to reach the early and gaudy success, but a look at how one (equally driven) guy made this work with the tools and resources he had in his life. Having read the other two books certainly made me appreciate this more, as (while firmly in that world-view) it's a very real and vivid illustration of not only how this can work, but how it can be a great adventure rather than an oppressive grind. While utilizing most of the specifics that Schawbel preaches in Me 2.0, Vaynerchuck isn't advocating an obsessive drive to super-successes, being very clear on what steps would be necessary to replace an average drag-into-the-office-everyday salary with income from activities linked to what one knows well, and what is one's passion. Also, this is more “ethically based” than most, with the author constantly framing activities within the context of how actions effect those around us. Where the other books mentioned above might be a white paper on how the work world as we've known it is doomed, and a “manual” for devising a personally-branded career, this gets far more into the “why” while still detailing the “what” and “how”. While the style is easy to read, the book is quite dense with material (probably a good thing, as it is only a slim hundred and fifty pages!), neglecting step-by-step instructions for descriptions of broad-stroke processes and lists of needed activities. A reminder, however: this is a book for the “driven”, which is fine for an obsessive-compulsive fellow like me, but a lot of the world is not wired that way … here's a bit of a caveat Vaynerchuk presents: You will do (those steps) over and over and over again as long as your brand exists. If that sounds tedious or repetitive, just close this book and go do your best to enjoy the life you've got because you're not cut out for this. … I can't help but wonder what the “future” is for the folks who just punch the clock for a paycheck and spend the rest of their lives in search of distraction. My regular readers are no doubt tired of my habit of rolling through chapter headings to give a sense of the book, but this is one of those books where it is a useful approach. I'm going to highlight and paraphrase to an extent here, however: “Passion is Everything” … “Build Your Personal Brand” … “Create Great Content” … “Choose Your Platform” … “Create Community” … “Make The World Listen” … “Start Monetizing” … “Legacy Is Greater Than Currency” (oddly, this list is pretty much every other chapter). The main message here is to identify your passion, play to your strengths (he talks about the difference between text, audio, and video), and staying true to your vision. Again, if you have an interest in Social Media, and "Web 3.0", you really need to pick up a copy of Crush It ... it has to be "essential reading" for the evolution of the new economy. Needless to say, you should be able to find copies of this anywhere, I got mine through Amazon who had it at about 1/3rd off of cover (and, interestingly, the used guys don't have copies for much less than that). Highly recommended! (Comment on this)
Saturday, February 6th, 2010
11:42 pm	I'm not that kind of Boomer, I guess ... I have something of an annual ritual now, thanks to being on Barnes & Noble's mailing list. The past several years, they have had a significant clearance sale after the holiday clearance, the post-holiday clearance, and the post-post-holiday clearance, where in the stores a couple of big tables of books are just $2, and on the web site there are sections for $1.99, $3.99 and $5.99 clearance books. On the web site there were nearly 800 clearance books for $1.99 … and I set about finding enough (13 – mostly hardcovers) to get over $25.00 and score free shipping (which was a good thing as the shipping on the order would have been about seventeen bucks!). Obviously, in this shopping mode, there were things selected because they “sounded interesting” rather than being things I had a burning desire to read … this is one of those. I only knew the broad strokes about Harry H. Harrison Jr.'s 1001 Things It Means to Be a Boomer Now: (Well, It Is Time to Grow Up) when I added it to the cart, but after reading a few things rather “Gen Y”-oriented, I felt like delving into something “my generation”, the ancient, aging Boomers. Frankly I had expected something more of a “joke book” … and being in the desperate career impasse that I have been for the past year or so, I was looking forward to something that was heavier on the humor. Unfortunately, this is more a collection of wry, bordering on cynical, jabs at the Baby Boom generation, focused more on the cliches than on what has been my generational experience, making this a bit more of a stressful read than I had anticipated. The book is, as one would expect from the title, a collection of 1001 observations on Boomers, generally directed to boomers with the tone that might typically accompany “you have some spinach stuck in your teeth” or ”you've got something all over the back of your coat”. These are divided into thematic sections: Generation Gap, Getting Physical, Forever Young, Working For The Man, Financial Security, Surviving The Sexual Revolution, Husbands And Wives, Home Is Where The McMansion Is, Growing Up, Single Boomers, Technical Details, Our Children Ourselves, Your Parents Sill Don't Understand You, Rock And Roll Never Died, Boom Times, Everything Is Spiritual, Boomer Men, Boomer Women, Boomers In Midlife Crisis, Boomer Grandparents, You And Your Pets Are One, and How Boomers Think. Generally speaking, the author seems to have a mental image of the Boomer being an ex-hippie, Rolex-wearing, technologically-challenged, over-paid professional who lives in the suburbs in a house substantially beyond his/her means, is on their third marriage, and has only a very tenuous grasp on reality. While the last point may be applicable, I found it hard to relate to any of the rest, despite being a boomer. Attempting to summarize this beyond the descriptions above seems somewhat pointless, so instead, I guess I'll just pick out a few things that seem illustrative: 22. Being a Boomer means you think wrinkles are optional. 55. Being a Boomer means having a boss young enough to date your son. 131. Being a Boomer means refusing to give up your weight training even though you have to take Viocdin for your back. 207. Being a Boomer means deciding that if a doctor isn't going to give you a pill for your pain, you'll change doctors. 241. Being a Boomer means having some people mistake you for your child's grandfather. 287. Being a Boomer means wondering not about a second career, but a third or a fourth. 394. Being a Boomer means considering a part-time job at Starbucks because of the benefits. And the deals on espresso shots. 427. Being a Boomer means you find your wife sexier than you did thirty years ago. 548. Being a Boomer means thinking a flash drive has something to do with Star Trek. 634. Being a Boomer means learning the ins and outs of Medicare. 671. Being a Boomer means you have a wine collection that's worth the cost of a car. 736. Being a Boomer means understanding that maybe, just maybe, it isn't all about you. 907. Being a Boomer means giving your dog only Evian to drink. 986. Being a Boomer means you're still searching for meaning. Needless to say, “your mileage may vary” on how this stuff reads … I found the book, while wry, generally depressing, but that's likely due to my own personal situation. Also, it turns out this is from a "preachy publisher" so there's a lot of more of "the G word" (and I don't mean gangsta) in here than one would anticipate from a mundane press. 1001 Things appears to still be “in print”, as it is only a couple of years old (despite going out via clearance at B&N), and Amazon has it for 42% off of cover, and their new/used guys have "like new" copies for as little as a penny, so if this sounds like a laugh-fest to you, you're likely to be able to find a copy. (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
12:17 pm	You ... going from 1.0 to 2.0 Well, this is the first time that I've really felt that I needed to make obsequience to the invasive scrutiny of our vile governmental masters, but in the interest of staying on the right side of the FTC's ridiculous regulations I figured I should note that the copy that I have of this book came from the publisher at the request of the author in order that I would have a copy to read and review. As regular readers are no doubt aware, I've been getting review copies from other sources (LibraryThing.com's Early Reviewer program, the Chicago Tribune, etc.) for quite some time, but this is the first instance of my being directly contacted by an author for the purpose of having me do a review. Obviously, we have always been at war with Eastasia. Needless to say, my recent tenure as the writer of The Job Stalker blog on the Trib's “Chicago Now” site, and my now-regular review/interview feature for books about the job search and related subjects, has begun to draw some attention to my long-obscure scribblings (I have been doing these reviews in this space for several years at this point), and we wouldn't want to have the FTC fine me for receiving a free copy of a book, would we? Anyway, the book which has led me across this particular Rubicon is Dan Schawbel's Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, a book about Schawbel's own “brand” of personal branding. In retrospect, it's no surprise that I had “some issues” with this book, as it is explicitly targeted to “Generation Y” or “Millennials” (which I was shocked to find includes my grade-school-aged daughters!), and pretty much only deals with aging Boomers like myself in a sense that we should go ahead and die to make room for the new, hipper, generations. As I was only reading this as a part of my OWN job search, I found this both irritating and unsettling, as, within the context of the book, people my age are pretty much regarded as obstacles to be tossed aside in the path of the favored groups' career advancement! Fortunately, most of that stuff is contained in Part 1 of the book (“The Rise of Personal Branding”), which is focused fairly firmly on the Gen Y audience (with 30 years of professional experience, the “extracurricular activities” of my college days rarely come to mind, let alone find a way into my “personal brand”). The “meat” of the book commences with Part 2 (“Command Your Career In Four Steps”), which presents some very useful (even for geezers like myself) materials for creating what Schawbel describes as one's “brand”, divided in sections “Discover Your Brand”, “Create Your Brand”, “Communicate Your Brand”, and “Maintain Your Brand”. Again, for somebody who has been “organically” developing (however unconsciously) a “brand” for a few decades, some of the steps involved in here are either in the “been there, done that” category, or “that horse is already out of the barn” zone, but over-all the materials presented in this part of the book are very well thought out, “systematic” (in the sense that a network marketing program is a “system”), and reasonably applicable to anybody at the point of focusing on their career (it did cross my mind that my 14-year-old daughter could benefit from reading this). While much of the initial material is extremely basic (what's appropriate business dress, etc.), it certainly seems to be comprehensive, walking the reader through such foundational skills as business writing, verbal presentation, confidence building, constructive