Chemistry for Beginners: A Novel By Anthony Strong, Narrated by Simon Vance & Kate Reading. (Read via Audible.com)
This the defiantly a nerdy love story novel. I picked it up on browsing the Simon Vance’s collection. Its a fun read for the fact that there is so much as John Cleese puts it “Techno Gobbledy Goo.”
This story in a scientific paper type layout, with footnotes and references. The thing is this book presents the opposite of a dry scientific paper. Strong brought tons of color to the paper, by telling the story as a scientific discovery, when it is really about romance. As the late Randy Pausch puts it in his book The Last Lecture, a Head Fake!
The most enjoyment of this book came in the primary character Dr. Steven J. Fisher. The book revolves around his work of developing a new drug formulation called KXC79. The drug’s intention is to treat female sexual disfunction. Fisher is an Uber Nerd. Brilliant as a scientist and really has a bottomless passion for his work.
What I liked so much about him is that he is not the typical portrayed stereotype. Instead he illustrates what a real person can be and would act like. His social interactions are really on spot on how some people live. They really have no barometer for social games. Most signs of attraction or flirting just go way over his head. I too can relate. I was talking to a friend about this type of thing and was just blown away by the complexity of interaction he was talking about. Chase but don’t chase too hard. Cater to different thought processes. You have to give them attention then cut them off, but don’t, then do, only for a little bit. aahhhh-eer-argh-Ahhh! Strong does do a good job mixing it up, specifically how we got to read Ms. G’s diaries. It really is great stuff, especially seeing a situation from both sides.
Anyway, at the end of the day Conan says it best (in many ways) and this books reflects that: “If you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
9/10
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Vale of Work by Matthew Crawford, Narrated by Max Bloomquist (Read via Audible.com)
I picked this one up from a off-hand recommendation by Alex Lindsay when he was on MBW on the Twit Network.
This book is about the lost art of the tradesman in society. Crawford makes a very valid point where the education taught in K-12 today is only to shuttle kids into “knowledge worker” type jobs after college. This more than anything else I have found has changed society the most.
I think only two generations back to my grandparents. They both had workshops in their respective houses. They could navigate their
furnace,
plumbing,
electrical work,
painting,
carpentry,
gardening,
mechanics,
and much more.
We have really moved from being self-sustaining independent people to being hopelessly consumerist. Perhaps thats why advertising is so dominant today. Even the most recognized carbonated beverage maker still spends billions in ad dollars every year. Saddening.
I do relate this book to a talk by Mike Rowe gave (available on TED.com) on his views of works and they go together hand in hand.
The only negative is that the book trails off in the end. It’s not babbling per say. I feel that Crawford really just struggled putting into words how he feels about which collar he wears. To put it in studio terms, He is unsure which is better. Being above the line or below the line.
A great read and was only just under 7 hours.
Solid 8/10
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn, Read by
Dennis Holland (Via Audible.com)
I didn’t realize that this book was written in 1962 until after reading the book.
This book for me felt 60% awesome combined with 40% of academic gravitas-err-filler which made it a read that I had to come back to multiple times over the past few weeks. I found myself drifting and thinking about something else while the book rambled on which got annoying.
That 60% though was a good case study on how people shift their thought in the sciences overtime. Kuhn did go into great detail on how paradigm shifts and what forces people to move forward and change their view.
He used examples from history from a bunch the big names in science on how their view really challenged their day’s opinion, and how over history the science body tends to bend history to keep it very (to use a Star Trek term) logical.
What really makes this book interesting, is comparing it to the book ‘The Shock Doctrine’ by Namomi Klien. I find that the contrast between instant gratification and the gradual change over time is fascinating. In some ways.. shocking people is an efficient way. However, in the end I think it always backfires. I believe we have only started to scratch the surface on how uber complex structures work. Take the brain for example. We know somewhat what each area does, however we still don’t (as far as I know) how all of it is randomly meshed together to build a consciousness. The gradual changes that happen organically as Kuhn studies paradigm shifts in science tells a lot about the evolution of knowledge.
