La Sombra del Viento

La Sombra del Viento (El cementerio de los libros olvidados nº 1) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

In English this is known as The Shadow of the Wind. I tried to listen to it all in Spanish. At 3x speed, I wasn't grasping much. When I moved it down to 1.5x, I could hear and understand most of it. It felt I was understanding most of the words, but not quite grasping the meaning. I have trouble with gothic novels in English and trying a long one in Spanish was too much. A lot dealt with Penelope and her story along with many books and the writers that were discussed. If it were shorter, I would have slowed it down more to try to grasp it better. But with something this long, even 1.5x speed felt much too slow.

In-flight Korean

In-Flight Korean: Learn Before You Land by Living Language

This is a quick 1 hour course designed to give you some "basics" before going to Korea. It jumps right into some useful phrases. I listened at 1x speed, but still had trouble keeping up. There is a printed section that goes with it that does not seem to be included. I got a little lost when it started jumping to numbers in Chinese - but that didn't quite sound right. Only later was it clear that these are two different flavors of numbers in Korean that are used for different purposes.

Caleb's Story

Caleb's Story by Patricia MacLachlan

It is a cold winter. A family finds an old man. It is grandpa. There is much bitterness towards him. He seemed to abandon the family without writing. He can be surly. Caleb works with him and discovers that he did not know how to read and write and felt guilty about it. He teaches him. Understanding the problem can be the best way to solve it.

Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes

Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes by Gordon B. Hinckley , forward by Mike Wallace

This book is a book of family values and principles written by a religious to a general audience. The principles are sound, bur the delivery fells dated. It feels obvious that the values of the world have drifted further towards individual wants and away from standing for something. A marriage where the spouses are devoted to each other will be the best for raising kids, but also feels so rare today. People are afraid to "stand for something" and thus follow the understood whims of society as seen in social media. Alas, this often does more to bring people down than to help society.

The Little Penguin

The Little Penguin by A. J. Wood, illustrated by Stephanie Boey

An emperor penguin watches a baby. Then the baby gets separated and worries that he is losing his feathers. Discussions with other animals makes him feel worse. Finally he finds his parents and jumps in the water and realizes he has better feathers now. The book has too much text and doesn't interest kids.

Dig Dig Digging

Dig Dig Digging by Margaret Mayo, illustrated by Alex Ayliffe

The book has different poems about construction machines that are told in a sing-song verse. The machines all work all day in construction efforts. At the end, they are "down for the night". The book is fun to read along. 

The Night Before Kindergarten

The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing (Author), Julie Durrell (Illustrator)

Kids stress out a little bit before the first day of school. Once school starts, the kids have a blast, but the parents are crying as they have trouble leaving their little ones. It is told in verse form with influences of "Night Before Christmas".

Stop Drop and Roll

Stop Drop and Roll by Margery Cuyler (Author), Arthur Howard (Illustrator)

A girl learns about fire safety at school. She freaks out and wants to make sure her family and home are totally safe. She is asked to give a presentation at school. However, she cannot seem to remember "Stop Drop and Roll". At home, she panics when she sees fire on birthday cake candles and remembers the phrase. Now all are happy. The book seems to go on for just a little bit too long.

Little Apple: A Book of Thanks

Little Apple: A Book of Thanks by Brigitte Weninger (Author), Anne Moller (Illustrator)

A girl explores where apples come from and how they grow. She eats an apple. That is about it.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell explores different things that have "tipped" to go from niche to widely popular. Hush Puppies were old shoes that were on their way out. After a few New York hipsters adopted them, they became incredibly popular and a fashion statement. Another shoe brand, Airwalk was crazy popular as it was adopted by the skater crowd. They released a "popular" version at shoe stores, but kept the performance brand at skate stores. However, once they dropped the special skate brand, their popularity faded. The book explores other "tips" such as New York crime and fare evasion, teen activities (like smoking, school shootings, sickness and suicides. The Stanford prison experiment even makes an appearance. There are interesting discussions on the influence of "connectors" and "mavens" in spreading fads. The book is a fun read, even if some of the explanation may have more nuance than he gives.

