Tom Clancy’s EndWar

Title: Tom Clancy’s EndWar

Author: David Michaels

Paperback: 416 pages

Publisher: Berkley (February 5, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0425222144

ISBN-13: 978-0425222140

I finished my interview early out in LA (great job opportunity, I hope I get an offer for this one), went out to Burbank Airport (Bob Hope), and had about five hours to kill before my red-eye left. And I’d finished the book I’d brought with me, Beginning TiVo Programming. So, I bought this book at the bookstore in the airport.

And I could hardly put it down. Its set in the near future when the Russians, the Euros and the US are embroiled in a hot/cold war. Very gripping narrative, taught, and suspenseful.

Beginning TiVo Programming

Title: Beginning TiVo Programming

Author: John Brosnan, Kyle Copeland

Paperback: 298 pages

Publisher: Wrox (February 12, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0470054271

ISBN-13: 978-047005427

I read this book on the flight from Chicago to Phoenix to Burbank.

Really good – I highly recommend this book. It includes everything you need to know to build TiVo applications, including getting the two SDKs you’ll want, instructions on using the simulator, and some really rocking examples (in this case, the examples actually do show very clearly how to do things with the SDK). And, since the examples are focused you don’t get page after page of code, but instead concise code in the book to show how to get things done.

I’ve got a project all set up and ready to start in Eclipse thanks to this book!

Office Warfare: Strategies for Getting Ahead in the Aggressive 80’s

Title: Office Warfare: Strategies for Getting Ahead in the Aggressive 80’s

Author: Marilyn Moats Kennedy

Mass Market Paperback

Publisher: Fawcett (October 12, 1986)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0449210162

ISBN-13: 978-0449210161

I wish I’d read this book years ago – it explains a lot about the changes I’ve seen in the workplace over the last 20-plus years.

If you want to know more about office politics, and especially some specific hints on how to not be a victim of them, read this book! I got my copy at a used bookstore, and I’m glad I did. I read it in just a few sittings over three days

Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci

Title: Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci

Author: Bulent Atalay

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Collins (February 21, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0060851198

ISBN-13: 978-0060851194

This book reminds us that art and science are inexorably intertwined. The writing style is lucid yet very readable, including the sections that delve into quantum mechanics, for example. I thought the section on the golden section was a little long-winded, but otherwise it was a good read.

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands

Title: My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands

Author: Chelsea Handler

Paperback: 213 pages

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (May 12, 2005)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1582346186

ISBN-13: 978-1582346182

I saw Chelsea doing her standup on The Comedy Channel the other night – she mentioned her book and I had to read it (she’s quite irreverent and funny, two qualities that don’t always work together).

This book is a hoot! I wonder if its all true, but regardless, the stories are fun and sometimes a bit sad. She does seem to come out the other side happily, which is good.

The Unfolding of Language : An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind’s Greatest Invention

Title: The Unfolding of Language : An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind’s Greatest Invention

Hardcover: 368 pages

Publisher: Amazon Remainders Account (June 1, 2005)

ISBN-10: 0805079076

ASIN: B000GQLCXC

I really enjoyed this book – it takes you on a trip around the development of language.  I found some very interesting bits, especially the concept that most language moves from the physical and direct to the abstract.  I see this motion in a lot of things, so its not so surprising, just that I’d never considered its affects on language before

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

Title: Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

Paperback: 192 pages

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly (May 1, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1897299214

ISBN-13: 978-1897299210

This is a graphic novel that describes the author’s stay in North Korea, working on animation for European television. Its odd and depressing. There’s more that’s gray than just the black and white graphics in this book. Worth a read!

Haganah

Title: Haganah

Hardcover: 295 pages

Publisher: New American Library (1964)

ASIN: B000JJVW5E

I found this book at a rare and used bookstand at an antique sale on Randolph Street a couple of months ago, and I finally finished it.

Its a good book on a subject rarely covered, the defense (which is a loose translation of haganah) of Israel during its inception (the author was a leader of the Rekhesh, the part of the defense force that brought arms to Palestine).  Because its effectively a memoir, it has its good and bad points.  The author defends, at length, some actions that, in a history book, would just be noted as causes.  There are also few failures noted, and I have to assume there were more than the book mentions.

On the other hand, it gives a nice narative account of some of the covert actions taken by the Haganah to get arms and to smuggle Jews that survived the death camps into Israel.  I think the author recreates the sense of awe, fear and import of the events taking place to the participants.

If you’re interested in the period of history (well, it might not be history quite yet, but that’s yet another discussion), this book is worth finding and reading.

The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade That Transformed Wall Street

Title: The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade That Transformed Wall Street

Author: Jonathan A. Knee

Paperback: 288 pages

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (July 31, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0812978048

ISBN-13: 978-0812978049

I bought this book at the Phoenix airport on the way home from an interview (I didn’t get the job, bummer).  This book describes the major changes in investment banking from the early 1990s through 2005 from the point of view of a participant, the author.  I liked this book a lot – I didn’t know a lot about investment banking, having only worked for a commercial bank (and they are quite different).  Knee has a nice, direct writing style, and he provides a lot of bootstrapping information so you can understand the events he writes about.

The Medici Giraffe

Title: The Medici Giraffe

Author: Marina Belozerskaya

Hardcover: 432 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (August 21, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0316525650

ISBN-13: 978-0316525657

The title of this book is a misnomer – only one chapter out of 7 talks about the Medici Giraffe, which was a gift from an Egyptian ruler to get the Medici’s help with a conflict between Egypt and the Ottoman empire.

This book is really about seven examples of the capture and display of exotic animals from history. It starts with Ptolemy Philadelphos’s search for elephants for his army and stops with William Randolph Hearst’s San Simeon ranch.

Its a fun read but, because its a series of articles it comes off as a little disjoint.