persistence, developing technical competence, how to make a sales pitch, etc. Again, the examples given here are generally that of 20-year-olds with minimal work experience, trying to differentiate themselves in the entry-level (or not, he adds in examples of numerous folks who had reached upper-level jobs by 24) job market. The same level of detail is exhibited as the book moves to web sites, blogs, and social networks, giving step-by-step instructions on how to conceptualize, execute, develop, and market these vehicles, with (and here's the part I found most useful, personally) fairly extensive notations of on-line and other resources for doing this. The tone of the book is somewhat uneven, vacillating between specific instructional segments, and Schawbel pontificating on his own (admittedly, rather remarkable – he's only four years out of college at this point) experience. On this latter point (if you'll excuse a jaded late-Boomer bit of attitude), he does point out that this sort of success only comes with ”The right combination of skill, determination, networking, and timing”, to which I might add luck in being in the right place at the right time with a message specifically in resonance with the Zeitgeist. Needless to say, Schawbel is an “outlier” who achieved remarkable success in an amazingly short period of time (and he details several others who have been similarly unusually successful). This brings me to my main criticism of the book ... while it does have a “system” that should be applicable in its general outlines to anybody reading it, it is very likely not going to result in finding oneself in “C-level” positions by age 24 unless one has extremely high levels of both skill (and the ability to “pick up” things with little very little study and practice) and determination. On this latter point, in a section on “tenacity”, Schawbel says: “(entrepreneurs) get very little sleep because they realize the opportunity cost in sleeping instead of getting things done”. While I certainly agree with this statement (and for decades have lived my life according to that pattern), I'd submit that the percentage of the population that is willing to drive themselves to the extent that the book suggests is vanishingly small. So, going in, one has to realize that if you don't have the ability to pick up skills quickly and effectively, and if you're fond of watching TV, hanging out with friends, or having much of any “free time”, you're probably not going to create the sorts of success on which the book focuses. Again, this is not to say that there isn't a whole lot of useful information and advice in here (indeed, there were many “new tricks” this “old dog” is likely to be taking from reading it), only one needs to keep in mind what one is bringing to the table. Much like most network marketing pitches, this is long on what could happen, while avoiding much consideration of what an “average result” would be. The “personal branding” meme may have actual application in the evolving work force, but for most people, jumping though the hoops of developing one's “brand” is only likely to have subtle benefits (confidence, focus, etc.) and not land one in the executive suite, with media stardom, or on lucrative lecture tours. Me 2.0 should be available at your local brick-and-mortar book vendor, although Amazon has it for about 1/3rd off. This is certainly a “your mileage may vary” sort of a book, if you're a Gen Y kid looking to break big in the business world, this might just be your “user manual”, but for Boomers looking to maximize what's left of their careers, maybe “not so much”. (Comment on this)
Monday, January 25th, 2010
9:23 pm	"The Goat" The other evening, in my never-ending search for "networking" events that might eventually lead to my finding a job, I attended a TweetUp hosted by @ColonelTribune in honor of the lauching of the new "TribNation" venture under the aegis of @JamesJanega. While the scope of the the "TribNation" concept is still a bit hazy to me (it seems to involve one-on-one contact with readers via assorted Social Media vehicles), the Trib certainly had an eye on history and continuity in opting to have the bash at Chicago's fabled Billy Goat Tavern, a long-time watering hole and refuge for the "ink stained wretches" of the Tribune (and other papers, most now gone). The party, which ended up being quite a smash, involved having us wearing jaunty newspaper hats (as has been recently modeled by the Colonel himself in his Twitter icon), and circulating between groups of folks, some from the paper, some from Twitter, and some from the extended blogosphere (I ran into folks that I'd known from assorted other networking events, other Chicago Now bloggers who just popped into The Goat for a cheezborger, and got to meet various editors, managers, and columnists, such as the noted writer of the Ask Amy feature). To top off the festivities, "door prizes" of Rick Kogan's A Chicago Tavern: A Goat, a Curse, and the American Dream were awarded, my getting one (I take it) for having been the first to arrive. A Chicago Tavern is one of those books that feels almost accidental, as though the writer (who I discovered is a product of the same Chicago high school that I graduated from) had started to do a feature story about The Billy Goat and found the subject getting away from him, as its length (115 pages with about 25 of those being extremely charming photographs) does not suggest a "I'm going to write a book about The Goat!" genesis. As one would expect from this, it is a quick, but quite entertaining, read. The book weaves various histories together, the stories of the Sianis family, immigrating in waves from Greece, first William (Billy), then his nephew Sam (who still presides at the saloon, and was around for the party), and their various relatives; the story of the newspaper business in Chicago, and how The Goat was a favorite of not only the writers, but the pressmen and other laborers from the half-dozen or so newspapers that used to publish within blocks of the bar; and the story of the mass-media attention, of the old Saturday Night Live crew, and how the homage to the Billy Goat was no cynical ploy, but rooted in John Belushi's Albanian immigrant relatives who also operated "Greek diners" when he was growing up. However, as the sub-title indicates, this is ultimately a story of the much-tarnished American Dream, centered on the Sianis family, and what Billy and Sam were able to build over the better part of a century after coming here with nothing (Billy arrived with $5.00 which was scammed off of him even before he got out of Ellis Island, only to be recouped many years later, as detailed in a remarkable reminiscence). All sorts of fascinating bits and pieces come out here. Sam Sianis was interested in "getting the real story out" and worked extensively with Kogan to get the information right. For instance, the whole "goat" angle came about by happenstance, but Bill Sianis saw the possibilities and re-shaped his own image to the "billy goat" iconography, and how the whole "Cubs Curse" was invented to help sell papers long after the initial snub of Billy and his goat (although it would appear that the Wrigleys were extremely opposed to allowing a goat into the stands, whether or not it had a ticket). Also touching is the tale of how newspaperman Mike Royko and saloonkeeper Sam Sianis came to be extremely close friends, "better than a brother", and much of the decor in the bar is memorabilia of the late Chicago scribe. Needless to say, I greatly enjoyed A Chicago Tavern and would highly recommend it to all and sundry, and especially those with an interest in Chicago history, newspaper lore, immigrant stories, and cultural memories. As a "small book" its cover price is fairly low, and Amazon has it as a discount, but those of you who are either in Chicago or are planning on coming here can also get a copy (along with some awesome cheezborgers) at the Billy Goat! (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
3:05 am	If it's not about "Thriving", then ... Sometimes books that I really want to like just don't connect with me, and I find the reading somewhat uncomfortable. This is a prime example of this scenario. I got Sandra Ingerman's How to Thrive in Changing Times: Simple Tools to Create True Health, Wealth, Peace, and Joy for Yourself and the Earth via LibraryThing.com's "Early Reviewer" program last month (the third month in a row that I'd "won" a book there), so there was that slight disconnect anyway (in that I hadn't really reached out to acquire it, only indicating that I'd be willing to review it), but the book wasn't really what I was expecting. Ms. Ingerman is, apparently, a "newage shaman" and does workshops and is involved in assorted "trade associations" along those lines. This book has the "feel" of something that would accompany a workshop program, but really addressing "soccer moms" or the like, as it relies very little on the reader having any background in esoteric subjects. Now, as long-term readers of this space will recall, I've both been studying various forms of Shamanism for over a quarter century, and have very little patience for "fluffy bunny light working". The combination of these two factors probably "sets me up" for having a difficult time attempting to productively interface with this book. Now, this "thriving" concept is something that I've seen cropping up more and more in various contexts, and I'm not sure if it's a legitimate cultural meme or simply the "concept du jour" among the newage crowd. Unfortunately, there's not much specifically about "thriving" (at least on a personal basis, the author keeps coming back to a concept she calls the "healing the earth quotient", which might be where she envisions this happening) in the book, but a lot of "small exercises" that are sort of "shamanism lite" which would, admittedly, serve as a functional toe-dip into the mystical for the cliché bored suburban housewife. As I kept reading, I kept getting more irritated, wanting her to "get to the point", only to realize that there was NO point she was "getting to" here, only a process, an introduction, and something of a guidebook for somebody who'd attended a weekend workshop (or something of the sort) to continue on with on their own. It also seemed to me that Ms. Ingerman spends a lot more time than most authors I've read promoting her organizations, friends, and websites in the book. I can't say if she's doing this as "presenting her credentials" or simply flogging a marketing opportunity, but it's something that stood out to me as being "above and beyond" even the newage norm. And, speaking of "newage norms", the book has a lot of that "if we just think bright shiny thoughts the whole world will be new and nice and there won't be anything bad in it anymore" vibe to it, and I was bumping up against that with some good solid cynicism over and over again. Given the above, you might well think that I ended up hating the book, and this is (oddly enough) not the case. Frankly, there are several substantial bits of information, from the existential (avoiding negative inputs like the news, avoiding presenting oneself in ways that will generate negative social vibes, etc.) to the esoteric (looking at the dynamics of "group action"), to the practical (a fabulous exercise to develop a visceral sense of "attraction" using strong magnets). Some of the stuff in here is a bit on the fringe (I was wondering if she'd attempted any double-blind experiments on some of the physical things she claims to have been able to effect), and a lot of it is off in the fluff-bunny zone, but there are enough "solid bits" that reading the book was at least worth the time I invested in it. Again, I was probably looking for one thing in the book, and the author was presenting another. I would have much preferred this if it was about Thriving on a conceptual and/or philosophical basis, bringing in concrete examples as needed to illustrate and bolster the main material. Instead this is a workbook which feels like it's targeted to folks with little or no mystical/occult background, framed in "Green" contexts to make it palatable. If one is in this "target audience" then How to Thrive in Changing Times might well be a great introductory book to start doing work of this kind, but if one is simply looking for insight into, well, how to thrive in changing times, you might find yourself as disconnected from it as I was. Obviously, as an "Early Reviewer" book, this has just come out (it even has a 2010 copyright date), so is likely to be at your local brick-and-mortar book store, although Amazon has it for less than ten bucks (reasonably priced for having less than 200 pages). This really wasn't "my cup of tea" but it did have enough solid material in it that it wasn't a waste of time ... obviously, I'm a bit of an "outlier" on the "esoteric reading" scale, so (in the immortal jest of Dennis Miller) "your mileage may vary", and I suspect that most folks wouldn't have the same points of irritation that I was finding with various aspects of the book! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
