The Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain: 1815 - 1945 by N. A. M. Rodger
This is a long, well annotated history of British Navy up until World War II. It is best targeted to the military buff. As a casual reader, I was lost with the intricate details.
My Effin' Life by Geddy Lee
Before jumping into his rock and roll memoir, Geddy starts with a narrative of his parents' experience in the holocaust. They were Polish Jews who survived the experience (unlike many of their family members that were killed.) After their immigration to Canada, Geddy's experience in the Toronto suburbs begin. Geddy Lee is a mangling of the English version of his original Yiddish name. As a Jew he was on the outcast of youth culture. He took to the bass, while also smoking and eventually doing drugs. He was in the same class as Rick Moranis, but they were not super close. He did befriend future Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson (who also changed his name from the Serbian original.) After bouncing around a few bands, they formed Rush, only for Geddy to be kicked out and later rejoin. John Rustey, their original drummer left the band shortly after their first album. (He was having trouble and there seemed to be a mixture of him stressing and the other bandmates not liking his behavior.) They auditioned drummers and lined up Neil Peart, and the rest his history. They had plenty of the usual rock and roll things. There were plenty of drugs. (Though Geddy admits enough was enough and he ended up quitting drugs and smoking.) All the band members were married and stayed together, with the only second marriage being after Peart's first wife's death. The touring life while married was challenging, but they were able to get through it after counseling. There were various challenges on the tour, including roadies that had various personal issues. They also had challenges with recording and the business side of things. Rush is a little different from the typical rock band, and this memoir is a bit different, though much is similar to others.
Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Jeff Yang, Phil Yu,and Philip Wang
"Asian American" is a huge category. Over half lives in Asia. Pacific Islanders are often included in the group, further expanding the diversity. A Somoan, Pakistani and Vietnamese are all grouped together in what becomes a catch-all group. Though they have little in common, they are often seen as part of this "other" and band together. After events such as 9/11 or coronavirus outbreak, Asians found themselves in an area of shared victimhood.
The book provides some background of Asian history and early pop culture, but the focus is on more modern times. Early pop culture was fairly bleak. There would often be white actors in yellow-face playing to Asian stereotypes. Even when there were Asian actors, they would rarely be the stars. Asian films and TV shows would lose much of the Asian-ness when coming to the US. Things have changed over the past decades. Crouch Tiger, Hidden Dragon was popular and earned awards despite being subtitled and having an Asian cast. Asian actors have been playing more leading roles. Kpop and Kdrama have become extremely popular. Yet despite this popularity, they still are paid a fraction what white actors would be paid.
Asian-Americans often grew up with the same popular media as their white friends. However, they also had some of their own culture and expected values. The group is diverse on many levels. There are more actors and musicians today with Asian backgrounds. The diversity remains. One recurring part of the book is podcasters that talk about "disgrasians". A group are criticising Asians that disgrace their community - which often means they are behaving in a way that they don't like. (It can be challenging to advocate for identity politics while still being open minded.) The book bounces around among advocacy, history and culture and is quite relatable, if not a little long.
There are also good explanations of the "pop history" of Asian Americans. Many of the "towns" still have old-time ethnic inhabitants. However, newer, well-to-do immigrants often decamp straight to the ethnic suburbs like Cupertino. Will Asian immigrants retain a cultural identity after a few generations? Or will they become subsumed in a new Euro-Asian melting pot?
The Dating Dare: A Novel by Jayci Lee
Two Korean-Americans meet at a wedding. They fall for each other immediately, but both are reluctant to enter a relationship. They play a "game" where they will go on four dates without falling for each other. He has to go to Paris for a great photography opportunity in a short time, so they know it will only be temporary. Alas, this is a romance, so of course they will end up together. They also discover that they each have similar backgrounds and have been burned in the past. It is lighthearted without getting too spicy, though language is far from clean. For a romance, it is much better than the romatasy slop out there.
72 Stories: From the Baseball Collection of Geddy Lee by Geddy Lee
Rush frontman Geddy Lee is a baseball fan and became hooked on memorabilia collection. In this book he tells 72 baseball stories related to his collection. He also includes a bit of his history and some history of collectors in general. He got the collectors bug and would often be involved in bidding in auctions while on tour with his band. He has bought a few items that are not as authentic as he liked. He also made a donation of many items to the Negro League museum. The stories bring alive many baseball players from the distant past as well as those of today. He does rely heavily on other sources for details, but has them spiced up with his personal experiences. Even though I am not into baseball, I found it to be a great book.
