I admit, this book wasn't on my radar...at all. I hadn't heard of Matthew Reilly or his previous works.  But then the world of the internet decided to intervene into my happy, little life. Leah Wasielewski, a marketing manager from Simon and Schuster, sent me an email 5 weeks ago asking about a possible book promotion. I almost insta-deleted the email because it was addressed to 'Dear Dirty Dog Stink" which is spam 99.9% of the time. It was obviously a form letter, but something about it made me read further.

Leah...here's some constructive criticism: It would have been nice if you had taken the time to find out my real name [not very hard since I sign every single post] and address the email properly.

Oh well, I read the email and did a quick search on the book and author. I really enjoy thriller/spy novels so the material looked interesting enough for me to reply to her with "ok, I'll bite." In a nutshell, she sent me the book (for free) and I made the time to read it. So here are my thoughts....

My review is going to seem harsh, but I actually enjoyed and recommend the book. Odd perhaps, but oh well. Honestly it just didn't grab me from the start. I had to force myself to read the first 100 pages, mostly due to my verbal [email?] commitment.

As to why I had to force myself, well primarily because it felt like I was being spoon fed all of the facts and details. Matthew's writing style is very direct and detailed, but doesn't really seem to use the reader's imagination. Kind of like reading a history book.

For instance, everyone had a codename. Everyone. Or more like...everyone? Does everyone really need a codename? Keeping 10+ characters straight can be tough enough without having to decipher a codename for every single one of them. This was more of a chore for me than an enjoyable story attribute. I almost opened up Excel and created a pivot table to keep track of who's who.

Also, there are some pretty implausible and unbelievable storylines [that I won't reveal] that just made me groan out loud with something like "what freakish world is he living in where that would ever be possible?" Remember this is supposed to be based [at least loosely] on reality, similar to Robert Ludlum. Super combat skills, that's cool. Cutting edge weapons, sweet. Uber-tech gadgets, awesome. [Plot line I won't reveal goes here], wtf?

Interestingly enough, this writing characteristic is even called out on his Wikipedia entry.

Reilly is well known for his style of writing, which focuses entirely on Hollywood-style action scenes, relegating drama and character development to second priority.

Now having said what I disliked I must admit that it took awhile, but I finally became invested in the characters and wanted to know what happened to each of them. Once I got used to his writing style and accepted the fact that that was just the way it was going to be, I really started enjoying the story.

In a nutshell, I would describe this as a light, somewhat spoon-fed, yet enjoyable thriller. It's like watching Die Hard versus The Departed...both enjoyable movies, but very different experiences. So I recommend the book, but with a qualifying statement that you suspend some of your reality-checkism [hey, new word!] and just enjoy the story. Like going to see a Jackie Chan flick [which I love!].

Full disclosure: I did not purchase this book. It was provided to me free of charge by Leah Wasielewski of Simon and Schuster who asked that I review the book here. Clear enough for ya?

Bonus: For those of you who actually read this far, I'll mail my copy of the book to the first person who emails me. Completely free. I'll even pay for the shipping [only in the continental U.S.]. Yes, I'm paying it forward. I got to read it for free, as will one of you [the 3 or 4 non-family readers ]. Enjoy!

~tod

PS: Of course I did a search for Leah online to find out who I was dealing with and lo and behold, I found this. I'm sure she'll appreciate my link to it. Ha! You never know what you'll get when publicizing outside of the mainstream.

I picked this up on a whim. Seriously, it was a complete impulse buy. I read Seth Godin's short recommendation a few months ago and was intrigued. So I hopped over to Geek Mafia's site, read a bit more, was further interested and and then pleasantly surprised to see that Rick offers it as a free download (pdf). In fact, I love his description:

"Don’t have the cash to buy your own copy of Geek Mafia? Or are you just too damn cheap? Or maybe you prefer reading on screen to the look and feel of a book in your hand.

Well, fact is, I’d rather you read the book than not, so if you don’t want to pay, then fine. Here. Have it for FREE."

