Tag: book-review

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Sid Meier’s Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games

The Civilization series is easily one of my favorite video games of all time. (See here, here, here, here and here). I have very fond memories of talking to my middle school teacher about various strategies to utilize within Civ I and I still vividly remember the wickedly cool box art.

So, it’s no surprise that I’d dig into the memoir of the man who created the games himself, Sid Meier.

It’s a nerdy trip through early computer gaming history and fostered a bunch of nostalgia for old DOS games that I used to play. It’s also a fantastic romp through the mind of a game designer.

There were a number of fun little quotes and life lessons, as well:

“I think that in life, as in game design, you have to find the fun. There is joy out there waiting to be discovered, but it might not be where you expected. You can’t decide what something’s going to be before you embark on it, and you shouldn’t stick with a bad idea just because you’re fond of it. Take action as quickly and repeatedly as possible, take advantage of what you already know, and take liberties with tradition. But most importantly, take the time to appreciate the possibilities, and make sure all of your decisions are interesting ones.”

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Book Review: The Burning by Tim Madigan

★★★★☆

This book is about the horrific, yet little known 1921 Tulsa race riot. The 100th anniversary of this tragedy and reflections on it reminded me about a book that I’ve had on my to-read list.

I first heard about this incident while reading Sam Anderson’s Boom Town, about the founding and growth of Oklahoma City. It briefly mentioned the Tulsa riot and how a white mob had destroyed an entire African American neighborhood.

Eager to learn more, I searched for a book about these riots… but then never followed up reading about them.

Set against a tapestry of racism, violence and resentment, this was a tinderbox waiting to explode (and these sorts of race riots had broken out in other parts of the country around this time as well).

I couldn’t believe the violence that was carried out, simply to put “black people in their place.” Looking at photos of the aftermath, the level of destruction is akin to photos of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire. Nothing is left standing. Thousands of houses destroyed, hundreds (!) of people dead.

Part of Greenwood District burned in Race Riots, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA ,American National Red Cross Photograph Collection, June 1921.

And yet, the story was swept under the rug. It literally took decades before people started talking about it and publicly acknowledging that it happened.

My biggest takeaway was how easy it was for us human to become straight up barbaric animals when blinded by hatred.

Toward the later half of the book, the story recounts a young journalist who visited an internment center where people fleeing the violence (or were captured) were sent.

She found an older black woman crying, because she lost everything and had no idea where her family was. Eventually, the reporter asked, “how could this happen?”

“How could this not happen?” replied the old black woman.

The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 by Tim Madigan

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Book Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

★★★★☆

Andy Weir has clearly found a formula that works. A brilliant lone scientist stuck in space, who must overcome calamity after calamity in order to survive and hopefully get home.

This time, the story involves space fungi that are eating our sun (technically, it’s more like a space algae, but whatever). The nations of Earth band together and launch a mission to the stars in order to turn the tide on this interstellar parasite.

Our narrator wakes from a coma and doesn’t remember a thing. Where is he? How did he get there? What is his name?

Like Mark Watney before him in the Martian, our narrator is going to have to “science the shit” out of his situation in order to answer all the questions above, and also hopefully, maybe save Earth, too.

Oh, and sprinkle in a bit of first contact as well. Mark Watney never found himself a sidekick while he was on Mars.

Some parts were overly verbose, other parts were cringe-worthy and corny, but this was still an entertaining story I tore through in about 3 days.

If you liked The Martian, you’re going to like this book. If you didn’t, well, sorry. This book is more of that and then some.

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Book Review: The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh

This book really spoke to me and it was something I didn’t realize I needed to read right now, at this exact moment of my life.

Maybe it’s because I’m having some sort of pseudo mid-life crisis (because I found my first few gray hairs on my head). Or maybe I’m just perpetually tired thanks to our rambunctious kiddos and trying to keep up with them. Or maybe it’s the COVID doldrums and a feeling of languishing and the constant grind.

But the various topics related to mindfulness and living a happy life that Thich Nhat Hanh covered in this book really resonated with me and I found myself to be much more at peace (and, dare I say, happier) while reading it.

