Bücherregal lädt …
Hörbuch in der Bücherhalle entdeckt. Dauerte nur 4 Stunden. Why not.
Hilfreich fand ich seine Inhalte zu Ernährung und Krafttraining. Aber so „konträr“ wie er es in der Einführung beschrieb war das ganze Programm nicht: Viel Protein, wenig Kohlenhydrate, dazu ein paar Prinzipien die einem das Einhalten leichten machen sollen. Ergibt schon einfach Sinn.
Meine Augenbrauen waren leicht gehoben bei den Inhalten zu Nahrungsergänzungsmitteln und Medikamenten. Nix für mich. Plötzlich tauchte dann ein überraschend detailliertes Kapitel zu besserem Sex auf und dann nach ein Abriss zum besseren Einschlafen primär für Leute mit Schlafstörungen.
Alles in typischer Tim Ferris-Manier: Fokus auf sehr spezifische Details, und die dann komplett durchoptimiert.
Also insgesamt… man kann mal reinschmökern. So ganz meins war es nicht. Aber ich denke ich bin auch nicht das klassische Tim Ferris-Publikum.
Found an old copy of this book in a vintage book store.
The story is told from the perspective of Vivienne Michel. Bond only appears in the last third of the book. Which is a bid weird for a James Bond novel, but it’s my first, so what do I know. It’s an explicit story with violence, cursing and of course some intimacy. All quite well written.
What put me off: Even though the narrator is a woman and is pictured as an independent and strong person - the text is so full of clichés it’s hard to get through. She is being mistreated and talked down to by almost any man who appears in the book. I know the text is from the 1960s, but it is hard to read even when taking that into account.
PS: Apparently the book had such a bad public reception that when they turned it into a movie, only the title was used. Everything else from the novel was left out. That’s funny.
After having read (i.e. heard) part I of the trilogy, I have now finished part II. Unfortunately, this part is not read by the same narrator, whom I liked a lot. The new voice is quite monotone in comparison. For that alone I'm taking it down one star.
Another star had to go, because this middle part of the Pacific War was... less exciting than the earlier part with Pearl Harbor and Midway (sorry if this sounds irreverant).
It was a a sequence of battles that alternated between amphibious landings or surface-fought battles between ships. Still, I learned what I came for: I am a little more familiar with all the names of islands, generals, ships and battles now than I was before.
The theme of the second book was clear: While Japan managed to have a few minor victories here and there, the US slowly but steadily gained the upper hand in the entire pacific conflict.
The US industrial war machine was picking up its pace, the navy was learning quickly and the Japanese became more and more desparate.
Some things were shocking to me. I did not know how badly the Japanese treated their own soldiers. In the Guadalcanal campaign, at least a third of the Japanese casualties were caused by starvation -- because they couldn't get food to their soldiers.
All in all, an educating, but not entirely thrilling narration of the middle years of WW2 in the Pacific.
The third and final book of the first Mistborn series. For me it was a banger. Best one out of the three, packed with action. I also liked the plot centered around Sazed who explores religion and why people believe or don’t believe. My personal gripe with all Sanderson books though: I often find myself thinking “oh, this is cleverly written”, looking at the craft of writing and how Sanderson constructs his stories and his worlds. Unfortunately this breaks the immersion for me at times.
The second book in the Mistborn series. I liked it more than the first one, I think. I now know the characters. The stakes are higher, even though one big thing already happened in book 1 (no spoilers) that could make you think that book 2 would be easy-going. But that's not the case and I was even more invested in the plot now. Looking forward to part three.
Sidenote: Brandon Sanderson is a master of magic systems. The 'allomancy' that he has created (and that keeps getting revealed throughout the books) is very cool.
Sidenote 2: Again, I could very much visualize in my head many scenes from the book. I hope they turn this into a good TV show or movie some day (but don't overdo it with the magic CGI please; don't repeat what Amazon did to the Wheel of Time material).
What a chilling and scary scenario. Grippingly written. A stark reminder of what we, as humans, have created, and what that says about us. I’m also increasingly disappointed in physics and that it’s totally okay with the laws of the universe for these weapons to be possible at all.
Have been meaning to get into the Mistborn series for a while and finally got around to the first book. I really enjoyed it. Brandon Sanderson is such a great world builder. The plot is gripping, but in a slow and methodical way. There are faster paced stories out there, but I liked that the characters had time to develop rather than rushing from plot point to plot point. His magic system of allomancy is amazing and only slowly unravels throughout the book. Some of the scenes I could already picture as a movie (matrix-style bullet time, but driven by a coherent magic system). Maybe we'll see a movie of this series someday.
I had the impression that some chapters contradict each other, but generally the book contains good advice. It sometimes could be a bit more actionable, but overall the ideas are practical and I can imagine applying some in my job.
Positive: The techniques are not manipulative but mostly just good communication practices (like assuming that everyone has the capacity to be great at their job, and you as the leader having the responsibility to help them motivate themselves).
A solid finance book. It basically repeats much of the common wisdom from the passive investment school of thought. However, the author does a great job at showing a lot of real statistics and numbers to undermine the argument, as well as rigorously giving citations in each chapter.
I know little of the side of WW2 that took place in the pacific between Japan und the US. With this book (part one of a three book series) I’m trying to fill the gaps in my knowledge. And it’s a great book (or audio book in my case). I’ve learnt more about Pearl Harbor, the pre-war political situation in both Japan and the US, the first battles over Wake Island, the Doolittle Raid and the Battle of Midway. Notable characters I‘m now aware of: Admirals Nimitz, King, Nagumo and Yamamoto. The crypto analyst Joseph Rochefort and the relation between Churchill and Roosevelt. Written and narrated in a good mixture of story telling and giving context about the historical significance of most events.
As my life with a newborn is becoming more complex by definition, I feel a tug towards simplification. I am rediscovering minimalism, I think. So I went back to some classic minimalism thinkers from the early 2010s. This short ebook is a nice and gentle introduction to the way the bloggers approached minimalism back then.
Part three of Ian Toll’s trilogy on the pacific war. Before I forget, here are the key moments it covers: Philippines, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the Kamikaze missions, bombing of mainland Japan, dropping of the atomic bombs, Soviet entry into the war, surrender of Japan.
The book was long (36 hours as audio book) but still densely packed with detail. Very good coverage of all the essential moments in the pacific war. I learned a lot (and couldn’t remember most of what I learned).
Unfortunately, the audio book has the same narrator as part 2 of the series - and the voice is quite monotonous. Part 1 has so much more drama in the narration! This was the main reason why it has taken me months to finish this final part of the series.
Still worth it. I got what I came for: Finally completed my previously spotty understanding of the war in the Pacific.