A very short review of Sum by David Eagleman, 2009.
(I think I came up with that line myself, but I can’t be sure I did.)
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A delightful romp thru existential possibilities.
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QBQ, John G. Miller, 2001
Self-help books are my comfort food of non-fiction prose. Generally, I find them easy reads, tackle practical issues, and good for getting me fired up for a few days, occasionally leaving a nugget that will stay for a while. I’m only writing this review a week after I first read QBQ by John G. Miller, but I’m pretty certain this one is a keeper, which is a little surprising since this book is centered on the oft trod concept of “personal accountability”, without even trying to come up with some gimmicky counter-intuitive approach.
The genius in this book its a concise memorable formula for a good self-question: “Who/How” + “I” + “Action”. I follow the news, so I know things out there can be really complex, but for any issue that directly affects me day to day, I agree with author’s basic black and white premise that there are incorrect self-questions (that result in inaction) and good self-questions (that get me moving forward). This clarity of this dichotomy and the simplicity of the QBQ formula is perfect for what this book is trying to do – catalyze action among its readers.
Along with this basic clear formulation, there are two additional items which further recommend this book. The first is context – as America continues to lean further towards a service economy, this book will become increasingly relevant for those of us working in it. His examples highlight how excellence is accomplished in mundane interactions. Second, the book is succinct, and I mean that as a high compliment. I recently read another book that had a simple premise which was stretched out to three times its necessary length. Mr. Miller respects our time; his message is simple (though not easy) and he doesn’t wear out his welcome – this is a book you can give to a friend without hesitation.
In all, it’s certainly worthy of a 5-star review. While there are folks in the world who are truly enslaved in circumstances beyond their control, if you’ve got the wherewithal to be reading customer reviews on Amazon, you’re most likely not one of them. This book is highly recommended.
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How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Dale Carnegie, 1948
This is a tour de force in the quintessentially American genre of self help literature. A mix of down home wisdom and stuff pulled from the classics and the bible. Optimistic and upbeat with a pull yourself by the bootstrap message. All of it written in very plain simple English with plenty of takeaway points at the end of each chapter.
And hey there’s a few good ideas in there too!
Well worth the read.
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Ecological Democracy, Randy Hester, 2006
There is a lot of information in this book, but the basic thesis that a city is best designed with the twin principles of democracy and ecology is powerful.
It is not immediately applicable to architects (as opposed to urbanists and landscape architects) but the book is well worth pondering.
Form follows the flow of everyday life. Even the form of a radical future follows the flow of everyday life.
page 299No landscape can be more beautiful than it is just.
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Books worth re-reading regularly
I just picked up a copy of Invisible Cities by Calvino and it made me wonder…what books are worth re-reading regularly? I looked over my bookshelf and I have to admit I don’t actually see any other book that fits the bill. Maybe the Sandman series by Gaiman, but beyond that I’m having a hard time thinking of any. Maybe one of my architecture books, but nothing I can think of at the moment….
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Converted into Houses, Charles A. Fracchia, 1977
Exactly what you would expect if you physically pick up the book. A cute, thin book with a short paragraph and a couple pages of images about each house. The decor is very much of its time, but still worth flipping through every once in a while.
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The Empty City, Andrew Looney, 2002
This is a fun silly little book.
It’s nothing special and the writing is just ok. But it is worth a read for people who are into the Icehouse pyramid games.
The story is just about four dudes that play the Icehouse game and the world that happens around and happens to them. The charm is found in its focus on mundane life in all its glorious weirdness.
This novel is an interesting example of how fiction can be a muse to jumpstart a creative endeavor which has now turned into Looney Labs.
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The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson, 1990
There was a guy who triple-posted a highly negative review on a book that I liked quite a bit. So I ended up writing this counter review. Maybe this book isn’t perfect, but I think it’s an well written introduction to the subject.
This book is an incredibly fun read and does not take itself too seriously. If you want to read a book about the English language, and you don’t want one that is too scholarly, this is it.
