Books Read in April 2013

Business Books I Read:

Leading So People Will Follow by Erika Anderson

She sets up her leadership lessons around a key fairy tale, a compilation of other tales, that show the character of a man become a king, the character that we still look for in our leaders. Each principle made since and the whole set of concepts just resonated as something to match up to.

Long Fuse, Big Bang by Eric Haseltine

At first I thought this would be more of a personal development book, but it was more of a business change book. At first it dragged, but then I was captured by the depth of the stories used to illustrate the principles and was driven to finish the book.

Global Dexterity by Andy Molinsky

Great book on how to adapt professional behavior to different cultural standards by comparing their range to your own personal range and figuring out how to work in the overlap. The principles also apply to any new culture, I think.

In Pursuit of the Common Good by Paul Newman and A. E. Hotchner

A great business biography of the Newman's Own business and brand showing an impractical and light-hearted journey, but one that worked. And one that had me buying the pasta sauce, which I'd never done before because that face imagery made me cringe. But learning of the effort they'd put into making an amazing product and the emphasis behind where the profits actually go was was more than enough for me to give it a try. (It was good, too.)

Own the Room by Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins

Magnificent leadership book set around balancing a pair of contrasts - the voice for self and the voice for others - with stories to show the key directions that readers might be coming from and going to.

Louder than Words by Joe Navarro

A very clear book on body language. What I appreciated most was he introduced a simple concept of comfort/discomfort and kept returning to it during the book. That's going to stick in my head where all the subtleties wouldn't without intensive memorization.

Brick by Brick by David Robertson and Bill Breen

I do love Lego and this was a fascinating business history and analysis of both successful and unsuccessful attempts to innovate and face daunting market changes. Although it illustrated principles it was more about the details of that illustration than the principles, which made it a great complement to some of the other business books out there.

Other Books I Read:

Nightingale by David Farland

I bought the book as part of the drive to promote his books and generate income and new readers to pay for his son's healthcare. It was good urban fantasy with the characters grabbing me, although it was slightly disturbing in some ways as well, with moral questions sneaking in in unexpected places.

The Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric M. Scott and David R. Modler

For me the best part of the book was the tribute to Dan Eldon and the images of his journal pages. The rest was a mix of techniques for creating images and ideas for the act of journaling. Useful and well laid out.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science by Tom Bethell

This was a mind-expanding read. I was presented with a completely different perspective on many modern popular science topics than I've read in the general magazines. I'm not sure whether to believe them, as I know this series has an agenda, but I am glad to see counterpoint.

World Textiles by John Gillow and Bryan Sentance

So beautiful, with great images, explanations, and examples. It's a keeper for my art and embroidery shelves.

Books Read in March 2013

The Sketchnote Handbook by Mike Rohde

Amazing illustration of the principles of one method of using pictures and typography to take better notes to capture ideas. I definitely want to use some of these techniques in my own notes, although not just from audio presentations.

Collaborate or Perish by William Bratton and Zachary Tumin

Clearly laid out book providing techniques for accomplishing something important - collaboration between diverse groups with competing interests. Interestingly enough, a number of the stories involve police departments and situations that involved a lot of emotional tension due to the background of the authors.

Living the Creative Life by Rice Freeman-Zachery

I enjoyed seeing what some contemporary artists were thinking and doing.

The Two Towers and The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

It felt really good to finish my latest reread of this series. I'd never really processed a lot of the final battle portions before, but this time they were clearer to me, partly because their detail stood out in contrast to the movie treatment and partly because it was inherently more interesting to me than it had been in the past. I even read the appendixes, which I'd never done before.

The Serpent in the Glass by D.M. Andrews

An acceptable fantasy story with obvious roots in Harry Potter and the Celtic and high fantasy traditions. I would have liked it better if the pacing hadn't been so odd, more like the first in a trilogy than a complete book by itself.

Success Under Stress by Sharon Melnick

I thought this was a strong book with a balanced collection of mental and physical tools for moving through the stress that we all face. It was primarily focused on business stories with some references to more personal ones.

The Power of Negative Thinking by Bob Knight

Very interesting read from a very successful basketball coach. I wouldn't call it about negative thinking. Most of his "don't"s could be reworded to "do"s with good effect. It's more about effectively using "if - then" situations and removing the possibility for fatal mistakes as far as possible. Like making sure the basic skills are down cold before building on strengths.

Later Bloomers by Debra Eve

This was a very inspiring book, succeeding very well in the author's mission to showcase a range of people, many well known, who didn't achieve success, and in many cases didn't even obviously reach for success in the area they eventually achieved it, until after they were 35. My appreciation for the book is likely highly enhanced by being 36.

Nanocosm by William Ellsey Atkinson

Well-written popular science review of the possibilities of science at the nanoscale. The tech is seasoned with stories.

Graphic Novels Read:

Superman Earth One - Volume One and Volume Two

I love how the first one begins - acknowledging that Clark could have done absolutely anything he wanted to with his brains and strength. And he chose the pursuit of truth. The second was a good follow-up as well, if not quite as memorable.

The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West Vol 1 - Over the Rainbow

Really nifty re-interpretation with Toto as a horse, ruby ammunition and spurs instead of slippers, and the ability to create portals in reality.

Family Project - Massive Chuggington Train Track Layout

Our family project this morning was to build a massive train layout of the Chuggington die-cast track. What you see before you is a combination of 7 or 8 of the Chuggington train sets, mostly bought on clearance in February, although a few were full-price Christmas presents.

