Korean in 40 Minutes: Learn to speak Korean in minutes with Collins

Korean in 40 Minutes: Learn to speak Korean in minutes with Collins by Collins

This is a quick intro to Korean with short, useful phrases to repeat. This one actually feels a bit too fast to repeat - even at normal speed. 

The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change

The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change by Camille Fournier

The author did a NanoWriMo book on her experience transitioning from engineer to management. People still need to remain a bit technical as the rise up. First steps are typically working as a mentor to interns. Other steps include doing more people work and less coding. Even those on a technical track still need to have a little people experience. The best technical people are not necessarily the best managers. The book is a nice tech-focused book on management and rising up the career ladder. (Which sometimes is best done at places that do not have a ladder!) Management is different at different companies and at different phases of growth as are the opportunities.

Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent

Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent by Kim Bowes

How did the typical person live in Rome? It is amazing the quantity of data that they are about the piece together from a time a few millennia ago. Pompeii has provided a great source as things were suddenly stopped and frozen in time. Other archaeology work has been used to find details of the life, while written records provide some clue to wages and work. Analysis is influenced by those doing the work. What was needed to subsist? It appears that most of the family would work. Children would do work when they could. Farmers often had small plots that they would farm to live on and to trade with others. It was not a life of abundance, but did seem to be survivable.

High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies

High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies by Erik Davis

The book is weird. It is also long. Over an hour into the audiobook, it was still telling me what it was going to tell me. The focus is 1974 and thereabouts with psychedelic weirdness. Phillip K. Dick is the one that stood out. He claimed to have special visions while still clinging to Christianity. There were also other more typical people that would trip out. Jesus freaks were an interesting category of weirdos who adopted a hippie infused form of Christianity. The book could really use some editing. Perhaps it was intended to be consumed while tripping out on a psychedelic substance. 

Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success

Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success by Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty

This is books is primarily a linear narrative of the life of Phil Jackson. He grew up in the upper midwest in a religious family (both parents were preachers). He took to basketball and eventually made it to the NBA to play for the Nicks. He was never a super star, but was a role player. He earned two championships as a player (though he was out injured for a season where he got it.) At the time, life in the NBA was not glamourous or well-paying. Some of the college students had better experiences. He was drawn towards coaching. He had various experiences (including in Puerto Rico.) He eventually was an assistant for the Bulls. They had Michael Jordan and some potential. Management decided he was best to get them over the cusp. They fired the coach and made him head coach. After some challenges, he was able to put together 2 three-peat championships with the bulls. Part of it involved helping the team to be more balanced rather than dishing everything to Jordan. He took time off, then took the Lakers job. There he won three championships with Kobe and Shaq. Again, he needed to work to get them to be team players. After some down years, he was able to win two more with Kobe. He stayed on for another season after the last championship where they failed to win. In between the championships he also had some bad years. The pain of defeat helped encourage him and his teams to play for more victories. He also talks about some of the meditation and other non-basketball work he did. In his time, he worked with some of the best players and got the best out of them. The combination of players and coach seemed to work well.

Raising Hare: A Memoir

Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton

A woman moves out to the British countryside during the pandemic. There she observes a young injured hare. She helps nurse the hare back to health and befriends it. Later she discovers that the hare is a female when it has babies. The hare at first stays in the house, but gradually spreads further outside. It gives birth first outside. However, it later gives birth inside the house. The hare is never really a pet, but still has an affinity towards the house. The author gains greater respect for nature and the challenges we place on hares with urban development. After reading, I finally have a better understanding of the difference between hares and rabbits.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni

This short business books provides an example of a fictitious Half-Moon Bay tech company in a state of disfunction. A new boss is brought in to clean things up. She identifies many of the causes of dysfunction as she works to clean it up. At first, it appears she is not doing much. However, she does begin to enforce rules, dismisses a team member and changes part of the reporting structure. There are some concerns at first, but there is eventual buy in and success. After the story, the book has a brief section with details on the disfunction types.

Pimsleur Korean Level 1 Lessons 6-10

Pimsleur Korean Level 1 Lessons 6-10 by Pimsleur

I was getting lost going through these ones. There was a lot of ordering beverages and greetings. It seems more bits would fade than stick. I'll try going through again.