I was going to download the pdf, but then noticed that the paperback version is only $5 through the publisher. I prefer the feel of a book in my hand so I dropped the $5 (+ shipping) and it was well worth it.

Anyway, my impression of the book...

A definite thumbs up for those that enjoy the suspense, thriller genre. I especially enjoyed how the story evolves around high-tech scams with a lot of human element mixed in. Dakan does a good job of giving you enough technical mumbo-jumbo to make it believable, without going into the deeper issues/details where most authors get tripped up. Like 24...I hate how they're always saying "open a socket into his PC." A socket? Obviously the writers don't know what a socket is, how it's used or have the time/energy to look it up. Maybe they're thinking of a socket wrench?

Regardless, Geek Mafia is a good story and a pretty quick read at just under 300 pages. I highly recommend it.

Oh, and it looks like he has a sequel in the works. Good times.

~tod

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

A month or more ago I attended a day-long class about improving my productivity through organizing my tasks and information in Outlook.  In fact, I discuss getting my email organized with the 4 Ds using the techniques from the class. I'm really digging it. I decided to take the class a few steps further and see what else I can do in my life to get more organized so I went to our group's organizational expert [hi Ed!] for some advice. He pointed me in the direction of David Allen so I picked up Getting Things Done and started reading. 

I liked it and found a lot of value. Honestly, it was another pretty easy read. I didn't do too many of [read that as 'none of'] the exercises in the book and was able to finish it in less than a week. I figured with my first read through I would just try to digest the overall concepts and then see where/how I could fit them into my life. It helped solidify several of the concepts I pulled out of the day-long class.

As is my custom, here are some specific areas that I found interesting and helpful:

• Allen bases his methodology on two key objectives:
  • "capturing all the things that need to get done -- now, later, someday, big, little, or in between -- into a logical and trusted system outside of your head and off your mind"
  • "disciplining yourself to make front-end decisions about all of the 'inputs' you let into your life so that you'll always have a plan for 'next actions' that you can implement or renegotiate at any moment"
  • Both of these objectives really rang true for me. I have always been organized, but with a bad habit of procrastinating with my decisions. Forcing myself to make decisions up front [like applying the 4 Ds when processing email] has been a tremendously positive change.
• "if it's on your mind, your mind isn't clear." Allen discusses a zen-like approach to clarity of thought and how it leads to drastic advances in our thought processes. The gist of it is that if your mind is freed from having to keep track of grocery lists, project to-dos, meeting reminders, etc. then you can let it work on the bigger issues in your life like how to design a new product or what it really might take for you to go on that dream vacation to Europe. If you write it down (physically or electronically) and store it somewhere you trust, the mental benefits/gains are exponential.
• "The big difference between what I do and what others do is that I capture and organize 100 percent of my 'stuff' in and with objective tools at  hand, not in my mind. And that applies to everything -- little or big, personal or professional, urgent or not. Everything." - I have started doing this using Outlook tasks and it really is refreshing to know that I have one place to go whenever I need to look up notes, lists or next-actions. It takes a certain amount of discipline to capture everything, as David does, but it really is liberating after awhile.
• "What's the Next Action? ... The 'next action' is the next physical, visible activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality toward completion." - This is often an elusive thing when dealing with projects or even worse, multiple projects at the same time. Simplifying a project down to the single next action that needs to take place in order to move forward can provide clear direction...not only for yourself, but others you are working with. I see way too many project meetings that end without any clear action items and these are the projects that inevitably stall and then fizzle into nothing. Months later you find yourself asking someone 'whatever happened to project X?' Ugh.
• The Natural Planning Model -
  1. Defining purpose and principles
  2. Outcome visioning
  3. Brainstorming
  4. Organizing
  5. Identifying next actions
  • I see so many projects that exclude, ignore or forget one or more of these pieces and they always seem so unorganized. In fact, just a few weeks ago I was in a 3 hour meeting that included loads of brainstorming.  Early in the meeting I became confused [I am a late-comer to the project] and asked for # 1 or 2 above to give me some clarity. I got blank stares in return. D'oh! How can we effectively brainstorm a design or concept if we don't even know what the purpose and vision are?
• Don't be afraid to ask why. Why are we meeting? Why am I in this meeting? Why are we trying to accomplish this? Why do the requestors think they need this solution? Yada-yada-yada... Here are Allen's listed benefits of asking "why?" and I couldn't agree more:
  • It defines success.
  • It creates decision-making criteria.
  • It aligns resources.
  • It motivates.
  • It clarifies focus.
  • It expands options.
• Mind-mapping as a brainstorming exercise. This looks pretty interesting.
• Filing systems: "the lack of a good general-reference system can be one of the greatest obstacles to implementing a personal management system, and for more of the executives I have personally coached, it represents one of the biggest opportunities for improvement." - I'm a pack-rat when it comes to documents and such. I had a huge file cabinet full of stuff going back 20+ years. A lot of it was irrelevant, but more importantly it was filed very inefficiently. The system only made sense to me and was cumbersome. In a nutshell, Allen recommends making your filing system as simple as possible. Start with a simple set of folders labeled A-Z and only make specific-labeled folders for those things you need. So I spent a weekend purging my files and re-organizing them. Not only was I able to shred 65% of the files, but I simplified the system so that everything is easy to find. Bills are under B instead of a separate folder for each company, house information is in H, medical stuff is under M, etc. That was a big monkey off my back.
• Organizing action reminders - I'm still working this one out to find a way that works well for me, but Allen gives a lot of good suggestions. Basically, if something needs to be done on a certain date/time then put it on your calendar. Other next actions should be organized by context, whatever context makes the most sense to you (phone calls, errands, office, read/review, at computer, etc.).
• Weekly review - Probably one of the most important aspects to implementing Allen's system! Once you start collecting all of your thoughts/ideas/actions in a trusted place you need to review them regularly so they're not missed. The weekly review is one such point-in-time where you spend a few hours organizing the loose things (email, papers, notes, lists, etc.), reviewing your next actions, clearing your mind and double-checking yourself. Here are the things that Allen suggests for a weekly review:
  • Process all loose papers.
  • Process your notes from journal entries, meetings or scribbled reminders.
  • Review past calendar dates for remaining action items, reference information, etc.
  • Look at future calendar events for any prep work you might need to do.
  • Clear your mind by writing down all of your project ideas, action items, etc.
  • Evaluate your projects for status and any action items.
  • Review your lists (next actions, waiting for, someday/maybe) for any items that can be marked as finished or needs to be updated.
• "Your negative feelings are simply the result of breaking those agreements." Allen is referring to our agreements with ourselves when we have something in our 'inbox' or tell ourselves we will do something, but then we don't complete it. "If you tell yourself to draft a strategic plan, when you don't do it, you'll feel bad. Tell yourself to get organized, and if you fail to, welcome to guilt and frustration." We are our own worst critic, right?

Interesting quotes from the book:

• It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head. - Sally Kempton
• It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do. - Elbert Hubbard
• Fanaticism consists of redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim. - George Santayana
• The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas. - Linus Pauling
• If you're not totally sure what your job is, it will always feel overwhelming. - David Allen
• Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning. - Winston Churchill
• People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. - George Bernard Shaw

The thing I really liked about this book, besides all of the organizational tips/suggestions, is that Allen's basic premise is that you should find a system that works best for you. The same system will not work for everyone and he states that frequently. He suggests you use his processes, but also realizes that you might want to take a hybrid approach [what I have done] and is ok with that. He writes the book with an open mind which, in my opinion, makes him even more credible.

~tod

tags: organization, productivity, book+review

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

I could not believe how fast this book read. I started it last Thursday and finished it Saturday afternoon. Especially for a book on economics...I am completely astounded at how easy this was to read and comprehend. The authors have a great knack for taking the complicated and translating it into layman's terms that make sense and deliver their points succinctly. Economics is not the sexiest topic nor is it the easiest to comprehend, but the two Steves actually made it interesting and thought provoking.