DK Readers L1: Diving Dolphin (DK Readers Level 1)

DK Readers L1: Diving Dolphin (DK Readers Level 1) by Karen Wallace

This book has a bunch of pretty photographs of dolphins with some simple, easy to read text. 

Down By The Cool Of The Pool

Down By The Cool Of The Pool by Tony Mitton (Author), Guy Parker-Rees (Illustrator)

The animals each do something. The previous animal activity keeps getting added until it gets long. Then they all splish splash and leave. This is very formulaic and forgettable.

The Bear Came over to My House

The Bear Came over to My House by Rick Walton (Author), James Warhola (Illustrator)

A bear comes to a girls house and does various things. The book has a nice rhyme and rhythm. Each pages has verse which then leads to a rhyme on the next page. Kids like guessing the phrase (such as "he flew")

The Little Red Hen

 The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone

This is s classic Little Red Hen story. The hen farms the wheat, gathers the wood and does everything needed to make the cake. Dog, Cat and Mouse don't have anything to do with it until the end. The next time around, they are eager to help. This one has the Hen on her own without chicks. The drawings are nice and the story is well paced.

Miss Mouse's Day

Miss Mouse's Day by Jan Ormerod

Miss Mouse is a girl's beloved stuffed animal. The book is told from the point of view of the stuffed animal. She goes on all sorts of adventures with her human. At the end of the day, they play in the mud. The girl gets hauled inside for a bath. Later they come to get Miss Mouse and she gets cleaned in preparation for putting her human to bed. The pictures are a great narrative mechanism in this "stuffy-eyed" view.

Maisy at the Fair

Maisy at the Fair by Lucy Cousins

Maisy goes to the fair with her friend Tallulah. They have fun, but get separated, but are able to find each other in the end. It has very simple text and drawings and will appeal to young children.

Beach Day

Beach Day by Karen Roosa and Maggie Smith

We've had this in both regular book and board book form. (It is essentially the same.) It is simply the story of families going to the beach, told in rhyme. The words flow beautifully (and get stuck in your head.) The pictures match the words,and then include additional side activities - especially with the dogs. It is also just the right length for young children.

The Making of Modern Economics: The Lives and Ideas of the Great Thinkers

The Making of Modern Economics: The Lives and Ideas of the Great Thinkers by Mark Skousen

This is a journey through the history of modern economics. It traces the prevailing thoughts and how economists came out to defend or challenge them. I liked how the book kept the context. Economics was gradually evolving and the economists were contributing to this. They were also people. Some would feel disregarded at times, only to feel vindicated at later days. They also had various personal foibles that could distract from their economic thoughts. Some economists were also great teachers or textbook writers. Others were known primarily for their thoughts. Economic thought is still evolving, with neoclassical and Keynesian each having their own issues.

Mortal Engines: Mortal Engines, Book 1

Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve

In a post-apocalytpic world, cities are flying around a little above the ground. The biggest cities (like London) conquer the smaller ones. There are also pirates that capture cities for their own purposes. In this universe, there are people trying to find other people and complete their goals.

The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary

Open Source software development tends to be like a Bazaar. Many different people meet together to do what they are interested in. The software is released rapidly with many people helping to fix problems. Traditional corporate development is more like a cathedral. People are working under a top down structure to produce something. Individuals are not necessarily working optimally.

The Cathedral and the Bazaar is an important work in the history of computer development. However, it feels somewhat dated today. Most of the examples given in the book are from the 1990s. Today things have evolved to a "corporatization" of the open source development. Most cell phones are based on the open source Android operating system. Most browsers are based on open source webkit. While the sources are available, it is difficult to contribute and even build the product. The commonly used version often also have bits of proprietary components. Even more "open" projects like the NodeJS language have many hoops required to actually contribute. (I ran into those as I tried to fix a bug a few years back.) However, repositories like Github make it super easy to fork. If a maintainer goes silent or doesn't want your change, you simply fork and anybody  can find your version and use it. Things are both more Cathedral and more Bazaar at the same time.