aka @kingrat@sfba.social
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Software startups make global headlines every day. As technology companies succeed and grow, so do …
Best when it covers the basic nuts & bolts of conducting 1-1s, reviews, etc.
Gets very hand-wavy when it covers office politics or networking.
This was a book that was recommended on Rands Leadership Slack, and I don't know why.
Then. Twenty-something writer Chani Horowitz is stuck. While her former MFA classmates are nabbing high-profile …
A romance that does a good job exploring what it means to be a celebrity (the love interest) and what it's like to have one's life dependent on celebrity (the main character). Chani Horowitz is a writer who specializes in celebrity puff pieces. Gabe Parker is the celebrity she's had a crush on since she was young. Chani is assigned to interview Gabe. At that point in her life she's a decent writer but not really a good interviewer, and the interview itself goes sideways. However, she manages to pull out a decent article based on a weekend spent with Gabe. Because Gabe is, of course, smitten with Chani.
The book jumps between that interview, the piece Chani wrote, and a second interview 10 years later, after Chani's career has taken off and Gabe's has taken a downturn. The parts 10 years later are much more interesting to read. By …
A romance that does a good job exploring what it means to be a celebrity (the love interest) and what it's like to have one's life dependent on celebrity (the main character). Chani Horowitz is a writer who specializes in celebrity puff pieces. Gabe Parker is the celebrity she's had a crush on since she was young. Chani is assigned to interview Gabe. At that point in her life she's a decent writer but not really a good interviewer, and the interview itself goes sideways. However, she manages to pull out a decent article based on a weekend spent with Gabe. Because Gabe is, of course, smitten with Chani.
The book jumps between that interview, the piece Chani wrote, and a second interview 10 years later, after Chani's career has taken off and Gabe's has taken a downturn. The parts 10 years later are much more interesting to read. By then, Chani has a personality besides "has imposter syndrome" and "has a crush on Gabe Parker".
Radical Candor is a simple idea: to be a good boss, you have to Care …
More philosophy and tips than coherent practices. Some absolute bullshit as well. Not recommended.
From science fiction visionary Annalee Newitz comes The Terraformers, a sweeping, uplifting, and illuminating exploration …
Content warning Mild spoilers
Very interesting world building. Sentient flying trains. A great bargain that includes all sorts of creatures as people. It's very thought provoking.
But the story and characters drag a lot at times. For instance, the second section follows data gatherers as they figure out where to put public transportation on the world of Sask-E. But since they're essentially surveyors, it's not that exciting and mostly the characters spend all their time talking.
And while i see what the author is doing with the sex scenes, it's a lot like watching porn I'm not into. Very mechanical and not at all titillating. So those come off as dry too.
Anyway, other folks may enjoy the parts i disliked. They weren't bad. They just didn't resonate with me.
Jack Reacher is back, dragged into what looks like a series of grisly serial murders …
The story points out the absurdity of many crime fiction coincidences, but also relies on major coincidences. Almost as if the author is telling the reader, "yes, I know this is absurd, but we all enjoy this convention."
Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is lying low in Key West, digging up swimming pools by …
Jack Reacher is an ultra-competent former military policeman, but now drifts around the US solving crimes. If you have a problem, no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe Jack Reacher can help you. That's the opening line for the A-Team, but it fits Jack Reacher.
Anyhow, Jack Reacher starts off this episode in Key West where a private detective has found him. After denying that he's Jack Reacher, he finds the P.I. dead on the side of the road, missing all his fingers.
What sets this one apart from the previous Jack Reacher books I've read is that Reacher has a crisis of confidence partway through. He's made mistakes. And in this case, he may not be able to save all the appropriate characters. Sure, we know Reacher's gonna make it; there are quite a few books still to go in the series. But for …
Jack Reacher is an ultra-competent former military policeman, but now drifts around the US solving crimes. If you have a problem, no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe Jack Reacher can help you. That's the opening line for the A-Team, but it fits Jack Reacher.
Anyhow, Jack Reacher starts off this episode in Key West where a private detective has found him. After denying that he's Jack Reacher, he finds the P.I. dead on the side of the road, missing all his fingers.
What sets this one apart from the previous Jack Reacher books I've read is that Reacher has a crisis of confidence partway through. He's made mistakes. And in this case, he may not be able to save all the appropriate characters. Sure, we know Reacher's gonna make it; there are quite a few books still to go in the series. But for the first time it felt like the others might not. So there's a little bit of additional suspense that not present in the earlier books.
For a book about passions and someone's motivation for murder, the narrative operates at a distance from the emotions of its characters. Fairly early on, detective Kyoichiro Kaga divines from the clues (Sherlock Holmes style) who the murderer is. Much harder to suss out is the murderer's motive, and the reader is taken through several iterations of the question "but what is the real reason behind what they did?" 3.5 stars for an inventive form and drawing power to keep me interested in the layers being uncovered. But demerits for the emotion of the text not being in line with the emotion of the characters.
Cairo, 1912: The case started as a simple one for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments …
What if Egypt was quickly modernizing in the 1910s and also djinns and other spirits were real? One djinn seems to be haunting team car 015 in Cairo's overhead public transportation system. Agents Hamed and Onsi have been dispatched by the ministry to solve the problem.
Hamed is stuffy, but trying to be okay with modernization. Onsi is English educated and fits in better, but is a rookie agent.
They're charming, and the world Clark has created is interesting and has lots of potential.
Content warning Mild spoilers
In the magic system of this series, there is deiat, the power of creation, which may only be wielded by the Chosen. And there is dhaka, the power of biology, which is wielded by ghouls. Select humans are able to wield one or the other. In Emperor of Ruin, we learn what started the wat between Chosen and ghouls. The stories left by the extinct Chosen to their human heirs, leave out key truths.
However, when I look at how it all ties together, a fair amount just doesn't make sense. It doesn't ruin the story for me, but after finishing i have so many "but why would you do that?" questions.
Maya's and Gyre's and their friend's stories all wrap up satisfyingly, though never with a sense that it could all go wrong. There are a lot of side quests to collect almost everyone and everything for the final battles. The author did not want to leave any character behind, even those that play little part in the end.
Tantalizingly, there's options for continuing new chapters in the world in future stories.
Overly complex crime in the end, and that irritates me.
From Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times-bestselling author Deborah Blum, the dramatic true story …
I found myself fascinated by the chapters covering Harvey Wiley's early investigations and efforts. Once the book became about the political machinations after the law was passed, i became less interested. Business applying secret pressure to get regulations eased is a well trod tale