5:44 pm	Not quite a tragedy ... As readers of my main blog are certainly aware, I've been penning one of the Chicago Tribune's "Chicago Now" blogs, The Job Stalker (detailing the course of my own job search) for the past several months. Out of contacts made through that, I was recently invited to be a participant in the "Signature Club", a feature of the Trib's Book Section's Printers Row blog that brings in "reader reviews" from the public. This was how I came to be reading Miriam Pawel's The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope, and Struggle in Cesar Chavez's Farm Worker Movement (which had been, oddly enough, also a feature of the LibraryThing.com "Early Reviewer" program). I must admit, The Union of Their Dreams was not something that I would have been likely to have picked up in "free range" book shopping, but I'd suggested that I'd probably do a better job reviewing a non-fiction book, and this was what the Trib sent. I was relieved to find that this book was largely a historical approach to the United Farm Workers rather than a doctrinal screed. As I worked my way through the book, I developed quite an admiration for the research that author Miriam Pawel had done to produce this document. As opposed to being an external view of the United Farm Workers, with information collected from news stories, etc., or a "personal" view, this was an internal look at the "la causa" through the stories of various participants. Notably absent from this list is Cesar Chavez, while being the pivotal figure for the ultimate story arc, this is a look at the lives and involvement of numerous key players, from Mexican lettuce cutters and irrigators who moved from the fields to be top union figures to "idealistic" White kids looking for some "meaningful experience", like one who is described as: Ellen was looking for a meaningful experience before heading to graduate school in social work. She knew nothing about the lettuce boycott and wasn't too sure of the difference between Cesar Chavez and Che Guevara. But the internship sounded in line with her career goals, and she was eager to see California. The book is broken into six "themed" blocks of time which present different phases of activity, from the initial grape strike in 1965 to Chavez's death in 1989, each further divided into chapters on specific events and issues. What makes the book stand out is that, within these chapters, the narrative follows various players' activities in those contexts. That the author was able to dig up enough source information to make these individual sections read plausibly as part of a historical overview is quite impressive, and that at no point does the tone waver from the over-all flow of the book is quite a testament to Ms. Pawel's writing skill. While clearly being the story of Cesar Chavez's movement, the book is a story about a dozen or so individuals. There is Chris Hartmire, a young "activist" minister; Elisio Medina, a grape harvester who joined the union as a teen; Jerry Cohen, a navy brat turned counter-culture lawyer; Sabino Lopez, a second-generation irrigator in the lettuce fields; Ellen Eggers, the social work student in the above quote; Sandy Nathan, a draft-dodging anti-war protester turned lawyer; Gretchen Laue, a kid who was looking for temp work and ended up with the boycott office in Boston; and Mario Bustamante, a top-ranked lettuce-cutter from Mexico City (as well as several other "recurring characters" who did not get their own sections). The story moves from vignette to vignette of these people's experiences, and in the process weaves the general tale of the union. It is not a pretty story, nor, ultimately, particularly flattering of Mr. Chavez. All of the key players end up "purged" eventually. Chavez, while claiming "loyalty" as a prime virtue, showed little of it himself, as long-time close friends are shed in alternating cynical and paranoid organizational shake-outs. Chavez envisioned himself as some sort of near-messianic figure, reading about Gandhi, but associating with the likes of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and Synanon cult leader Chuck Dederich (aspects of which Chavez attempted to install as a "new religion" within his "movement"). The core "tragic" element in the book is that gulf between what was, initially, an extremely effective "roots" labor movement which truly revolutionized the state of the farm worker and what Chavez envisioned as his grander "poor people's movement". Somehow the latter always managed to trump the former, and any disagreement with Chavez was framed as "treason", so time after time, contracts were left unfinished, programs not actualized, even checks uncashed due to random re-allocations of staffing resources. If you have an interest in labor, agricultural, or political issues, this book should appeal to you. It also provides an interesting window on a certain area of counter-cultural activities from the sixties, seventies, and into the eighties. As The Union of Their Dreams is new, your local brick-and-mortar book vendor should have it, although Amazon has it at 34% off and there are already copies at deeper discounts in the new/used market. Again, this is not something that I would have been likely to read "on my own", but it certainly rewarded my attention with a fascinating tale of a notable time in our history. (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
12:31 am	O.K. ... For somebody who, until just recently, never read any "business" books, I find myself in an odd situation of being on the receiving end of numerous offers to get review copies of various job search and career management titles, due, no doubt, to my recent penning of The Job Stalker blog on the Chicago Tribune's "Chicago Now" blogging site, and my more recent inclusion of book reviews and author interviews there. The current book, Jason Seiden's How to Self-Destruct: Making the Least of What's Left of Your Career came to me through an unusually convoluted route, not being something that I bought, or got from Library Thing's "Early Reviewer" program, or even had come from the author (@seiden on Twitter), but came from another Twitter user, Melissa Cooley of The Job Quest blog (@TheJobQuest) who had obtained a number of his books and was doing a give-away of them on her blog. Needless to say, How to Self-Destruct is not your average career-management book. Nominally targeted to those who would want to have the least amount of career success, it speaks to the voice of counter-intention within us all, and (one supposes) uses this in a "reverse psychology" subterfuge to shake up the reader on a rather reflexive level. The book has 14 main chapters broken into four general sections: Taking Down Your Career, Kicking Your Career When It's Down, Laying Waste to Your Personal Environment, and Mastering the Self-Destruction Process. Each chapter is in two parts, the main part, and pages with a red tint called "Surefire Masochistic Alternatives" for whatever style of "success seeker" is the flip side of the main chapter's focus (i.e., "for Rookie Success Seekers" in the "Falling Down On You First Job" chapter). Frankly, I felt the book worked best in the first half, as the chapters pretty much follow along a typical career path there, and the back-and-forth between "nightmare advice" and the far more hard-nosed suggestions in the "masochistic alternatives" are in very clear parallel ... almost like a career-guide version of the old Goofus & Gallant morality plays in Highlights for Children. The second half of the book is more general "lifestyle", uh, advice, and gets a bit hazier in its good/bad mirroring, and thereby feels less effective than the parts which are essentially showing Goofus doing the wrong things for a successful career, then showing hard-working, considerate Gallant doing all the right things. Also, both sides of the "lifestyle" equation come across as a bit "naggy", lacking the "case by case" presentation of the work scenarios, and having a very "judgmental" feel (oddly in both the approaches) which serves to just make the reading uncomfortable, as opposed to ironic or instructive. While, obviously, the book should be asked to stand or fall on its own merits, it is helped by a wander through Seiden's web site which repeatedly asks the reader to "dare to fail spectacularly". Within the context of Seiden's other material, the "fade away" of How to Self-Destruct is less dramatic, as the book sort of blends towards other things that Seiden "is on about", but it would certainly be a far stronger work had it maintained the mirroring of the early chapters. His site is, however, a rather rich source of similar material, so if the book speaks to you (my wife snagged this while I was reading it and was a good deal more enthusiastic about it than I have been), there's a lot more to dig into there. This is currently in print, so you should be able to get it at your local brick-and-mortar book vendor, but Amazon has it at a discount, and if you combine it with some other stuff to get up to the free-shipping promised land, you'll do better than even going with the used guys. Again, this is a "whole different approach" to a career book, and it could certainly be seen to be pushing past the bounds of "ironic" into the realm of "sarcastic", but if you're in the mood for something along those lines (some time spent on Seiden's site should give you a "feel" for this), do go get yourself a copy. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