I tried to have a routine mindfulness practice in the past and have fallen off that wagon in more recent times. But I always found myself happier, calmer, and more at peace. Reading this book helped me realize that this is something important that I’ve been missing and I’ve since tried to get back into it.

Here’s an interesting contradiction: I enjoyed this book so much that I didn’t want to finish it. As I started reading through the last half of the book, I really slowed down, because I didn’t want it to end.

Overall, the book can be summed up with the following quote:

“Happiness is not something that arrives in a package in the mail. Happiness does not fall out of the sky. Happiness is something we generate with mindfulness.”

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Book Review: Futureproof by Kevin Roose

The first part of this book offers some interesting historical context and insight into how machines have replaced human workers in various ways since the industrial revolution. The second part essentially focuses on how to be a decent human being.

I thought his examples of how automation has / will replace workers was interesting and something to keep in mind when people say that robots will replace our jobs. The more likely scenario is that our positions aren’t filled or replaced when we leave a company due to increases in efficiency.

Some of the author’s personal anecdotes were interesting, if not relatable, as well — as he talks about his constant addiction to his electronics devices and the things he’s done to try and counter it.

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Book Review: Do What You Want by Jim Ruland

Do What You Want

★★★☆☆

Bad Religion was probably one of my top 3 favorite bands while growing up as an angsty teenager. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve lost some of my punk rock sensibilities and the desire to keep up with the bands that I used to love so much.

But I have so many pleasant and vivid memories of listening to various albums on full blast in my room or car, while driving around during the sweltering Southern California summers. I remember wearing my cross buster t-shirt and feeling so smug when a fellow student (who went to one of these crazy mega churches) in a high school class asked “why on Earth would you wear something like that?” I remember keeping a dictionary nearby to look up every third word of a song because their wordy lyrics were so ridiculously complex.

And although some of their albums came out half a decade or more before I started listening to them, “Suffer”, “No Control”, “Against the Grain”, and “Generator” were critical components in the sound track of my teenage life.

I think one of the reasons I liked them so much was because their lyrics were a bit more highbrow than the average punk band of the day. It was less “fuck yeah anarchy, smash shit up” and more thought provoking stuff that pondered our existence and place in the universe — for example, these lyrics from “No Control”:

There’s no vestige of beginning, no prospect of an end
When we all disintegrate it will all happen again, yeah
If you came to conquer, you’ll be king for a day
But you too will deteriorate and quickly fade away

Hopeless? Sure! But also a thought provoking message about how the universe and existence is about so much more than just us and what we do? Sure! Excuse me while I go listen to this song real quick.

Anyway, it’s been awhile since I’ve given them a serious listen, so, imagine my surprise when I see a friend add “Do What You Want”, a biography about Bad Religion, to their reading list. A book?! About Bad Religion?!

The book spans 40 years of the band’s history, from their first practice sessions inside a hot garage in the valley, to their most recent album (Age of Unreason). (Have they really been at it for forty years and have something like 17 albums!? It’s really unbelievable to me that these guys are pushing 60 and still at it and enjoying it.)

Despite being fairly emotionless and dry (imagine reading about a history of a band in a newspaper article), this book was a really easy read. There’s nothing scandalous or exceptionally profound within, but it does share interesting anecdotes from tours and recording sessions of every album they’ve put out. And hey, I definitely learned some interesting things about the band!

I also found myself flipping back and forth between this book and then loading up Spotify in order to listen to various songs and albums that were mentioned. I forgot how good some of these early albums are. And I’ve really missed out on some of the more recent stuff. There are some good tunes there.

All in all, the book provided a nice sense of nostalgia and even helped me rediscover some more recent tunes from one of my all-time favorites.

Do What You Want by Jim Ruland and Bad Religion

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Book Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Racing in the Rain2

★★★★☆

This is one of those books that’s been on the “to-read” list for a long time. Highly rated amongst friends, with many saying some variation of “I loved this book, but it just destroyed me. And now I want to hug my dog.”

Alright. So, I finally decided to pick it up. My verdict: I loved this book, but it just destroyed me. And I want to hug my dog.

This book struck a chord with me on a few different levels. First, and most obviously, as a dog owner. I kept glancing over at Benson as I read it and would involuntarily start scratching his head and wondering what he’s thinking about.

