Bad Choices: How Algorithms Can Help You Think Smarter and Live Happier by Ali Almossawi #bookreview

Book review: 

This book isn’t a self-help book. Your life isn’t going to be made more efficient as you spend the absolute minimum amount of time on whatever tasks it is that you have to do thus saving you hours every week to spend on your passion of flower arranging, say. This book is actually a computer science book, but the computer science concepts are thrown into real-life situations (which are made extreme for the purposes of interest and humour) so that they are more relatable to the common man.

The book has 12 extreme examples for you to read through with illustrations along the way. The illustrations do help the book immensely. They help set the tone, but also along with the funny pictures, there are diagrams helping to aid understanding. Without the illustrations, the book would be dryer and less appealing.

There is also an introduction and a closing chapter. All-in-all it took me about 2-hours to read and I found it retained my interest to the end with me being able to follow most of it.

GET YOUR COPY ON AMAZON HERE

All the Countries We've Ever Invaded (and the few we've never got round to) by Stuart Laycock #bookreview

Book review: This book could have been called, "A short history of British invasion", but not in chronological order, not in geographical order, but alphabetically by country, including the countries we didn't invade. This approach means that there are repeated parts (where wars have crossed boundaries) and that no sooner are you getting into the flow of something than you're moved onto something else. The intro does make this clear, though. "This [book] isn't supposed to be an account of our invasions, rather it's intended to whet the readers' appetites to go in search of more information." This is also repeated throughout the book so the author recognises this failing. Perhaps a "suggested further reading" section should have been added to aid this?

Also, the book could have been made better with maps for each country alongside their text detailing the main places discussed, as not everyone's world knowledge is extensive. But there are world maps at the back at least, although not all countries are labeled on here, and some that are labeled are labeled wrongly, e.g. Malta is not Sicily, Zaire is the old name of DR Congo. These maps also would work better if they were interactive but this is a book.

The book does make you realise that the history Great Britain has is not normal and is perhaps something that we take for granted. "We've invaded, had some control over or fought conflicts in the territory of something like 171 out of 193 UN members... Sometimes, because we're used to it, we forget quite how unique out story is."

It has humour in it to help make the facts more digestible, which I appreciated, e.g. the Great Game - "They called it a game, but it was the kind of game where people ended up dead in large numbers rather than just, for instance, being given a stern word by the referee or getting sent off." But some of the humour is repeated with lots of references to amusing ship names used and how wars end up with multiple names.

Still, I am a bit of a history novice so perhaps I need more detailed books than this to get into the subject compared to others, and I read this cover-to-cover when it is probably best dipped into or done by areas (e.g. Africa), and indeed it does lend itself pretty well to that approach with its format. But overall it is ok for what it is doing and has given me an intro to the history of Britain's marauding past.

Available to buy on AMAZON UK here

My Friends (Our Special World) by Liz Lennon #bookreview

Book review: My 6-year-old daughter has read this to me. She is an early reader who this book is aimed at and she was able to read this well. As we were going along there were questions on most pages giving her the chance to talk about her friends. This is a good way of touching on subjects with her, in an unobtrusive way, that you otherwise might not do.

The blurb on the back says these books are "non-fiction books for young children which helps them find out about diversity in the world around them, The books feature questions to promote speaking and listening skills and are perfect for early years learning."

There is a contents page at the beginning so she started off with a section about painting pictures together. I liked that there was a section called "Falling out" about how friends might fall out with each other, a good lesson for the young ones. Apparently, my daughter's best friend will walk away when she gets annoyed with her.

Each page also has big, colour photographs of children playing. This is where the diversity aspect of the blurb comes in as the text doesn't really pick up on it but there are images of children in wheelchairs and from different ethnicities.

Overall then it hit the mark.

Available to buy on AMAZON HERE.

Gory Gladiators, Savage Centurions and Caesar's Sticky End (Awfully Ancient) #bookreview

Book review: History was never cool when I went to school. Nowadays, though, thanks to Horrible Histories, it is the epitome of cool. This book has clearly been influenced by the Horrible History series of books - look at the alliteration in the title for one, Awfully Ancient, Gory Gladiators. But that is no bad thing. If it makes the subject more interesting by focusing on the "oodles of blood and gore and horribly nasty deaths" and it grabs the attention of the reading kids then maybe they will maintain that interest. 