1:24 pm	Another near miss ... I'd ordered Dean Radin's Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality due to its association with Lynne McTaggart's The Intention Experiment. Those of your who read my review of that may recall that I was mainly enthusiastic about the various scientific studies reported there. I had hoped that this book was going to be more of same, and, I suppose, it is, but in a far more muted form. Frankly, this is less a book about Psi phenomena than it is some apologia "calling out in the wilderness" regarding how Psi has been unfairly stigmatized, mocked, and ignored. The author looks for support in history, noting how many famous people, noted organizations, etc., had held psychic/spiritual phenomenon to be proven fact, and then tip-toes into the experimental area. Unlike McTaggart, who covered really "mind blowing" results in her book, Radin seems to concentrate only on the most iron-clad variable-controlled tests, frequently ones only looking for the most subtle and non-dramatic results, and then putting the aggregated data from large collections of these to the most rigorous statistical analysis. For the average reader, this produces a response of "oh, that's nice", and something of a yawn for those "in the choir" as it were. It's as though Radin wrote the book for skeptics only to have it marketed to the enthusiast audience! This is not to say that he doesn't eventually dip a toe into what would be "radical" areas, it's just that by the time he's set up the ground work, he's likely lost the core readers. In the latter half of the book he does touch on these: (in presentiment experiments) what you find is a spectacular body of converging evidence indicating that our understanding of time is seriously incomplete. These studies mean that some aspect of our minds can perceive the future. Not infer the future, or anticipate the future, or figure out the future. But actually perceive it. ... covering the idea that our concept of time, and space/time, is likely in need of further consideration, how various government projects (both in the US and Russia) have had rather dramatic results (now largely available via FOI Act requests), and what might be possible with some more dedicated research ... but it still reads like he's talking about the deli and not the sandwich, focusing on the slicer and not the flavor. Does this make Entangled Minds a bad book? No ... there is certainly a lot of interesting stuff in here, especially in the minutia of how you do statistical analysis on these sorts of studies, but I guess when I ordered this (and I actually paid Amazon's discounted retail for it!) I was hoping for the "WOW!" factor that is clearly present in the various more challenging studies in the field, and I didn't come away with much of that. Rather than having a book-length tour of the stuff that McTaggert leads off with in her book, this was more like a behind-the-scenes look at how these studies get legitimized. Again, there is a feel throughout that he's pleading for the skeptics (and the off-hand dismissers) to take a look at the (considerable) evidence for there "being something real" about Psi phenomena, and, perhaps, this is the best use of the book ... as an introduction to the subject to those hard cases who habitually reject all things psychic. This is, of course, in print, and the new/used guys don't have it at much of a break (Amazon currently has it at 28% off of cover), so if you're interested in picking up copy you might as well go the retail route. It isn't, however, the "wow!" book you might guess it to be from its title. Oh, and, you can do a wicked re-write of Elvis' "Suspicious Minds" riffing off of the title ("... we can talk through the ether, with Entangled Minds; and have prophetic dreams, with Entangled Minds ...") if you're so inclined! (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
11:30 pm	War , and stuff ... This was one of those “dollar store finds” that I was amazed to see in that context. After all, P.J. O'Rourke is a major author, and is still with the same publisher, and this book is relatively recent (2004, with the paperback out in 2005), so why in the dollar store? The only thing I could think was that they dumped the hardcover, go figure. Anyway, P.J. O'Rourke's Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism was a nice find for a buck. It's a collection of pieces initially published in The Atlantic Monthly between 1999 and 2003. Obviously, “article collection” books are probably the simplest things to get into print, as all the “heavy lifting” of researching, writing, and editing are already done, and there is frequently a considerably variability in the final product, depending on how well the pieces were selected, how well they work in conjunction with each other, and how they stand as “a book” as opposed to one which had been written to be a single entity. The over-all theme of this is more “America & War” than the fun new imperialism of the sub-title, and O'Rourke has, conveniently, written from many war zones over the years. However, each of these pieces is self-contained for a particular conflict, event, or occurrence, and there is very little holding the whole together. Now, I was quite enthusiastic as I plowed into this, eagerly spinning through the first half or so, but at some point it just began to drag, and I found myself somewhat relieved to finish it. This is not to say that the component articles aren't informative and entertaining in their own right, it's just that at some stage, there seemed to cease to be a point, and began to read something like a Nexis article return from a search on “war” and “O'Rourke”. Perhaps if this had sat in a “bathroom reading” stack and been read in drips and drabs over a period of weeks or months, it would have stayed “fresher” than having been the “currently reading” feature in my recent schedule. Again, there aren't really any “clunkers” in here, it's that that the whole is perhaps less than the sum of its parts. As far as subject matter is concerned, the book starts with “Kosovo – November 1999”, which focuses on the “down the rabbit hole” aspects of the UN/Clinton adventure in the Balkans; it then moves to “Israel – April 2001”, with a look at the bizarre “permanent conflict” in the middle east, and how mundane and relatively bloodless (he quotes fatality figures merely in the hundreds and compares them to “civil wars you never heard of” which killed tens of thousands, if not millions) this has been; next up is “9/11 Diary” which are his notes of the odd state of Washington DC following the attacks there and in New York, and the strange responses arising around the country (oh, and re-written lyrics to “The Banana Boat Song” which are hilarious); his next stop is “Egypt – December 2001”, which is more of a cultural/historical piece than anything really related to either the USA or warfare, except for the constant complaint that “Osama has ruined the tourist business”; next come “Nobel Sentiments” where he examines one of the evergreen idiocies coming from the Nobel Prize crew (I wonder how he covered B.O.'s recent prize for the remarkable feat of not being GWB!), proving that being a “Nobel Laureate” does not necessarily mean that one is not a moron; at this point he moves on to another batch of morons in “Washington DC Demonstrations – April 2002” where a “Palestinian Solidarity March” had turned into something fairly basic (some Palestinian-American groups staging a march) into a zoo of the lunatic left (with dozens of specific examples of the extent of such lunacy); after a brief interlude, “Thoughts on the Eve of War”, O'Rourke takes us back to the middle east with “Kuwait and Iraq – March and April 2003” which largely focused on the civility and rationality of the Kuwaitis and the feral mob aspects of the Iraqis, both in the looting and the lack of even basic cultural ethics; finally, there is “Postscript: Iwo Jima and the End of Modern Warfare – July 2003” where he goes (as part of a team working on a documentary) to the tiny, yet iconic, battle site from WW2, and reflects on the history and nature of war. Again, as noted above, this is all “good stuff”, and (piece by piece) is quite entertaining and informative, but it probably should be consumed in those bite-size bits over a period of time rather than at one intense push. This is still available in the paperback, so should be available via your local brick-and-mortar book vendor, but “very good” copies of the hardcover are available from the new/used guys for a penny, with “new” copies coming in just over a buck, so if you can't find this at your local dollar store, those are options for getting it. Peace Kills may not be O'Rourke's finest moment, but it is a collection of thoughtful impressions of some very interesting conflicts, and may well be something that would fit in your library. (Comment on this)
Friday, January 1st, 2010
10:06 pm	A good one ... As I've noted in this space before, I'm a participant in the LibraryThing “Early Reviewers” program, which from time-to-time provides me with books (matched to my on-line collection via the mysterious workings of “The Algorithm”) to read and review. I have been fortunate to have received books in each of the past 3 months (with copies-to-requests odds of 5.9%, 3.4%, and 2.3%), with this being one of the better books that I've had from that source. I initially was a bit hesitant about The Five-Minute Miracle by Tara Springett, as it had numerous “newage” red-flags in my view, but I was fascinated, as I got into reading it, to find that it potentially (disclosure: I've not attempted practicing the system described as yet) is grounded on more substantial stuff that many books that it may resemble! The “5 minute miracle” of the title is the 2-minute, twice a day visualization practice that Ms. Springett has named “Higher Consciousness Healing”. As frequent readers of my scribblings may recall, I have studied Vajrayana Buddhism, which Ms. Springett is also rooted in. A substantial factor in Vajrayana is visualization practices which often take the form of a particular symbol (be it a Tibetan syllable, or an object) in a particular color, focusing on which is designed to produce a particular effect. In essence, this is what the author's “Higher Power Healing” is based upon. However, the author is also a psychotherapist, and this discipline comes in during the preparatory phases. The first part of the process here is to identify what needs to be addressed. One has to do a bit of work to narrow down the range of the “problem” and what one is specifically feeling regarding that. She postulates three basic types of feelings that are causing one's suffering, anger, sadness, or anxiety, (with a table to relate these to a wider range of emotions) and that these manifest in various ways in various situations. Also, she has one focus on the problem in terms of the emotions it produces, i.e., one does not suffer from being fat, one suffers from feelings of frustration about not being able to lose weight. She also has one rate how much one generally suffers from the problem, from a 0 (no suffering) to a 10 (“utter desperation"). Once one has the problem defined in these terms, it's time to contact one's Higher Consciousness for assistance. She uses a consciousness model which involves the day-to-day Conscious mind, the Unconscious mind, and the Higher Consciousness, which she defines in something of a pan-theistic mode of a greater level of consciousness which is shared by all beings. Despite being shared, each person is likely to envision their Higher Consciousness in a particular form, from a religious symbol, to some newagey manifestation. Through a process of relaxation exercises (basic self-hypnosis) one gets to a point where one encounters one's