My father-in-law and I did most of the building. My husband contributed some ideas and sorted out some of the older style of track, although we never did get to that part. And my five-year-old daughter played around us and through us and top of us while we were building.

It was a very organic process and the best part was at the end when we were figuring out how to connect some of various structures and finding cool ways to do that. We'll probably leave the track out through next weekend before we break it down.

The new "stack your track" die-cast track is great. I love the connectors - they're so much easier to work with than the old ones - and the curves and angles really work to make building unusual combinations natural and effective. The only thing I wished for was a stack of partial length pieces for when using track splits threw off the patterns.

I was curious, so I visited the website. Apparently the line was designed by Jason Moreno. There's comments by him in a "Meet the Designer" section and I also found Jason's own website. 

Books Read in February 2013

I didn't read many books this month. It's not that I didn't read, but I didn't read books, mostly random short stories and such.

Decisive by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Yay! I got to read a pre-release copy and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Decisive has the clear organization and helpful stories that characterized Made to Stick and Switch. I really need to read it again with an eye towards actually using the information.

The King's Sword by AJ Searle

A well done fantasy novel with the believable growth of a man to a leader worth following. I hope the author keeps writing in the genre.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

After seeing the movie I just had to read the book again. It had been a long time. The Hobbit had never really made much of an impression on me so it was fascinating to read with the echoes of rich imagery and characterization from the movie-verse still lingering. Because in and of itself it was a simple tale without much detail.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein

Well, after re-reading The Hobbit, what else I supposed to do? It's been years since I've seen these movies but they are still vivid enough in my head that things clash a bit. But I can still hear the story that first enthralled me as a teen. And I'm enjoying it again.

Managing Product Management by Steven Haines

I loved the Product Manager's Desk Reference and wanted to read Steven's second book even though it's a bigger picture view than I'm at all close to. It was interesting to see some of the things that executives need to think about with making the whole concept work on an organizational level.

Supercrooks - The blurb on this graphic novel about how this was Ocean's Eleven meets the X-men was very accurate. Good story with a couple of fantastic twists.

Books Read in January 2013

Books Read:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles - Art and Design by Daniel Falconer

This was a book showing a lot of the work WETA did that went into the movie. My favorite part was where they showed the places where they tested looks for the dwarves and worked to make them each have an individual silhouette and look.

Dead and Gone, Dead in the Family, Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

Three Sookie Stackhouse books I hadn't read yet. It's disconcerting reading them after watching the TV show, True Blood, where much is different. It was interesting to see a Sookie who had changed, one who calmly stated that she and Eric needed to plot to kill another vampire to make sure they weren't the ones killed instead.

The Lego Ideas Book by Daniel Lipkowitz

I had fun seeing how different people invented various models and reading about why they did so.

APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur - How to Publish a Book by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch

I borrowed this one through Amazon Prime. It was definitely what it said - a clear guide to approaching getting your work published and making money at it. I didn't try to absorb any of it, because I don't currently have a need but it was nice to see what the current state of possibility was.

The Sacrifice by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

I've been reading Kris' business blogs but have only read a little of her fiction even though it's all in genres I like. This was a deep book and I loved the twists she made to the nature of a Faerie race. The conflict and culture were intriguing, but I'm not particularly planning on reading further into the series.

Drive by Daniel H. Pink

The principles of autonomy, mastery, and purpose at the heart of this book resonated with me. It was filled with the clear and lively writing I'd expected since I'd previously read A Whole New Mind.

How People Tick: A Guide to Over 50 Types of Difficult People and How to Handle Them by Mike Leibling

The book delivered on the title, although the advice was uneven across the types and sometimes seemed more like advice on handling yourself if you're one of them. The anecdotes included in each section helped bring the book to life.

A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Wow, The Wheel of TIme saga is actually over. My favorite character, while I wouldn't want to interact with him, has always been Mat Cauthon and I was extremely satisfied with how he was involved and depicted. The ending overall was fitting. I still wish that Jordan had decided to pare out some of those groups of people and sub-plots much earlier in the saga because there were so many people I couldn't remember without starting all over, which is not happening.

How to Be a Star at Work by Robert E. Kelly

What impressed me the most about this book was that it was based on some pretty in-depth research of actual corporate employees and situations. The ideas were strongly presented and clearly illustrated to help the reader understand the difference between being a good, strong performer and a true star. I want to go back over it and see what actions I can glean for myself.

Igniting the Invisible Tribe by Josh Allan Dykstra and The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin

I bought the first because it was recommended by a friend. I got the second because it came in my Box from Knowledge Blocks. And they struck me as a fitting pair. The Icarus Deception is about living your art, however you define it. It's a personal book. Igniting the Invisible Tribe is about creating corporations in which art can be lived. I'm considering reading them both again as I rather rushed them the first time.

Graphic Novels Read:

The Killing Joke - This is the story where Joker paralyzes Batgirl

, although because she's the Commisssioner's daughter, not because she's Batgirl. It worked well on many levels, with echoes and ambiguities to match up to the clear storyline and the underlying message of life being about choices in the face of adversity.

A Death in the Family - This is the story where Joker kills Robin/Jason Todd, It wasn't as strong as The Killing Joke, but part of that was because it was in the comic issues and they kept recapping every issue. A lot. The voice of Batman was more abstract somehow, among other things. But it was worth reading.

Joker's Asylum - This was a collection of twisted short stories narrated by the Joker. Decent.

Emperor Joker - Crack. Pure crack when Joker gets reality altering powers. But also pain and a strong, suitable ending.