Well, that was about as good as it was going to be, I suppose. She says good things about wigan, she acts normal, says the right thing, mentions "quieWell, that was about as good as it was going to be, I suppose. She says good things about wigan, she acts normal, says the right thing, mentions "quiet patriotism" whatever TF that is about once every three pages, and stays away from anything controversial. It's a pre-election book, in other words, meant to reassure you that the labour party aren't going to do anything too mad and that they have the good sense to know that it's not a good idea to an express an opinion on any real hot-button issues. I probably could have guessed most of it, to be honest. Some of the ideas in the last chapter were interesting. Spongey and vague, but interesting. Yeah, I could vote for this....more
Three and a half, maybe. Ah, I was going to give it 3 but I'll round it up, not down.
So we're on the Edge of Chaos!!! And this is written before covidThree and a half, maybe. Ah, I was going to give it 3 but I'll round it up, not down.
So we're on the Edge of Chaos!!! And this is written before covid, before the lockdown threw globalism into reverse and before the Russian attack on its smaller neighbour. The title probably seemed a bit alarmist in 2018 or whenever it was, but seems positively restrained in 2023.
This book makes an impassioned case for globalism in the face of recent protectionaist tendencies such as Brexit and the Trump Trade-war. Free trade will set us free, and if that has failed to materialise that's only because real globalism hasn't been tried. Funnily enough, that's what communists say about communism, but OK. It feels a little bit like a triumph of faith over reason: I think there are real losers from globalism, and that's a fact we have to face, even if we see it as the best option: there are always trade-offs.
She's advocating a raft of measures aimed at encouraging long-term thinking on the part of politicians (the strong point of the west's main ideological rival, China) and setting out a positive case for trade links between sovereign countries (again: something we used to be pretty good at but China is now the one developing links in resource-producing countries. It feels a little simplistic in places (hence the so-so star rating) but her heart's in the right place. It's good to see her put these short-sighted pols on notice. And yet, she isn't just offering a Jeremaiad with no clear plan: she holds a clear and confident view of the west's role in the world and isn't prepared to simply give up and let the world get gradually worse.
Just flipping through a few chapters of this again, brushing up on floating point numbers to help my daughter with her homework. It's a real beast of Just flipping through a few chapters of this again, brushing up on floating point numbers to help my daughter with her homework. It's a real beast of a book, full of circuit diagrams, code tables and long-ass binary numbers, but I was surprised how clear it is. He walks you through, step-by-step from the absolute basics through to quite complicated stuff, showing how computers work and how that's tied to maths. I first read it while I was studying for my second degree course. It wasn't a course book, but it seemed like it would be useful knowledge and it really, really was!...more
Pretty good if you happen to belong to the very niche audience of people willing to read a whole book about spreadsheets... And since I am the first pPretty good if you happen to belong to the very niche audience of people willing to read a whole book about spreadsheets... And since I am the first person to give it a rating on Goodreads, I can only assume that that niche is tiny. I wrote a blog post about it too. I'm a slave to the data.
This is so good: he has obviously lived in many different contexts and seen himself reflected in many other people's gaze and it's given him a really This is so good: he has obviously lived in many different contexts and seen himself reflected in many other people's gaze and it's given him a really open view of race and racism in America, drawing on that experience in other countries. He talks about being seen as an Arab in France, seeing his daughters looking, to outward appearance, white even though, under the rules of chattel slavery, the fact of their parentage would make them quite definitely black enough to have their rights and freedom taken away. He takes a really strong line on what needs to change in society but it's very much at odds with the prevailing orthodox approach to anti-racism since he is advocating outgrowing the notion of race and moving to a post-racial society, rather than one of endless division where everything is seen through that one lens....more
Sweet, sweet balm for my centrist soul. Finally someone who recognises the threat from populism but doesn't want to counter it with an equally prepostSweet, sweet balm for my centrist soul. Finally someone who recognises the threat from populism but doesn't want to counter it with an equally preposterous and divisive left wing narrative. There's some good discussion of the pressures driving populism in so many places and some suggested policy approaches that can be taken to counter it. It's a bit America-centric, obviously, with other countries mentioned more as background than anything else, but I don't think there's any harm in that, especially given how important America is as a symbol of the hope of democracy....more
