Category: Books

Whoah! I knew it was going to be weird, but I had no idea just how weird, and disturbing, it was going to get. Fascinating and thoroughly researched.

Wonderfully stimulating and entertaining. Taleb brings a unique perspective on the problems of randomness and our exposure to the unexpected. He also doesn’t pull his punches. A great read.

Another book on design, but this one emphasizes the actual practice of design and how to make it better. The first two-thirds or so is just excellent. Brooks’s contention is that the best designs always come from either a single designer or (at most) two designers working very closely together. The reason is that the quality most important to a great design is conceptual integrity, an attribute that “design by committee” can never achieve. But design reviews are best done by multitudes, bringing many different perspectives to bear.

The last third of the book is a compendium of case studies. A few, like the design of IBM’s S/360 mainframe computer, are interesting to a computer geek like myself for their historical value. But others, like the design of the Brooks family beach house, are quite frankly boring. But no matter, the good parts are well worth the price.

Winslow can sure write a gripping novel. I liked The Power of the Dog and The Winter of Frankie Machine better, but this was still very good.

About as structured as you might expect from the title, but enjoyable nonetheless. Mister Nelson has lead a complicated and interesting life. I don’t think I could have survived living it, but reading about it is great fun.

This book completes my Donald Norman trifecta. Reading all three (including The Design of Everyday Things and Emotional Design) at once provided an interesting perspective on the evolution of Norman’s thinking. I actually think this was his best book, despite several Amazon reviews that suggested it was his worst. Here he steps back from individual objects and looks at whole systems (including service systems like hotels and airports). He also considers the nature of complexity itself, where it comes from, and how we can cope with it.
Good read.

Full disclosure: my wife Beth is the co-author of this fantasy- and horror-themed collection of short stories. If you like dark fantasy, I think you will enjoy these. Note they are not for the faint of heart! For people with e-readers other than Kindle you can use this link.

During the long period of relative calm in the world economy, macro economists forgot (or rather intentionally threw away) the many insights of John Maynard Keynes. The recent world financial crash and recession has demonstrated that Keynes and the economists who built on his insights are still very relevant. This book does a nice job of explaining how it all went down.

I read this after someone commented on Paul Krugman’s blog about the book’s prescience. I found the book itself a bit boring, but Vonnegut’s far-sightedness in matters human and social is on full display.

Norman’s first book focused on practical usability in everyday things. This time around he is concerned with their meaning and significance in people’s lives. And it’s another good read.