by Edith WhartonWritten in 1920. This tale spans 20-30 years, two continents, and the hearts of two women and one man. Newland Archer is engaged in pre-World-War-One New York City to May Welland. However, he falls for May’s cousin Ellen who is fresh off a separation from her marriage in Europe. Ellen seems to respond (however subtly) to Newland’s flirtations and overtures. Newland seems torn between his two lovers and seems to prefer Ellen over…
by J.R.R. TolkienBBC Audiobook This second retelling of Tolkien’s masterpiece trilogy of The Lord of the Rings contains more of the same. Like all middle-pieces of trilogies, tensions are unresolved and themes are explored more deeply. Middle-pieces of trilogies are never completely satisfying. The reader does not discover something new (that is left for the first book), and the reader does not come to an end (that is left for the third book). Instead, there is…
by Gore VidalCopyright (c) 1984 Lincoln is our nation’s savior and helped free an entire race of people from slavery. As such, he has risen to near-saint status. Most books by American historians – and even those takes like that in the British HG Well’s A Short History of the World – essentially form a hagiography. Fortunately, our age has Gore Vidal’s work of historical fiction, which places Lincoln as a politician and lawyer first. Lincoln,…
by J.R.R. TolkienBBC Audiobook How to review a narrative that has been a turned into classic tetralogy and a well-funded multimillion-dollar movie trilogy? I’ve chosen to do so via a trilogy dramatized and produced for radio by the BBC. In a few hours’ time, I let my mind recess into listening to words of fantasy. British accents and the deep tradition of the English language adorned my rides home. An escape was the result –…
by Madeleine L’EngleCopyright (c) 1962 I have been hearing of this book for a long time. I did not read it as a child nor as a youth. Nonetheless, L’Engle’s name circulates in some of the literary circles in which I read (e.g., fans of C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkein). L’Engle’s work portrays a broadly Christian worldview with a tale of the triumph of love. In so doing, she spins Einstein’s description of the universe…
Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson I enjoy Einstein’s story a lot as I’ve read multiple biographies of him. His story spans more than a mere history of science as it tells the tale of World War II, being a refugee, struggles with marriage, and more. This biography is primarily based on recently released personal letters. As such, it provides a more intimate look than prior works. His science (especially the annus mirabilis of…
by Colson WhiteheadCopyright (c) 2016 I picked up this book because it won a Pulitzer for Whitehead and because it had the recommendation of Barack Obama, who reads widely. I was not let down. Its picturesque depiction of slavery and of slavery’s effects brought this historical event to life to me. Further, Whitehead vividly shows how the human heart – even those from “uncivilized” Africa – longs universally for freedom. I read it cover-to-cover in…
by Gerald WeinbergCopyright (c) 2011 Weinberg is a master of extracting the human personality required to run modern business. He describes one of his art-forms in this introduction to consulting practice. This book does not focus merely on short heuristics on how to consult. It instead goes in-depth into the psyche required to succeed as a consultant. He defines consulting as the art of influencing people at their request. He then describes a rational framework…
by Tom DeMarco and Tim ListerCopyright (c) 2013 This book is one of the few focused specifically on how to manage projects and teams of knowledge-workers. It teaches the reader how management might retain workers and their essential skills instead of treating them like cattle. It treats the central problem of management is sociology and not technology. Keeping knowledge-workers happy and productive requires humanity and not scorched-earth policies. The book, in its third edition, is organized…
by Nathaniel HawthorneWritten 1851 Hawthorne wrote this book in the warm aura of his masterpiece The Scarlet Letter. This book dwells on the theme of whether a Puritan history – replete with its sad stories like the Salem Witch Trials – will haunt the New England culture forever or whether New England can overcome such sad austerity. The hope for the future lies in the characters of Phoebe and Hargrove, who end up getting married…