And lo, once again, I strongly dislike a well-reviewed book.
If you're completely new to the subject about modern techniques in software engineering mAnd lo, once again, I strongly dislike a well-reviewed book.
If you're completely new to the subject about modern techniques in software engineering management, then this book is not a bad introduction. It assumes you haven't read a million blogs, Joel on Software, all of the Software Engineering Quora, /r/programming... Much of what it suggests is quite new to older industries still running on 1980s models of management.
However, if you're fairly well versed in the subject, the book comes off as deeply arrogant, cheerleadery and preachy. I honestly couldn't figure out if the author was slightly dim or thought I, the reader, was kind of stupid. Whenever the author needs to pad for space, he goes on a name-dropping fiesta. It drips with Google's techno-libertarianism. It preaches that data science will solve all the people ills plaguing people management without ever accepting the reality that statistics come with their own confirmation bias. And it reveals a culture that claims to be all about team but is, under the warm fuzzies, quite brutal.
(Although it does have a chapter talking about what everyone should do -- when employees have a life event, they should _just go_ and the company support them. Honestly. Do this.)
There's good stuff under the cruft. This book could dissolve into a 20 page essay and be much more useful and actionable. Read the opening chapter, read the closing chapter, and skim the chapters with subjects of interest and then move on....more
I greatly enjoyed "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States." This is one of the best of the Sarah Vowell American history books - warm, funny, touchinI greatly enjoyed "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States." This is one of the best of the Sarah Vowell American history books - warm, funny, touching, and able to make people we put on a pedestal into real human beings. Not as deep as something like Angel in the Whirlwind from a pure war point of view, but brings a frew new perspective from the French and British not usually seen in books about the Revolutionary War. Easy 5 stars, highly recommended....more
A dense but compulsively readable survey of world trade for the last 1000 years. Wished it would have delved into some topics deeper - sugar and coffeA dense but compulsively readable survey of world trade for the last 1000 years. Wished it would have delved into some topics deeper - sugar and coffee to pick two - and almost no historical developments in finance but excellent for exactly what it is. Recommended....more
Generally, Salt is a pretty enjoyable read for a high level overview history book focusing on a niche subject. And it is exactly that -- a survey of wGenerally, Salt is a pretty enjoyable read for a high level overview history book focusing on a niche subject. And it is exactly that -- a survey of world history seen through the lens of salt (and, apparently, cod and herring).
My complaint about Salt is not its survey nature but the moment the author really starts digging into a subject the chapter ends. This was especially pernicious with the beginning chapters where the topic was super interesting and well researched and the chapter just stops. Multiple times I was shocked to turn a page and... there was a new subject!
Also, the last chapters on "what salt is today" feel very filler-esque. The book more or less ends in the 1920s and then rambles on for a bit. The book could lose the last chapter entirely and nothing would be lost.
It's a fun read -- especially the sections laced with old and ancient recipes full of salt. It's still recommended. 3.5 stars. ...more
I returned from vacation to discover the Washington Post -- a major character in a book I finished, _This Town_ -- was sold for $250 million in cash tI returned from vacation to discover the Washington Post -- a major character in a book I finished, _This Town_ -- was sold for $250 million in cash to Jeff Bezos.
_This Town_ is mostly about the WaPo's main competitor, Politico, and the destruction it has wreaked on the cloistered world of Washington DC. But not just Politico -- the entire class of politicians using public service as a springboard to lobbying millions and how a trickle has become a flood. No longer do people get elected to public office to serve in public office. Now they get elected to public office for fame, for hanging out in television show green rooms, for cash, for bribes, for parties, for recognition, and to appear, yes, in the daily emailed letters from Politico.
The best way to read _This Town_ is to pretend all the characters in the story are fictional. Otherwise, the temptation to throw the book into the sea becomes so great it overwhelms the senses and over the side of the boat it goes. The people are, for the most part, horrible people and they are horrible a-politically -- _This Town_ does not subscribe to any left-right politics and rare is the political book who treats all the horrible people with equal even-handedness. They are all horrible, regardless where they fall on the political spectrum. It's best to pretend because otherwise reality is too awful.
A few of the characters in the book are exactly as they are on the tin: Haley Barbour (who clearly played along extensively with the author), Darrell Issa, Bill Clinton, Trent Lott. A few come out looking better than you would expect: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Paul Ryan. But the rest -- the status seekers and the money seekers and the party goers and the insecure politicians -- are a horrible class of people with varying degrees of terrible.
And then there's Barack Obama for whom I left with a very confused picture -- just like everyone else on earth, apparently. He's a man who hates the DC game and refuses to play and is endlessly frustrated by the insistence of everyone around him to play instead of getting down to the hard wonkish business of government. He feels like a man trapped in a glass box. He wants to be there but everyone around him would rather be at a cocktail party in Georgetown. What is a President to do?
I greatly enjoyed _This Town_. It's a refreshing break from the pointless back and forth of the blogs and twitter and Facebook and "winning the cycle" to walk through Washington as it is today with no agenda. I got more out of this book than I have out of a 1,000 hours of reading various op-eds and "serious" journalistic pieces. I was left with a healthy hatred for Politico (and Terry McAuliffe and Dirk Gephardt), a worry about the sanity for the staffers who inhabit the halls of power like tiny ants, and a resignation at the Gilded Age-era rotating door between Congress and enormous lobby firms -- excuse me, "strategic consultants."
If you want to understand the news, read _This Town_. But don't read it on a full stomach. ...more
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