Higher Consciousness, and gets, through this, images of one's “Life Path”, which provides a general “map” of how one is presently progressing. Once one has this information, one is to ask one's Higher Consciousness for a “symbol” to help one overcome one's suffering specific to the previously-defined problem. Interestingly, if one does not like the symbol one initially gets, one is encouraged to ask for a different one! Once one has one's symbol, one goes through a fairly simple meditative practice to focus on it, for two minutes, twice a day, for a minimum of two weeks. She suggests “adding” this to some pre-existing habitual action (like brushing one's teeth), so that it will be easier to have on-going. At the end of two weeks, one takes assessment of how one is suffering (that 0-10 scale) and adjust one's activities appropriately. Interestingly, Springett claims that nearly all of her clients have substantial improvement in the initial two weeks, some achieving complete relief of the specific suffering in that period. Again, I have not attempted to do this practice myself as yet, so I can't give much direct feedback on that, but the component parts, the visualization, the self-hypnosis, the mediation, all are dead on things that I have experienced, and the combination here looks like it would have every chance of working. The author claims that the method “popped up” in her mind, perhaps after a long period of mulling around various elements in her subconscious, in search of “a method of transpersonal psychotherapy” to help with her own issues. I, personally, would have liked the book more had it grounded its assorted aspects in the background practices (that I, at least, perceived to be behind it), but it does seem to have solid theoretical basis, and could be a very useful approach. As The Five-Minute Miracle is just now coming out, you're best bet is likely getting it on-line (Amazon has it at 28% off of cover), but if you're looking for something in this ballpark, this is a fascinating practice that has a lot to recommend it! (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
3:35 pm	Not quite connecting ... This is yet another dollar store find … which is, for a change, not that much of a surprise. The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures is a follow-up to a documentary series that author Louis Theroux shot for the BBC in the '90s. As those of you “following along at home” may have noticed, there is a definite trend of documentary-related books ending up at the dollar store not too long after their publication (this had its American release in 2007), and the current volume certainly seems to fall in line with that pattern! In this case, however, the disconnect is fairly easy to nail down … the theme of this book is the author following up with ten of his previous documentary subjects, a decade or so past when he had first tracked their “weird” lives, and if one hasn't seen those programs, one is coming to this book totally cold, and dependent on the author to set up the “why” of these folks being featured. Now, the “weird” of the title is probably not the best descriptor for the people involved. They are participants in various “non-mainstream” Amercian Subcultures, but aren't particularly remarkable in and of themselves. Theroux uses individuals within these contexts as a window onto the particular industry/movement/profession but really spends most of the book reflecting on his reactions as an “outsider” (although he is of dual UK/US citizenship and has lived extensively in the States). His premise here is that he might be able, in follow-up visits without a camera/production crew, get “closer” to his former documentary subjects, and so find deeper insights into their “subcultures”. So, he ends up moving to Las Vegas, buying a car, and seeing who he can track down. In most cases, he is forced to concentrate more on peripheral individuals who may or may not know the original subjects, and not so much on those folks, who in a number of these proved to be somewhat elusive. Each chapter is devoted to one of these “weird” people … first a fellow who had been very big in “UFO circles” when Theroux was shooting his program, but who had “disappeared” from that scene; the author eventually tracks him down, but the bulk of this deals with other UFO enthusiasts, with a brief visit with the original subject at the end … next there's a young guy who had been a budding porn star at the time of the BBC series, but who had also moved on, and was very hard to find; again, much connecting with folks in the industry, followed by a brief visit with the subject in his new “normal” life … then there's the one “celebrity” of the bunch, Ike Turner, who Theroux had an abortive attempt at a documentary of a tour previously; this encounter likewise falls apart, leaving the author musing on issues of trust and control … next was a story about a fellow who had followed Colonel Bo Gritz up into the mountains of Idaho, only to not have the apocalypse they were anticipating come to pass and slowly fade into less dramatic lifestyles … this was followed by a swing through Nevada's legal brothel industry, in search of a particular “working girl” that he'd featured previously; not surprisingly, she was also very hard to track down, so this chapter deals with a lot of other people in that milieu with a brief denouement of contact … his next subject was an Aryan Nations member, back when that group was news, but it wasn't by the time the author got around to writing the book, and the guy had lost most of his “oddness” … in an strange (and perhaps cynical given how it plays to the preceding subject's views of minorities) juxtaposition, he follows this up with a visit to Mississippi and a small-time pimp/rapper that had featured in one of his TV segments, here he has better access but far less contact being no more able to fit into the subject's world than had the author hailed from Alpha Centauri … which could well be where his next subject wished to be, as he was a survivor of the Heaven's Gate cult, who had been given permission to leave before their mass suicide; here too, much of the chapter is spent with other former members, but it does provide a very interesting look into a somewhat unique situation … it's then back to Las Vegas for the next subject, a sleazy “millionaire seminar” scammer, Theroux's access to the subject was very limited, so this again deals mainly with “victims” of the scam, some still quite devoted to the program … finally, he's back in neo-Nazi land, tracking down the girls (and their mom) of the hate-rock band “Prussian Blue” (you may have seen pics on the web of the cute blonde twins in their “Hitler smiley face” t-shirts), resulting in the author trying to probe the kids' devotion to their Mother's (and grandparents') political/racial stance, to the irritation/frustration of all involved. While, as “slice of life” features, these are all interesting enough on their own, yet without the connection to the preceding documentaries to cause one to particularly care about the subjects, it's a pretty weak set of stories, more the sort of things that might be “filler” in a magazine that the core of a book. As I noted, I got The Call of the Weird (in hard cover) from the dollar store, however it does appear to still be in print in a paperback edition ... just in case you were anxious to run out and find a copy. The Amazon new/used guys have "like new" copies for two bucks (plus shipping), so you might consider that if you can't find a dollar store copy. Again, this was a mildly engaging collection of stories, but you'd either have to have been a fan of the BBC documentaries to really be into this enough to pay retail! (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 13th, 2009
9:11 pm	We're doomed ... This is another book that I got from the LibraryThing "Early Reviewer" program, which matches up books provided by publishers with L.T. users who have requested review copies, and whose libraries (via the mysterious workings of "The Algorithm") provide a "best fit" for the title in question. I have, unfortunately, been in and out of the job search so much, that I guess I have more "looking for work" books that most, so ended up getting Ron McGowan's How to Find Work in the 21st Century from the October availabilities. I have to say, I did not like this book. Unlike, say, Conor Cunneen's, there is no cheerleading, no sense that if you focus on the job hunt, and do certain things, it will turn out OK. Nope. This has the emotional delicacy of Alan Rickman's Severus Snape putting an over-reaching student "back in his place", and reading it has a bit of the feel of being berated and belittled by the author. This is, however, not to say that this is not a very useful book, only that one needs to approach it "steeled" against the onslaught. Much of the discomfort the book inspires arises from the author's stance that the "traditional job" is, essentially, dead and that everybody needs to get used to scraping for what funds they may be able to eke out from a constantly fluctuating mix of contracting/temporary/freelance gigs. At one point, discussing "young people" coming into this dire new world, he evens says: They may also want the material benefits that come from having a permanent job: a house, a nice car, and a comfortable lifestyle. They may want these things? Who doesn't want these things? Obviously, the implication is that these are no longer options ... no house, no "nice" car, no "comfortable" lifestyle. The emotional imagery take-away is of all of North America (the author is Canadian) living in a "Mad Max"-style dumpster-diving economy! Needless to say, I don't think this is the authors specific intent, but he does paint a very depressing picture of a world where there are nearly no "real jobs" and everybody is having to scramble 24/7 for whatever projects they can find. Now, a lot of "speculative" books I read are based on similar dire forecasts, and so I'm used to taking a scenario like this on its own terms. Given the underlying "doomed economy" message, the practical parts of the book are quite focused and helpful. Again, this is delivered with all the sympathy of Snape, but the book is organized in various sections: "How The Workplace Has Changed" which discusses the author's views of the economy and the job market, "What Exactly Do You Have To Offer" (go ahead, hear that in Rickman's voice) which rather coldly has you pick apart whatever skill sets you might have believed you possessed to find what could be "marketable" in the new economy, "How To Market Yourself" which gives a reasonably detailed "action plan" (however unsentimentally presented) to find those bits and pieces of work (one can, perhaps, generalize this to a "job search", but it's clear that the author thinks that's a "sucker bet" at this point), and "Getting Started" which maps out what one should be doing to "find work". The next portion of the book addresses college students, and teachers of grade- and highschool students (not that the Teachers Unions would ever let ANY of these "reforms" be implemented in the U.S., especially the "co-op education" he suggests which sound a bit like apprenticeships from colonial times!), with versions of the material in the previous chapters aimed at these audiences' skill levels. Finally, there is "Managing Your Career", with more doom-and-gloom about how most Baby Boomers and following generational groups are totally