Pimsleur Korean Level 1 Lessons 11-15 by Pimsleur
In the third installment, there is a lot of time spent ordering bottles of wine or cans of beer. These lessons are not particularly useful and are difficult to stick. The numbers are covered in various times, but just don't seem to stick either. Korean does have a couple numbering systems, making it even more confusing. This is a time where drilling or using audio and video together would be more useful.
A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Rob Goodman
Claude Shannon was smart and introduced the information age. He had worked much in industry and pioneered ideas useful for transmitting information across phone networks. He helped understand the redundancy of data and how information can be compressed, error corrected and used to communicate across distances. It was a very practical field with some rigourous underpinnings. He was also a "character" with interesting social skills. He married his first wife because they liked the same music. He had general "I understand the world better than traditionalists" outlook. I had a read a few Shannon books before, and didn't realize I had actually read this one before. This one felt a bit slow.
A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer
Kim Jong-Il was the North Korean son and dictator in waiting in North Korea. He loved film and had many western movies clandestinely pirated and brought to him. Internally, residents were only allowed to view locally made films. These were heavy on propaganda and low on quality. He wanted to launch a strong local film industry that could produce films that would win awards at film festivals. He decided to do it in a typically bizarre way. He kidnapped a South Korean actress. Then later kidnapped a director that happened to be her ex husband. He first spent years indoctrinating them in the positives of North Korea. After he thought they were ready, he let them produce movies. These films won awards and received acclaim. The couple gradually rekindled their relationship and remarried. They longed to escape. However, they were constantly monitored by bodyguards. To protect their lives, they needed to portray loyalty to North Korea. After one leak that they were kidnapped, they held a press conference to say they were there willingly. After increasing movie success, they were allowed to travel further abroad. Finally, when they were in Vienna, they were able to avoid their minders in a taxi chase and make it to the US embassy. There they defected to the west, and eventually escaped to the US. They continued to make movies in the US, while Kim Jong-Il "erased" them from North Korean film history. It is a so strange it must be true tale told in a riveting fashion.
Hoop Atlas: Mapping the Remarkable Transformation of the Modern NBA by Kirk Goldsberry
Who is the greatest basketball player? Rather than look at stats, we can look at how they have influenced the NBA. Michael Jordan received many individual awards. He also significantly altered the course of the NBA. Stephen Curry was on the vanguard of similar changes. Shooting and ball handling became more important. The three pointer grew in importance. Great players are excellent at what they do and are emulated by many others. This book looks at the evolution of the NBA by focussing on many of the key greats that have lead the change. The NBA went from being dominated by big centers to being dominated by outside shooters. Today things are coming back with big men with shooting and ball handling skills getting their day. The author doesn't proclaim any of the players the greatest, but does show how each of many greats are important by their stats and future influence.
K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television by Grace Jung
When reading this book, I waffled from loving it to not liking it. Overall, I went for the positive. K-Drama is covered extensively, but is almost incidental to the book. korean Drama serves as a framing mechanism for the author to discuss her life and challenges, as well as the experiences of Koreans and Asians. Koreans has had a challenging history with large falls and rapid rises. Japan occupied Korea, kicked out the monarchs and attempted to wipe out Korean identity. Korea achieved freedom at the end of World War II, only to be divided into two. Many travesties occurred in the Korean War. The war was inconclusive (and technical is still ongoing.) South Korea has a large US military base (despite being an ally.) Televisions were introduced to Korea at this time. The dictatorship ruling the country created a television network to help spread propaganda. Television manufacturers created their own network to sell televisions. Korean Drama came out of this setting. The country suffered from many wounds and still had challenges ahead. Korean dramas were created rapidly and at low cost. There were limits on what could be shown (with the producers often hitten the edge of these limits.) Various tropes, such as amnesia were employed. Dramas also focussed on important parts of the Korean psyche. Society is heavily driven to succeed. We can see both general as well as individual challenges in the dramas.