Wow - this is really well done. It's a tale of an ordinary (ie, not famous) person, who has been through a lot. I mean, really, a lot. In places it's Wow - this is really well done. It's a tale of an ordinary (ie, not famous) person, who has been through a lot. I mean, really, a lot. In places it's hard to listen too because it's so awful. The child abuse on its own set my teeth on edge, and it's a roller-coaster of awfulness from then on. And yet somehow he - later she - comes through it all. It's not presented as inspirational or as a sob story. It's shocking, but it's not depressing or manipulative. Nor does the writer attempt to impose a political narrative on the story. Sandra herself doesn't see herself as political, and she's politically incorrect AF. She makes some bad choices, but ultimately finds something that helps others and gives her life meaning. In addition to the portrait of Sandra, we get smaller sketches of her clients in the cleaning business, who are almost as interesting, and the whole thing is a sort of nicely-woven tapestry of life experience....more
I read this in audio format while I was running, thinking it would be an inspirational read. Sounds like one, right? And to an extent it is, but it doI read this in audio format while I was running, thinking it would be an inspirational read. Sounds like one, right? And to an extent it is, but it doesn't have a lot of the real ingredients you need: there's no central character struggling to excel themselves. There's no McDougallesque nonsense about secret, forgotten techniques that, once discovered, will let the reader tap into ancient wells of superhuman endurance. In a lot of ways, it's more of a cultural study of the japanese running scene: the grassroots running teams, the corporations who employ professional runners in the same way colleges in the west give scholarships to gifted young athletes. The good aspects of this are there to see: health benefits and community spirit is boosted by shared commitment to relay races. But there's a dark side too: emphasising team spirit can stifle excellence. More sinister still, coaches are found to bully, browbeat and hit their students, and when this is discovered, it isn't always seen as a problem, either by the authorities or by the students themselves. But although I wouldn't want to be a japanese athlete, there's always something you can learn from studying another point of view, and the author throws himself into finding out what is going on in the clubs and squads, and gamely tries to apply it in his own racing style back at home. It's very unusual that you come across a book about running that discusses team spirit as opposed to the individual's race against their own PB. So I didn't regret choosing it as a running read at all...more
Uff... Levei muito tempo nesta leitura mas valeu a pena. O escritor fez uma obra muito complete. O foco da história é a transição da ditadura para demUff... Levei muito tempo nesta leitura mas valeu a pena. O escritor fez uma obra muito complete. O foco da história é a transição da ditadura para democracia, mas há um capítulo sobre a história mais longínqua do país. Dado este pano de fundo, ele explica os argumentos do General Spinola e os oponentes do regime Salazarista. É daí fora, mergulhamos dentro das águas turbulentos dos anos setenta: a guerra colonial, a revolução, a contra-revolução, independência de Angola, despolitização das forças armadas, implantação de uma democracia viva, e o novo cargo do país dentro da CE e da NATO. A história mundial é sempre lá, lado a lado com os acontecimentos domésticos porque nada acontece num vácuo. O que mais me chamou a atenção é a carácter esquerdista de tantas protagonistas nesta história. Claro está que a reacção contra a extrema direita haveria de absorver uma influência da ala oposta, mas nunca apreciei antes disto, que o país aproximou-se tanto ao modelo soviético. Ao fim das contas, (nas palavras de autor, a lembrar-nos de uma profecia falhada de Kissinger) "Foi Karensky quem sobreviveu não Lenine. Foi o socialista moderado Mário Soares quem, no final, tornou presidente da República e o militar radical populista Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho quem foi, primeiro para a prisão e, depois, para a obscuridade" Ups! Spoilers!...more
Well this was a terrible idea. First of all, it seems to have been written by someone who doesn't have English as a first language, which is fine, but Well this was a terrible idea. First of all, it seems to have been written by someone who doesn't have English as a first language, which is fine, but an editor could have cleaned it up a bit. It's an audiobook and the reader is trying hard but it's a losing battle. There's lots of banal, obvious blurb to start with, and then we're off into the code, but instead of doing something sensible like ("look at the companion website for sample programs") they have the narrator literally read out every comma and bracket. I felt like Arthur Dent, strapped to the chair listening to vogon poetry. I can only assume all the people giving it 5 stars in the audible site are employees of the company that made the book. Awful....more
It's quite useful to be able to read these kinds of books to get an idea of where the project managers are coming from. I am - to say the least - skepIt's quite useful to be able to read these kinds of books to get an idea of where the project managers are coming from. I am - to say the least - skeptical about management fashions and the buzzwords they engender but at least if I can see the theory behind it I can learn to contribute to the worthwhile elements of the process and recognise the difference between someone who's doing it right and someone who just likes to talk the talk. That said, reading management books gradually chips away at the soul so it's best not to risk anything too heavy. This one definitely isn't: its a good overview that doesn't get too deep into anything and is couched in a scenario with various characters working on a software project. They have names like "Mr Agile" and the reader is called "Mr Manager" and is definitely a man, like all the senior people in the organisation, which is very um.... Reassuring? They eat curry and make puns. One of them needs to be told to "settle down" from time to time. It's good, corporate fun, suitable for people working in an agile team but probably not detailed enough for a wannabe scrum master....more