screwed. Again, if you accept the author's dystopian premises, all this makes perfect sense and fits into a reasonably congruent whole, complete with forms, templates, quizzes, etc. (which are conveniently assembled on an included CD-ROM). He certainly provides a lot of good advice, such as this gem from his "networking" discussion: ... avoid typical networking events that are continually being promoted by amateurs and others with a vested interest in attracting uninformed but well-meaning employment seekers. ... which is about as straight-forward as you can get on the idea of how useful a room full of desperate unemployed people are likely to be for each other! There are, however, not a few "mixed messages" in the book ... these two snippets stood out (as they were pretty much directly across from each other on facing pages) as an example of this: Be realistic in your expecations of finding work on the Internet. Richard Bolles ... suggests that the average person has only a 2 percent chance of finding work on the Internet. The Internet is increasingly becoming the media of choice for companies looking to hire people and for people who are looking for work. ... uh, if it's the "media of choice" that's a pretty sorry state if it's only providing a 2% success rate! To get a sense of the "tone" of the book, here's how the future the author envisions is presented in the section for kids: Coming to terms with bad news doesn't come easily to us but it's in our own self-interest to face up to the reality of what is going on in the economy. Like it or not, we must face the fact that for years some governments, a significant portion of industry, and the public have been living beyond their means and now we have to pay the price for that. We've become a society that seems to be incapable of facing up to the harsh reality that good times don't last forever and that going through tough times is a part of the natural cycle of life and the economy. Losing your job or your home or your savings is very hard to deal with but deal with it we must just as our ancestors had to in their time. Nobody knows how long the economic downturn will last or how deep it will be but there are some changes we can make now to get us back on track. I don't know about you but reading that makes me want to move out to the boonies and stock up on food, fuel, and firearms rather than trying to figure out the best way to, hat-in-hand, look for piecework from whatever companies aren't bankrupt! I want to reiterate that the practical advice/instructions given in the book are top notch and I've found many things (such as his suggestions for "brochures", which is a "marketing concept" for my own job search which I'd started on, but needed more honing of the concept) which I'm able to apply myself. The caveats being that this is not a "friendly" book and it is ultimately based on a very bleak view of the future. It appears that, despite being part of the "Early Reviewer" program, How to Find Work in the 21st Century has been around for a bit, as this is noted as being the "fifth edition" (although the initial date in the publishing info seems to only be 2008). If you're a job seeker in "tender" emotional condition, this might not be the best book for you, but if you're looking at going for an alternative career path, outside the "traditional job" this would be a nearly indispensable guidebook for what you need to do to get yourself ready for a nice piece of business in the Thunderdome. (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
5:33 pm	Well, that's the third of three of these ... So, this is the third of the three George Carlin books I picked up recently. Having read all three (I believe the fourth was posthumous) I'm pretty firmly of the opinion that Carlin is best preserved in video rather than on the page. While his wit and curiosity come through on paper, it's dimmed by the lack of vocal delivery and stagecraft which made his act so impactful. When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops? is much like his second book, Napalm & Silly Putty in structure, with longer thematic sections being intermittently broken up by short bits. I'm not much of a "video guy", but the weakness of these collections has made me seriously consider picking up some of his video releases, as there's just enough here to remind one of his genius, but it's like a supermodel in a parka ... the best parts just aren't on display! Frankly, I had hoped from the title that this was going to be a significant broadside at organized religion, but (while there is this content, but no more so than in his previous books), this was not the case. I still am not sure where the title comes from, if it's a reference from a bit in the book, it certainly snuck past me, and I've not been able to place it in any other context. I would have been much happier with this if the majority of the material ran along the lines of this gem: These anti-war demonstrators are really unimpressive people. They're against war? How groundbreaking: what a courageous stand. Listen, angry asshole, pick something difficult. Like religion. Why don't you get out on the street and start marching around against religion – something that's really harmful to mankind. War is simply nature's way or doing things; of keeping down the count. Religion is the problem. Get rid of religion and you've done the planet a favor. So how about getting out there next weekend and marching around with a sign that says HO HO HO! RELIGION MUST GO! Come on, protesters, show some balls. Of course, I like that because it slams both the Left and the Fundies all in one go ... and if the book were all that way, it would be an "instant classic" in my library and high on the list of my favorite books! Considering what a counter-cultural icon he was, it's very amusing to find him poking the "liberal cause" morons with sharp sticks. There was this brief jab that sums up the mental insufficiency of the "do-gooder" dingbats: A lot of the people who worry about the safety of nuclear plants don't bother using their seat belts. ... obviously pointing out that those sort of people aren't particularly good at math! I assume that it goes without saying that Carlin wasn't coming from the other camp either, but going for a place of free thought that was willing to say that the Emperors (and their lackeys) of both the left and right rarely had any clothes. This snippet is a great example: I don't like ass kissers, flag wavers or team players. I like people who buck the system. I often warn kids: “Somewhere along the way, someone is going to tell you, 'There is no “I” in team.' What you should tell them is, 'Maybe not. But there is an “I” in independence, individuality and integrity.'” As was the case with the earlier volumes, When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops? is still in print, and so should be available at your local brick-and-mortar book vendor ... Amazon has it a full cover price (!), so if you're looking for a new copy, you might do better in meatspace, however, "like new" copies can be had from the new/used guys for as little as a penny (four bucks with shipping), so that would certainly be my recommendation were you wanting to pick up copy of this! (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
8:03 am	Better ... So, as I noted previously, I'm in the midst of reading three of George Carlin's books. I had certain “issues” with his previous one, Brain Droppings, and, in reading this, I'm guessing that many of my complaints about it were also eventually raised by others (perhaps his publisher), as this second book Napalm & Silly Putty is far more “literary” and less “this is my stage show” than its predecessor. There were far fewer places in this where the material felt like it “needed” his timing and mugging to make it work. One thing that I found surprising was that various bits from the previous book found their way in here. Of course, I'm hitting all three of these books in succession, so am far more likely to notice than the vast majority of folks reading them, and (barring some obsessive-compulsive filing/indexing system to keep track) it's certainly understandable how repeats could sneak in, given there being as many as 8 bits per page in a 250+ page collection. Anyway, these were not all over the place, but there were a half a dozen to a dozen that “jumped off the page” while reading this. With the change of focus, I felt the book was far more amusing than its predecessor, with many well-constructed “riffs” on various topics … one about “maniacs and crazy people” especially caught my fancy, with this particular chunk seeming worth sharing: ... you can't put them all away. You have to keep some of them around just for the entertainment. Like the guy who tells you the King of Sweden is using his gallbladder as a radio transmitter to send anti-Semitic lesbian meat loaf recipes to Marvin Hamlisch. A guy like that, you want to give him his own radio show. That's still recognizably Carlin, but less a stage riff and more, a “story”. The book is also somewhat more systematically organized with blocks of related subject matter pulled together (“Cars And Driving”, “Dog Moments”, etc.), and the one- or two-liners grouped in “Short Takes” sections every 10-20 pages (and differentiated with a slight grey screen in the background). This also makes the book stand more as a “book”. Like the previous title, I picked this up from the Amazon new/used guys for a penny (plus shipping), but it does still seem to be in print … frankly, I'm amazed that Amazon is charging full cover (and that's above twenty bucks each, the three Carlin books I got would have come in just under $75 if I hadn't gone with the new/used guys!) for these, but I'm sure there are folks out there who really get into this. Don't get me wrong, I'd been a fan of Carlin's, but I'd been a fan of his act, and the books, while bringing the content don't do so with the sell (voice inflection, rubber-faced mugging, etc.) which brought home the absurdities he was commenting on. While Napalm & Silly Putty is better than its predecessor, I'm glad I was able to get it for just four bucks! (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