I felt that the asides about racing (like, straight up, actual car racing) were a little long and drawn out, but I get it and understand how it ultimately connects with the story. And it’s especially amusing the think of a dog who watches TV all day and really, truly understands what he’s seeing.

Secondly, the book resonated with me as a father. We ourselves had Benson with us long before we ever had kids, and they’ve since grown up around him and he’s always been patient and shown them love as well.

There were other parts that really affected me as well, that were downright shocking. I don’t want to spoil them. I would mope around the house with tears in my eyes after reading parts of the book and my wife (and Benson) would wonder what was wrong with me.

I think some of the emotional impact of this book has to do with confronting our own dog’s mortality. He’s a big dog, though not super old (as far as dogs go), but he’s starting to get mysterious lumps under his skin and having more difficulty walking up steps.

Anyway.

Let’s not forget that ending, oh man, I was just a weepy pile of tears by the time this thing was done.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

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Book Review: The Silence by Don DeLillo

The silence

★☆☆☆☆

Maybe I’m still in a bad mood from a recent book I read, which I also one-stared, but this one was terrible.

I think it’s supposed to be a message about how scrambled our brains are due to our fixation on technology, but I really don’t even know. It was weird. It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t interesting, even though the premise seems interesting.

To quote from the description: “…something happens and the digital connections that have transformed our lives are severed.”

A bunch of people get together at a Super Bowl party and essentially have conversations with themselves that make no sense and have no relation to each other after all the power goes out and every screen is blank.

Let’s straight up take a passage that appears in the later half of the book as people are talking “with” each other:

Martin resumes speaking for a time, back to English, unaccented.
Internet arms race, wireless signals, countersurveillance.
“Data breaches,” he says. “Cryptocurrencies.”
He speaks this last term looking directly at Diane.
Cryptocurrencies.
She builds the word in her mind, unhyphenated.
They are looking at each other now.
She says, “Cryptocurrencies.”
She doesn’t have to ask him what this means.
He says, “Money running wild. Not a new development. No government standard. Financial mayhem.”
“And it is happening when?”
“Now,” he says. “Has been happening. Will continue to happen.”
“Cryptocurrencies.”
“Now.”
“Crypto,” she says, pausing, keeping her eyes on Martin. “Currencies.”
Somewhere within all those syllables, something secret, covert, intimate.

I mean, I was actually laughing because this whole thing is ridiculous. “Crypto,” she says, pausing, keeping her eyes on Martin. “Currencies.”

I think I needed to be high as a kite to appreciate this book.

The Silence by Don DeLillo

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Book Review: How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Antiracist

★★★★☆

This has been on the “to-read” list for awhile and I finally decided to check it out after Dr. Kendi did a (virtual) speaking event / QA session at our company.

We’re the same age and graduated high school the same year, so for me, this was an interesting contrast between my privileged white life and his life and the struggles that he and his family had to continuously faced because the deck is so continuously stacked against people of color.

I feel that this book is at its best when he shares vulnerable and deeply personal stories on his growth and evolving ideas of race, gender, and sexual preference.

This definitely provided a new perspective (for me) to consider when thinking about how lucky and privileged I’ve been and how much I’ve taken it for granted while others have struggled and sacrificed so much (up to and including their own lives).

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

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Book Review: Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Tender

★☆☆☆☆

Ugh, oh God, no. What did I just read?

Animals and livestock get some disease that means humans can’t eat them anymore. Sooooo… we turn to raising and farming humans to get our meat fix. Sounds like it could be an interesting plot for a dystopian novel (it kind of reminded me of Ashfall by Mike Mullin).

But really, what was I expecting?

I think the whole point of this book was to be provocative, shocking and straight up gruesome. And it was all those things. And more. Including horrible.

From the overly descriptive details of factory farming (no doubt taken from existing farming / slaughter methods used when processing cattle), to the poorly written prose, to the loathsome characters, this book had almost no redeeming qualities.

Somehow, I managed to finish it, despite feeling almost nauseous during certain passages. But I really feel like it was a waste of time and I am a worse person for it. Definitely one of my least liked novels that I’ve read in a long, long time.

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica