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Dave Nelson Posts

Eli is doing great!

Eli had a check-up yesterday and he is up to 4 lbs. 9 oz. and is doing great. He is a bit fussy at night but we have a new plan to keep him awake a bit longer during the day so he will hopefully spend more time sleeping at night. If anyone has tips for helping him sleep more at night we would love to hear them.

Because he is a preemie we have to wait 4 to 6 weeks after his original due date before taking him out in public. His due date was August 22nd so we cannot take him out until October. Wow that is a long time.

Baby

Doctor Who: The Sands of Time By Justin Richards

In this adventure the Fifth Doctor as played by Peter Davidson travels with companions Nyssa and Tegan to London and Egypt to thwart the Osiran Nephthys.

I really enjoyed reading this book using eReader on my iPhone. It is available free from the BBC’s Doctor Who Classic web site along with 8 other books.

The story moves along at a good pace, not a fast as some Doctor Who novels, but this is book meant for more mature readers than the new series. I really enjoyed the way the Doctor plays with time in this book taking Atkins back and forth through time even having his past and future selves in London at the same time.

I also really like the Author’s notes where Justin Richards shares his thoughts on the book and the Artwork gallery with drawings from the story. Also under the aurthor’s notes are two flowcharts that show the Doctor’s timeline and the Main timeline of the story. Real inside baseball stuff that makes a fan like me happy.

I rate this book an 8 out of 10 for fans of the series. It is a great read especially when you take into account that it is free!

Books

Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw

I find Andrew Carnegie was a fascinating man, born into poverty in Scotland during a time of economic upheaval to a hardworking mother and a father who was not. In his lifetime he made and gave away millions of dollars. I learned that he was a very hard worker who appeared to intuitively know what he needed to do to take himself to the next level of success.

I bought this book from Audible and found its 32 hour and 45 minute length to be way to long. I began the book with a high level of interest and really enjoyed the first third of the book, but the remainder of the book just seemed to drone on and on. The reading of letters written by Carnegie and the people in his life held no interest for me.

Andrew’s later life of marriage and fatherhood are not covered well by this book, but that is probably because there is not a lot of information available about that part of his life. The information that is available focuses on his philanthropic pursuits, business dealings and political machinations.

I have to admit that I fast forwarded through most of this book playing it at 2x speed and toward the end I scrubbed past chunks of it that were boring me to tears.

From the publisher:

The Scottish-born son of a failed weaver and a mother who supported the family by binding shoes, Andrew Carnegie was the embodiment of the American dream. In his rise from a job as a bobbin boy in a cotton factory to being the richest man in the world, he was single-minded, relentless, and a major player in some of the most violent and notorious labor strikes of the time. The prototype of today’s billionaire, he was a visionary in the way he earned his money and in the way he gave it away.

I rate this book a 4 out of 10 as a whole, but I would rate the first third of the book a 7 out of 10. If you are interested in Andrew Carnegie and have an available credit on Audible I think the first third of this book is worth listening to or reading and then scrubbing through the rest.

Books

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without by Malcolm Gladwell

I enjoyed the side stories and insight into the way we make decisions and form opinions. I found this book interesting but it really didn’t excite me. I had a hard time writing this review because the book left me with no strong feelings about it.

There are some insights into human nature in this book, but nothing that really jumped out at me and changed the way way I think or challenged my perceptions.

From the publisher:

In Blink we meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance. Here, too, are great failures of “blink”: the election of Warren Harding; “New Coke”; and the shooting of Amadou Diallo by police. Blink reveals that great decision makers aren’t those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of “thin-slicing”, filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it while painting our nursery.

I give the book a 5 out of 10, right in the middle.

Books

iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Along the Way

This book is the personal memoir of Steve Wozniak, one of the founders of Apple Computers.

Woz fascinates me, he is an engineer at heart but he is also a teacher, a humanitarian, and a jokester. In this book he recounts his childhood experiences at science fairs, his teenage years with neighborhood friends plying practical jokes and making cool electronics, on to college, the creation of Apple, creating the US festival, becoming a 5th grade teacher, having children, and everything in between.