9:24 pm	What a bummer! A few weeks back, somebody commenting on one of the posts in my main journal strongly encouraged my reading some George Carlin. Since I've been "coached" to consider the serendipitous for the job search and much associated with it, I decided to take up the suggestion and order in three of Carlin's books. All I can say after reading Brain Droppings is that I'm glad i got them from Amazon's new/used vendors. As regular readers of this space know, I've been spending a lot of time pumping my brain full of Intention, Positivity, Attraction and other Secret-esqe philosophies. In fact, one book (the classic The Science of Getting Rich, which I'm still quite enthusiastic about) counsels one to "not read any other philosophies" while working towards wealth. Well, this collection of Carlin's musings is just about as "anti" all that as is humanly possible. An earlier edition of myself would have found that quite amusing (heck, there's a section in here, "Rules To Live By", which almost point-for-point goes down the list of things that "the Secret people" focus on, and presents a cynical and extremely negative version of them) in its complete "dark mirroring" of the "fluff bunny" movement. How'd he know? This book came out in 1997, so was penned nearly a decade before Byrne's book (you don't suppose she read this and was inspired to counter it?). Frankly, I was unprepared for this to be any sort of a "challenging read", expecting to just blow through it and the others in a spare few hours. Instead, it was a grind, and surprisingly unfunny. While Carlin's work is certainly cerebral, picking apart language, looking at unacknowledged aspects of society, etc., I think it loses a lot when distilled down to simple text. Much of the punch to Carlin's humor is in the verbal delivery, and he's most effective when he can "mug along" with the jokes. Without the audio and video, the material here is at best "wry", but frequently giving the impression of "trying too hard" to get to some semblance of a punch line. I probably chuckled 2-3 times over the entire 258-page book (contrast that to the recent Kinky Friedman book which had me LOL'ing every few pages). The tone here, separate from Carlin's stagecraft, is uniformly bitter, hostile, non-constructively confrontational, fatalistic, and mean-spirited. Reading through the book was akin to having to take a long Greyhound bus ride stuck in a seat next to the most cantankerous, negative, and opinionated person you know. In the introduction to his second book, Carlin notes that this one did better than he'd anticipated. I'm surprised as well ... but it must have been as a new product by a cultural icon rather than on the strength of what's on the page. I used to joke that my poetry collections were written for those "too happy" people out there, Brain Droppings comes across as being intended as a "cure" for those suffering from a surfeit of positivity. Needless to say, I'm very confused as to WHY the person (not a regular commentator in my journal) suggested that I read George Carlin's books ... I'm beginning to suspect that it was intended to sabotage whatever progress I've made "towards the light"! As one might expect from the above, I am not recommending this, unless one wants to have it for a "historical" or "pop cultural" perspective. If one does feel a need to get a copy, I would recommend not spending the $27.95 that Amazon wants for a new copy, but pick up a "like new" copy for 1¢ (well, $4 with the $3.99 shipping, that's what I paid) from the used vendors! (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
12:28 pm	Would be nice ... A few weeks back I'd attended a Social Media Club "MeetUp" that featured Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen. I was pretty excited about this, as these guys are "keynote" caliber speakers, and it was cool to have them in a much smaller room. It soon became clear that the reason that we had them available was that the were out on a whirlwind tour flogging their new book (and offering a heck of a deal on "extra stuff" if you bought a copy that night). Well, when I started looking into the new book's info, it became clear that it was sort of a "Volume 2" to their previous book The One Minute Millionaire: The Enlightened Way to Wealth, so I figured it would make sense for me to get this (via Amazon's used vendors, of course) and read it first. Now, as regular readers of this space will no doubt recall, I have been out of work for quite a long time, and have been trying to find something that will bring in money. As such, I was well-primed for Hansen & Allen's spiel. However, I think a couple of caveats need to be put forth from the start. This book came out in 2002. The economy in 2002 was apples-to-oranges to the economy of 2009. I, frankly, believe that a lot of what was "sage advice" in 2002 is more of a "recipe for disaster" in 2009, especially in their favored Real Estate pathway ... this is likely why they've come out with the new book! This is, of course, not to say that the book is worthless at this point, I'm sure that the general structure and approach they detail is still quite valid, only that the specifics have changed with the economic times. The other caveat I have is that this book (and its follow-up) are strangely formatted, which has the potential to derail the information flow. The right hand pages are a "novella" about a young lady encountering a millionaire "master mind" group, becoming the protégé of one of these, and forming her own group to achieve a very difficult task (I will leave the details out for those of you who loathe "spoilers") in a very short period of time ... specifically, needing to come up with a million dollars of cash within three months (starting with nothing). The left hand pages are the "manual", as it were, which gives the reader the basic course in the Hansen/Allen "system". The authors suggest approaching this however you want, reading one first and then the other, or working through them in tandem. I opted for the latter approach, which ended up with a lot of "jumping around" as sections of the story rarely ended on pages facing sections of the manual! Also, the story has (every now and again) what look like foot/endnote superscipts which refer to pages in the manual ... however, this seems to be a bit haphazard, at least in terms of how I went through the book. Back in my publishing days, I did a book that was half&half like this, combining a thriller novella with an NLP training manual, but in that case we did the fiction first and had the manual being essentially a lengthy appendix on how the protagonist had been trained. In the case of The One Minute Millionaire I think the most effective approach would be to read the manual first to get a grounding in the concepts, then read through the story, at which point the various back-references to the manual would make more sense! Hansen and Allen had set themselves a "goal" of creating a million "Enlightened Millionaires" with their books, courses, seminars, etc., and there is a smattering of their "philosophy" behind this. Again, rather than just put it out here (that would sort of be a "non-fiction spoiler", wouldn't it), I'll just say that it puts the rest of the stuff into a context that keeps bits and pieces that might be seen, on their own, as "heading off into left field" corralled into a largely coherent approach. The section headings for the "manual" part will give you a sense of how the book goes about its task: Leverage, Mentors, Teams, Networks, Infinite Networks, Skills and Tools, Systems, Real Estate, Business. Again, Real Estate in 2009 ain't what it was in 2002 ... and, their other "wow" approach, The Internet, is far more crowded these days than back then, and a lot of what they suggest as techniques here would face a huge challenge "competing for eyeballs" in the current Web. However, as noted, the "broad strokes" here I believe still hold true, their "Enlightened Millionaire" philosophy is strong, and they do legitimately seem to be trying to drag the willing among us into the "millionaire club". Of course, due to the caveats above, I can't give this a "wholehearted" recommendation, but I certainly found the book of value, and especially if you're planning on picking up the new book (Cash In A Flash), you'll want to check this out first. As I mentioned, I got this on Amazon via the new/used vendors, and paid three bucks (before shipping) for my copy ... you, however, at the moment have the ability to snag "Like New" copies for as little as a penny, as I see there are several available there for considerably less than I paid. So, if you think that spending four bucks (1¢ + $3.99 s/h) for some primo "visionary business coaching" is worth it to you, I'd say jump on this today. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
2:46 pm	Quite a good read ... This is another "dollar store find" that falls into the "how did that get there?" category ... it's scarcely three years old, and is quite an engaging read, yet it's already "remaindered". My best guess is that Timothy Dobbins' Stepping Up: Make Decisions that Matter "fell between the cracks", category-wise, as it was published by the "business" side of Harper-Collins, but it reads much more like a "self-development" book. If this was being marketed to the "business management" sector, I can see why it might have failed to the extent that they'd drop it, which is unfortunate, as this is quite a perceptive and useful book ... too bad they didn't "change gears" and point it at the "newage" market! The author is an interesting figure in that he started out as an Episcopalian priest (which he still is, on the side) who evolved into a business coach/consultant. These roots are notable throughout, as much of his approach has the "pastoral counseling" vibe, although generally dealing with business-centered situations. He begins the book with a look at how people search for meaning in the face of emptiness, which is a very worthwhile essay in its own right. I especially appreciated how he clarified the roles of spirituality and religion: Spirituality is about the human spirit and soul; how each of us individually and collectively become conscious of ourselves and our unique roles in the universe. It's an expression of our values and beliefs. Religion, on the other hand, is a particular system of faith and belief with its own set of rules and practices. ... this in a discussion of how spirituality "belongs not only in places of worship, but in the workplace ... (being) central to our full humanity". This is a well focused point, and one that is egregiously lacking in our culture as a whole (although there are far too many people desiring to bring their religious biases into the workplace). His concept of "stepping up" is doing the "right thing" as far as our personal (spiritual) authenticity is concerned, and the book is an examination of why, most of the time, people opt for other strategies. Dobbins defines these other strategies as: "Standing Still", "Stepping Aside", "Stepping Back", and "Stepping on Someone Else", each getting its own chapter filled with stories of people he's encountered and how they manifested these, contrasted with those who actually "stepped up". Here are the "thumbnail" definitions for these: Standing Still: Standing still is the default option for almost all of us. To stand still is to let something happen without taking any action. Things might work out, or they might not, but in either case your action is inaction. Stepping Aside: If standing still is ignoring your responsibility, stepping aside can be an abdication. It's taking yourself out of the game, giving up, waving a white flag, and telling someone else to take your place. Stepping Back: We step back to block others from moving forward. Often workplace stepping back takes place in team or group projects. Consciously or unconsciously you block the team or group from moving in a direction that may not meet your own needs. Stepping on Someone Else: Business is almost always portrayed as a zero-sum game ... (but) I don't believe it's true of most of the interactions between individuals ... just because your company's goal is to take market share away from your competitors, that doesn't mean your personal goal needs to be to take responsibilities and power away from your coworkers. And, finally, Stepping Up: ... (W)e almost always know what the right thing to do is in any given situation ... the answer is almost always there, somewhere inside ... in most situations we have a general sense of what should be done, or what needs to be done ... if you give yourself a chance, you'll know what you need to do to step up. The author takes on each of these, with examples both from his own immediate surroundings (and actions), and those more "generally" presented (although he does indicate that the stories all represent actual situations). While nothing here is particularly "earth shattering", it does give plenty of places to consider one's own behavior, and how to manage these various "strategies" when they are manifesting around one in the work environment (and, of course, elsewhere). Again, I was happy to have encountered Stepping Up, and would recommend it to anybody. The tone, for me, was "just right" between not being "preachy" and not being "consultant-y", and the structure of the information made for very effective delivery. As noted, this seems to be only available in the "aftermarket", so if you can't find it at your local dollar store, you can snag copies from the Amazon new/used vendors of "like new" books for as little as 1¢ (plus, of course, the $3.99 shipping). It's a very useful little volume, and I do hope the author manages to find a new publisher for it, as it really doesn't deserve its present fate! (Comment on this)
