Taylor Fisher

The kangraoo books really nail the comedy thriller thing very well. It seems like a fine line to tread, but it's done with such skill you hardly notice how hard it should be to weave those two ideas together. The narrative feels like a slow burning fuse, it builds and builds and you know there's an explosion coming, but there's just enough comedy to defuse the tension every little while so you don't suffer from tension fatigue. When the explosion at the end comes, it is fast and satisfying. This book kept me up late on more than one evening because I just needed to see what happened next.

This collection of short works is a great quick read that can be picked and put down at any time. Creating a compelling story in so few words can not be an easy task, but all of the stories were compelling enough to keep me reading them.

This was required reading for a management seminar I will soon be attending, and after reading this book I'm not hopefully about the quality of the seminar at all. There is some good information presented, but the format it is presented in was an absolute chore to get through. I would have been happier if the writer had just written out the things he wanted you to know, rather than writing a whole story to illustrate them. It would have made the book about 2-4 pages long, but it would have been more informative and less troublesome to read through.

These seem to get better and better as the series goes. I was worried at first this book would end in a convoluted mess, but Butcher actually pulled it out and surprised me quite a few times in the process.

I've had a hard time with some of the other Neal Stephenson books I've tried, but for some reason this one was right up my alley. I disagree with most of his thoughts on metaphysics as presented, but the overall narrative was able to keep me interested much more than I expected. I went into this book expecting to probably set it aside (as I have done with some of Stephenson's other works). I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself staying up late to see where the story would go next.

Not exactly what I was thinking but it was enjoyable enough for a quick read. I picked this up due to having enjoyed Penn's “This I Believe” segment on NPR a few years ago, and a general fondness for atheist leaning works by other skeptics. Penn tends to drift from atheism rather quickly into other realms of skepticism and has a lot to say about libertarianism for large chunks of the book. I found myself arguing against several of his viewpoints while reading, which is kind of uncommon for me while reading. It's definitely a book by Penn Jillette and I mean that in all the best and worst ways possible. You're going to hear his take on atheism, santa claus, family, global warming, gun control, underwater fucking and much, much more.

Love Patton's stand up, loved this. A short but sweet look into the background of one of the funniest nerds still trying to make us laugh.

I went back and forth on this one, almost setting it down a few times, and then getting excited in places. It was a bit of an odd read for me as it felt so much like the cliche fantasy that I thought I knew what was going to happen around every corner, after a few surprises, I began to think they would obviously be doing things differently and a cliche would ambush me again. Overall I liked it, and will read the second book, but if it continues the slow meander this one did for the first 3/4, I might think of putting it down. Only to probably have it suck me in again. Gah, reading roller coaster.

Man oh man, as good as I'd heard, almost couldn't put it down once I'd started it.

A very interesting look in side Microsoft from a man who's worked in the trenches there for years. I haven't really read Stepto's blog, so this was all new material to me and I enjoyed it. It is pretty short and a very quick read for a short trip.

I approached this book with a bit of trepidation due to being a mechanical pencil man. By the time I had gotten to the advice on mechanical pencils presented I was already convinced to pick up the classical wooden pencils of my youth.