Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned The Tide in the Second World War

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004J4WNMG/?tag=dedasys-20

The title promises a bit more than this book delivers, somehow: I expected one of those books with a thesis along the lines of "the war was really one by X, Y, and Z".  But the author is much too fair-minded, analytical and circumspect to get carried away with anything like that, so he ends up pointing out a series of innovations that moved things along in the allies favor, but it ends up feeling a bit anticlimactic.

The book is quite thorough, and interesting, and does take a unique approach to WWII history in that it examines what technology enabled the allies to win.  Examples include radar small enough to be carried on board airplanes, and other anti-submarine systems, long range fighters, and the technology and, above all, organizational skills necessary to carry out amphibious landings both in Europe (operation Overlord), and in the Pacific theater.

Interestingly, he discounts, to some degree, the role of the code breakers, who have came out of obscurity in recent years.  He agrees that they were helpful, but perhaps not really decisive, compared to improved weapons systems that, for instance, actually sank German submarines.

If you've never read any history of this war, there are more comprehensive books, but I enjoyed the focus and detail on a specific aspect of it.  If you're not interested in the details of WWII, skip it.

When comparing this conflict to anything relatively recent, the amount of people who lost their lives is truly staggering and horrifying, and bears thinking about in the hopes that nothing like it ever happens again.

Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004W0I00Q/?tag=dedasys-20

The flaw with this book is that it's not going to be read by the people who ought to read it.  I thought it was well written, argued sensibly, and basically agree with almost everything that Carl Sagan writes.  But in a certain sense, many of the ideas and concepts were not new. 

Bits that did stand out include:

An excellent description of the broad open mindedness and skepticism that are both essential ingredients of good science.  You have to always be willing to consider new hypothesis, and to look at data in a new light.  But at the same time, you have to be ruthlessly skeptical in order to weed out ideas that don't work.  This isn't easy; scientists are human too and suffer from the same defects we all do.

On religion:  

This is one of the reasons that the organized religions do not inspire me with confidence. Which leaders of the major faiths acknowledge that their beliefs might be incomplete or erroneous and establish institutes to uncover possible doctrinal deficiencies?

 The theories scientists hold on any given day are less important than the methods behind science.  Theories can change depending on what's known at a given point in time from observations and experiments, but the relentless method of seeking the truth is what sets science apart: there is a method for sifting through the facts and arriving at what is the most promising theory, and those theories must change when new data arrives that contradicts them.

In any event, lots of sensible ideas about the importance of science to society, and a passionate defense of science as an institution of human progress.

The problem though, is that the book likely won't convince anyone.  If you're convinced that evolution is the work of the devil, logic and reason are not going to phase you.  If you're on board with the idea of science, you'll nod in appreciation, but not learn much that's new.  It'd make a fantastic book to give, say, high school students to read and discuss, but it's probably way too "controversial" for that.

The Mongoliad: Book Three

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ML3ATA/?tag=dedasys-20

And so, the saga draws to an end.  Mostly.  After three books, they don't quite wrap things up, leaving plenty of room for more writing.

To be blunt, I'd buy pretty much anything Neal Stephenson writes, and this book bears some of his imprint.  However, the fact that it's a collaboration does come through, as it feels a bit ... "paler", I guess I'd say than a pure Stephenson book.

There is also lots of fighting and fight scenes.  Lots and lots of them.  Generally, I'm ok with that - I like to read escapist fiction with heroes and villains clashing in battle, but after a while, even I started to get a bit weary of the very detailed descriptions of the swordplay.  With the swordplay and violence comes a lot of blood - if that makes you squeamish, this is probably not the series for you.

Generally, though, along with the previous installments of the series, it was a good read, and I'd recommend it as something fun and distracting, even though it's not up to the level of some of Stephenson's other writing.

Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008SGNLWM/?tag=dedasys-20

Relationship books? Me? I never would have thought so.  It just goes to show the power of selling to a niche.  As a genre, it's not something I've ever been much interested in, and in terms of my own life, I feel like I've done a pretty good job navigating my own path (with a lot of help from the example set by my parents): I'm happily married to a wonderful woman with two great kids.  But when I saw this book, I figured it'd be worth the time and the money if I learned anything that would make our lives better.

