How Google Works by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg
Posted: February 26, 2016 Filed under: Books, Documentary, Non-fiction | Tags: English, Eric Schmidt, Google, Jonathan Rosenberg Leave a comment
An interesting book by two notable Googlers, Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg.
Starts up as a very simple and way too I'm very proud of myself, the Introduction chapter nearly made me throw the book away (believe it or not, it's been an actual book, not my dearest kindle – kindly given to me as a gift by VS).
Later on, however, the book turned into a good self-motivation-meets-HR gospel, written by the leaders of this huge Silicon Valley behemoth praised for its “we-love-and-cherish-our-people” agenda.
For me, that was not a book on technology and transformation – it was rather a cue for me to think about whether my goals, priorities, direction etc were right – and books that force me to think about such stuff, well, for this I'm always grateful.
Good, easy to read – however, miraculously it also made me appreciate technology – real books are nice to touch, their pages new and immaculate – but they are a total hassle to read – hell, I forgot that already – you need external light without your kindle!
A Decent Ride by Irvine Welsh
Posted: December 3, 2015 Filed under: Books, Fiction | Tags: Books, English, fiction, Irvine Welsh 1 Comment
A good funny read from Mr. Irvine “Scotland-moved-to-Miami-and-then-came-back” Welsh.
As it's quite typical for Welsh to reuse and expand his old characters, this is now a third book about “Juice” Terry Lawson, a rough and cynical fellow from both Glue and Porno novels – and, to tell you the truth, I'm quite sad that I seem to remember very little from both of them. Need to re-read Glue one day anyway.
So as I was saying, the story revolves around Terry, who is mid-forties, works as an Edinburgh cab driver and, surprise-surprise, still acts as a true insatiable ladies man. Sex, drugs and rock'and'roll – and sex again.
Then, suddenly enough, the story of Terry charges its course – it becomes the epitome for aging and getting a bit more sad and mature at the same time. I couldn't but felt that Mr. Lawson caught up some of Irvine Welsh's own nostalgia of getting older – a former poet of Leith skag and casual youth, Welsh now writes about the same very folks, but 25 years older, 50 pounds heavier, and with a bad ticker on a brink of an imminent heart attack.
And then, miraculously enough again, it comes back positive again in the end. But no spoilers, eh, no spoilers.
PS: It's not yet available in the US, only comes out in Feb next year – so I had hit the shelves in the UK store of Amazon instead.
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Everything’s negotiable. As ah eywis say: fuck off means naw, naw means mibbe, mibbe means aye n aye means anal. Guaranteed!
Ah’ve goat a bookcase wi some books Rab Birrell lends ays which ah nivir fuckin read but ah keep tae impress the student burds. Moby-Dick, Crime and Punishment, that sort ay shite. That Dostoyevsky cunt, ah tried tae read um but every fucker hud aboot five different names, n ah left the scheme tae git away fae aw that! Too fuckin right.
Вся кремлевская рать. Краткая история современной России Михаила Зыгаря
Posted: October 27, 2015 Filed under: Books, Documentary, Non-fiction | Tags: Books, Mikhail Zygar, Russian, Russian History, TV Rain, Vladimir Putin Leave a comment
Крайне занимательный труд Зыгаря с канала Дождь, читается быстро, на одном дыхании.
История России времён Владимира Владимировича, со дня его прихода в 1999 году и до настоящего времени. Такие книги быстро теряют актуальность, но сегодня она в супер тренде, ибо вышла всего неделю назад.
К моему удивлению, у Зыгаря довольно взвешенный стиль и манера описания, без ярко либеральных перегибов по теме “какой же нехороший” ВВП, чему посвящена та же целая книжка Маши Гессен, но и без особой любви к нему тоже.
Зыгарь разумно отмечает, что (а) спасибо ВВ за тучные годы; (б) повестка дня у ВВ многократно менялась – и зачастую, наши прекрасные друзья из США и ЕС давали ему слишком много поводов закручивать гайки и перестать доверять им, и (в) как ни крути, короля играет свита, и именно ей зачастую важен образ, не допускающий слабости и признания своих ошибок.
