A very good book about sleep. I have learned some shocking facts (basically, not getting enough sleeps makes you stupid, sick and die earlier) and some encouraging facts. I am always a person seeking the short-term motivation in things, so I am taking from this book that I want to take better care of my sleep -- not for some vague advantage in the distant future, but for the fact that I am more physically fit and mentally capable when I've had enough sleep. I now know about REM vs NREM sleep, a huge amount of studies that Walker has cited and some practical tips on how to improve sleeping habits. Good night.
(Read as part of our company's book club.)
For months I have wanted to read this book and in January I finally got around to it. Hans Rosling and his co-authors present an intriguing guideline to form a fact-based worldview. In their book, they educate about the actual state the world is in -- and it's dramatically better than what most people think. In addition, they teach about the instincts we use to wrongly think about the world.
In a world where news, social media, others around us (myself included) talk about anecdotal evidence most of the time rather than always knowing the actual proportions of current problems, this book is an amazing guideline. It might become my new go-to reference that I think I will re-read every once in a while. I can whole heartedly recommend this book to everyone.
I do have one nit-pick, though: At one point, they report the fact that tigers, giant pandas and black rhinos are now not more endangered than they were in the 1990s. While this is an encouraging anecdote, here they make the same mistake they want to teach the reader not to make. Why pick 3 examples from the whole data, while the overall state of wild life seems to be getting worse and worse? According to a WWF report, for a lot of species, the populations have drastically decreased in the last 40 years. Maybe the book has already taught me how to questions these factoids before judging the whole, but they could have also picked a more representative data set, I think.
Nonetheless, wow, what a great view of the world. Realistic, yet optimistic (he calls himself a "possibilist", I like that).
Having seen some of Hans Rosling's talks online years ago, then learning about his death after that, and now seeing this book as a summary of his life's work really moved me. I think this is a must read.
Another one by Jonathan Safran Foer -- who writes in such a unique way, it is both a pleasure to read, but sometimes also challenging to stay fully engaged.
We follow two narrators, the young Ukrainian Alex, and our hero, the fictional (?) Jonathan Safran Foer himself, on a journey through Ukraine's countryside, trying to track down pieces from the past, from the 1940s, when terrible things happened here. Both their families somehow survived the war, and their paths seem very much entangled. The story is told by telling multiple stories at ones. From the early jewish Shtetl in the 18th century, over multiple generations of ancestors with their loves, affairs and other secrets.
The writing seems to follow a branched network of thoughts, a depth-first search through a mind map gathered over generations. Sometimes, it was hard to follow for me, but then we backtracked to a level where I could fully enjoy the story again.
Overall, I think this is another great book of his. Personally though, I would place it 3rd, after "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and "Eating Animals".
As far as I'm aware, this is supposed to be a classic in the field of financial education. I went into it quite sceptical because of the odd cover, and in many ways, you get what you expect: more "marketing" than deeply scientific content, very anecdotal rather than based on studies, a lot of redundancy in the text, which was a bit annoying sometimes. If I had to sum it up in one word, this book seemed very... "American" overall. And yet, it captivated me. The messages Robert Kiyosaki wants to drive home really get you thinking about your own relationship towards money, personal assets and towards work itself. I wouldn't take everything from this book literally, but I think the way he presents the "personal income statement" and its cashflow helped me get a better grasp and what are "good" and "bad" spending habits. I'd say it is a called a classic for a reason.
I knew the story, yet had never read the original. A clearly written text and great read.
I was surprised to find myself laughing from time to time -- at the cat who doesn't seem to grasp what's going on but actually doesn't really care; or at the pigs when they discover alcohol.
In my reading, I am always interested in "the construction of evil" or what you want to call it. Orwell apparently follows history by taking inspiration from the Russian Revolution. The plot is believable in some aspects, however it relies on the population of the farm not being smart enough to understand what's going on, while it's pretty clear for the reader right from the start. What interests me also, are other ideas of more subtle ways of turning evil. Animal Farm tells a different story though, and that's okay.
After a couple of non-fiction books, I wanted to just grab a light read. Read this in a stressful time, so I didn't fully devote my attention to the story, which is why it didn't capture me completely and confused me sometimes. I laughed in parts, but yeah, can't really rate this properly, because I didn't pay attention all the time. I think this is a good story though, definitely had some captivating characters.
The story of a former Apple engineer who was part of the team working on the software for the original iPhone -- hence "the golden age of Steve Jobs" as the subtitle of this book (sounds like he's only ever met Jobs 2 or 3 times though).
Interesting details in parts. A little surprising but also calming to read that some/most of hist struggles during work seem familiar from a daily coding experience.
In the book, he tries to sum up the core of what he thinks makes the creative process at Apple be what it is. Interesting to read in parts, but he clearly "only" had the inside view from one engineering team. The overarching meta view including management, marketing, etc is lacking. Still, some insightful anecdotes even though the process he distills in the end isn't completely convincing to me.
One thing that bugs me is the continuous stressing of how much Apple makes decisions driven by "Taste", rather than data-driven (he's throwing out punches at Google all the time). Right in the next paragraph, he tells the story of how ingeniously clever they derived the "perfect" size of an icon on the home screen. Surprise: They do it data-driven by running experiments with a simple app. Inconsistencies like this make the whole argument stumble here and there. Still, an interesting and quick read.
This book was SO CLOSE to being 5 stars and having the potential to being up there in the ranks with my all-time favorite books. This is still the case for the first 2 parts of the story, but part 3 lost me in several bits, which probably explains why reading the last 200 pages was quite a drag. I eventually really enjoyed the very last part of the book, but I somehow had to get there. Still, 4.5 stars and a strong recommendation if you are into modern sci-fi that is very much connected to our current world and society.
Wow, what a weird again into Neil Gaiman's world that's kind of like our world, but in a weird way. This book made me want to go on a road trip through the US. Overall, I really liked it, even though somehow Gaiman's fantasy is sometimes too... unpredictable (?) for me. I like when I have a feeling for what could or could not happen in a fictional world, but with Gaiman's stories, this feeling never sets in.
Von der vorherigen Lektüre schon indoktriniert, dass "passives Investieren" das einzig Rationale und Wahre sein kann, habe ich dann doch mal ein Buch aus dem anderen Lager gelesen. Peter Lynch ist irgendwie ein sympathischer Kauz und das Cover sieht einfach zu ulkig aus. Aber es ist wirklich gut zu lesen und spannend. Hat meine Perspektiven etwas erweitert und führt so langsam zu mehr Verständnis, wie Wirtschaft eigentlich funktioniert.
Die elfte (!) Auflage. Das Buch gibt es seit 1973, wow. Von der Idee das gleiche wie Kommer, nur aus amerikanischer Sicht. Irgendwie kompakter geschrieben und angenehmer zu lesen.
Spent a few weeks listening to the audio book. In one way to prepare for the upcoming season of the TV show, in the second way to finally continue with the original work. I had read book 1 and 4, but somehow left some gaps in between.
So, this was really good! Great characters, amazing dialog, well-crafted universe. Learned some new details here and there; the true and tragic story of Ser Jorah Mormont's lost love, just to name one.
Good to see that after years I can still get more and more invested in the story. To be honest though, I will probably never be able to remember the Targaryen family tree. Well, maybe after the next book.
Verdict: 37 hours well spent.