2:40 am	Well ... As anyone who regularly follows this space will tell you, I don't have exactly "popular" reading habits, and somewhere around half the time over on LibraryThing, I'll be the only person reviewing a particular book, and one of only a handful having a copy. Needless to say, in the case of Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner's Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, this is not the case (with over 12,000 copies logged in there, it's the 70th "most popular book", and it's been reviewed nearly 250 times). While this doesn't "cross the line" over into Fiction (for the past several years I have read only non-fiction), it has that "well, what do you say about a book that so many people have already read?" vibe about it, which I find oddly unsettling when looking at doing a review. On top of that, a follow-up edition ("Superfreakonomics" ... insert your own Rick James reference here) just came out, so there's buzz about on the subject, making my adding to the verbiage seem somewhat superfluous. I ended up reading Freakonomics by a bit more direct route than is typical of my recent acquisitions ... at the open session of this summer's Ad:Tech conference here in Chicago, the noted "chief innovation officer" for the Publicis Group, Rishad Tobaccowala, strongly recommended that if one hadn't read the book, one should make a point of doing so. In my recent job search, I have become quite "coachable" when it comes to suggestions from the leading lights in the fields where I'd like to be working, so I promptly put in an order with Amazon for a copy. For those of you not familiar with the book, it is a collaboration of a noted economist, Levitt, and a former NY Times editor, Dubner. The book arose from Levitt's application of economic theory to various societal issues, with frequently unsettling results (the "central idea" of the book is rendered: "if morality represents how people would like to world to work, then economics shows how it actually does work"). This starts out fairly straight-forwardly, with an analysis that helped filter out "cheating" teachers in the Chicago Public School system, and then mirroring this with a look at how Japanese Sumo wrestling appears to be "fixed". The book would have been a much dryer read, however, if it had stayed in a strictly numerical zone like that, but it soon shifts into a more general range, looking at how the Ku Klux Klan was battled by opponents who focused on airing its secrets, and how, without the aura of those secrets, the organization lost much of its appeal, and comparing this with the reality of real estate agents using their "secrets" to frequently make deals that are not in the full interest of their clients. The middle sections of the book are the most controversial, first looking at inner-city drug dealing as a business, which the authors end up considering not much different, structurally, than a fast-food chain, or other highly stratified corporate entity, as a way of answering the question "why do drug dealers still live with their moms?" (short answer: the average gang member typically clears less than minimum wage while the "obscene profits" concentrate at the top of the organization). Most notable, of course, is the section on why, contrary to all forecasts in the 80's and 90's, did crime suddenly drop. The analysis here points not to "new policing strategies", not to the economic boom of the era, but to the effects of Roe vs. Wade ... that substantial chunks of what would have been a whole generation of criminals were aborted in the inner cities, and rather than "coming of age" as a predicted wave of street thugs, appeared as a major gap in the numbers. Needless to say, this was a horrific concept to both the Religious Right and the Lenient Left, and gave the authors their biggest notoriety. The last sections deal primarily with parenting, with many "counter-intuitive" revelations about what is and what isn't important in raising kids, at least as the numbers indicate. I must admit that I had some firmly-held opinions challenged here regarding the value of certain things we worked hard to put in place for our kids. This then moves back into controversial areas with a look at naming patterns, and how black kids end up with names which are likely to stigmatize them (in terms of moving into mainstream society), as well as to long-term patterns of name use. What I believe that Mr. Tobaccowala was getting at in so strongly recommending this book is to be in a place where one questions "the conventional wisdom" and looks beyond the surface appearances of societal features. Certainly (despite "the numbers" presented here), much in Freakonomics can be taken with a grain of salt, but it is something of a light being shone into areas not specifically considered previously. As one might expect, this is widely available, and would no doubt be in stock at your local brick-and-mortar book vendor; however, Amazon has it at almost half (42% discount) off of cover, which is quite a deal (and on a par with the available used copies), so that's likely your best bet, if this is something that you've "been meaning to get around to reading". (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
9:04 pm	Pentagrams and Golden Sections again ... I know what regular readers of this space are going to say: “Brendan, why do you keep reading those books if you never really 'get' them?” Point taken. Of course, I'm a sucker for a “good deal” and I found Nicholas R. Mann's The Sacred Geometry of Washington D.C.: The Integrity And Power of the Original Design on a 75%-off clearance table at B&N a couple of months ago, and it looked interesting, was only two bucks, and so I picked it up. Frankly, I was expecting this to be far more “woo-woo” that it was, following in the footsteps of the Dan Brown fellow-travelers (like several titles that have appeared here previously). On one hand, I was relieved to find that this was not really the case, however, on the other, when the author starts doing Henry Lincoln style “sacred geometry” tracing (see the doozy copied here) of complex patterns over maps, it really does help having some mystery, conspiracy, or Big Secrets to entice the reader to play along. In this case, Mann runs the narrative closer to a history, with side-trips into philosophy (and not in the “mystery” zone), focusing on Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the French associate of George Washington who had been tasked with designing the new capitol city. There is a recurring question as to whether the Masons were involved (or, I suppose, to what extent Masonic philosophy was involved, being that Washington and many of the other leading lights of the day were very visible high-ranking Masons), but it's not about that. The book looks at various influences “in play” at the time, from myths and legends current regarding the Native American tribes that had been in the area, to the emerging mythos of the U.S., and old-form European traditions. L'Enfant was from French aristocracy, his family being artists associated with the royal house (he'd even grown up at Versailles, the design of which seemed to have a not-inconsequential effect on his plans for DC), providing him with both a solid knowledge of European artistic and architectural systems, but also a less-than-democratic attitude (he seemed to regard Washington as his “royal patron”) which eventually ran him afoul of Jefferson and other elements in the social weave of the day. The downside of not having much of “a mystery” involved is that the book is, frankly, more boring that something that's purporting to lead up to a “big secret” (as disappointing as some of those sorts of books may end up). The author spends a substantial part of the text trying to re-create the “plan” that laid behind the eventual lay-out of Washington DC, talking about “golden section” relationships, “vesica piscis” orientations, phis, pis, and lots and lots of pentagrams (and a good part of it trying to explain why things didn't lay out “exactly” to these geometries). As I've noted before, I'd be far more impressed in one of these situations if five substantial geographic locations (buildings, monuments, squares, etc.) precisely showed up on the five points of a pentagram, but somehow it's always 3-4 points “suggesting” an alignment, but no solid proof for the entire form. Admittedly, the alignments in DC do appear to be very clearly aligned to these sorts of geometries, but the whole still suffers from “woulda coulda shoulda” assumptions of “intent”. One thing I found somewhat surprising (and, obviously, not in a good way) was how many blatant typos found their way onto the printed page here … there were several instances where a “1790's” date was rendered a “1970's” date (!) and other places where subordinate clauses were pointlessly repeated (indicating a cut-and-paste that hadn't been cleaned up). Having been an editor and a publisher, this sort of thing makes me wonder how much attention was given this project! SPOILER ALERT! (for those folks on LibraryThing.com who are always whining about reviews that “spoil” the read) … in the final analysis, Mann feels that L'Enfant's design was very much his own creation, based on his background in the arts and architecture of Europe, and the mathematics that are implicit in the design of the city are more “classical” than the “mystical” systems that would have likely been expressed had the plan been “Masonic” (he contrasts this with the Washington Monument, which has geometries of a far more Masonic sort). Again The Sacred Geometry of Washington D.C. is an interesting book, and can be appreciated as a history of the efforts of a notable contributor towards the definition of the USA, but almost hampered by the whole “let's draw pentagrams on the map!” aspects. Despite my getting this on "clearance", it's still available from bn.com ... although (as is often the case for B&N published books) only available in the "aftermarket" via Amazon. If you find this sort of geometric symbology fascinating, by all means pick this up; if you're interested in post-revolutionary history, you'll likely find this reasonably engaging; but if you're looking for Deep Dark Secrets worthy of a Nicolas Cage adventure, I think you'll be disappointed in this book ... as always, YMMV, but with a cover price of $7.95 for a hardcover, you won't be out much getting it. (Comment on this)