The only modern paradigm I will cite is with computing. The personal computer has gone through a series of major interaction changes. First it was build-a-computer. Next it was keyboard based and text prompt. Then it was the classic GUI that added the mouse. Hopefully we are about to enter the next phase of interactions with computers were we’re not constrained by the classic inputs of a computer. Only time will tell.
Thankfully Dennis Holland narrated this book remarkably well which did keep me going by threads. But since I found this book filled too much with academic uselessness I can only give it a 5/10
The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company By David A. Price, Narrated by David Drummond (Read Via Audible.com)
This book is obviously about the story of Pixar up till just after the Disney purchase and the release of Ratatouille. The relief of this book on how it was not an official PR approved piece. It did get into the details of the Disney issues and the internal politics at play on the Disney board. Not to mention some of Pixar’s more dark times.
The major piece that I found interesting was that Pixar was founded as a hardware company, and it looked like Jobs believed its market was as a hardware vendor. For a time, the animation department only survived for two reasons: One to help with the promotion of the product and two, to help pay the bills.
The other note that was interesting on how the author viewed Ed Catmul’s opinion of personal computers for a long time. That he thought they were not useful for a long time. However then again he did use computers that were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is very much like a person who uses a super computer must feel today.
This is a solid 8/10 for a good biography of the founding of Pixar and the major players who surrounded it.
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic By Chalmers Johnson, Narrated by Tom Weiner (Read Via Audible.com)
I actually picked this book up on the recommendation of Bill Moyers, after watching his piece on ‘Washington for Sale?’
This book, may be as Moyers points out a few years old but very much still relevant.
The biggest tidbit I got out of the book was something I never knew. The United States has a rather large assortment of military bases all over earth. What was never mentioned to me was that the nations who ‘Host’ the US Bases actually pay the US a “Burden Sharing” fee. The original concept goes back to Romans who taxed for a similar service. The reason behind the Host Nation Support vig is that since the US has a base on their soil, the host nation should be obligated to help pay for them to deter common enemies. This is HUGE money that mostly have come from nations that the US won against in the past. For example Japan, in 2002 payed 4.4 billion to host the US military. Germany as well was in the billions and numerous others.
This key point is why the concept of ‘just closing bases and bringing the troops home’ is a little bit more complicated that I originally thought. Because right now the bulk majority of the costs to run these bases overseas are in effect being subsidized by other countries under very interesting agreements to say the least. To bring these bases back to American soil, Americans would then have to flip the bill.
This book was a very eye opening read, and gave me a better picture of how the US defense system is currently organized.
A solid 9/10 for a great read on the state of the US Defense Department and Political System per say.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest - By Stieg Larsson (Read Via Amazon.com Import)
You know a book is good when you read the entire thing in one day.
This book is about the ‘Trial’ of Lisbeth Salander. Moreover the book actually more focusses on Mikael Blomkvist’s journey (a friend/reporter) to help Salander than anything. I felt that the trial itself albeit well crafted and fun to read with a twist. Salander was apart from it. Meaning when she finally won it was not her victory but Blomkvist’s in a way. Which I found fascinating. And the sad part is that I can and do picture this type of coverup happening in real life.
I really like is how Larsson rounded off ‘the nature of relationships and interaction’ theme. It did not have a typical american hollywood ending. Salander could now start here life, and not live in a state of flux. The best way I can put it is when Salander just ended the trial. She finally felt empty, black slateish, starting of a new beginning type of feeling. It reminds me of the music from Moby playing at the end of each of the Bourne movies. That this person, is just trying to live a genuine life and now they can finally do it. Life unlike fantasy is never a clean slate and those old friendships even after a large drama still can be maintained. In the end its just like getting used to a new pair of shoes, you have to spend the time getting used to the new feeling and moving forward.
10/10 for the entire series.
Jack Bauer questions Santa,
Pure Gold.
The quality of any collaborative creative endeavor tends to approach the level of taste of whoever is in charge.
