|
|
Reviews of Recently Read Books
Reviewed July 25 by Jon. Nathan is a friend who is an accomplished designer and leading thinker about design. Experience Design 1.1 covers a wide variety of issues in the design of compelling experiences - from stories to spaces to games to interaction design. This is not a "how to" manual nor a structured set of principles. Instead, Nathan covers a number of topics and issues related to interaction design. Most importantly, he provides a great set of examples that illustrate his points. He is working in Experience design 2.0 - which I look forward to reading.
Reviewed July 20 by Jon. Making Ideas Happen is aimed at creative professionals who might have difficulty focusing on execution and completing projects. The first half of the book is fairly traditional project and time management - good stuff but not groundbreaking. The second half was a bit more useful in that it covered how to think about creative professionals and how to get execution built into their approach.
Reviewed July 13 by Jon. Building in the Future is a series of essays about how architectural work is evolving. It covers a broad spectrum of legal issues, craft, organization of labor (both within firms and between firms). Much of this is familiar territory to those of us who have been involved in the evolution of the building industry in general and architecture in particular. However, I expect it will be new ground to many participants or casual observers of the building industry. This book assembles viewpoints on many topics germane to the evolution of the building professions and will, I hope, act as a catalyst for further discussion.
Reviewed July 10 by Jon. This is Greg Mortensen's second book after Three Cups of Tea. It is a similar story - about Mortensen's quest to build schools for girls in Central Asia. The focus of Stones into Schools expands beyond Pakistan to Afghanistan. This book is less about Mortensen's life as was Three Cups of Tea - and more about working in Afghanistan to build schools and relate to people. It is easy to read and as inspiring as Mortensen's first book. The ideas are the same but the venue is a little different. Of particular interest in Mortensen's work with and respect for the US military in Afghanistan. His views are consistent with those I have read elsewhere and his depiction of life in Afghanistan is similar to that depicted in Horse Soldiers, Kite Runner, and A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Reviewed July 5 by Jon. The Lords of Strategy is a page-turner. It chronicles the history of ideas that have shaped business strategy since the 1960s. It interweaves the rise of the three big strategy firms - Boston Consulting Group, Bain, and McKinsey, the people in those firms who came up with and applied the ideas, and the academic world - particularly Harvard Business School. The core thesis of the book is that business is shaped by ideas. Two notions that Keichel describes are "greater Taylorism" - the application of the techniques that Fredrick Taylor applied to a unit of work to the whole corporation - and "the fiercening of capitalism" - an increase in the intensity of capitalism and competition. Keichel clearly believes that ideas matter in business. His book chronicles the development of the ideas that have shaped the strategy field and provides some glimpses of the future of strategy. I have read many of the authors he cites. The Lords of Strategy puts them into a coherent timeline and framework to better inform an overall view of what strategy is about and the competing and complementary ideas that comprise the field of business strategy.
Reviewed July 3 by Jon. Adam Werbach is the former president of the Sierra Club and now runs Saatchi and Saatchi S - the sustainability practice of the global brands agency. Strategy for Sustainability tries to reconcile sustainability with corporate strategy. It does an OK job. Werbach argues that all strategy must be sustainable - a compelling argument. He provides methods and techniques to think about sustainability within a strategy context. The book does seem a little thin. Nevertheless it is a good first step at integrating strategy with sustainability thinking.
Reviewed June 28 by Jon. Happiness at Work is a simplified version of Rao’s philosophy as expressed in Are You Ready to Succeed>\?, It is useful but pretty lightweight. It does cover the basics of his approach and is a good introduction to getting one to understand that their mental models are what drives happiness and well being. I have had difficulty getting through Rao’s original book so this introduction is a good way to ease into study of Rao’s approach.