I got this book from Audible and Patrick Lawlor does a great job inserting passion and excitement into the text narrates the book. My limited knowledge of Woz is that he is a very excitable guy with huge passions for what he does, and that really comes across in the book.

From the publisher:
Wozniak’s life before and after Apple is a “home-brew” mix of brilliant discovery and adventure, as an engineer, a concert promoter, a fifth-grade teacher, a philanthropist, and an irrepressible prankster. From the invention of the first personal computer to the rise of Apple as an industry giant, iWoz presents a no-holds-barred, rollicking, firsthand account of the humanist inventor who ignited the computer revolution.

I rate this book a 7 out of 10 because I am a fan of Woz, but if you do not know who Woz is or have a deep interest in computers and electronics I am not sure you would enjoy this book.

Books

The Callahan Chronicals by Spider Robinson

The audiobook is made up of the novels Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon, Time Travelers Strictly Cash, and Callahan’s Secret. These three books contain the stories of Mike Callahan and the visitors to his bar somewhere in the Northeast. It is the type of place with the type of people that all of us would like to find. Where no one is a stranger for long and people are willing to lend a helping hand.

I first read paperback versions of these books years ago and could not get enough of Spider Robinson’s writing after that. His sense of humor fits perfectly into what I find funny and the audiobook does a great job of conveying it.

Warning: if you do not like dry humor and puns, this series is not for you.

I give this book, as an audiobook are as a printed book a 9 out of 10 and recommend to those who enjoy a dry sense of humor, science fiction from the late 60’s, and short stories.

Books

Storming Las Vegas: How a Cuban-Born, Soviet-Trained Commando Took Down the Strip

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.

Books

Around the World in 80 Days by Michael Palin

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.

Books

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

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.

Books

How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins

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.

Books

97 Things Every Programmer Should Know

This book is a part of O'Reilly's 97 Things series where individuals contribute short entries to a wiki, which are then edited, from which 97 items are selected for a book.

I found this book on the shelf at Fry's and after paging through it a bit decided buying it and having a hard copy to let others borrow was worth the cover price as opposed to reading it online. The series is different from most books as the entire contents are available to read for free at http://programmer.97things.oreilly.com/

I feel like I got a lot out of this book, maybe the most valuable was that I need to read the book "The Pragmatic Programmer" ASAP.

Here are links to entries that I found the most interesting, they are really short so give a couple of them a look and let me know what you think:

Comment Only What the Code Cannot Say

"…comments should be treated as if they were code. Each comment should add some value for the reader, otherwise it is waste that should be removed or rewritten."

Continuous Learning

"Follow the advice of The Pragmatic Programmers and learn a new language every year."

Do Lots of Deliberate Practice

"Deliberate practice does not mean doing what you are good at; it means challenging yourself, doing what you are not good at. So it's not necessarily fun."

"Deliberate practice is about learning. About learning that changes you; learning that changes your behavior."

Don't Be Cute with Your Test Data

"…when writing any text in your code — whether comments, logging, dialogs, or test data — always ask yourself how it will look if it becomes public."

The Professional Programmer

"Professionals are responsible. They take responsibility for their own careers. They take responsibility for making sure their code works properly. They take responsibility for the quality of their workmanship. They do not abandon their principles when deadlines loom. Indeed, when the pressure mounts, professionals hold ever tighter to the disciplines they know are right."

Read Code

"…don't read another book. Read code."

Simplicity Comes from Reduction

"The code should be simple. There should be a minimal number of variables, functions, declarations, and other syntactic language necessities. Extra lines, extra variables… extra anything, really, should be purged. Removed immediately. What's there, what's left, should only be just enough to get the job done, completing the algorithm or performing the calculations. Anything and everything else is just extra unwanted noise, introduced accidentally and obscuring the flow. Hiding the important stuff."

