Chandler

I enjoyed this book, but I was hoping for more explanation of people, concepts, and other things. Perhaps I was just expecting something different, but I don't think I understand these concepts enough to fairly evaluate whether or not they ring true.

If the claims made in this book (I listened to the audiobook, I don't know if Naomi Klein cites their sources) are true, the things described here are absolutely disgusting, especially with what the U.S. did with Iraq. This book just makes me realize that extremism in any sense is unhealthy (at least from what I understand). There needs to be checks and balances to the power of governments and corporations. It's an interesting world we live in. I was young during the early 2000's, so it was interesting to read and see a little bit of how 9/11 affected the world and how it changed everything.

Quotes:
“Only a crisis-actual or perceived-produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.” - Milton Friedman

“Much of this purism came from Friedrich Hayek, Friedman's own personal guru, who also taught at the University of Chicago for a stretch in the 1950's. The austere Austrian warned that any government involvement in the economy would lead society down the road to serfdom and had to be expunged. According to Arnold Harburger, the Austrians were so zealous that any state interference was not just wrong, but evil. Though always cloaked in the language of math and science, Freedman's vision coincided with the interests of large multinationals, which by nature, hunger for vast, new, unregulated markets. In the first stage of capitalist expansion, that kind of ravenous growth was provided by colonialism, by discovering new territories and grabbing land without paying for it, then extracting riches from the Earth without compensating local populations.”

Such a wonderful, poetic beginning. Within the first pages, I was enraptured by the descriptive sentiments of the protagonist concerning his love of books and reading. However, as the main plot was introduced, I found that I did not care for it. I only wanted more about The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. I enjoyed the novel, which included memorable characters and locations, however, I didn't care about learning about this fictitious author and his life. It was an interesting novel; I don't regret reading it, but I don't care to read it again.

“Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.”
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

“Once, in my father's bookshop, I heard a regular customer say that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later—no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget—we will return.”
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

“Bea says that the art of reading is slowly dying, that it's an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day.”
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

An interesting view into the life and experiences of a man who lost the ability to speak or move through an unknown sickness. Sitting in facilities for years with no one knowing that he was there, locked away in his body, unable to communicate or to do anything besides think.

The author focused a lot on hope, faith, and love. I liked the observations that he made about goals and about life, that communication is what makes us human, and that love has multiple forms–romantic, sexual, innocent, and platonic.

I do wish he would have covered more of his time as he lay in beds only able to sit, listen, and think. It would have been interesting to hear how his mind coped for those long 9 years. He does cover it a little with him just counting time, but I assume he did more than that.

A well-written memoir.

Re-read in 2023:
New rating: 4 stars

This book isn't perfect and there are many people that say that it glorifies suicide. To some extent that is true. I think Jay Asher could have strengthened the messaging in the book in order to unequivocally say that it wasn't the answer, however I think most people read this book and see Hannah Baker as the main character. I've read reviews say that it's hard to empathize and connect with her, and that this is a bad thing. She comes off as whiny and looking for an excuse to suicide herself.
Some of these things may be true and valid, however, I think they are intentional.

The reader is not supposed to be able to connect and empathize with Hannah. She is gone. She is dead. She is unreachable and untouchable. She is a voice only to be listened to. We get Clay's perspective. He is the voice of reason and the voice telling the reader that things may not always be as bad as they seem to be. He is the voice saying suicide is not the answer and there are people there who support you and are willing and wanting to love you.

I think this book shows just how irrational suicide really is and how we all understand and internalize things differently. For some, something is small and meaningless, while to others, that same thing is huge and all-consuming. It is not up to us to determine these things for other people. They are just as valid thinking and feeling the way they do as the way we do. Suicide and depression don't usually operate rationally. Things get bent out of shape and the smallest things prove to the sufferer that life is not worth living.

Again, I think this book is not perfect. It's messaging can be hard for some people, and ultimately, I think it makes some people uncomfortable, thinking that they have a much larger role to play in someone's life. In a highly individualistic society, such as the United States, we often think that people should be able to handle everything alone and that the world is just and fair, when really, this world is different for everyone. We need empathy for each other. This book shows that, stating multiple times that Hannah doesn't fully blame people, but she records these messages for people to understand that they impacted someone's life in ways that they may not have known.

Clay is the eyes and ears of the reader. He does not have much personality and this can come off as boring to some readers.

This is a heavy topic, and as stated above, people may feel uncomfortable with it (for the reason provided previously or just the fact that it's a very heavy, sad, deep topic). Everyone has a different experience with mental illness, depression, and suicidality. That is all okay. Everyone is totally fine to have their opinion, however, as Clay does at the end of the story, we need to open our eyes, think about who we see around us, then open our mouths and speak, letting people know that we see them and they are there, and we value and care for them in ways that we may not have expressed previously.

Couple things:

1) As someone who is not in the sports world, it surprised me how much goes into these athletic feats that people accomplish. Listening to Daley explain how much he thought about things and practiced surprised me. Like, I knew they practiced and everything, but it was impressive to me how much goes into everything.