The book was good; I got a few ideas from it, and would recommend it to others.  But I think it could have been more.  Or perhaps a book is not the best format: the authors, Brad and Amy interviewed a number of other entrepreneurial couples, and it's pretty clear that there is no One Formula for what works.  For instance, the authors do not have children, which is a huge difference.  They realize and acknowledge that, and dedicate a chapter to the subject via interviews with people who do have kids, but to be honest, I feel like you could write a whole book from the point of view of a couple with kids, and include a chapter for those who don't: "you may not realize it, but you have a crapload of time, and no one really depends on you for such basics as eating, sleeping, and hygiene - enjoy it!".  Maybe some kind of internet group/forum/mailing list might be a useful addition.  I felt like I wanted to compare some notes with the people with kids, rather than just read what they wrote and leave it there.  How do you manage weekends?  How much time do you work?  Do you have any plans for 'the future' when the parent working less gets to "take their turn"?  Did you have to curtail your startup because of your family?

Also, the book is a bit conditioned by "survivorship bias": Brad is an extremely successful entrepreneur and investor - in terms of money, he's set for life.  That does not happen to everyone.  What about the couples that tried... and failed, perhaps going back to regular jobs?  How much did the failed attempt cost them in terms of their relationship?  Maybe it made it stronger?  At what point do you give up?  Brad and Amy do interview people who are in different situations than their own, but since they're the authors, it's natural that their voice is the strongest throughout the book.

The book conveyed some important messages like communicating a lot, and communicating well, but those were, paradoxically, the more 'universal' bits of advice that matter in any relationship.  As someone who is, by nature, not really an entrepreneur but who has taken some steps in that direction, I would have been more interested in advice that's specific to those going "off the beaten path" of life working a steady "9-5" style job.

One thing that's easy to overlook, but I liked was a thorough bibliography and suggestions for 'further reading'.  If I were interested in reading more about certain subjects, I would not have the faintest idea how to select a book, so their suggestions are appreciated.

A further point that one might wish for: some statistics.  That would not be easy, because to even get them, you'd have to define "entrepreneur" or some other set of people, and then find out if you could even obtain data on them.  Still though, it'd be interesting to see.

If it sounds like I'm being harsh, it's mostly that the book got me to thinking and wishing I could talk to other like-minded individuals about these issues.  The book is good, and I would recommend it.  For a few dollars and a few hours of reading time, if it improves your relationship at all, I'd call that a huge win.

Sheriff Bo Tully Mysteries

This is actually something of a series, although you could easily read them independently of one another.  Here's the first book:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FCKRME/?tag=dedasys-20

I got the stomach flu a few weekends ago, and needed something easy and relaxing to read while I was sick.  A couple of these books were just what the doctor ordered.

If you're not familiar with Patrick McManus, he has written a series of humorous books with anecdotes and short stories about the outdoor life in the west - specifically the Idaho panhandle area, where he grew up.  Some of them are pretty entertaining.

These books, rather than being an "embellished" account of his own experiences, are fictional stories set in "Blight County" Idaho.  While they are murder mysteries, McManus' dry humor comes through loud and clear.

The cast of characters are entertaining, and the plots keep you curious about whodunnit.

With a thought to my Italian friends, I'm not sure how much of the books would be lost on someone not familiar with small towns in out of the way places in the US.  On the other hand, they're also a fun glimpse into the sort of town not often visited by tourists from abroad.

I can recommend the first two books of the series, which I have read: they're good, unpretentious, fun and funny stories.  A great distraction from a busy life in a not-so-out-of-doorsy place.

High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service: Inspire Timeless Loyalty in the Demanding New World of Social Commerce

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0080GUJVQ/?tag=dedasys-20

I wanted to like this book, and the author seems like a nice, competent guy, but I don't feel like I got that much out of it.

There is a lot of talk about how to do great customer service, and there are some useful ideas there.  However, I felt that the economics of customer service were given short shrift.