Two Heads Are Often Better than One

"When pairing, we each bring our collective programming experiences — domain as well as technical — to the problem at hand and can bring unique insight and experience into writing software effectively and efficiently."

Ubuntu Coding for Your Friends

"I get better because you make me better through your good actions."

I hope to put what I have learned into practice immediately and look forward to reading more of the entries that did not make it into the book.

I rate this book a 8 out of 10 and believe that anyone who programs will get something out of it. Remember that the entire book and more are available for free via a Creative Commons License at http://programmer.97things.oreilly.com/

BooksWebsite

No More Mondays: Fire Yourself — And Other Revolutionary Ways to Discover Your True Calling at Work by Dan Miller

Wow, what a long title. This is a book that I have heard Dave Ramsey recommend time and time again to listeners of his radio show when they have job issues.

From the publisher:
“For everyone who dreads going to work on Monday mornings, inspiring advice on how to find fulfilling work in an uncertain age. Do you hate Mondays? If so, what’s keeping you at your current job? If you said a steady paycheck and the promise of a secure retirement, then you’re in for a big disappointment. In today’s volatile economy, there is nothing safe about punching the clock for a job you hate.”

I really enjoyed this book; I found it to be very motivating even though I am not looking for a new job or career. Looking at my job as a part of my calling and not just a grind that I do to make ends meet has become really important to me.

Realizing that the only job security you have is your ability to find your next one is very important in the world we now live in. It is now very rare for anyone to have the same job or even vocation for 20 years or more much less retiring from a company with a meaningful pension, so it is up to us to fund our own retirement and provide financial security for our families. Working at something you love will make that a lot easier and increase your chance of success and happiness. This book may give you some ideas of how to accomplish that goal.

I rate this book as a 8 out of 10 and recommend it to anyone that is unhappy in their current job. I purchased this book at Audible.

P.S.
Dan Miller has also written a book name “48 Days to the Work You Love” which may be more appropriate for people trying to find a job they can be passionate about.

Books

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin

I have been listening to and reading some business books this year, and have heard a lot of good things about Seth Godin. When I looked at the books available on Audible by Mr. Godin most of them were focused on marketing which I do not have a lot of interest in. But “Linchpin” sounded really interesting.

From the publisher:
“Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organizations. Like the small piece of hardware that keeps a wheel from falling off its axle, they may not be famous but they’re indispensable. And in today’s world, they get the best jobs and the most freedom. Have you ever found a shortcut that others missed? Seen a new way to resolve a conflict? Made a connection with someone others couldn’t reach? Even once? Then you have what it takes to become indispensable, by overcoming the resistance that holds people back.”

Doesn’t that sound good? I want to be a Linchpin, who wouldn’t want to be a Linchpin as described above?

But I don’t think I got a whole lot out of the book. I remember thinking more about how much was left to listen too than about what was being said. I agree with a lot of what is said in the book, but the way it is being said left me bored and inattentive.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I give this book a 4, I think that low score has more to do with the style of writing or the voice of the book than the quality of the content. I bought this book on Audible.

Books

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

I bought this book on Audible.

This is the story of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the murderous Dr. Henry H. Holmes.

From the publisher’s summary:
“The White City (as it became known) was a magical creation constructed upon Chicago’s swampy Jackson Park by Daniel H. Burnham, the famed architect who coordinated the talents of Frederick Olmsted, Louis Sullivan, and others to build it. Dr. Henry H. Holmes combined the fair’s appeal with his own fatal charms to lure scores of women to their deaths. Whereas the fair marked the birth of a new epoch in American history, Holmes marked the emergence of a new American archetype, the serial killer, who thrived on the very forces then transforming the country.”

This story grabbed me and would not let me go. I took a lot of walks and sat in the car in the driveway a lot so that I could listen to it. Learning about the work that went into creating the White City, the personalities involved, and the problems that they faced along with the horrible crimes of a 19th century serial killer held my attention to the very end.

I rate this book a 9 out of 10 and a great non-fiction read.

Books