The Butterfly Impact: Resilience, Resets, and Ripples

The Butterfly Impact: Resilience, Resets, and Ripples by Mark Brigg

This is a fairly generic business book. I missed the whole butterfly metaphor, even though it was brought up multiple times in the book. It took a turn towards superficial diversity that didn't help. As a whole the book was not bad, but did not really add anything.

Asian American Histories of the United States

Asian American Histories of the United States by Catherine Ceniza Choy

What is the history of people from Asia in the United States? You won't find much of that hear. However, if you are interested in the role that Asians have played in labor movements and community organizing. Business and culture are barely mentioned. The "Donut King" of Southern California gets much more coverage than Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Chinese and Japanese culture is barely mentioned until it is under stress. In an attempt to be show the importance of Asians in the US, the book portrays them as dependent on the non-Asian culture. The focus is on Asian Americans adopting American-style organizing to get more privileges from the government. We could have a much better Asian history.

Cracking the PM Career: The Skills, Frameworks, and Practices to Become a Great Product Manager

Cracking the PM Career: The Skills, Frameworks, and Practices to Become a Great Product Manager by Gayle Laakmann McDowell and Jackie Bavaro

What is a Product Manager? The role is primarily present in technology companies. It primarily involves providing direction and managing a "product" rather than people. Product managers don't have people authority and must rely on "soft" authority to get done. They often have both a computer science and business background. This book is written with Silicon Valley in mind. There are discussions of big tech, startups and VCs. The entire career is covered, with expectations for fresh-out-of-school product managers up to those that have transitioned to CEO. Product management is most often a "mid-career" position. People will transition into it and later move to management. It involves working both outwards to understand the market and customers as well as inward to the development teams. It can be a fun for those interested. The book ends with interview advice and bios from a number of people that have worked as product managers.

Speak, Memorably: The Art of Captivating an Audience

Speak, Memorably: The Art of Captivating an Audience by Bill McGowan

Most meetings today are boring. The presenter drones on, regurgitating details from the powerpoint. There is something important to disseminate, but it is not done in an interesting manner. How do we make it better? We need to pay attention to details in how we communicate. Keeping slides sparse with visual data maintains greater interest. The speed of discourse should be measured and focus on clean language. Eliminate filler words, jargon and redundant speech. Use humor and storytelling to grab attention. Focus on presenting the key message in a concise, straightforward format. The book provides additional details on how best to present, complete with stories of successes and failures (often coming from the political arena.)

An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir

An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir by Elizabeth McCracken

The author spent her early adulthood writing while traveling between the US and Europe. She conceived later in life. The baby was stillborn at full term. She grapples with that in her experiences. It is a key part of her identity as she is working through it and trying again. Other issues (such as issues with immigration officials) can be extra stressful during hard times. Some responses by others can be helpful, while others can make things worse. The book is fairly short and probably best for people that relate towards similar situations. 

Don't Call It a Comeback: What Happened When I Stopped Chasing PRs, and Started Chasing Happiness

Don't Call It a Comeback: What Happened When I Stopped Chasing PRs, and Started Chasing Happiness by Keira D'Amato and Evelyn Spence

Keira D'Amato was a runner in high school and college. Then life went on. She had married a runner who was serving in the military. He was away a lot. She spent a lot of time with the kids, and disregarded her health and did not run for a decade. She then decided to get back into running. She pushed herself and was able to set Personal Records and even American records in running. She got a press as a mother that was running and doing well. She portrays herself as a lackadaisical runner who was running because she liked to and loved her independence while she just happened to achieve. Some races she did poorly, while others were great. She ran a "COVID race" with a few other runners to set a 10-mile best. She held the US Marathon record for 9 months. She eventually did sign with Nike and continued to compete. In her process she had a few health scares. In most cases she had a second opinion that helped provide a solution that let her run. (She lived with hip flexor issues. She discovered that her endocrine issues were related to the inhaler she was using.) The story is interesting, but it felt like it came to a conclusion three times before it actually ended.

