Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have seriously mixed feelings about this book. On a couple of levels it works pretty well: as a journal of the “culture” of a typical startup company it is very amusing and pretty much on target. As an expose of the economics of the current start up bubble it is really very good – if you wonder how companies that never make a profit seem to generate enormous wealth for their founders and investors, the answer is here, at least in part.

However, this does not really work as a “fish out of water” tale where a 50-something journalist goes to work with a group of 20-somethings in the “frat house” culture of a tech start up. For one thing the author whines too much. For another, as one who had covered the tech industry as a journalist, it seems surprising that he is shocked by the culture he finds in his new job. I would not be surprised if he had in fact planned to write this book as soon as he started his new career.

As a sidenote, I too am a 50-something tech worker and most of the people I work with are much younger than myself. I have some amusing (and some sad) stories about working across the generational divide. But some of the best managers and coworkers I’ve had were much younger than I am.

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Deceived by Self by William Mitchell Ross
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book; it’s a murder mystery set in Monroe Wisconsin. As a frequent visitor to Monroe, I enjoyed the setting quite a bit. I don’t want to get into any spoilers, but the reader does know who the murderer is for most of the book. However, I found it interesting to follow Detective Samantha Gates as she tries to put all of the pieces together.

The way the novel is structured is a little distracting at first: there are lots of short chapters and each chapter may be told from a different character’s perspective. This kind of narrative has advantages and disadvantages for me at least. It can be hard to get into the “flow” of the mystery, but on the other hand it’s easy to put the book down for a while and pick it up again without any loss in continuity.

It’s an enjoyable read and I recommend it.

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Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Assassination Vacation” is a re-telling of the stories of the assassinations of three US Presidents: Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. As always the author does a good job of covering the facts, visiting the locations and explaining things to her readers.

I did like the book, but it’s just not quite as good as her later efforts. I think the basic problem is trying to link the three events over the course of 40 years or so. The assassinations just don’t have that much in common, except for the unfortunately Robert Todd Lincoln, so we really have three stories that are just not well-connected. It’s worth reading if you are interested in one of more of the presidents who were assassinated; but I’m not sure if it really appeals to the general audience. I enjoyed reading it, but your mileage may vary.

Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Unfamiliar Fishes” is focused on the history of Hawaii from roughly the time of the establishment of the unified kingdom of Hawaii to the overthrow of the constitutional monarchy and eventual annexation by the United States in 1898. It’s an interesting period of history and there are a lot of people involved, from the Hawaiian royal family, to the New England missionaries and their descendants, to Theodore Roosevelt and Alfred Thayer Mahan. The author does a god job of weaving together the many threads in the story of how Hawaii became part of the United States.

I found the story very interesting and well-told. I’ve read a bit about this over the years, but this is a really good one volume account that covers a somewhat obscure part of history. Certainly the Kingdom of Hawaii is not as well known as, say, the Republic of Texas. But it is an interesting story of how things can start with the best intentions and yet lead to a very unjust result. The author make sa good effort to explain how each group, ethnic, religious or otherwise viewed itself and how they all interacted. In particular, I found the change in the missionary community very interesting. While the original missionaries worried about saving souls and expanding God’s kingdom on earth, their children and grandchildren seems to be much more concerned about profit and loss, and eventually led the movement to overthrow the monarchy.

It’s definitely a good read; very enjoyable and I learned some things too. I recommend this book.

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The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the best science fiction books that I have read in the last few years; I really enjoyed it and the movie (based on the book) as well. I’ve always enjoyed “hard” science fiction and this book is an excellent example of that genre.

The book tells the story of the third manned landing on Mars. In the first few days of their exploration a dust storm occurs and they have to return to the ship in orbit above them. However, during the storm one of the astronauts is injured and contact is lost with him. He’s believed to be dead as the five remaining crew members have to return to orbit or risk being marooned. But he is still alive, and the story revolves around how he tries to stay alive on Mars.

It was a great read and I enjoyed the drama and the science and engineering as well; it’s been a long time since I studied Hohmann transfer orbits. Sure there are a few quibbles you can make here and there, but overall it’s a fun read and I recommend it.

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Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn’t really know what to expect when I started this book; it’s gotten good reviews and I do read a lot of history, but the book has no index and no table of contents. The text is not divided into chapters, there are no photographs or footnotes. What kind of history book is this?

Well, it’s a fun read. It’s kind of a stream of consciousness approach to telling the story of the Marquis de Lafayette during the American Revolution and something of his return visit to the United States in 1824. The story is told in more or less chronological order and we follow the teenaged Lafayette as leaves France to join the Continental Army and become the trusted subordinate of George Washington. There are flash-forwards to Lafayette’s tour of the new nation in 1824, and along the way the author is not shy about comparing making comparisons to the way Congress now operates, or how nothing really seems to have changed in politics in 200 years. And for good measure she throws in a few stories of her experiences as she retraces Lafayette’s journey.

Yes, it’s a fun book to read and at the end of it, you realize that you’ve actually learned something. I definitely recommend this book.

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Lombardi: His Life and Times by Robert W. Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Before I begin my review, I just want to mention that the copy of this book that I read is actually the first edition from 1971, published by Wisconsin House Ltd. This edition has been out of print for a long time I think.

I like this book; I think it is the best short biography of Vince Lombardi that is available. The author traces Lombardi’s life from his childhood in Brooklyn through his final season as the head coach of the Washington Redskins and to his short battle with cancer. The focus is of course on the years Lombardi spent as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Having grown up about 30 miles from Lambeau Field, I remember the Lombardi years in Green Bay, particularly the three consecutive NFL championship seasons, so I can not claim to be impartial. I think the author has done a good job of capturing all sides of Lombardi’s personality; Lombardi was controversial as a coach and general manager, though of course 50 years has softened the memories of some of his hard edges. He was a complicated man and a successful coach and I think the author has done a good job of portraying Lombardi as he really was.

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Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War by Rodric Braithwaite

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Moscow 1941 is a very interesting book. It tells the story of the first year, more or less, of the German attack on the Soviet Union as viewed through the eyes of the people of Moscow. We do step back a few years on occasion to discuss the Revolution and Stalin’s rise to power and the purges of the 1930s which affected the Soviet armed forces. And we do see the end of the story with the fall of Berlin, but the focus is on the time period beginning in June 1941 through the end of the Soviet counteroffensive in April 1942.

The author (who was the British ambassador in Moscow from 1988 to 1992) has done an amazing job of interviewing participants and making use of many sources that are not available in English. Weaving these stories together makes this book unique in terms of the breadth of the source material. So if it definitely worth the effort to read it.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. There are some structural problems with the book. First, there simply aren’t enough good maps. Portions of the narrative deal with the military aspects of the struggle, and without good maps it becomes difficult to tell what is going on. The second problem is that the narrative is quite “choppy” in places. I think this is an understandable consequence of using so many sources, but it does make following all of the narrative threads difficult.

My final complaint is with the author’s repeated comparisons of the German invasion in 1941 and the French attack in 1812. He even has a table on one of the maps showing how much more quickly Napoleon got to Moscow compared with Army Group Center. The comparisons are not valid because of the diversion of the German effort to capturing Kiev, something that simply did not come into play in 1812. So the comparison is invalid. And despite the author’s complaints about revisionist historians, this is an area of legitimate research and speculation.

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