false 1 11 10 true 5799456 read 1 true 1449060 currently-reading 0 true 1449059 to-read 8 false 1922710 timeless-books 1 false 1927956 any-fool-can-write-a-book http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17208440 to: Close Range: Wyoming Stories (Paperback) by Annie Proulx
I picked up this book in the Salt Lake City Airport to read while returning from a ski trip. I could not put it down and the three hour flight was over much too soon. Proulx does a superb job of showing the reader the world through the eyes of her characters--as often as not, this is a distorted view of the world, with a bleak outlook and with small dramas exaggerated by the not-so-worldly lives in which the characters imprisoned. One of the short stories in this book was the basis for the movie Brokeback Mountain. The film was okay, but it does not do justice to Proulx's writing. I have since read other Proulx's books. They are also good, but Wyoming Stories is still my favorite Proulx book. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16713101 to: We the Living: 60th Anniversary Edition (Paperback) by Ayn Rand
bookshelves: timeless-books
This novel was Ayn Rand's first fictional work and is considered by some to be a semi-autobiographical work loosely based on her leaving Russia in the harsh years following the communist revolution. A mixture of love, political philosophy, youthful angst, and a heart-wrenching ending combine to make this a worthy read. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16710891 to: Atlas Shrugged (Paperback) by Ayn Rand
bookshelves: timeless-books
Everybody I know who has read this either loves the book or hates it--I have yet to meet any person who is dispassionate about it. The book is written as a work of fiction that conveys a political message strongly biased toward the capitalistic notion of allowing individuals to be rewarded for their individual contributions, and against the notion that society should be responsible for taking care of all the members of society regardless of their ability or willingness to contribute. The author was born in Russia in 1905 and had a front row seat on the communist revolution. Although she at one time disputed the notion, Atlas Shrugged is thought by many to be to be an anti-communist dissertation.
One of my friends who read the book once related to me that he asks everybody who has read the book which character they most identify with. He then related that the responses are most insightful perspectives into the respondent's personal life philosophy. I have found his observation to be uncannily true.
Overall, I give this book high marks and recommend it to everyone regardless of their political bent. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16709800 to: Crime and Punishment (Abridged) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
bookshelves: timeless-books
I read this book because I found it in the back of an airplane seat, I had heard of it but never read it, and I had a five hour flight ahead of me. The initial chapters were difficult because Dostoevsky was inconsistent in referring to the characters by multiple names, with little to link the various name together. I wound up re-reading things multiple times to find determine the identity of some new character who suddenly appeared sans introduction, only to determine it was a character that I already knew by a different name--or by four different names. Once I got beyond the character names issue, I was consumed by the emotional torment suffered by the main character as the result of his feelings of guilt over his crime. Overall, the novel was philosophically provocative and worth the extra effort it took to read. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16708857 to: Les Misérables (Mass Market Paperback) by Victor Hugo
bookshelves: timeless-books
For such a thick tome, the story line kept me involved and I was done before I knew it. This could almost be several books. There are a few places where Hugo stumbles off off into the weeds making you wonder what in the world this chapter has to do with the rest of the book, but I guess that just creates lots of opportunities for abridged versions, but I am glad I read the entire work. Some books are a pleasure to read because they are well written--this is one of them. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16398642 to: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (Paperback) by Robert Fulghum
bookshelves: timeless-books
As a person who never went to kindergarten--look, it was a small rural community and my parents needed help in the grist mill--I decided that buying this book was not an option for me. The logical corollary of the title is that, lacking a kindergarten education, my BSBA, MBA and JD combined could not save me. Clearly, I knew nothing of what I REALLY needed to know. From the book, I learned that I should be nice to the other children, share my stuff, be quiet sometimes, and always take a nap. Sage advice for kindergarteners and for some of us children who have passed the big One-O a few years back. The author--a man of the cloth--apparently wrote the book after counseling many adults who felt that their lives were overwhelmingly complicated because they had forgotten these simple lessons. Overall, the book is one of those warm and fuzzy books that helps readers look at their overwhelmingly complicated lives in simpler terms that make them less overwhelming. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16403167 to: Who Moved My Cheese? (Hardcover) by Spencer Johnson
bookshelves: any-fool-can-write-a-book
This book reminds me of an old Groucho Marx routine: Patient: Doctor, I get a stabbing pain in my eye every time I take a drink of tea. What should I do? Doctor: Take the spoon out of the cup. [rim-shot]. Sadly, the lack of ability to see the obvious is pandemic in the corporate world, so I am not at all surprised that this restatement of the obvious was such a major hit in the business world. Not that I am cynical after my life as a corporate prisoner, but my observation is that there really are a lot of people in business so clueless that this book IS a revelation to them. My observations are not limited to the lower rungs of the corporate ladder. This disease goes all the way to the top and is especially rampant among middle and upper management. The interesting thing is that in the corporate life, everybody sees themselves as Dilbert, but nobody sees themselves as the pointy-haired boss, Ted the Marketing guy, the clueless VP, or as one of the Elbonian workers. Only a few see themselves as Alice or Wally. HEY, WE CAN'T ALL BE DILBERT HERE! Sadly, even the most motivated of corporate drones read books like this only because their boss read it because someone else read it or heard about it at one of those motivational seminars put on by the author. The whole business world then has a businessgasm about this revelation-du-jour--and the very next day, goes back to doing what they have always done and thinking the way they have always thought--until the next business book restating the obvious or putting a new face on recycled ideas from the jurasic period comes out. And so, the saga continues. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16408699 Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture (Hardcover) by Tarleton Gillespie
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16406865 to: Green Eggs and Ham (Hardcover) by Dr. Seuss
bookshelves: timeless-books
You might think that this is a children's book. It is really a business book in disguise, as are most Dr. Seuss books. The lesson here is that you should not jump to conclusions or dismiss an idea without reasonable investigation. Over the years, I have challenged my business friends and associates to bring me a Dr. Seuss book that does not contain a business lesson--none have succeeded. So, can a person who has never read Dr. Seuss effectively run a business? Probably, but he likely will spend way to much money on books for the intellectually challenged, such as "Who Moved my Cheese?" (see my Any-Fool-Can-Write-A-Book bookshelf) ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16334841 to: Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life (Paperback) by Sissela Bok
bookshelves: timeless-books
I bought this book in an attempt to understand why this other person in my life had such an propensity for deceitfulness, but before I could finish the book, I sent her packing to the opposite side of the country. I decided to read it anyway. What a surprise when I found out that I too was a liar when I omitted facts, changed the subject, or engaged other weaselly lawyer tactics in which the question is truthfully answered, but the 'truth' is not conveyed. Actually, I cannot blame that on law school--I had already mastered the technique prior to law school during my tenure in the corporate world. Once I moved beyond that epiphany, and my subsequent self-acceptance as a scoundrel, I found the book quite interesting in its discussions about the meaning of truth and about the moral implications which lead some people to tell lies for the benefit of others as opposed to those individuals who tell lies to keep themselves out of hot water. You will have to make up your own mind as to whether there is any such thing as a good lie and this book might give you some extra things to think about on your journey. Of course, I could be lying about that . . . ]]>