In the Beginning... was the Command Line, by Neal Stephenson

I’m hit and miss on Stephenson, but this essay is great. He breaks down the operating system religious debate (Mac versus Windows versus Linux) better than most, and is entertaining as well. I’ll admit I tend to be the Microsoft apologist at the office (past and present) but I’m comfortable in the Unix world, too. I’ve never had much use for Macs, although friends tell me that the latest version is pretty darn good. In any case, while Stephenson clearly shows his preference he does a fair job of outlining the pros and cons of all the choices. I haven’t come across anyone else that was anti-Microsoft (although there is very little venom here unlike most diatribes out there) yet thought the government antitrust case was ridiculous. It is a bit dated (BeOS is considered one a major option) but that doesn’t hurt the tale. This essay is an entertaining rant and will be enjoyed by anyone working on distributed machines.

First Sentence:

About twenty years ago Jobs and Wozniak, the founders of Apple, came up with the very strange idea of selling information-processing machines for use in the home.

Wellspring of Chaos, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

This is Modesitt’s twelfth entry in the Recluse series, and another enjoyable one. The story is much as the others: a young crafter slowly discovers his magical abilities and uses them to counter the abuses of power around him. While the theme isn’t any different, the ongoing study of how people wield power is interesting and something that Modesitt returns to again and again, not just in the Recluse series but in virtually every one of his books. One of the great things about the Recluse series is that there are really five or six different main arcs that take place over about 2000 years (in fact, this book is the start of a new one). Because they all take place in the same group of islands in a shared history, we really get to see how the society changes over time. A new country is formed as a refuge for the oppressed at the conclusion of one arc, only to discover that 300 years later the new country exiles people that don’t accede to the politics of the state. This organic growth of the world keeps these stories fresh. I look forward to the next installment.

First Sentence:

Kharl stood at the front window of his shop, looking westward for a moment at the wedge of twilight sky visible between the slate roofs of the buildings on the far side of the narrow Crafters’ Lane.

Superman: The Never-Ending Battle, by Roger Stern

While this book always intended to be a novel, because the characters are some of the most famous superheroes in the world it is very difficult to not compare to the drawn world. This probably isn't fair, any more than those irritating conversations we all get in that start, "the book was better than the movie." If this were a comic book, I suspect it would have been only average. The story (a villain attempting to control the world by co-opting the weather) was fine as a backdrop, but I was hoping for more depth to the characters. Unfortunately, every hero acted exactly as you'd expect; this was the Justice League out of the Superfriends, not from television. While that certainly doesn't make it bad, I find it sad that Paul Dini can create a much more powerful story and subtext in a half-hour show on Cartoon Network than found in a 370 page novel. I won't go as far as saying don't read this book, I will say a much more awarding JLA experience awaits you on Saturdays.

First Sentence:

He could see the bullet coming.

Horns win sixth College World Series Championship!

I started this blog right before Texas won the Rose Bowl. Six months later the Horns go undefeated in Omaha to bring home their sixth national title. Coincidence? I think not! Congratulations Texas!

The Goal, by Goldratt and Cox

Unlike most management books, instead of being a collection of anecdotes told to support a central premise, this one is a novel—a true tale of fiction. (While bookstores probably shelve this with the other business texts, my local library puts it in the fiction section which probably reduces the chances of browsing across it.) The Goal tells the story of a plant manager that takes an underperforming factory and turns it into the market leader. The business value comes from examining how and why this was able to happen. There is also a side-story about how the manager saves his marriage that I suppose is supposed to parallel the success of the plant, but I found this distracting and unneeded.

I suspect that various people will take away different things from this book, which is a good indication of why it is so popular. For me, this reinforced my belief that understanding priorities is one of the most useful (and under-used) tools that we can use to make decisions. The goal of the plant is to make money, but instead of being measured by how much money it generates, it is measured by the cost to operate the various internal machinery. Once the hero and his team realize this, they change their priorities to emphasize total throughput instead of making the individual steps more efficient. A sort of “the good of the many outweighs the good of the few” moment. The chapters where we are taken through an example of why point optimizations don’t equal overall improvements were particularly interesting, if a bit contrived. The context is watching a single-file line of hikers and examining why the gaps between them expand and contract at different rates. The boys are named in alphabetical order (Andy, Ben, Chuck, Dave, and Evan) which for some reason I found jarring in a supposed novel.