Reviewed June 27 by Jon. Crossers is a novel about an Arizona Ranch on the Mexican border. There is a long history of the ranch and the families who own it (or want to own it). The story is a modern-day story featuring an investment banker who lost his wife in 9/11 and moves back to the family ranch to heal. He gets embroiled in a modern-day drama with a female Mexican drug lord who wants the ranch back for herself. The book intersperses historical vignettes with the modern-day story. I liked the modern-day story. The vignettes try to provide context for the story but were a bit choppy and difficult to string together into a coherent whole. The story was well done and timely given the drug wars and immigration issues on the Arizona border
Reviewed May 31 by Jon. Horse Soldiers is about the special forces teams who went into Afghanistan immediately following 9/11. They were the soldiers who worked with the Northern Alliance and fought the Taliban and Al Qaida. The story covers the death of Mike Spann, the first American to be killed in the Afghan war and the capture of John Walker Lindh. The story reminded me of the TV series "The Unit" in terms of its depiction of the special forces team and their families. A good account of the battles that gave a sense of how the special forces team works. Not as good as The Gamble - but well worth reading.
Reviewed May 31 by Jon. The Gamble is a sequel to Fiasco, Ricks book on Iraq. The Gamble covers the decision to mount the surge - led by retired general Keane and the new approach to counterinsurgency led by General David Patraeus. It describes how Patraeus wrote the manual on counterinsurgency and executed the counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, stemming the sectarian violence and civil war. David Kilkellen, an Australian counterinsurgency expert is also prominently featured. The book describes the surge and change in tactics quite well. It does leave the reader puzzled at the ineptitude of the Bush administration in prosecuting the war and the inertia in the military establishment in adapting to proven counterinsurgency strategy. The book concludes inconclusively by saying that we will likely need to stay in Iraq for a long time to keep the country stable. As with Ricks previous work - well written and very good critical analysis of Iraq, the military, and the politics surrounding the Iraq war.
Reviewed May 31 by Jon. The Checklist
Manifesto is similar to books by Malcolm Gladwell and the Heath Brothers in that
it takes a simple concept and elaborates on it. Gawande is a surgeon who is
looking for ways to reduce the error rate in surgery. He explores the use of
checklists in fields like aviation and construction - two fields I know
something about. He shows how using simple checklists can ensure that critical
steps don't get missed and critical issues are considered. The book weaves
surgical and medical discussion with general checklist issues and, again, good
examples from aviation and construction. Well written and an easy and
entertaining read.
Reviewed May 31 by Jon. Esslinger is the
founder of FrogDesign - one of the most successful consumer electronics design
firms on the planet. A Fine line is like many recent books by designers trying
express the strategic value of design. Esslinger does a reasonably good job of
this and of tying sustainability into the mix. As with many books in this genre,
it is a little too self-congratulatory, but it does lay out a reasonable case
for strategic design. The examples are a bit too focused on product design -
which is understandable since Esslinger is a consumate product designer. Fairly
light, but worth a read.
Reviewed May 16 by Jon. This is a
wonderful little book by Fred Brooks - author of The Mythical Man Month - a
classic in software engineering. I have read The Mythical Man Month many times
and did not realize how deeply some of its lessons were imprinted. The Design of
Design expands on Fred Brooks ideas on software design and takes them into a
more general realm. He covers design in general and draws upon a number of case
studies from architecture, computer science, hardware design, etc. The book is
refreshingly simple and covers a lot of key design issues - such as the need for
conceptual integrity, the flaws in the rational model of design, design process
models, and collaboration in design. I have always found Brooks writing clear,
simple, and to the point. This is a must read for anybody involved with design
and technology. It is a great addition Brooks' already influential work.
Reviewed April 12 by Jon. In the same
vein as their last book Made To Stick and
Malcolm Gladwell's work, Switch takes a complex topic and makes it very
accessible. The Heath brothers approach is to change the rider (rational mind),
elephant (emotions), and the path (the situation) to create change. They provide
tangible, practical techniques and provide clear and entertaining examples. I
liked Made to Stick and like Switch even better. The Heath brothers have
produced a valuable and usable guide to change.
