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errantreads's reviews
199 reviews
Fields of Glory by Michael Jecks
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers by Sönke Ahrens
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
This book teaches you how to become a more rigorous reader, writer, thinker, idea-generator, and researcher via a note-taking methodology that is slowly emerging out of German academia (where it has enjoyed legendary status but in niche obscurity) and now into the popular consciousness. It has come to the attention of the rest of the world primarily because of this book. That model of note-taking and knowledge-management is called Zettelkasten, or the slip-box method. Even if you don't adopt this methodology, this book is an excellent discussion of these themes and will give you lots of ideas for how you can incorporate better techniques of reading, note-taking, and introspection.
The target audience is academia, but this really is a tremendous resource for all learners. It is an exploration of how we learn and remember and how we can do better. How we can reduce the amount of knowledge, comprehension, and ideas that evaporate from our brains over time. But where this book really shines is as a how-to guide for the Zettelkasten methodology so you can better interrogate what you have learned over time combined with your current thinking and new ideas. It can help you follow paths of introspection and guide you to new ones.
This book is tremendous. It will make you better.
...
Criticisms:
The author at times uses unclear labeling (namely because you think he is labeling when he is, in fact, describing). You know this is an issue when review after review about and tutorial after tutorial associated to this book misdescribe the methodologies in the same way. I figured this out by deep note-taking (since this was a note-taking book) and using this book as a model to implement the techniques he described. If he ever re-edits this book, I would love to see him clear up some of the ambiguity. The description of how notes in the Bibliographical Slip Box are developed, written technically, and organized would be particularly helpful. He is especially vague there (you have to pick it out from several places in the books).
Also, the spine text is flipped, as is traditional in Eastern Europe. But the book I am reviewing is the English translation. The author or publisher should have also adjusted the cover to match the English-speaking world's expectations. Most annoying. Like really really annoying.
Still . . . a five-star book. Excellent.
The target audience is academia, but this really is a tremendous resource for all learners. It is an exploration of how we learn and remember and how we can do better. How we can reduce the amount of knowledge, comprehension, and ideas that evaporate from our brains over time. But where this book really shines is as a how-to guide for the Zettelkasten methodology so you can better interrogate what you have learned over time combined with your current thinking and new ideas. It can help you follow paths of introspection and guide you to new ones.
This book is tremendous. It will make you better.
...
Criticisms:
The author at times uses unclear labeling (namely because you think he is labeling when he is, in fact, describing). You know this is an issue when review after review about and tutorial after tutorial associated to this book misdescribe the methodologies in the same way. I figured this out by deep note-taking (since this was a note-taking book) and using this book as a model to implement the techniques he described. If he ever re-edits this book, I would love to see him clear up some of the ambiguity. The description of how notes in the Bibliographical Slip Box are developed, written technically, and organized would be particularly helpful. He is especially vague there (you have to pick it out from several places in the books).
Also, the spine text is flipped, as is traditional in Eastern Europe. But the book I am reviewing is the English translation. The author or publisher should have also adjusted the cover to match the English-speaking world's expectations. Most annoying. Like really really annoying.
Still . . . a five-star book. Excellent.
Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland
adventurous
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a sequel. Much like its predecessor, I liked the book. And there need to be more books like this, by authors such as this. You will like the book. So read it!
But I have much criticism. This was traditionally published, but the editing is rather poor. I'm not talking about grammar or spelling (I found only one typo in two books!). It's the developmental editing that was so . . . slapdash. There are outright errors (a poker scene really screws up which hand beats another, for example) but then there are other major errors that a good editor (or team of editors, or beta-readers) should have caught.
Spoilers . . .
The geography is messy and not well understood. For example, not for many pages did we understand that they were downstream of Sacramento when they were on the Sacramento River. The reader is left wondering what the characters are thinking on this.
