Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life

Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life by Avinash K. Dixit

Applied game theory helps guide decision making and identify some "bad outcomes". People will often alter their decisions based on what others are doing and how they perceive the outcomes will be. Even the type of way a decision is made can significantly impact the outcome. (The Roman method of focussing on possible punishments first will produce different results than American method of deciding guilt first then punishment later.) I recall Chicago's Olympic bid, which was thought to be the overwhelming frontrunner being derailed in part because may thought others would vote for it. That example was way past those in the book which was written decades ago. The book includes many examples from sports hall of fame voting to union negotiations. The "Tragedy of the Commons" even makes an appearance.

 

The Twits, The Minpins & The Magic Finger

The Twits, The Minpins & The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl

The Twits (1980)

The twits are a cruel couple who seem to always be fighting and playing mean jokes on each other.

The Minpins (1991)

Billy lives a controlled life. He ends up discovering the Minpins and then helps rid them of their enemies, making him well respected.

The Magic Finger (1966)

A girl has a "magic finger" which causes things to happen to people she is upset with. She has little control of the finger does. She sees some neighbors be cruel to animals as they are hunting them. When they get magic-fingered, they turn into the ducks and the ducks move to inhabit their house. After he experience, they get greater respect for animals and stop hunting for sport. At the end it is implied that another family will soon get the finger.

Magic Finger was my favorite of the books in this series. I got a little lost with Minpins.

Windcatcher

Windcatcher by Avi

A boy is off in Long Island Sound. There are rumours of a shipwreck with possible treasure. He is sailing around with relatives. He also runs into some other treasure hunters. He loses his boat and decides he will swim from island to island to make it back. However, he also loses his compass and map. He starts swimming and makes it almost to the first island when he loses his shoe. In diving into the water to find it, he also sees something which he initially thought were animal bones, but may be what he was hunting for. He makes his way to the island, but does not know where he is. He does find the boat, and decides to sail away in the dark. He has no idea where he is, but does find his way to the treasure hunters. It ends shortly after. It feels like an interesting half-story.

Clifford's Peekaboo

Clifford's Peekaboo by Norman Bridwell

Clifford plays peekabo in this super short board book.

The Underwater Alphabet Book

The Underwater Alphabet Book (Jerry Pallotta's Alphabet Books) by Jerry Pallotta (Author), Edgar Stewart (Illustrator)

This book is fairly text-dense, with descriptions of a fish and other sea creatures for each letter of the alphabet. There are even some with multiple creatures for the same letter. It can be read quickly by just reading the names. The text is not bad, there is just too much. The choices are also fairly obscure.

Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder, translated by Paulette Møller

Sophie is a Norwegian girl who gets mysterious messages from somebody providing information about philosophy. She loves the opportunity to learn and explore, starting from the big questions of what existence is. There is another girl and a father working as a UN observer in the middle east. At times it goes to the supernatural with them doing things such as going back to view the ancient philosophers. It is an interesting exploration of philosophy and some of the rational and scientific-based influences. It felt that it went on for a little too long as the story got a bit "weird".

The Berenstain Bears say good night

The Berenstain Bears say good night by Stan and Jan Berenstain

This is one of the shorter "rhyming" Berenstain Bears book. It is a slight step above the standard Berenstain Bears books. The rhythm and rhymes are not quite up to Dr. Seuss standards, but they try. The bears go through their bedtime rituals and then go to bed. 

Tuck Triumphant

A family with a child and deaf dog gets a new child. However, instead of a baby, the child is a 5 year old deaf Korean orphan. The family and dog grow together. On the camping trip, the 5 year old is stranded by a flash flood. He and the other child are rescued by the dog.

