Nosemonkey > Recent Status Updates

Halfway in, and the main character is still a bit of a dick, and this still reads like a regular fantasy novel with boats. Less than I was hoping for, but perfectly fine for what it is.

So far much more generic fantasy than the previous two. Hoping it's going to prove more interesting as it picks up...

Wanted something light and easy while jetlagged. Doing the job nicely. Not sure why I was so down on it from when I last read it as a teenager. Possibly I didn't appreciate the style - far more restrained than most high fantasy, deliberately mimicking the phrasing and detached approach of legends. Kinda like it - but it's not really for teenage boys.

Rather good, and the political bits scarily still relevant, 70-odd years on...

I'm agreeing rather a lot, but at the same time am often slightly confused - largely because Rumelt doesn't like defining terms in easy, simple sentences. Constant response to early chapters: "OK, I accept that what you've just described *isn't* a strategy, so what *is*? Now starting to get there.

Still not quite like anything I've read before. Still unsure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Suspect a good thing.

Kinda good, kinda confusing. Why aren't the illustrations related to the things being talked about on the page? Why no maps to orient at the start?

Of course, I may just be confused due to lack of familiarity. But still...

Picked up again after a random pause. Good stuff - a different perspective on Elizabethan England that makes so much sense I don't know why English history for the period isn't told from a foreign policy perspective all the time. Makes so much more sense.

Only a selection of book reviews, but still a great intro to contemporary classical historiography. Beard's critical, opinionated and insightful

This business strategy section is excellent. So far successfully dismissing almost all popular business strategy theories as at best flawed, but usually utter bullshit. Hurrah!

On to the business strategy section, and so much makes sense now. So many idiot managers who've obviously read one or two management books and decided to follow just one theory, not realising that things have moved on. Because most management theory is, quite obviously I thought, utter bollocks. This makes clear how those theories developed, which makes them much more understandable. But still bollocks.

Unusual. Episodic. Confusing. This is very much a good thing.

This really is an excellent book. Makes vastly complex concepts understandable. I actually understand general relativity now!

Still lots of focus on left-wing political movements, many of which seemed to have insufficient strategic thinking. Again, interesting - but feels quite a long-winded way of making a point, with lots of details which, while interesting, aren't strictly necessary.


Still good, though - it's just there's often many pages where the strategy elements aren't obvious.

Reads incredibly well. Pacing through, easy to understand. Of course, I'm only just getting to the difficult bit...

"in poetry it is the choice of expression that determines the content, whereas in prose it is the opposite; it is the world the author chooses, the events that happen in it, that dictate its rhythm, style, and even verbal choices." - hmmm...

Very good in terma of understanding broad themes, less good for details. The Peloponneseian War was covered in about two paragraphs. Have just got to Alexander the Great, but so far no mention of Socrates or Plato. Even if the focus is on political development more than philosophy / culture, I don't recall Pericles being mentioned either.