Saving Can-Do: How to Revive the Spirit of America

Saving Can-Do: How to Revive the Spirit of America by Philip K. Howard

America is over-regulated with nobody able to make decisions. This may prevent some bad things from happening. But it also makes it much more difficult to accomplish good things. It also leads to different types of bad things. Society is obsessed with "liability avoidance". Instead of being free to solve problems, people focus on adhering to regulations as they exist. Government jobs have become collectively bargained sinecures. In education, the teachers' union bargains for the benefit of the union. Highly regulated teaching plans work fine for tem, even if it harms the overall quality of teaching. Building things requires going through huge amounts of red tape and reviews. These processes often are used as means of rent seaking and stalling. Thus projects take much longer and cost much more than similar projects elsewhere in the world. The solutions to this problem of this bloat seems simple, but will be a huge challenge to implement.

The Half-life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date

The Half-life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date by Samuel Arbesman

Most people stick with the things they learned when they were young. However, facts decay and become irrelevant after time. Each type of "fact" has a different half-life. Scientific facts change as we learn more. A doctor that only stuck with what they learned in medical school would likely be treating people in very outdated ways. (People were once treated with "bleeding". Cigarettes were once considered  healthy.) Continuing education is needed to stay current. It is impossible to know everything. Why waste brain space with outdated facts? It takes effort to keep our general knowledge up to date with current facts.

Take a Girl Like You (NYRB Classics)

Take a Girl Like You (NYRB Classics) by Kingsley Amis

In the 1960s, young adults behaved badly. The book centers on a man that is trying to put the moves on a girl. The girl likes him, but doesn't want to go all the way. There is also a girl that is pretending to be French that puts the moves on her. There is also a married couple behaving badly. Everyone is depraved in a different way. The book ends with the girl getting drunk and being raped by the guy that was trying to put the moves on her. They treat it as something normal and meet afterwards - though she says she does not want to be with him. It's hard not to feel sick after reading this dated book.

Parade: A Novel

Parade: A Novel by Rachel Cusk

There are artists. Female artists can be conflicted in their artistic and family responsibilities. Somebody committed suicide in an art gallery. Some parade was going on. There is not much to recommend in this book.

Tokyo Express: A Novel

Tokyo Express: A Novel by Seicho Matsumoto, translated by Jesse Kirkwood

An official and a woman appeared dead in an apparent love suicide. There were witnesses that saw them boarding a train and they later showed up dead.  It seemed fairly straightforward. However, the man was involved in a scandal. Could there be something else involved? The detective looked at the clues and everything seemed to stack up. However, things seemed to be just a little too good. There was also little evidence of the man and the woman in a relationship before they were seen at the train station. The detective was persistent and continue to investigate. The coincidences were just too much. Eventually he discovered that it was an elaborately set up murder organized in part by a dying woman who was obsessed with train scheduled. (They did happen to get the couple seen from a platform away in a rare time when there would be no train in between.) The perpetrator (a high ranking official and his wife) almost got away with it. Once they saw they would be caught they took their lives. It was a well done whodunit. 

Far and Away: A Prize Every Time

Far and Away: A Prize Every Time by Neil Peart

This is similar to Neil Peart's other "travel books". He is primarily travelling around on his motorcycle with a friend between concert tour stops. Most of the experience is in US and Canada. He primarily takes small roads when possible. Sometimes he runs into roads blocked by snow (even in June!) He had other experiences with heavy thunderstorms and other extreme weather.

He did also travel in South America between tour stops. This added the risk of border crossings and less developed environments. He intentionally stayed out of the more urban areas to ride around in rural areas. This had its own challenges. The GPS was not super accurate and the areas were not well labelled. They ended up way over-shooting a bridge that would get them into Uruguay. Luckily they found a remote ferry that eventually helped to get them around.

He takes time to comment on society and conditions. He likes compact mountain towns and prefers small mom-and-pop stores. (Logan Utah seemed to be a good one.) There is various commentary on the history that he observed. He also sought to take on many national parks. (Yellowstone was one of the last ones he covered.) In all these voyages, he still managed to make it to his concerts in time.