The antagonist. I didn't know he was the main antagonist until act 3. I didn't buy into him being the bad guy. His crimes were not sold well. Sure, he made really REALLY bad choices, but we didn't know that he was doing Nazi-like experimentation until near the end. Plus, the cure would have saved millions. So, for the entire book, I just felt that the thrust of the story was that the main protagonist was in the wrong about him—that she would discover that, no, the scientist's quest for the cure was far more complicated than she thought and he really isn't a terrible person. I was wrong. But I blame the writing and the editing. The writer could have developed this better, for sure, but I lay this on the feet of the editorial staff failing the author and the readers.
World-building: If the entire east and mid-west is wiped out . . . how is everyone not starving to death and dressed in rags. All materials would be extremely scarce. And humans would be MAJORLY more violent towards each other. I'm not buying the world as it is described.
The main character murders a lot of people. This is not addressed well enough IMHO. She even swapped out one body for another to get a bounty. Execution without justice . . an odd choice for a book such as this. I mean, it can certainly work, but I don't think it is explored nearly enough and the main character doesn't earn it. IMHO.
The magic. The penny was unnecessary and seemed out of place. It think the author realized that after the first book and that is why she invented a way to make it a non-factor in the second book. But then she added a ghost. Ugh! The ghost was really her conscience, but it was not sold on the page as such and was simply not well done. Cut out those scenes entirely and it would have been a better book. This is a sci-fi western, really, not a fantasy. Just didn't fit.
Murder, mayhem, torture, prostitution, and sexually charged language here and there. And yet still, the unbelievable amount of racism of that era is only given a lukewarm treatment for the YA audience (though they are moving outside of White America for much of this sequel). Much like the previous book, I think the YA audience could be treated a bit more maturely and this historical fiction made a bit more historical.
Criticism aside. I want to see more from this author and more books like this on the bookshelves. The self-published world is so much richer in this regard, but I want to see it from the trad-publishing world as well.
But I have much criticism. This was traditionally published, but the editing is rather poor. I'm not talking about grammar or spelling (I found only one typo in two books!). It's the developmental editing that was so . . . slapdash. There are outright errors (a poker scene really screws up which hand beats another, for example) but then there are other major errors that a good editor (or team of editors, or beta-readers) should have caught.
Spoilers . . .
The geography is messy and not well understood. For example, not for many pages did we understand that they were downstream of Sacramento when they were on the Sacramento River. The reader is left wondering what the characters are thinking on this.
The antagonist. I didn't know he was the main antagonist until act 3. I didn't buy into him being the bad guy. His crimes were not sold well. Sure, he made really REALLY bad choices, but we didn't know that he was doing Nazi-like experimentation until near the end. Plus, the cure would have saved millions. So, for the entire book, I just felt that the thrust of the story was that the main protagonist was in the wrong about him—that she would discover that, no, the scientist's quest for the cure was far more complicated than she thought and he really isn't a terrible person. I was wrong. But I blame the writing and the editing. The writer could have developed this better, for sure, but I lay this on the feet of the editorial staff failing the author and the readers.
World-building: If the entire east and mid-west is wiped out . . . how is everyone not starving to death and dressed in rags. All materials would be extremely scarce. And humans would be MAJORLY more violent towards each other. I'm not buying the world as it is described.
The main character murders a lot of people. This is not addressed well enough IMHO. She even swapped out one body for another to get a bounty. Execution without justice . . an odd choice for a book such as this. I mean, it can certainly work, but I don't think it is explored nearly enough and the main character doesn't earn it. IMHO.
The magic. The penny was unnecessary and seemed out of place. It think the author realized that after the first book and that is why she invented a way to make it a non-factor in the second book. But then she added a ghost. Ugh! The ghost was really her conscience, but it was not sold on the page as such and was simply not well done. Cut out those scenes entirely and it would have been a better book. This is a sci-fi western, really, not a fantasy. Just didn't fit.
Murder, mayhem, torture, prostitution, and sexually charged language here and there. And yet still, the unbelievable amount of racism of that era is only given a lukewarm treatment for the YA audience (though they are moving outside of White America for much of this sequel). Much like the previous book, I think the YA audience could be treated a bit more maturely and this historical fiction made a bit more historical.