Книга методично описывает события прошлых 15 лет, иногда описывает довольно аскетично – а иногда уходит на территорию всевозможных urban legends, в часть из которых легко поверить, а в часть поверить очень и очень сложно, да и не стоит вовсе (как, например, в объяснение конфликта между Ночными волками и охраной Джабраилова в Крылатском).
Вообще, в этой книге довольно много narration bias – некоторым важным событиям приписано разумное объяснение, но далеко не факт, что именно поэтому они произошли – скорее, их было проще всего по факту так обьяснить.
Тем не менее, в общем и целом, советую всем до конца года книжку прочитать – пока, что называется, материал свежий. Enjoy
PS: просто отличная история про Пескова и олимпиаду в Сочи – но верить или нет, не знаю 😉
The Dead and the Dying. A Criminal edition by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Posted: September 27, 2015 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Comic, Crime Fiction, Criminal, Ed Brubaker, English, Sean Phillips Leave a comment
Part three of the Criminal series is a beautiful three-part story told from three different angles.
Ed Brubaker's storytelling gets better by each part, it seems. Coward was ok, Lawless was good, and this one even better.
No point retelling the storyline here, though. Never saw a point in that.
Lawless. A Criminal edition by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Posted: September 26, 2015 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Comic, Crime Fiction, Criminal, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips 1 Comment
Part two of the Criminal series is entertaining, like all of Brubaker's noir graphic novels. To me, they all have the feel and touch of Westlake, Chase, and the likes of them. Brubaker is one of their kin for sure.
In essence, I'm convinced that comic books are a great medium for crime fiction, something quite on par with the great black and white noir movies. Even the ones with color, like this one, not just Frank Miller's Sin City.
This particular chapter is as good as others – it lacks one thing only – a gory finale, with blood splattering everywhere, and everyone, good, bad, innocent and guilty, moving their bodies in a well rehearsed John-Woo-of-the-80s dance of bullets and brains. On the other hand, I'd say not all good crime books end in death and suffering. So, maybe not too bad for a change, huh.
Мечта о “Тройке” Василия Мартова и Дмитрия Лисицына
Posted: September 25, 2015 Filed under: Books, Documentary, Non-fiction | Tags: Books, Dmitry Lisitsin, Ruben Vardanyan, Russian, Troika Dialog, Vasily Martov Leave a comment
Хорошая книжка. Жаль, что слишком короткая. Беглая, я бы так её охарактеризовал. Прочитал, не отрываясь от iPad, за полтора часа.
Правильнее, конечно, было бы сказать, что это книга о партнёрстве, а не Тройке как бизнесе – книги о бизнесе, а тем более инвестбанковском, содержат куда больше острых углов и занимательных и правдивых историй анекдотического характера. Здесь эти истории в основном про период до 2000 г.
Как бы там ни было, всем настоятельно рекомендую прочитать. И очень жаль, что я не дошёл до Serbia сегодня. Болеть зло, а особенно в такие вечера.
The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy by Masha Gessen
Posted: August 16, 2015 Filed under: Books, Documentary, Non-fiction | Tags: Books, English, Masha Gessen 1 Comment
The Brothers is not Masha Gessen's best book, but it sure is an interesting and quick read, like most of Gessen's stuff.
It may be incomplete and not investigative enough (published before the final sentence was pronounced for the surviving marathon bomber), the storyline may be not too polished – but nonetheless the first two parts (out of the total of three) are page-turners.
The first is history – in particular, Chechnya and Dagestan history – well, rather the Tsarnaevs family story against the Soviet background – and later growing up in Boston of the two future perps.
The second focuses on the day of the marathon and how friends, family, cops etc reacted to the fact that two perfectly ordinary boys turned out butchers.
The trial part of the book is its weakest. It has tons of non-pertinent data, discussions, thoughts etc – but mostly, it's just pure speculation by the author. Why did they do it? Radicals? Oppose U.S. Foreign policy? Like hell we find out. The cops and FBI did quite a number of strange and spooky things? Well, who could've guessed otherwise. Capital punishment is wrong? Damn it ,in this very case I'm fully on board with the most liberal state of MA who has decided to put this curly baby to sleep with a proper pinch of potassium chloride in each of his arms. Собаке собачья смерть. A cur's death for a cur.