There are plenty of really scholarly works out there – many of them are unreadable. And in fact, one of the things this book points out repeatedly is how various theories come in and out of fashion. In linguistics, it seems a lot of the oral history of our words are based off of ideas that are hard to prove. I have no doubt there are mistakes in the book some of which the angry reviewer has noted, but I trust that he has tried to be as accurate at possible.
Instead of trying to write a definitive work, I think Bill Bryson set out to write a mirror for us to have a laugh at ourselves and our wonderful language. He’s not a linguist – but he’s not a hack either. He is exploring this language and seeing how it stands in this world – among other languages and in its point in history (1989) relative to its lengthy past.
I find the book a great read. If you’re gonna write a dissertation or looking for a definitive work (or a book that takes Esperanto seriously), this isn’t it. But if you want to have an enjoyable read chuckling at our idiosyncrasies and learning a little bit more at how we got here, I think you’ll have a great time!
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Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely, 2008
My friend recommended Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions and it turned out to be an absolutely great read. The basic premise is that people do not act rationally and certainly not as the rational agents that one assumes in classical economics. Instead, we act in ways that would be considered “irrational” but are often quite consistent (hence the title).
Mr. Ariely is a professor in Behavioral Economics in MIT so his case studies are tested through experiments conducted on various college campuses. For example, one of his case studies examined the appeal of “FREE!”. In the experiment, they put up a concession stand selling chocolates – Hershey’s Kisses at 1¢ and Lindt Truffles at 15¢ a piece (you could only buy one). 73% chose the Truffle over the Hershey’s Kiss, even when they raised the prices a penny. They then took the prices and dropped them a penny. With the Hershey’s Kiss as “FREE!”, only 31% of the folks chose the Truffle. According to rational economics, this total reversal in behavior makes no rational sense (the price difference between Kiss and Truffle remained the same), and yet it does make “common sense”.
The book is filled with other such studies of “common sense” behavior tested empirically through different experiments. He closes each chapter with takeaway concepts which could be applicable in more substantial situations (i.e. if you want people to get preventative health care, it would be much more effective to make it FREE! instead of “really cheap”).
Well written and very readable, it is well worth picking up — not a classic that I must have on my bookshelf (I got my copy at the library) but is worth the time for a read.
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Meatball Sundae, Seth Godin, 2012
So I’ve been in the middle of reading a wide variety of books and Seth Godin’s Meatball Sundae slips into the business/marketing area of the reading spectrum. Its a good read, easily taken in chunks, not surprising since he is a blogger. Actually, when I think about it I could easily imagine that most of his chunks are reformulated blog posts, but they hang together so nicely that it is not noticeable.
The basic premise of his book is that the new way of marketing demands a new way of doing business. According to Godin, the old way of doing things is to mass produce a bunch of stuff and then interrupting people (like TV ads) to get them to want it. While that has worked fabulously in the past, he contends that there are too many ways to get people interrupted and they are shutting off the interruptions that happen to them. Thus there a new type of marketing (direct communication with consumers, long tail, google, web2.0) has arrived and you can’t just apply the new marketing to the old business model and expect it to work. As per his title, you can’t just put flashy sundae toppings (cream, sprinkles, cherry) on the classic old meatball and expect anything good to come out of it. The web is not just a more efficient way of doing things, but a paradigm shift way of doing business with consequences that reach past the IT department.
However, as an architecture person, I’m not sure how new marketing works with my industry, even after reading the book. Part of the confusion is that Godin basic dichotomy is the mass versus the individual. If so, the architecture and design is already a very personal profession (especially at the small firms that I have worked at). Maybe he’s saying the paradigm shift is tilting the world towards my direction. If so, the lesson may well be that architects should get off of this mass production/prefab myth that they have been chasing for this past century.
Even so, I guess the book presents a mindset that may be useful in jumpstarting how one should view the role of computers in design, using them as more than just hyper efficient drafting mechanisms. Or it might be a bunch of new-speak that isn’t really work practicing. I’m just not sure — but I do think it is a good read, even though it is less entertaining than his other book Small is the New Big (which actually is a collection of blog posts).