Criticism aside. I want to see more from this author and more books like this on the bookshelves. The self-published world is so much richer in this regard, but I want to see it from the trad-publishing world as well.
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Zombies in post Civil War America. Adventurous and tense. But ... a very young Young Adult so not very "brave" IMHO. I like it plenty, but it was a neutered narrative. It should have been more . . . true to life, zombies or not.
Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul by Howard Schultz, Joanne Gordon
3.0
I liked this account of the rise, stumble, and re-rise of Starbucks. Schultz is passionate, and he honestly cares about all aspects of how Starbucks effects all that it touches.
But this book bothered me and I had a hard time finishing it. I just had to plow through. Schultz is very passionate and caring, but from this book, I got the impression that he is more than a little in love with himself.
As a small business owner...
I found his approach to business interesting. I found his approach both inspiring and disagreeable all at the same time.
Inspiring: He really truly cares about his employees. Health care for all? Awesome. Just... awesome. Yeah, they had to downsize at one point in time, but he did not give up that position... health care for all employees. Just. Wow.
Inspiring: He cares about the growers... though it was a bit murky about how far he goes with this. They are involved with Coffee and Farmer Equity practices, which are good. Regardless, they are doing more than anyone else their size.
Disagreeable: If you are not nearly 100% as passionate about his business as Schultz is... He doesn't get it. Schultz loves what he does and it is his life. From the book, I get the impression that he expects that of everyone from manager on up.
Disagreeable: Growth Growth Growth. He is so focused on growth and then wonders why the nature of the business has changed. He often repeats that he wants to mimic the personal nature of an Italian coffee shop. If that is the case, he wouldn't have gone public and spurred growth to 10s of 1000s of shops.
Anyway... it is a good read until it becomes a tiresome read. It is worth reading just to get in the brain of a successful businessman who is also civic-minded.
But this book bothered me and I had a hard time finishing it. I just had to plow through. Schultz is very passionate and caring, but from this book, I got the impression that he is more than a little in love with himself.
As a small business owner...
I found his approach to business interesting. I found his approach both inspiring and disagreeable all at the same time.
Inspiring: He really truly cares about his employees. Health care for all? Awesome. Just... awesome. Yeah, they had to downsize at one point in time, but he did not give up that position... health care for all employees. Just. Wow.
Inspiring: He cares about the growers... though it was a bit murky about how far he goes with this. They are involved with Coffee and Farmer Equity practices, which are good. Regardless, they are doing more than anyone else their size.
Disagreeable: If you are not nearly 100% as passionate about his business as Schultz is... He doesn't get it. Schultz loves what he does and it is his life. From the book, I get the impression that he expects that of everyone from manager on up.
Disagreeable: Growth Growth Growth. He is so focused on growth and then wonders why the nature of the business has changed. He often repeats that he wants to mimic the personal nature of an Italian coffee shop. If that is the case, he wouldn't have gone public and spurred growth to 10s of 1000s of shops.
Anyway... it is a good read until it becomes a tiresome read. It is worth reading just to get in the brain of a successful businessman who is also civic-minded.
The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
4.0
Awesome memoir.
Kristin captures the passion farmers have for their work both as an outsider (big city hip gal) and then as an insider (farm girl). Nothing is hidden from the reader as she describes their struggles ... and their eventual success on this more-than-organic, very unique CSA operation.
Core to the theme of the book is the farm as the rock on which the author and her husband's relationship stands. Farming, arguably the most noble profession, is also unforgiving - both of their body, spirit, and relationship. But they endure and thrive.
Great book.
Kristin captures the passion farmers have for their work both as an outsider (big city hip gal) and then as an insider (farm girl). Nothing is hidden from the reader as she describes their struggles ... and their eventual success on this more-than-organic, very unique CSA operation.
Core to the theme of the book is the farm as the rock on which the author and her husband's relationship stands. Farming, arguably the most noble profession, is also unforgiving - both of their body, spirit, and relationship. But they endure and thrive.
Great book.