I always find it hard to evaluate books like this. There are so many studies into human nature, human behaviour, sex differences, and for me, they raiI always find it hard to evaluate books like this. There are so many studies into human nature, human behaviour, sex differences, and for me, they raise more questions than they answer. How was that test administered? Were the men and women in the test into risk appetite all the same age? How was the question phrased? I invariably find myself doubting the scientific method, and then in the absence of reliable data points, measuring the writer's interpretation against my own experience. But of course that just means I'm layering my own bias on top of the writer's bias, which in turn is overlaid on the experimenter's experimental design. The result is a superficially plausible narrative, which I know will be contradicted by the next book I read on the same topic. Cordelia Fine does a good job of trying to combat the kinds of folk narrative explanations that thrive in all this confusion. She starts off with one of the hoariest of all - the idea that men have evolved to be unfaithful while women have evolved to be monogamous nest builders. This is one of the best known examples of sociobiology being drafted in to support a conclusion you know the researcher had in mind from the start and wanted to "prove". Fine's iconoclasm in taking aim at it seems admirable. She also takes care to present her evidence carefully, showing balanced results and not just trying to claim all the evidence points to one inevitable conclusion. This in marked contrast to - for example - Jordan Peterson who is forever pointing at stuff that happens in nature and implying that we just have to accept that the status quo is here to stay and resistance is futile. Give me a Cordelia Fine over a Jordan Peterson any day of the week. And she won't even tell me to tidy my room. I didn't find my hackles raising at any point, and although she editorialises strenuously on the meaning of the results, she's not trying to press the science into service or (as far as I can tell) manipulate the facts. Fair enough. The general gist is that there are differences between the sexes in some ways but that there was so much social conditioning overlaid on top of that that most of what we think of as immutable human nature can be stripped back if we, as a society, choose to do so. I think I'd put myself a little further towards the Stephen Pinker end of the spectrum but again, that's just me, maybe overlaying what I see around me, how I think and how women I know seem to think, how our daughter developed in what we thought was a fairly stereotype-free household... So it's a hit and miss, subjective interpretation of the facts but can any of us bring any better expertise to bear to judge between the competing claims of the people who have looked inside our brains and reckon they know what they've found there? Probably not....more
This book is a patchwork of sketches and opinions of a range of ordinary people struggling with the government and church. The artist has sat down in This book is a patchwork of sketches and opinions of a range of ordinary people struggling with the government and church. The artist has sat down in court rooms to hear the trial of dissidents and members of Pussy Riot, hung out on picket lines and at mass demonstrations and visited schools and prisons. The pictures aren't polished but there's a kind of immediacy to them, mixed in with the person's own words. The whole thing is really fresh and illuminating. It was a chance find - I picked it up in Waterstones Piccadily and I'm really glad I did!...more
Coming to this so soon after "Between the World and Me" was quite an interesting contrast. In many ways they cover similar ground - the first of the tComing to this so soon after "Between the World and Me" was quite an interesting contrast. In many ways they cover similar ground - the first of the two essays in this book is in the form of a letter to a nephew, ostensibly priming him for the struggles of adult life, which is the same format Ta-Nehisi Coates uses. Both explore ready-made answers and ideologies, both arrive at their own conclusions, through their own individual intellectual powers, and clearly both have intellectual power by the bucketload. But there are huge differences too. Baldwin is writing in 1963, the era of King and X, when the racial divisions in american society were much starker and more codified than they are now. This is most clearly shown when he expresses skepticism about Bobby Kennedy's statement that there would be a black president in forty years' time, whereas Coates knows it to be true because he has lived through it.* Most of all, though, there's the difference in prose style. Coates is a good writer, but he has a style that is very familiar as the voice of the modern long-form article, whereas Baldwin is drawing on the more colourful language of his time that is steeped in the language of sermons. You can imagine clicking on a Twitter link and spending half an hour reading through one of Coates' articles as you sip a latte, but Baldwin writes like he's expecting to read his work out loud with a bunch of people shouting encouragement from the front pews. Some of the notes he hits - like when he discusses Elijah Mohammed's collaboration with the American Nazis to divide up america into white states and black states is almost a forgotten side-note in history, but in spite of that his analysis is amazingly fresh. In short, while "Between the World and Me" is definitely worth reading and of course more up-to-date, "The Fire Next Time" towers over it in the power of its language and the scale of its themes.
*=By the way, Baldwin also seems to doubt that that's the measure of success. I know Coates has written a book on the subject ("We Were Eight Years in Power") and a couple of articles ("My President Was Black" and "The First White President"), and I am curious, now, to read what he has to say on the suject....more
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