Johnny Got His Gun

I discovered this book after learning that it was the basis for Metallica's One. The video includes numerous clips from the movie. (And Metallica is said to have purchased the entire rights to the movie.) I felt the movie clips helped to better understand the book. I had trouble visualizing somebody with no arms, legs, ears or face. The visual clips helped to get a better picture. However, this is the type of work that would be much better in book form. The book is almost entirely within the head of the protagonist. He recalls many past events. He analyzes his current condition. He learns that he does have some limited sensual input. He can feel temperature changes and vibrations. He eventually decides to start tapping morse code. He does that over and over again until he finally gets some morse code communication back. This shocks him. He has spent so much time in the effort that he did not have a plan when it came through. He did quickly hash up a plan, only to have it knocked down by those in authority.

The audiobook includes a couple forwards extolling the virtues of the book as an anti-war novel. While the situation did evolve due to warfare, the story of growth and discovery is more universal. We base our course of action on our past experiences. The loss of mechanisms for carrying out our activities requires us to adapt with what we have remaining. The protagonist took a long time to finally discover ways that he could begin to communicate. Alas, he then got a grand goal in his head, only to have it shot down. The future adaptation becomes the hardest. 

Den of Thieves

In the 1980s, corporate takovers and buyouts were all the rage. Wall Street could get filthy rich at the expense of actual companies. They also found ways to further enrich their wealth by illegally trading on advance private information. Den of Thieves covers the stories of some of this trading among the people that were actually caught. White collar criminals ended up serving time in prison and paying multi-million dollar fines. Long-lived brokerage houses that were caught up in the scandal vanished. And in the end, you are wondering how many other guilty parties escaped unscathed. The book makes insider trading appear similar to speeding on highways. It is illegal, but so rampant that nobody expects to get caught. Traders could employ all sorts of other schemes (of various legality) to manufacture money, much to the chagrin of taxpayers and shareholders. Have times really changed since then? 30 years later, wall street has changed, but still suffers from the greed complex outlined in the book.

How to Learn Any Language

Farber starts this book with an engaging history of his languaphillia. He fell in love with learning Latin - until he got to the grammar. That led him to learn Chinese, which he finally got to speak with WWII soldiers. Eventually he added more and more languages to his repertoire. He went through phases of intense language acquisition, and others of specific language avoidance. In this book, he attempts to give us the help that he wished he would have known before.

His primary bit of advice is "work". He cautions that no "learn-quick" shortcuts can be used to truly grasp a language. Instead, he recommends that you avail yourself of all resources available - grammars, dictionaries, dialogs, phrase books, etc. He outlines a basic approach:
1) Start with a grammar book, and slog through the first 5 lessons.
2) Get a newspaper in the target language, and pick the top article, making flashcards for every word you don't know (whether it is in your dictionary or not)
3) Continue studying the vocabulary and grammar along with other related tools.

He also stresses working on native-level pronunciation, even if you don't fully get it.

The approach is no easy way to learn a language, however, it does provide a balance between the "fun" parts of language acquisition and the "tedium." In the end, their is no substitute for work.

Also of interest, he provides some background on various languages and how easy they are for English speakers to learn. Some seemingly exotic languages like Indonesian are among the easiest to learn. Others like Finnish are more difficult to learn. As English speakers we actually have it somewhat difficult as many people are trying to learn our language. However, people can still be impressed by the effort to truly engage in learning other languages.

The Rape of Nanking: the Forgotten Holocaust of World War II

This is a confused book. It alternates between semi-objective narrative and propaganda. It argues that Japan should be hung out to dry for very bad behavior during World War II, yet it criticizes the excessive castigation of "good" Nazis after the war. It is also finds a way to interject numerous sordid accounts of Japanese mistreatment of the Chinese.

It really want to make you think that the Japanese behavior in Nanking was bad, bad, bad. In that it succeeds. However, it also left me with the impression that it was just a few bad apples that were responsible for most of the bad things. The role of the "foreign safety zone" members was also somewhat confusing. If the Japanese were so bad, why did they continue to respect the foreigners?

At times the book attempts to provide a narrative of the fall of Nanking. However, this only occupies a brief portion of the book. Most of the "narrative" portion contains simple anecdotes and other accounts that accentuate the "badness", but don't really tell a story. Stories of "human experiments" are told briefly - but lack some of the data from the similar Nazi experiments.