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
Posted: July 12, 2015 Filed under: Books, Fiction | Tags: Books, Crime Fiction, English, fiction, Stephen King Leave a comment
A brain dead fellow on vacation a couple of weeks back, I downloaded Masha Gessen's latest book on the Tsarnaev brothers and patiently started reading it. But in the sun and all, it kinda felt wrong.
So I went to kindle store again and kept on browsing. For whatever. Simpler, I guess. And simpler I found.
About two years ago I dwelled and dwelled in various airport bookstores over buying Stephen King's Joyland novel – liked the film noir cover a lot – but in the end, never had the guts to do it. Don't get me wrong, Mr. King is undoubtedly a good writer, the one who builds a story that gets a grip of you and doesn't let go. Biggest problem – the last time I read King's stuff, I was in my teens, mid-teens, to be exact. Dead zone, the Shining, etc etc. So buying and reading King seemed, ummm, grossly inappropriate and childish for a bit older fella. Well, it did and it didn't.
I also remembered that a year or so ago I read a praise in, what was it, the Guardian, on King's Mr. Mercedes, a crime novel, a novelty for King, as there were no dead clowns creeping in the shadows. Pure crime stuff. And here I was, sun and all, finally reading King. Felt the same as watching crime TV series, the Wire, Sherlock, Breaking Bad stuff.
The beginning and mid part are totally better than the end, if you ask me – as I don't like even a shred of comical in a crime book, and this Holly character was put there for that reason. Other than that, the book has typical King's wit, but it's pulp all right. Burn after reading. Lazy as I am, still I decided, hell, I'll try the sequel Finders Keepers anyways (googled it – better reviews), as at least one thing is true – pulp reads fast.
Blitz by David Trueba
Posted: June 27, 2015 Filed under: Books, Fiction | Tags: Books, David Trueba, fiction, Spanish Leave a comment
Blitz is a short novel by David Trueba, a Spanish film director and screenwriter. Una historia de amor, it turned out in the end, and a strange one. A quick delightful read, eh.
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En la tele emitían resúmenes informativos del año. Todos hablaban de la crisis económica. En el recordatorio, la presidenta alemana Merkel, con su rigidez, daba una mano fría a los presidentes sucesivos de España, primero Zapatero con sus cejas de bebé asustado y luego Rajoy con esa ausencia de personalidad idéntica al muñeco abandonado de un ventrílocuo. Ambos parecían pedir de ella más que un apretón de manos, quizá ser acunados, que los acercara a su pecho para darles de mamar. Pero ella no era la madre que buscaban.
Dotter of her Father’s Eyes by Mary M. Talbot and Bryan Talbot
Posted: June 22, 2015 Filed under: Books, Comic, Documentary, Non-fiction | Tags: Books, Bryan Talbot, Comic, English, James Joyce, Mary M Talbot Leave a comment
Bought it in Sipur Pashut bookstore in Tel-Aviv – a short one, less than one hundred pages, an-hour-and-half kinda read. At the beach, where else.
A strange story. It’s part memoir, part fictiotionalized drawn narrative about Lucia Joyce, James Joyce’s daughter, from her birth through career in dancing, at the backdrop of her tough relations with her mother Nora, and ending with Lucia being confined to a mental institution.
The story is told in juxtaposition with the memoir of Mary Talbot herself, a daughter of a renown British Joycean scholar, and her difficult relationship with her own father.
What gives this book special flavor of sorts is the fact that the drawings are made by Bryan Talbot, the cartoonist who is also Mrs. Talbot’s husband. A family enterprise, so to say.
Overall conclusion is that the pictures were great, but for me, it didn’t went anywhere past my beach read. Maybe it will, for devoted Joyce fans, but not for me. But I also suspect, it might just as well sparkle their anger. Who knows, huh.
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