And by economics, we're talking the classical definition of "the allocation of scarce resources".  Not everyone can be an Apple or a four star hotel: some businesses don't have those kinds of margins.  Now, granted, they can still follow a lot of the advice, but where resources are scarce, tradeoffs are involved, and in some kinds of businesses, you can't cater to the customer's every whim and still stay in business.  Yes, as he says, there are probably too many businesses where there is too much focus on "the bottom line", where in reality a bit of courtesy and going out of your way to help would be an investment that pays you back with time.  In any event, though, I felt like the book did not dedicate enough space to dealing with conflicts, and where to draw the line.  If everyone who walked into a McDonalds started ordering burgers as if it were a four star restaurant, just to make up an absurd example, something would have to give: prices or service.  You could say "ok, fine, you want a quality burger done your way, we'll up the prices", so that you can serve each person the burger of their heart's desire.  Or - and this is what would probably happen in a real McDonalds - you'd politely say "sorry sir, we don't do that".  You could say it with a smile, or make a joke about it, or even recommend another business, to leave a good impression with the customer.  But you'd still have to say "no".  If you're a social person, and genuinely in business to help people, it's pretty easy to go out of your way to help a customer.  The difficult part is defining a culture, and a few guidelines to go along with it, that has a sense of what's ok and when to say "sorry, no".

This kind of problem comes up more often in a service business.  Rational people do not go into a McDonalds expecting the best burger of their lives.  It's a product.  Not a great one, but a very standardized one where people know what they're getting.  With a lot of services, things are not so well defined.  A customer wants "a web site", and maybe has some vague notions of what that means, but may not even know what they want until they start to see it.  And then they want to tweak this, or that.  And then change something else.  If you're the guy building the web site, those changes and extra work cost you time and money, and, at some point, you're going to have to say "no, sorry, that's going to cost extra".

The other thing that I didn't get from the book was much practical advice.  I'm not sure who his audience is, but I'm just starting to build up customer service for my own small business, LiberWriter.com and trying to do it on a fairly tight budget.  Specific, concrete tips and tricks to make things work better that would save me painful learning experiences, and do so with my very limited resources, would have been very, very welcome and paid for the book many times over.

It did have some good bits, but with books like this, I'm more in the market for practical advice.  I'm not looking for a "timeless classic" that I'll keep coming back to for wisdom and philosophy, but a book that will help me bootstrap a solid customer service system and culture within my own small business.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC12BO/?tag=dedasys-20

Nearly 30 years old, this book still carries itself quite well. Lots of business books are faddish, attempting to capitalize on whatever is trendy.  Others have one good central idea that could be described in 5 pages, and are fluffed out to make them book length.  But I found a number of concepts that were relevant in this book, indeed, many that I've read in other, much later books, so it felt like a highly worthwhile read.  The book's age also helps in another way: rather than focus on the hot startup du jour, the examples are a bit more abstract, in that many of them are not so relevant today.  In other words, Apple makes an appearance, but so does Wang Laboratories.  That's a good thing, because it lets you focus on the idea being conveyed without confusing the issue with all of the hype and excitement about what's popular right now.

But—and this defines entrepreneur and entrepreneurship—the entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity

Innovation and Entrepreneurship opens with a discussion of different kinds of innovation.  Quoting from the book:

• The unexpected—the unexpected success, the unexpected failure, the unexpected outside event;
• The incongruity—between reality as it actually is and reality as it is assumed to be or as it “ought to be” 
• Innovation based on process need; 
• Changes in industry structure or market structure that catch everyone unawares. The second set of sources for innovative opportunity, a set of three, involves changes outside the enterprise or industry: 
• Demographics (population changes); 
• Changes in perception, mood, and meaning;
• New knowledge, both scientific and nonscientific

And in discussing these different types of innovation, Drucker points out that the stereotypical "revolutionary idea" is actually pretty rare compared to other types of innovation.  A more typical situation is an industry insider who sees how things could be improved, and strikes out on their own.

Indeed, this is a theme common throughout the book: highly visible high tech innovation of the sort typified by, and glorified in Silicon Valley is probably more of the exception rather than the rule.

Something I noticed throughout the book were ideas I've seen in other, later business books, like Steve Blank's "get out of the building", or this quote about attacking a niche:

Once that beachhead has been secured, that is, once the newcomers have an adequate market and an adequate revenue stream, they then move on to the rest of the “beach” and finally to the whole “island.”

 Which is pretty much exactly the strategy espoused in Crossing the Chasm .

In any event, there's a lot of good material, and it's impossible to summarize all of it, so I'll conclude that this is a good one that is still relevant 30 years after having been written.