The author looks at various dramas and discusses how they relate to her experience (which includes various forms of abuse) as well as Korean life (including adoptions.) She has the power to look beyond the immediate problems. Abusers are people who often suffered from abuse earlier in their life. Ending the cycle is important. She suffered significant abuse from her parents. (In one case she received a huge beating from her mom after her mom misunderstood an elementary school teacher.) She suffered greatly and wanted to separate herself from her family. However, she was able to make peace with them. She is critical of woke people who bring people down for behavior they do not respect. This does not help. Instead we are better understanding and helping others to learn. She received many degrees but was turned off from the academic culture. She finally found an area that she enjoyed.
William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love: Art, Poetry, and the Imagining of a New World by Philip Hoare
What would happen if you tripped out and started relating William Blake to every artist that interests you? You would end up with this book. It is a not very coherent exploration of various artists, with a focus on the early 20th century. They relate to Blake with some direct and indirect experience. The book rambles on for much too long without saying very much.
Taking Religion Seriously by Charles Murray
Modern "scientific" people often look down on religions. It is seen as something quaint from the past. The author seeks to treat religion seriously. People's individual religious journey can be different. For some, there is the deep internal faith. For others, an intellectual approach works. The benefits of the culture and community are also a key part of the religious package. In this book, the author includes a large bibliography of many books that he was found useful in the spiritual exploration. There are also interesting discussions of the history and timeline of the Bible. He is of the side that the gospels were written early by people that may have direct knowledge of the events, rather than a later view that some modernists suppose. It is an interesting approach to religion and how it provides value even in today's modern society.
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski PhD and Amelia Nagoski DMA
How do women burnout and get stressed? The author focus on women and their tendency to care for others at the expense of themselves. The "bikini-industrial complex" is discussed a negative influence that encourages women to achieve a certain body type that may be the most helpful. While shooting for the ideal body type is not necessarily helpful, getting exercise is helpful for reducing stress. The book presents much of the standard stress-reduction advice. The difference is the woman focus and concerns about the "patriarchy" being a negative influence on women.
The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You by Julie Zhuo
Julie Zhuo joined Facebook in its infancy as a UX designer. The company grew rapidly and she was thrust into a leadership role and then up to being a leader of leaders. Her experience at a rapidly growing company required heavy emphasis on recruiting and growing a company. These may not be as applicable at other companies that are not rapidly growing. However, many of the other management discussions are universally applicable. People look at managers different than other people. They must also practice what they preach. It is hard to get a team to buy into ideas that the leader does not follow. Leaders must continue to focus on what procides the most value, and work on making themselves obsolete.
Less: A Novel by Andrew Sean Greer
Arthur Less is a mediocre gay novelist. He has brushed against some greatness, but seems destined to be unremarkable. He was once "stole" a well-known poet from his wife. He also had a book that had somewhat positive feedback. All of that was in the past. Now he is taking any opportunity he can find with anyone available. This leads to various humorous encounters. Even at a gay convention, his writing is deemed "not gay enough." He cannot seem to win. Luckily, I did not find myself caring much about him.
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, Elizabeth Sherrill and John Sherrill
A Dutch family lived in Haarlem shortly before World War II. The father was a clockmaker and stressed service and work in the community. There were conflicts breaking out in Europe. However, it seemed that the Netherlands would remain neutral as before. The family occasionally saw Jews in need and had helped them out. After the Dutch army capitulated, the Netherlands came under Nazi occupation. The family helped out more Jews. They became involved in the Dutch underground. At one time a sympathizer proposed they kill a Dutch informer. They would not go that far. They were eventually caught and brought to a concentration camp. The author's sister was also keeping her faith and looking positive. She was even grateful for the fleas they had. (It would later turn out that the guards had let them meet in peace because they didn't want to go to the flea-infested room.) They would maintain their faith in the camps until they were freed. The later half of the book emphasizes Christian thought and maintaining love and faith even under difficult circumstances.
Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons Of A Hardwood Warrior by Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty
Phil Jackson explores the spiritual dimension of his basketball career. He was raised as a child of Presbyterian ministers. However, he never experienced speaking in tongues and felt that he had not filled the jump in the spiritual journey. He later was attracted to Zen and meditation. He still maintianed some of the key Christian teacheings of love with his Zen practice. He used this as part of his early basketball career. His NBA playing career gradually shifted to coaching. When he was coaching the bulls he worked to balance the extreme talent of Michael Jordan with the needs of a team. There were times that players had important life experiences that needed to be addressed. (Such as the death of Scottie Pippen's father.) The book is abridged and ends in the middle of the Bulls run. Much of it is repeated in his later book spanning his entire NBA career.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