Pimsleur Korean Level 1

Pimsleur Korean Level 1 by Pimsleur

Amazon doesn't have a link to the current full level one, so I linked to an old CD. This has 30 30 minute lessons. You are supposed to do one per day. You can check it out for 21 days at the library. This leads to a small math problem. The content seems ok, but I find it better to check out the individual 5 lessons chunks so that they can actually be finished.

Transport for Humans: Are We Nearly There Yet?

Transport for Humans: Are We Nearly There Yet? by Pete Dyson and Rory Sutherland

Transportation planning often focuses on speeding up time. This is great for freight, but fails humans. Psychology can inform planners of the best way to improve systems for humans. The conditions of the transport and status may make a greater impact than the actual speed. Counteritivite improvements may be difficult in practice, even though they would theoretically help. (A variable speed limit that is lower than the maximum would help everyone to get there faster at a consistent speed. However, drivers have difficulty seeing how driving slower can make them faster.)

Planners often focus on the part of the system they control, without looking at a whole system. A train operator may shave 5 minutes off the travel time. However, a user would need to add time to travel to the train station and to arrive there early for security and check in. Reducing those times would reduce travel time without added expense.

The comfort of the transportation can also make a big difference. The Concord was fast. The 747 and descendents are much slower, but they have lay-flat beds in first class. The wealthy ended up opting for comfort over speed. Trains with clean windows or seat-back trays provide a more comfortable experience and make travel time feel shorter.

Numbers can also be misleading. A small speed improvement on a slower road will provide greater benefit than a similar improvement on a fast road. People don't care about "average" travel time. They want to know if their trip will arrive on time. Deviations and unexpected changes are of significant concern. Providing accurate up-date status on train arrivals greatly improves travel experience.

Will transit planners actually shift their focus to making transportation for people? Will they actually focus on making a good walking and biking experience for entire routes? It has yet to be seen.

Korean Hangul for Beginners

Korean Hangul for Beginners by Soohee Kim, Haewon Cho and Emily Curtis

Hangul is a logical writing system that combines an intuitive alphabet in a syllabic writing system. The letters are written in a way that relates to the way they are pronounced. They are then combined in blocks with consonants and vowels that make up a syllable. The sounds are almost always the same, though there are some special cases especially at the ends of the words. This workbook provides a good way of learning. It explains the symbols and provides details on how symbols are built upon previous symbols. There is plenty of practice with both writing and hearing the characters. It does require some effort to learn the characters, but just reading the book can provide some background.

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki

A fat woman criminal has captivated interest in Japan. She has been jailed for the deaths of rich men she dated. She has affairs with them and then they later die in a way that could seem to be suicide. She is jailed. A woman who works for a magazine wants to get her story. She meets with her regularly in the prison. At first she has trouble getting to her. However, she realizes that the criminal loves food. She works to follow the criminal's food suggestions and recipes - even enrolling in the same cooking school. She gains weight and learns to appreciate the criminal. She also gets closer to her and gets some stories out of her and her family. After the story is published, the criminal talks smack about the magazine girl and how she tried to be like her by copying her cooking and seemed to be attracted to her. This set magazine girl in a downward spiral and almost caused her death in traffic. She realizes that the criminal has strong narcissistic traits that has led to other's deaths. She manages to break out of it and calls her friends. The book has a number of other sub-plots with characters and their lives. It does show the power that somebody can have by suggestion. It fits in with the "Japanese obsession with food" sub-genre.

Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum

Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum by Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry

Michael J. Fox was a starving artist looking for any opportunity to act. He landed on the sitcom Family Ties. He jumped at the chance to start in the movie Teen Wolf. Then Back to the Future happened. The movie was not working with the current lead and they wanted him to come in and star. He worked on the movie during the night and the show during the day. They could tell the movie would be success from the early screenings and it was. It was one of the few "time travel" movies that really worked. This memoir focuses on the movie, but also provides some of Fox's early background (though it ends after the film is released.) It is timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the film. (Interestingly, that is 10 more years than the difference in the two time periods of the film.) The book is short and to the point, with the audiobook including some bits of dialog from the film.