Just look at these chapter titles, does this sound like an economics book?

1. What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?
2. How is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?
3. Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live with Their Moms?
4. Where Have All the Ciminals Gone?
5. What Makes a Perfect Parent?
6. Perfect Parenting, Part II; or: Would a Roshanda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?

Here are some interesting pieces of information taken from the book:

• "There are enough guns in the United States that if you gave one to every adult, you would run out of adults before you ran out of guns. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. homicides involve a gun, a far greater fraction than in other industrialized countries. Our homicide rate is also much higher than in those countries....In Switzerland, every adult male is issued an assault rifle for militia duty and is allowed to keep the gun at home. On a per capita basis, Switzerland has more firearms than just about any other country, and yet it is one of the safest places in the world. In other words, guns do not cause crime."
• "Cheating is a primordial economic act: getting more for less....Consider what happened one spring evening at midnight in 1987: seven million American children suddenly disappeared....It was the night of April15, and the Internal Revenue Service had just changed a rule. Instead of merely listing each dependent child, tax filers were now required to provide a Social Security number for each child. Suddenly, seven million children...vanished, representing about one in ten of all dependent children in the United States."
• "Had the Internet been around when Kennedy infiltrated the Klan, he probably would have rushed home after each meeting and blogged his brains out." This one made me laugh-out-loud.
• "If you were to assume that many experts use their information to your detriment, you'd be right. Experts depend on the fact that you don't have the information they do. Or that you are so befuddled by the complexity of their operation that you wouldn't know what to do with the information if you had it. Or that you are so in awe of their expertise that you wouldn't dare challenge them."
• "Listed below are ten terms commonly used in real-estate ads. Five of them have strong positive correlation to the ultimate sales price, and five have a strong negative correlation....Higher Sales Price: Granite, State-of-the-Art, Corian, Maple, Gourmet.... Lower Sales Price: Fantastic, Spacious, !, Charming, Great Neighborhood....
• "Consider the parents of an eight-year-old girl named, say, Molly. Her two best friends, Amy and Imani, each live nearby. Molly's parents know that Amy's parents keep a gun in their house, so they have forbidden Molly to play there. Instead, Molly spends a lot of time at Imani's house, which has a swimming pool in the backyard. Molly's parents feel good about having made such a smart choice to protect their daughter....The likelihood of death by pool (1 in 11,000) versus death by gun (1 in 1 million-plus) isn't even close: Molly is roughly 100 times more likely to die in a swimming accident at Imani's house than in gunplay at Amy's."
• "Compare the four hundred lives that a few swimming pool precautions might save to the number of lives saved by far noisier crusades: child-resistant packaging (an estimated fifty lives a year), flame-retardant pajamas (ten lives), keeping children away from airbags in cars (fewer than five young children a year have been killed by airbags since their introduction), and safety drawstrings on children's clothing (two lives)."
• "Fryer cites the recollections of a young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, known then as Lew Alcindor, who had just entered the fourth grade in a new school and discovered that he was a better reader than even the seventh graders: 'When the kids found this out, I became a target....It was my first time away from home, my first experience in an all-black situation, and I found myself being punished for everything I'd ever been taught was right. I got all A's and was hated for it; I spoke correctly and was called a punk. I had to learn a new language simply to be able to deal with the threats. I had good manners and was a good little boy and paid for it with my hide.'" This is taken out of a section discussing the black-white income and education gaps and I simply found Kareem's experience with discrimination interesting.
• "...a child with many books in his home has indeed been found to do well on school tests. But regularly reading to a child doesn't affect test scores." I found this particularly interesting and his explanation is way too long to put here...so go read it.

This quote sums up the book nicely: "What this book is about is stripping a layer or two from the surface of modern life and seeing what is happening underneath."

Update: I forgot to add that the authors have a blog [and it is posted to regularly] at Freakonomics.com.

~tod

tags: freakonomics, book+review