The Golden Enclaves (The Scholomance, #3)

Some of the most jarring pacing you’ll find in a fantasy novel. Not sure the plot survives the transition from a self-contained school to the wider world well, and plot twists were an odd distribution of either heavily proselytized or deus-ex-machina. Not actively bad, but I might recommend that fans of the series stop at #2.

2022.11.30 · 1 min · Naomi Novik

In Search of a Kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire

Investors in the voyage got a 47x return. Disrupted the Spanish empire model. First unicorn.

2022.11.24 · 1 min · Laurence Bergreen

The Shortest Wikipedia Article: The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower—A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History Series)

The Shortest Wikipedia Article …is often not the best.

2022.11.14 · 1 min · Linda Jaivin

Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child: The Heart of Parenting

Doesn’t live up to Gottman’s other works. Ends up in the no-mans land between rigorous interpretation of scientific studies, and pragmatic step-by-step guide on what to do when faced with a particular brand of challenge, similar in tone to Peak on Athletic Performance by Marc Bubbs. Gottman adopts the framework of: 1.) Be aware of the child’s emotions 2.)Recognize emotional outbursts as opportunities for intimacy and teaching 3.)Validate the child’s feelings 4.) Help the child verbally label emotions 5.) Set limits while helping the child problem-solve.

2022.11.10 · 1 min · John M. Gottman

The Responsible Company: What We've Learned from Patagonia's First 40 Years

2.5 stars. Decent frameworks take. from other sources, but the hard part is how to achieve such frameworks and responsible company fails to deliver. Far too short for such a meaty subject, eleven though i have more respect for patagonia’s approach now.

2022.10.29 · 1 min · Yvon Chouinard

Peak: The New Science of Athletic Performance That Is Revolutionizing Sports

Not sufficiently scientific to challenge the conclusions of other books around nutrition or mental well-being, not sufficiently succinct to be a useful template of action like other fitness books. The science isn’t awful but also not great, landing squarely in the ‘meh’ category.

2022.10.28 · 1 min · Marc Bubbs

Companies are Exploration: Sam Walton: Made In America

Companies are Exploration Most successful people found a lottery ticket and then invent a story to make luck sound like skill. (1) Yet for some, it is clear that regardless the starting point, they would end up on top. Sam Walton is among the latter. Despite the aww-shucks tone and folksy self narrated drawl, Made in America is not a modest book. Sam Walton describes his childhood as obtaining eagle scout at 13 to win a bet, and as the high school football quarterback: * We went undefeated, and won the state championship.* ...

2022.10.22 · 3 min · Sam Walton

Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #2)

Johnson is the villain, Stevenson is the hero, and it’s not a happy ending.

2022.10.21 · 1 min · Robert A. Caro

Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)

Fantasy Heist genre with characters interesting enough to keep turning the pages. Read it out of order, but the characters were interesting enough to encourage me to go back and finish it. 3.5 stars.

2022.10.19 · 1 min · Leigh Bardugo

Built from Scratch: How a Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion

It’s like I need to read at least 20 founder books before I can separate winner’s bias from what makes a company unique, but this counts as one of the 20.

2022.10.15 · 1 min · Bernie Marcus