2) I have never wanted children, but listening to Daley talk about his husband and child swayed me a little. The way he talks about his love, family, and happiness is so adorable and makes me so happy that people find love, even when it looks different from others.

3) I want a love like Tom and Lance have!

I enjoyed the audiobook version read by Tom Daley. He just seems like a good, kind person (obviously he may be different than that) that I would love to be friends with. Good book exploring a variety of topics including acceptance, kindness, family, love, confidence, and a few others!

Overall, it was fine. It's an interesting take: apply economic ways of thinking to multiple social issues or everyday situations. The author's claim is that numbers tell the full story and never lie, to which I mostly agree, however, there are instances when numbers don't tell things in the correct way or they remove the human element. Additionally, as Levitt mentions, one has to make sure they are measuring the correct thing and interpreting the numbers in the correct way.
Outdated and a bit boring overall. Would be better as a podcast, honestly.

I would like to read this one again in the future (this time in text format so I can better grasp the narrative and underline to my heart's content).

I identified with and agreed with a lot of the author's ideas of human life and existentialism. Humans are great.. but also we kinda suck. Having lived through a worldwide pandemic, there were many points of this book that just rang true for me. The feelings of being a prisoner in my own city, what it means to love and support other humans, and what it means to be a member of a community and how much work one should devote to the collective. Very, very interesting especially after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Quotes:

“In fact, it comes to this: nobody is capable of really thinking about anyone, even in the worst calamity. For really to think about someone means thinking about that person every minute of the day, without letting one's thoughts be diverted by anything- by meals, by a fly that settles on one's cheek, by household duties, or by a sudden itch somewhere. But there are always flies and itches. That's why life is difficult to live.”

“There are more things to admire in men then to despise.”

“What's true of all the evils in the world is true of plague as well. It helps men to rise above themselves.”

“There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.”

“In this respect, our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; in other words, they were humanists: they disbelieved in pestilences. A pestilence isn't a thing made to man's measure; therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn't always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away, and the humanists first of all, because they have taken no precautions.”

“When a war breaks out, people say: “It's too stupid; it can't last long.” But though a war may well be “too stupid,” that doesn't prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves.”

“A loveless world is a dead world.”

“I know that man is capable of great deeds. But if he isn't capable of great emotion, well, he leaves me cold.”

Abandoned pretty early on. The author just sees the world as black and white, with america and killing as the ultimate good. I was hoping for a little more nuance in the narrative.

Additionally, one of the last books I read really changed my opinion of the Iraq war. I may need to allow time to pass before I read anything on the war.

Much like other self-help/business books, this book is replete with repetition and self aggrandizement. It is bloated and about 250+ pages too long.

Essentially the book tells the story of OKRs (which stands for Objectives and Key Results) and how one can use them to prioritize tasks, promote teamwork, keep accountability, and stretch for new amazing goals and successes.

Teach me the ways of how to make OKRs, don't just tell me cool stories about different companies. This genre is not the right one for me.

Didn't hate this book, but wouldn't read it again and would only recommend it to younger readers. I enjoyed the change in narrators, each having their unique voice and experiences. I didn't enjoy the short chapters, as I felt as though it created a feeling of superficiality, and maybe that's why I didn't enjoy this book as much as others–I wanted deeper connections and thoughts, but the characters are young and often don't have deep thoughts.

Updated Review 2023:
This book is enjoyable and fun. It is apparent that this book takes a lot of inspiration from other works in fantasy (Tolkien and Le Guin's works to name the two that I noticed most), however, it doesn't mean that the book is bad. Is this book a work of genius from a young author like I once thought it was when I was young? No. I wouldn't say so. However, was it published by a young author? Yes. Was it successful in finding an audience and a people that enjoy it enough for the book to be a success? Yes.

A bit slow at times, but ultimately a good book. I must have been in a fog or something when I wrote my 2017 review, as I didn't find it difficult to imagine the world that Paolini created this go around. Great stuff and will definitely read the next books and re-read this series from time to time over the years.

2017 Review:
The only complaint I have is, sometimes, I have a hard time envisioning the world that Paolini created. The description of things is difficult to understand sometimes. Other than that, it is a great book.

I remember really enjoying this series as a kid. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it appears my tastes in books have changed. The idea of this book is great–magical candies with interesting and compelling abilities. I just am not the target audience for this book and it was boring and annoying to read the juvenile, judgmental, and harsh opinions and character descriptions. I get it, the kids are young, but I just was bored.

Rating: 4.5/5
Rounded down to 4 stars

I was pleasantly surprised, I truly enjoyed this one. I looked forward to reading this and enjoyed it throughout the experience. I rated it 4.5 stars due to the fact that the switch from “fake courting” to actual feelings felt really quick. I would have liked to see more scenes of them talking, but that's just me personally.

A comical, quick book where Her Majesty, the Queen of England, stumbles upon the love of reading. A great book about books and the love and enjoyment of reading. Very fast read, only 120 pages.

Some quotes:

‘Books are not about passing the time. They're about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass, Sir Kevin, one just wishes one had more of it.'

“A book is a device to ignite the imagination.”