While Tom Clancy doesn’t have much to worry about, I found a novel to be a refreshing approach for discussing what is pretty dry topic. I’d recommend this to anyone that is trying to understand how decisions should get made or how to improve a process. If you are just looking for an entertaining story, though, I’d keep looking.

First Sentence:

I come through the gate this morning at 7:30 and I can see it from across the lot: the crimson Mercedes.

Your Bet Your Planet, edited by Greenberg and Koren

Another themed short story collection, this one dealing with reality and game shows of the future. I don’t like reality shows, so I’m puzzled as to why I bought this book. A couple of the stories were cute (The Hollywood Dilemma by Russell Davis where Chuck Woolery turns out to be Satan is the highlight) but most were unremarkable at best. While I never felt like throwing this book away, it is probably the least entertaining group of short stories I’ve read in a long time.

First Sentence (from the introduction):

In the last few years, game shows and reality television have hit a new high.

Pour Your Heart into It, by Howard Schultz and Dori Jones Yang

I found this to be a good read. The story of how Starbucks came to be is what it is today is pretty interesting, especially for a business biography. Schultz (the CEO of Starbucks) does an excellent job of conveying his passion for coffee and how that has translated into business success. I don’t remember when I last had a cup of coffee, but after reading this I must admit I’m thinking about trying it again—at least the higher end stuff. Because I’m not a coffee person, though, much of the angst and heartache over some of the issues was lost on me. I just kept thinking, “It is only coffee! Get over it!”

Corporate Starbucks seems to have a lot of the same values as Disney: there can’t be too much attention to detail, quality at any cost, and people (both the customer and the employee) come before profits. While it sounds counter-intuitive, you certainly can’t argue with the success of either company. I wonder how many other companies are out there that think this way? A powerful quote along these lines from Schultz: “I want Starbucks to be admired not only for what we have achieved but for how we achieved it.”

First Sentence:

Starbucks, as it is today, is actually the child of two parents.

The Dark Side of the Game, by Tim Green

This isn’t a biography, but a collection of essays about the NFL. None are all that in-depth and most are more anecdote than analysis, but all are interesting. We get a peek into topics that range from training camp to injuries, from agents to the media, from playing dirty to retirement. I’d have preferred a deeper dive into a few of the topics but still found this a pretty good read. The biggest detraction was that it is somewhat dated now; it was written in 1996 and the landscape of professional football has obviously changed since then (been a while since the 49ers and Cowboys have been the cream of the NFL). Light reading for sure, but you could have a worse book sitting in your bathroom (especially if you enjoy watching football).

First Sentence:

When I meet people for the first time and they learn that I played for eight years in the NFL, their eyes glaze over with that faraway look of a person dreaming what he’ll do if he wins the lottery.

Envisioning Information, by Edward R. Tufte

I can’t decide if I like Tufte’s work or not. The ideas presented are thought provoking and the images capture your attention like few works I’ve ever seen; however, the attitude that comes through his writing reminds me of the worst of my college professors. I suppose in the idea of not shooting the messenger I should give him a pass because the message itself is strong. This book talks about how to best display information, especially lots of information in a small amount of space. I personally find cartography fascinating and there are plenty of maps to be found here. Color is another topic that is covered but could use an update in my opinion; in our new supposedly accessible world Section 508 is becoming more important but ignored in this text. Like Tufte’s other works I’d recommend this one, for the pictures if nothing else. Visually amazing.

First Sentence:

Even though we navigate daily through a perceptual world of three spatial dimensions and reason occasionally about higher dimensional arenas with mathematical ease, the world portrayed on our information displays is caught up in the two-dimensionality of the endless flatlands of paper and video screen.

Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey A. Moore

Interesting book. It is split into two parts: the first details the technology adoption curve and the places a company can get stuck, and the second outlines a strategy for a successful avoidance of the pitfalls. I was familiar with the basic concepts here from various presentations and speeches I’ve attended, but hadn’t read the source material. Part one found very compelling; I could see exactly where most of the products on which I’ve worked fell on the adoption curve and in several cases why they stalled. Part two was still interesting, but less applicable as I’m not a marketing guy and that is the main focus of this section. More and more references to the Chasm Group consulting services appear as the book winds down, too, making it less a reference text and more of an advertisement. Despite a weak finish, I’d recommend this book to anyone in the high-tech industry; if nothing else it gives a common vocabulary for discussion about product adoption in much the same way The Innovator’s Dilemma did for disruptive technologies.

First Sentence:

There is a line from a song in the musical A Chorus Line: “If Troy Donahue can be a movie star, then I can be a movie star.”