Reviewed April 12 by Jon. I expected
something like a Steig Larsson novel and was disappointed. The Man from Beijing
is about a Stockholm judge who tries to solve a murder. The book takes her to
Beijing and part of it is set in Africa. The writing was pretty good and the
story interesting but it never tied together and the key issues did not get
satisfactorily resolved at the end. Entertaining but unsatisfying.
Reviewed April 11 by Jon. Business Model
Generation is a fascinating book on several levels. First, it clearly describes
a framework and methodology for analyzing and synthesizing business models. The
framework is clear and straightforward and its use is described in multiple
ways. The framework seems useful for looking backwards at an existing business
and looking forward at a new business or recasting and old business model.
Second, it ties together design and strategy quite nicely. It shows how design
methods, techniques, and stance can be applied to business problems. Third, it
was produced in an open-source crowdsourced fashion thus providing an
interesting new model for design and strategy. This is a very accessible yet
dense book. I read it once and will use it to teach my class. I suspect it will
require several readings to really "get it" and hope that it is only the first
in a series.
Reviewed April 3 by Jon. Rework is a
cheekly little book that challenges the conventional wisdom about work and life.
It has the tone of "Inc" magazine - celebrating the entrepreneur opposing the
large cumbersome bureaucracy. It has a lot of good advice, but seems a bit
lightweight and self-promotional at times. A candy read - entertaining with some
empty (non-nutritional) calories.
Reviewed April 3 by Jon. I have mixed feelings about Glimmer. On the one hand, Berger does a nice job of describing the overall landscape of design. He goes into many facets of design and covers the space well. I like his comprehensive view. On the other hand, he ascribes much of design solely to Bruce Mau. While Mau may be a great designer, he is not the sole source of thinking on design. Berger implies that with his coverage of Mau. In some sense this book is trying to be two things - an overall treatise on design and a biography of Bruce Mau. It might be better as two books - or at least provide more segmentation between the two. There is nothing wrong with celebrating a great designer or with doing a contextual piece on design. Both are valuable. Conflating the two is a problem.
Reviewed March 21 by Jon. The fundamental thesis of Denialism is that a denial of science is blocking progress in the world. This is not a fundamentally new theses – what is new is that Specter skewers some sacred cows – such as organic farming and non-traditional medicines. The book is well-researched and thought-provoking – although a bit too evangelistic on the science side. Nevertheless it is worth reading. It is very readable and covers a pretty broad scientific landscape.
Reviewed March 21 by Jon. This is Wilson’s account of her outing as a CIA agent by the White House. The book was a bit disappointing – somewhat because she chose to show the redacted sections by the CIA. Plame is a sympathetic character who certainly did not deserve the treatment she got by the white house in its illegal identification of her by a CIA agent. However, the book seemed a bit weak and self-serving. It was an interesting read but could have been written in a more compelling fashion. OK, but not great.
- Reviewed March 21 by Jon. This book was OK but not great. The key lesson was that many of the behaviors of a difficult older parent are deeply ingrained and will not change. The advice to grownchildren (a term coined by the authors) was primarily about accepting this and learning to cope with difficult behaviors. Useful but a bit sad that there is nothing more one can do than accept and cope with dysfunctional behavior.
Reviewed March 20, by Jon. The inside story of the 2008 campaigns – a lot of this was in the news. Hailemann and Halperin strung it all together into one narrative, thus making e whole campaign visible. They included a lot in inside information and views of the personalities behind the news stories. McCain comes across as a befuddled and ambivalent old politician and Hillary come across as a battle axe. It was sad to see how McCain compromised his centrist views to appease the conservative right. Obama comes across as cool, collected, and in control. I do wonder if the Obama team got a pass from the authors.
Reviewed March 11 by Jon. Subtitled America, free markets, and the sinking of the world economy - Stiglitz paints a pretty vivid picture of what went wrong. He is a firm believer that unfettered free-market capitalism does not work. He first describes in detail, what went wrong with financial markets - he then analyzes the flaws behind the melt-down in terms of economic theory. He - in particular - blames the Chicago School for faulty economic theory. Stiglitz believes that the system is fundamentally broken and we need to re-regulate and place free markets and financial systems in a proper perspective. This is a pretty frightening book - but well-written and provocative. Definitely a left-leaning economics piece - it does make some compelling arguments.