The end of the book seeks vengeance. "Japan must pay!" is the rallying cry. The propensity of some Japanese to deny that the atrocities ever occurred is seen as a big problem. However, it is acknowledged that a lot of this is due to the political situation - Chinese leadership "absolved" the Japanese of responsibility. (Perhaps they have learned the benefits of forgiving and "moving on".) Perhaps the Japanese feel that, after being nuked, they had suffered a significant "retribution" for their activities. (After all, it was the respect for "Japan" over self that could be traced as the root of all these issues.)

The author sought to create awareness of the Nanking massacre. This she managed to do. The Germans did a great job of recording their exploits and later flogging themselves for their bad behavior. The Japanese managed to do neither. Thus, their misbehaviors are less well known. Their victims seem to accept this. C'est la vie.

There's a Girl in My Hammerlock

A boy smiles at a Junior High girl (Maisie Potter). She gets a crush on him. She was awarded athlete of the year last year, but this year tries out for cheerleading to be close to him. When she doesn't make it, she inexplicably finds herself trying out for the wrestling team (as the lone girl). She overcomes all odds to make the varsity team. However, the community is not proud of having a girl wrestler, and many opponents refuse to compete. She has to endure numerous taunts and criticisms by her classmates, though eventually she achieves respect and goes out with the "boy" (who she decides she doesn't like anyway).

The novel is written as a giant "letter to the editor" in an attempt to set the record straight with the community regarding her wrestling experience.

In the story she suffers through the abandonment of old friends and the slow adoption of new friends. For a time, her only friend is her pet rat. (Spinelli love's pet rats.) Her parents are supportive of her moves, even if they don't agree with them. Her youngest sibling and friend are also supportive and two of her biggest fans. Eventually, she is injured while saving one of the kids and ends up living happily ever, contented and respected by her schoolmates.

Throughout, it is a light, fun read. The boy asking her out on a date seems a little baffling - but who really understands the workings of a teenage mind. The story is in the similar "be true to yourself" vein of other Spinelli books, though here it is more like "stick with what you started, even if you had stupid reasons for starting it."

Xenocide

Orson Scott Card: Xenocide
Xenocide picks up right where Speaker for the Dead left off. The story telling is improved, and the content goes heavily in to science, religion and personal relationships.

Its interesting that this world, 3000 years after the first book is still substantially recognizable to people that were around thousand of years before. Catholicism still seems the same. Government has been similar for the past few thousand years. Even technology has not been significantly changed. Now imagine if we went back just a 1000 years. We would hardly recognize it. Go back 2000 years, and two of the largest religions do not even exist. How could these last for so many thousand years?

Though perhaps the stability of instantaneous communications along with the relative difficulty of long distance travel can serve to stabilize. The "life extended" power of near light-speed travel is known to everyone. However, nobody thinks that Ender would really be the same person from 3000 years previous. I wonder what would happen to ship captains and traders? They would travel a lot, and could easily come home to see their great great grandchildren. Were these so rare that they were not readily considered?

Though perhaps they can serve as a stability factor. A ship of people coming from another planet would have their time period in mind. They could help mix the past and the present together. The Beatles could go on a "worlds tour". However, while they might do home in 60s, they wouldn't get abroad until the 2010s. This could help reinvigorate the future and tie it more closely to the past.

The instantaneous worldwide communications could have a similar stabilizing impact. This could help keep a stability across all worlds. Since travel is difficult and time consuming, there would be a strong incentive to keep plugged in to the world and thus cultural evolution would be slowed.

These travel themes are in both this and the previous books. This book, however, goes in more detail to the binding of people, things and world. Different views of the creation and evolution of life are explored along with cultural tricks to encourage subservience. Ethics of species annihilation (xenocide) are explored. Is it ok to wwipe out an intelligent virus?

The end of the novel fairly nicely wraps most points up. It would almost seem to be a nice self-contained work if it weren't for a few key strands that were left open. These strands provide some of the greatest "weirdness" of the book, and also set it up for its second part. (The next book in the series, which was created by "chopping" what was a 300,000 word novel in to two.