High Output Management

High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove

This is an older management book from a boss at Intel. The chip business was booming in the day, though there were plenty of pivots and changes that the company went through. There are some insights that seem funny today. Email was seen as a powerful tool that helped enable communication throughout the company. This would give American companies the similar "real time" communication similar to Japanese companies where everybody sits at a table together. Well that has come and gone. We have even gone through the open office trend, instant messaging and other real time communication tools. Now the college is often to get more focussed.

There was some good discussion on 1:1 meetings. It is good for both sides to take notes. Look at problems. Plan actions and get to the bottom of things.

In spite of the changes in technology many key aspects of management remain similar.

Lost on the Amazon (Choose Your Own Adventure #9)

Lost on the Amazon (Choose Your Own Adventure #9) by R. A. Montgomery

This 1980s book has been updated to include mention of cell phones, but much of the story remains the same. You are a doctor going to the Amazon to help people and rescue some friends. You battle with the situation as well as run into real "Amazons". I like to read these to find all the endings. Now I remember how annoying it was. I have various bookmarks to try to go back. The various endings are also not in the same universe. The multiple endings are not different outcomes from the same base scenario, but instead rely on different premises. 

It's Not Easy Being a Bunny

It's Not Easy Being a Bunny by Marilyn Sadler, illustrated by Roger Bollen

A bunny is tired of being a rabbit. He decides to try out living with other animals. Alas, there are problems with each of these, such as the stink of the skunks. In the end, he realizes it is fine being a bunny. The grass is not always greener on the other side.

The Sign of the Beaver

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

A boy is alone in the frontier plains. A white trapper comes by and asks for hospitality, however, he takes the gun they have. The boy tries to get by, but ends up in an accident. Some Indians help him and restore is health. He gives the son reading lessons. In the process, they get to know each other and become friends. The boy later takes part in additional activities in the Indian family and befriends them. He learns of some the travesties inflicted on the Indians. When the Indians are set to move, they offer the boy a chance to join them. He is tempted, but he chooses to stay to await his family. The Indians and the boy separate with mutual respect. Shortly after, his family arrives and he is able to share the story. This book is a feel-good story showcasing the positive individual interactions among individuals in different cultures while not hiding away from some of the damage that has been inflicted by groups. 

Waterland

Waterland by Graham Swift

People live among the peat in a rural part of England. The book traces multiple generations. There is drinking, incest and suicide in the area. The center is primarily on one family through a few generations. One guy was strongly antiwar and lived in isolation and wants to have a son that is the savior of the world. However, this son is had in an incestuous relationship that is somewhat hidden by the girl marrying a guy around the time. There is also a person as an important switchman that is often drunk, but had his wife help them out. There are various other deaths and relationships The book ends with one man diving off a boat and disappearing into the water, most likely to his death. This is a fitting end for the book.

The Little Kitten

The Little Kitten by Judy Dunn (Author), Phoebe Dunn (Photographer)

A girl's cat is pregnant. She wants a place to have the kittens and settles for a comfy bedded dresser drawer. One of the kittens is more active and is the first to try to jump out of the drawer. This kitten also gets into lots of "pickles". The kid decides this is the kitten she wants to keep and names him "Pickle". Pickle gets into lots of ruckus. In the end, the girl ties a balloon to him to be able to find where he is. This was a lot better than I thought it would be.

The Berenstain Bears and the Truth

The Berenstain Bears and the Truth by Stan Berenstain (Author), Jan Berenstain (Author)

The bears break Mama's favorite lamp with a soccer ball. Rather than admitting to it, they fabricate a lie about a colorful bird coming in and breaking it. However, they get mixed up with the colors, and Papa suggests it is a "black and white" bird like the soccer ball. They admit to it. The parents are sad that they lied, but they learn the lesson to tell the truth rather than make up lies. This is one of the more straightforward, less tedious Bear books.

Someday Angeline

Someday Angeline by Louis Sachar

Angeline is crazy smart. However, her emotional maturity is lacking. Despite being 8, she is prone to suck her thumb and cry. Her mother died when she was an infant and she is raised by her garbage-truck driving father. At school, she gets put in the 6th grade. However, the teacher is an idiot and doesn't like the kid being smarter than her.

She doesn't have any friends until she meets a 5th grade loner who likes to tell jokes. She loves his jokes and the two become friends. She also hangs out with him in Miss Turbone's class. (They often hear her name as "Mr. Bone" ) They take care of the fish and go to the aquarium. After some struggles, Angeline skips school to hang out with fish. One day she goes to the ocean. She chats with a half-drunk man fishing at the pier. Then she goes further and accidentally falls in. the man saves her, but she is only able to recover at the hospital after he hears jokes. Her father then dates Miss Turbone. The book is nice and sappy. There is a bit of "magic" with her intelligence, yet it is easy to relate to some of the struggles that smarter kids have, especially when their emotional level is behind their intelligence.

Dear Mr. Henshaw

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

Leigh Botts is an elementary school student whose parents have divorced. The novel consists entirely of his letters to Mr Henshaw, his favorite author. He writes various letters to him regarding the books. Gradually this expands to life in general. For a period, he keeps a diary in the form of letters to Mr Henshaw. Leigh struggles to deal with his parents' separation as well as adapting to life in a new school. He also has people steal his lunch and makes an alarm to prevent it from happening. He never catches the culprit, but the alarm stopped the stealing. He later feels happy that he didn't catch the culprit as it might hurt him. This is a slight twist on an epistolary novel that shows the growth of a character and his writing.

The Witches

The Witches by Roald Dahl

The witches are having a convention a local hotel. They look a lot like normal women, though there are some subtle differences (like the lack of toes). A boy is with his grandmother at the hotel. There is also another snobbish boy with his parents. The witches create a potion to turn them to mice. Even though they have mouse bodies, they still have their brains and can talk. They hatch a plan to take down the witches by putting the potion in their soup. After some harrying mouse moves they do it, and the witches become mice, thus saving the lives of many kids. The book has plenty of Dahl's dark humour. 

Robots of Dawn

Isaac Asimov's first two books in the robot series were palatable sci-fi mysteries. Robots of Dawn is not. It comes across as the unedited musings of a lecherous old man. It is much longer than the other robot books, and filled with too much of Asimov's sociological musings. Plot and characters, are, alas tough to find. It does, however, have a nice sounding title.

Hart's Hope

Hart's Hope is a fantasy novel about a vulgar incestuous kingdom where magic depends on blood. The themes fail similar to Card's Homecoming saga, though the content is somewhat original. However, it is also one of his most graphically disgusting novels.