Month: June 2010

Written by John Huddy and narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, “Storming Las Vegas” is about Jose Vigoa and the robberies that he an his crew committed in Las Vegas.

I really enjoyed this book and even went on extra walks just to have more time to listen to it. It is a true-crime drama with all of the elements of a Hollywood action flick.

The author spends a great deal of time taking us through the preparations of each robbery, the lives of the victims, and the aftermath.

From the publisher:

Immediately gripping and thoroughly harrowing, Storming Las Vegas tells the story of a remarkable true-life crime spree – a story that was previously squashed so as not to disturb tourism, in the ultimate proof of “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”.

On September 20, 1998, a Cuban-born former Red Army lieutenant named Jose Vigoa launched a series of raids on the Las Vegas Strip. During a 16-month spree, Vigoa robbed five world-class hotels, three armored cars, and one department store. The casinos hit were the MGM; the Desert Inn; the New York, New York; the Mandalay Bay; and the Bellagio.

Lieutenant John Alamshaw, a 23-year-old veteran in charge of robbery detectives, was ordered to stop the robberies at all costs. He knew he was up against a mastermind. What he didn’t know was that he was running out of time.

I bought this book from Audible.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I give this book an 8 and think that anyone who enjoys true-crime and actions books will like it.

Michael Palin of Monty Python fame has done a number of shows for the BBC and this book is based on one of those series.

From the publisher:
“In the autumn of 1988, Michael Palin set out from the Reform Club with an ambitious plan: to circumnavigate the world, following the route taken by Jules Verne’s fictional hero Phileas Fogg 115 years earlier.

The rules were simple. He had to make the journey in 80 days using only forms of transport that would have been available to Fogg. And so, complete with visas, running shoes, an inflatable globe, and sound advice from Alan Whicker, Michael Palin began his incredible journey.

Crossing 17 borders and meeting innumerable challenges, he saw Venice from the back of a rubbish barge, rode around the Pyramids on a camel called Michael, and was attacked by a cockatoo in Hong Kong, amongst many other adventures.”

Around the World in 80 Days is one of my favorite Jules Verne stories, so when I saw this on Audible I jumped on it. Michael Palin is a funny guy and a great story teller. The only let down in this book is how fast he travels through some areas, I really wanted to hear more about many of the places he visited.

I did not appreciate many of his views on America and found almost his entire time in America to be tedious and un-enjoyable, but overall I liked the book.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I give this book a 7 and recommend it to those who like travel stories and/or Michael Palin.

What an amazing book. Bill Bryson manages to cover enough of the world’s history to make it really feel like you have learned a little something about everything.

From the publisher:
“Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn’t know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world’s leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant. Even the most pointy-headed, obscure scientist succumbs to the affable Bryson’s good nature, and reveals how he or she figures things out. Showing us how scientists get from observations to ideas and theories is Bryson’s aim, and he succeeds brilliantly. It is an adventure of the mind, as exciting as any of Bryson’s terrestrial journeys.”

I really enjoyed this book; it may be responsible for my acceptance of the idea of listening to books as opposed to reading written words. The narrator Richard Matthews brought this book to life for me; I don’t think I would have enjoyed this book if I had read the printed book.

The best thing I learned was that early scientists were laymen with very little if any formal training. Many of them were minor royalty who could have lived a life of leisure without contributing anything to mankind; instead they chose to pursue science and to share what they learned freely.

And the part about interns in Yosemite taking baths in hot springs that are off limits is kind of gross, but also fascinating.

I give this book an 8 out of 10 and recommend it to anyone with an interest in science and history. I bought this book on Audible.

I really liked this book. The author Jim Collins and his team research findings uncovered 5 steps that many companies follow on their path of decline. Full of examples, the book does a great job disseminating their findings in an easy to understand way.

A fun note, if you listen to this audio book at 2x speed the author sounds a lot like a young William Shatner, which also helped to hold my attention.

From the authors web site:
“How the Mighty Fall presents the well-founded hope that leaders can learn how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course – in part by understanding the five step-wise stages of decline uncovered in the four year research project behind the book.”

I give this book an 8 out of 10 rating. It is an interesting exploration of how companies fail.