“You don't put your life into your books, you find it there.”

“The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undeferring about literature. Books did not care who was reading them or whether one read them or not. All readers were equal, herself included. Literature, she thought, is a commonwealth; letters a republic.”

I'm trying, really trying to see the points from multiple sides.

This book uses anecdotal and inflammatory language to rile up the reader and cause them to believe everything that he puts down on paper. On more than one occasion while reading, the author was making a point about a given topic and then made a logical leap that, as far as I could tell, had little to do with the point that he was originally making.

My primary complaint with this book is that he didn't actually give any solutions or thoughts on the actual premise. Why is the west worthy of being defended? Why shouldn't individuals look at historical figures or moments and critique them? Why is the United States not worthy of critique and criticism on its historical treatment of marginalized groups and people of color?
Does the author believe that these points or experiences of others don't exist and are not worth analyzing? Okay, that's fine. You don't want or believe that CRT is good. You think that we shouldn't disavow “the West”. It is the same complaint I have against other conservative ideas. So, you don't like [insert thing here]. However, your belief doesn't change what others are going through. There are people who are saying that they experience things differently... In my understanding, it comes down to not believing or not caring about the experiences of others, for if we did, maybe we wouldn't agree on how to solve the issues, however, we would talk and be more open to actually fixing the situation and making progress in some regard.

I want to learn more and I want to see the world from the other side, but I am struggling to get there.

Just like most business/self-help books, I get bored of the name-dropping and the long-drawn-out points. Make your point, back it up, move on.

1. Learn to adapt quickly
Start ups are difficult and you can't fully depend on traditional methods always to steer you where you want to go. Chaos–the “just do it”–mentality doesn't work either. Learn to fail, analyze, and implement changes quickly.
From Herve's review: “The main and most convincing lesson from Ries is that because start-ups face a lot of uncertainty, they should test, experiment, learn from the right or wrong hypotheses as early and as often as possible. They should use actionable metrics, split-test experiments, innovation accounting. He is also a big fan of Toyota lean manufacturing.”

From Andy's review:
2. Put out a ‘MVP'. As fast as possible, put out a ‘minimum viable product' and see if anyone is willing to buy it. If you spend forever making the product the best it could possibly be, you may end up with a cool product that no one actually wants or is willing to pay for. Throw the product out there, then improve it bit by bit.

3. Avoid ‘vanity metrics.' Anyone can generate hype and a short-lived interest in just about any product. Real, sustainable success is driven not by hype but by discovering something that people actually want or need, offering it to them, and then continually innovating the product based on a greater understanding of what people want/need.

4. Be lean. Learn from Toyota's manufacturing and respond quickly to customer feedback to provide monthly, weekly, or even daily iterations of your product. Again: don't build it and expect people to come—especially if you're only going to build once a year. Constantly iterate.

Quotes:

“it's the boring stuff that matters most.”

“Remember if we're building something that nobody wants, it doesn't much matter if we're doing it on time and on budget.”

“Customers don't care how much time something takes to build. They care only if it serves their needs.”

Honestly, I think Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (books 5-7 have always been top tier for me) may be my favorite of the Harry Potter series. I just love the background into Voldemort and we finally start seeing things coming together.

The underlying romance between Ron and Hermione, the romance between Harry and Ginny, Tom Riddle's obsession with vanquishing death and his belief that magic means that one should be master of death, Dumbledore's overall message of more love in this world (ironic that Rowling could write such a character and then have the beliefs that she does... I get in her mind that it isn't about loving someone else, but I struggle to see it in any other way), Dumbledore's speech about tyrants being afraid of someone rising up and being afraid of those that they oppress.

This book has such great moments in it. Finally, the series is no longer light and fluffy always, but recognizes that there are evils in this world and things worth fighting for.

LDS books sometimes tend to be very repetitive as they usually emphasize the same topics and things over and over again within the same book, however, I find Sheri Dew's books interesting and a good read. They do repeat some topics, yet I enjoy hearing her experiences in business and in other aspects of life.

Perhaps I have not been called to a calling where I am in a ward or stake council, but I loved the insights of this book pertaining to the family council. I know that when we communicate openly and with love to figure out problems, the Spirit of the Lord will help us find answers to our problems. I can't wait until I have my own family so I can enjoy these blessings and experience the things taught in this book.

Some of my favorite quotes from this book:

“If you wish to go where God is, you must be like God. . . Search in your hearts, and see if you are like God. I have searched mine, and feel to repent of all my sins . . . Is not God good? Then you be good; if he is faithful, then you be faithful.”
-Joseph Smith Jr.

“Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection, both individually and as a people.”
-Boyd K. Packer

“The magnitude of the promise is incomprehensible and the unevenness of the offer staggering: everything we possess in exchange for everything God possesses.”
-Andrew Skinner

“Every Latter-day Saint who gains a celestial Glory will be tried to the very uttermost. If there is a point in our character that is weak and tender, depend upon it that the Lord will reach after that, and we will be tried at that spot, for the Lord will test us to the upmost before we can get through and receive that glory and exaltation which he has in store for us as a people.”
-George Q. Cannon