Fun, but squarely in the uncanny valley between fiction and non fiction. Taken as a collection of short vignettes, it was entertaining. However, the characters felt like soapboxes, the plot only barely hung together, and I didn’t like the protagonist. It felt like a simplified preachy version of order of the phoenix, with encryption rather than magic and the dhs rather than voldermort.
Competent, but not nearly as interesting as [b:All You Need Is Kill|6255949|All You Need Is Kill|Hiroshi Sakurazaka|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348712730s/6255949.jpg|6439033] or as biting as [b:The Forever War|21611|The Forever War (The Forever War, #1)|Joe Haldeman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386852511s/21611.jpg|423]. And as this review points out beautifully, there’s a lot of fridge logic going on.
Not a complex book. Nothing really new, but even if it’s thesis can be summed up in one 4 words (spend below your means) it’s good to be reminded of that fact. Fascinating also to be reminded of how wealth in America does not follow the contours of consumption and just generally good advice. Somewhat dated by this point.
Some ideas that were probably more novel when the book was first written. Interesting analysis of feedback loops, but nothing to particularly recommend this books.
I wish this book were twice as long and more detailed, but still a very fun read. A non-fiction page-turner, if you will.
Have you ever talked with a stranger about relationships? Sometimes a normal conversation turns into a diatribe about the stranger’s recent divorce and how all relationships are a sham. As you awkwardly pull away, they grab your elbow and plead, spittle landing on your arm, “Promise me you’ll never marry! PROMISE!!” That’s what it felt like to read this book. I wanted to learn more about the housing boom and bust of the 2000s, as part of a larger attempt to understand what it means to own real estate, hoping for a short (if simple) summary of what happened. I previously read the Economist every week during the crisis, and know a little bit about implicit government guarantees, market distortions, and sub-prime mortgages. Judging by my angry dismissals of Jon Stewart diatribes, I probably even have a bit of free market leaning when it comes to macroeconomic issues. ...
My recommendation? Read through section 3, skip the rest. Greenwald goes from polemic to rabid, and it just becomes painful to read. Its like watching somebody get drunk and start to embarrass themselves. I want Greenwald’s arguments to be more rational than they actually are (as presented in this book). A much better read on the same topic is Data and Goliath by Bruce Schnier.
it started off really good, discussing the power of defaults, and what it means to be a architect. but the list of nudge ideas at the end of the book was surprisingly bad, and made me suspect that the idea of libertarian paternalism doesn’t. have sufficient depth to inform real policy decisions, even if I wish it did.
It had a bunch of common sense advice, good things to be reminded of at regular intervals, and it’s clear that Pixar has a strong corporate culture. But in the end, it felt like Catmull self-conciously tried and failed to transcend the tropes of business literature.
this book = his dark materials + origin of the species + the sum of all fears. although it is less enjoyable than any of those books. I’m not sure why the characters went on their journey, where the nuke came from, or what the point of the whole book really was.