Frank McGeough
A bit dated (2006) review of state of collaboration at a point in time. I was hoping for more analysis of what makes for successful collaborations. Like most business books a set of case studies are presented and cheerleading of how wonderful collaboration is and how it made the companies wildly successful. But as with all other business techniques, some people do it well and some poorly and most muddle through in the middle ground and I didn't find enough meat in the author's opinion on what distinguishes one from another in this book.
good cookbook. well organized. I did two recipes out of this book - Korean short ribs and turkey chili. Both excellent. The idea of cooking a chicken for 7 hours is a bit much but most likely excellent and doable on a winter day when there is 2 foot of snow outside. Still have several recipes that I'm going to give a try.
Nice novel and interesting version of apocalyptic literature. In this case the apocalyptic event is an instantaneous disappearing that leaves nothing to battle against but the loss itself. The novel is the stories of how various people in a small town cope with the sudden disappearances of a whole set of people from their lives. Sudden, arbitrary and unexplainable loss of parts of a community force people to wrestle with how to go on with their lives and question whether the life they are living is what they really want.
A beautifully written fictional memoir of a scientist who explores an island culture wound around a story of accusations of abuse and rape by the children from that culture who he adopted. Eery, odd, but told in a matter-of-fact scientist voice. I've stopped giving stars to novels. It seems an odd way to judge a book. I'm not sure if I'd recommend this to friends or not. I'll have to mull over it for a while but perhaps that its a good indication to some that its worth reading.
A very well-written introduction to the subject of extinction, how the concept developed and was eventually accepted by scientists. Very good examples of how we are in the midst (geologically speaking) of a sixth great extinction brought on by the spread and movement of humans to every part of the globe (and our penchant for bringing together elements from one specific environment into another) and climate change. The examples are frightening in clearly demonstrating how quickly the extinctions are happening.
I found the information on the importance of chronic low mood interesting and worth thinking about. The evolutionary importance of mood was also an interesting perspective. The author's own experience with very severe depression formed the basis of his research. Worth reading if you have suffered from depression or have a loved one who does.
Very good post-apocalyptic style novel centered on the story of one woman and her attempt to decipher her vaguely remembered past. Reminded me a bit of S J Watson's “Before I Go to Sleep” in terms of an amnesiac woman struggling to come to grips with what is going on around her and convinced that she is being lied to. Worth reading. This is the first of a two-part series. The second book, Prototype, comes out in July 2014.
I've always liked LA Confidential the movie. The book has all the elements in them that are portrayed in the movie but the movie is much better organized and a more straightforward story - for better or worse, depending on what you like. The book tends to ramble and assemble a narrative and then pull it apart - which is one of the key features of the movie as well. Its just a little too much of a good thing for me in the book. I think the screenwriter did a superb job in getting the essence of the novel's approach. This novel is probably the best that I've read from James Ellroy. Rambling and at times incoherent but the story surges forward to a great - and quite different - ending than the movie.