Reviewed March 2 by Jon. Geographer Joel Kotkin has always been a proponent of Los Angeles and a decentralized model of development. In The Next 100 Million he describes the United States in 2050 which will have 400,000,000 people – about 100M more than we have today. He describes the kind of society we will likely have, our demographic makeup, and some surprising predictions – such as the repopulation of the great plains. Kotkin is an optimist who believes that the US will remain strong – largely due to a high fertility rate and acceptance of immigration. His views are often counter to the prevailing views of society so it is provocative to read them.
Reviewed February 8 by Jon. Another
in Burdett's series of Thai crime thrillers,
this one is adds a Nepali wrinkle. Sonchai Jitpleecheep goes to work as
consigliere for his boss on the Thai police force, Colonel Vikorn, in trying to
import heroin from Nepal - while at the same time trying to solve the murder of
an American film maker. This has the usual Burdett elements. The story is
a bit more random than usual but it is still a good read.
Reviewed February 6 by Jon. Adam Richardson is from FrogDesign, one of the world's leading design firms. In Innovation X, he first poses the problem many companies (and other organizations) face - difficulty innovating. His prescription is something he calls the Innovation X framework, with four legs - Immersion, Convergence, Adaption, and Divergence. Loosely speaking, immersion is about user understanding, conversion is about the design of systems, adaption is about prototyping and learning, and divergence is about expanding your business through adjacency. Each of these has been articulated in the work on innovation (or to use one of Adams' least favorite terms "design thinking") - but Adam does a good job of putting them together into a coherent framework and avoiding some of the trendiness and fluff that gets created by the design thinking movement. Ironically, though, this is about the same kinds of things. This is a nice book and I hope to see the framework get used and expanded.
Reviewed February 3 by Jon. Subtitled, using strategic persuasion to sell your ideas, this book is about persuasion - in presentations and public speaking. It is mostly common sense but organized and presented in a very clear, logical fashion. Useful stuff.
Reviewed January 31 by Jon. Subtitled, how two inspired teachers created the most promising schools in America, this book is about KIPP - the Knowledge is Power Program. It is about Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, two young teachers who set up a program of public charter schools for disadvantaged kids. The program included high teacher involvement, extraordinary long hours and expectations, and standards of performance and behavior. Bill Gates sent a copy of this book to every TED 2009 attendee. The book is good and inspiring - if a bit long and repetitive. The story is certainly inspiring. The dedication of Levin and Feinberg in setting up and growing the program is impressive.
Reviewed January 21 by Jon. This is
the third in Stieg Larsson's trilogy about Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomqvist.
It takes up exactly where The Girl Who Played
with Fire leaves off. Like Larsson's other work, the book is extremely
engaging and moves well. This one bogs down a bit in history of the Swedish
police force and it is challenging to keep track of all of the Swedish names -
much like reading a Russian novel. When you get past the historical places, it
is hard to put down. I was sad to finish it because it is so engaging and it is
the last of the trilogy. Larsson died after finishing this book so there will be
no more. It is a real shame, but perhaps it is best to finish the trilogy on a
high note and not have too many sequels.
Reviewed January 13 by Jon. Drive:
The Surprising Truth about what motivates us, is an extension of some of Pink's
earlier work. The fundamental thesis of the book is that we are driven more by
intrinsic motivators such as mastery or purpose and less by extrinsic motivators
such as money or recognition. Pink describes scientific research that backs this
up and makes the case that our management systems are built around extrinsic
motivators - which work for well prescribed tasks, but are not effective for
less defined tasks - those requiring creativity and discretion. Like
A Whole New Mind, Pink goes beyond
description to prescription and provides advice for addressing motivation in
several contexts. Drive is a very easy read and is a good extension of Pink's
earlier work.
|
|
© Copyright
1999-2010 Pittman. All rights reserved. |
Bookclub
