Copyright © 2011
Thinkhole Labs
Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance (Atul Gawande): A “book of medical stories” on improving performance in medicine, focusing on three areas: Diligence, Doing Right, and Ingenuity. Quick read, but really interesting. You can listen to Atul read an excerpt at NPR Book Tour. (Read January 2009; Recommended)
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Steven D. Levitt; Stephen J. Dubner): Sorry guys, but just because an explanation is “compelling” doesn't make it true. See also: XKCD #552. (Read February 2009; Not recommended)
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (Roger Fisher; William L. Ury): Felt like a PowerPoint presentation that was stretched into a book, but it was a great intro to interest-based bargaining and “principled negotiation”. Best take-away: Always know your BATNA before your begin! (Read March 2009; Recommended)
Getting Started with Arduino (Massimo Banzi): A very basic introduction to the Arduino microcontroller platform in just 128 brief pages. A good book to borrow rather than to buy. (Read April 2009; Recommended)
The 4-Hour Workweek (Timothy Ferriss): Watch Tim's TED talk first to get a feel for his personality. :) I can't say I plan to quit my job and start outsourcing my life to India as he recommends, but his overall attitude (i.e. don't waste your life waiting for retirement) rings true. I'm really glad I read this one. (Read May 2009; Recommended)
The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why (Amanda Ripley): An interesting book, but I unfortunately wasn't a fan of her writing style. I'd be curious to see how this book compares with The Survivors Club (Ben Sherwood). (Read June 2009; Recommended)
Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris): Read this on my flight back from Paris, making the latter half of the book (about moving to France) laugh out loud funny. Loved it. (Read August 2009; Recommended)
When You Are Engulfed in Flames (David Sedaris): I enjoyed Me Talk Pretty One Day a little more, but this one was really good too. I love David Sedaris. (Read September 2009; Recommended)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Jared Diamon): Asks some really interesting questions, gives some decent possible answers. Too much repetition. Citations and references would have been nice. (Read September 2009; Not Recommended)
Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office (Jen Lancaster): Author loses everything and becomes a better person. Fun, quick read (and based on a true story). (Read September 2009; Recommended)
P.S. I Love You (Cecelia Ahern): At home with a cold and looking for something to read, I picked up this book just to read the first few pages. I ended up finishing the whole thing in a day. Not the best writing in the world, but I really enjoyed it. Supposedly the movie is totally different than the book. (Read November 2009; Recommended)
Skipping Christmas (John Grisham): This one had been on my list of books to read for years, so I finally read it. It was OK, and the beginning had some funny parts, but it went downhill toward the end. (Read December 2009; Not Recommended)
The Illiad (Homer): This book had me hooked from the very first line: “Rage – Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls, great fighter's souls, but made their bodies carrion, feasts for the dogs and birds, and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.” A truly epic mix of history, violence, mythology and gore. Loved it. Be sure to get the Fagles translation from Penguin Classics. (Read January 2010; Recommended)
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller): The “wit” and “humor” in this one just didn't do it for me, and became tiresome after the first few chapters. The last two (far more serious) chapters gave it a decent ending, but overall I wasn't impressed. (Read February 2010; Not Recommended)
Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun): I've been a fan of Scott Berkun ever since I read Making Things Happen. This was a quick read at just 240 pages (including photos and lots of back material), but enjoyable and informative. If you do any public speaking, for the sake of your audience, read this book. (Read February 2010; Recommended)
Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way (Pope John Paul II): Published in 2004 (just a year before his death) this is Pope John Paul II's reflections on what it means to be a Catholic bishop. Mostly advice for current bishops with some stories of his life in Poland. It's probably not a book for everyone, but I enjoyed it. (Read February 2010; Recommended)
Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson): Drugs, cults, katanas, skateboards, computers and pizza. At times, I wasn't sure if this was cyberpunk lit or a parody of it. Either way, it kept me hooked until the end. Why hasn't this been made into a movie yet? (Read February 2010; Recommended)
Beautiful Teams: Inspiring and Cautionary Tales from Veteran Team Leaders (Andrew Stellman, Jennifer Greene): A collection of hit or miss essays and interviews about teams of people in the workplace. Some of the chapters were great, but most ranged from OK to poor. (Read March 2010; Not Recommended)
Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father's Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater (Matthew Amster-Burton): I picked this up after hearing an interview with the author on NPR. Nothing amazing, but an enjoyable writing style. His podcast is good too. (Read April 2010; Recommended)
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Bill Bryson): Amusing story of Bryson and Katz on the AT. Makes me want to (in the words of John Muir) “throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence.” (Read June 2010; Recommended)
Into the Wild (Jon Krakauer): Tragic tale of Chistopher McCandless and his reckless, sad, amazing, journey to Alaska. Not a fan of the writing style, but worth reading. (Read June 2010; Recommended)
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (Neal Stephenson): The pacing wasn't as good as Snow Crash, and it sagged a bit in the middle. Still, Stephenson has the ability to create a fascinating world with some fun characters. Overall an enjoyable story. (Read January 2011; Recommended)
One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way (Robert Maurer): While I agree with the concepts and methods presented, I really disliked the writing style. This could have been a good essay or article, but instead was a mediocre book. (Read January 2011; Not Recommended)
Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind): First book in the Sword of Truth series. Really enjoyed this book. Fun to read a swords and dragons fantasy book that wasn't a Tolkien derivative. Likable characters and a fast moving story. (February 2011; Recommended)
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Max Brooks): Sounds like a silly concept, but there was enough thought and interesting concepts to make it an enjoyable book. The writing wasn't outstanding, but definitely worth reading. (August 2011; Recommended)