This book focuses on the time of the Roman Empire. "What did they ever do for us?" I hear you ask. Well, this book tells you. It covers "Ceasar's sticky end" and many similar ends of other Roman emperors, it tells you what a vomitorium was, and it covers what a Roman's usual eating habits were during a time before fridges in a chapter called "Peacock Brains and Flamingo Tongues." There are some interesting facts here too. Like how the average slave "cost less than a horse or a cow". And how only emperors were allowed to wear purple, anyone else being killed.

The layout is appealing too. There are 32 full-colour pages of text with pictures following the same fun art style as seen on the cover. At the end, there are also some books and websites listed as suggested further reading, although all the books are by the same publisher. There are also some places listed to visit, all in Britain, which might be worth looking at.

On things that could improve this book, it is short at 32 pages so could have been longer (although to maintain interest for the age group and possibly reluctant readers you could say it is better to be shorter). 

All-in-all then this is a book that introduces the topic of the Romans and their empire in a fun way that may lead to a maintained interest in history.

GORY GLADIATORS, SAVAGE CENTURIONS AND CAESAR'S STICKY END (AWFULLY ANCIENT)

World War II (Explore!) by Jane Bingham #bookreview

Book review: World War II is such an important part of our history and as such is a mainstay of our schools' history education. This book, aimed at children, provides an introduction to the topic.

What we have are 32 full-colour pages of bite-size chunks of text giving the important information around World War II like why it started, who was involved, the major events and so on. There are plenty of pictures along the way too, like paintings done during the War, posters, photographs and more. The subject matter could upset some, e.g. the Holocaust and people dying, but children tend to be rather resilient and the text is in a  matter-of-fact manner so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.

There are a couple of suggested exercises along the way too. These are an exercise to write a letter from the point-of-view of a child experiencing the war using info from the book and other sources and to create a “cipher wheel” for creating secret coded messages. (I was tempted to write this review using a code generated by this wheel but decided against it at the last minute.)

At the end, there are also some books and websites listed as suggested further reading, although nearly all the books are by the same publisher. 

All-in-all then this is a book that introduces the topic of World War II which should be easy for children to read as the text is in bite-size chunks and there are plenty of pics to bring it to life. Further research can then be carried out afterwards if required.

Amazon UK link: World War II (Explore)

The Manmade World: How our world works in maps and infographics (Mapographica) by Jon Richards and Ed Simkins

Book review: I was preparing myself to be underwhelmed by this book. However, I was pleasantly surprised and found it interesting. It contains maps of the world showing "infographics" for:

* People and Energy

* A Moving World

* Trade

* Palm Oil

* Oil

* Water Access

* Growing Food

* Global Emissions and Population

* Tallest Buildings

* On the Line

* Internet Access

* Money

* Space Launches

It was interesting. For example, there was a map of the world at night, with lights marking urban areas, dark areas being more rural locations or poorer places. It was particularly interesting to see lights follow the river Nile in Egypt. Plus there is at least one country in the world that has opium as its highest value export. 

However, there are things I feel could improve the book too. It is short at 32 pages long, so could be longer. I wasn't sure on why all the categories included in this book were chosen. For instance, Palm Oil. Maybe I'm being ignorant here, as there is a message in the book that talks about the deforestation caused to make way for new palm oil plantations, but surely there could be better topics with available statistics to cover. Also, it would have been good if all the statistics were sourced so the data could be sought out. This is because the stats will quickly get out of date (there are fast-moving topics here like smartphone usage) and also it would allow other countries to be compared in the data because typically just the top and bottom 10 are given for the subject. This approach doesn't always allow comparisons to be made for the UK but is good for countries like USA and China that often feature in the top 2 of a topic. And an interactive version of this book would be better, so you could hover over your country of interest to find out the equivalent information, maybe with the ability to link to the data source so you can be sure you are using the latest info.

But I still found the book interesting, and it would suit readers who prefer to read in bite-size chunks, like reluctant, young readers. Plus it can be used to introduce topics that can then be researched via Wikipedia and the like.

Amazon UK link: The Manmade World: How our world works in maps and infographics (Mapographica)

Real Life Family Photography by Amy Drucker

REAL LIFE FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK REVIEW: What comes across most in this book about real life family photography is the author's passion for the subject, for her family and for photography. Across four main chapters (The Basics, Babies, Kids and Family) she gives tips and tricks of the trade whilst showing off lots of glossy colour photos to illustrate the points. Her main aim: "I want to encourage you to just keep photographing" and I think in that respect the book works.

The basics section introduces concepts such as exposure and aperture but you'll still need to refer to your camera's instruction manual to work it as this book is "less about the technical perfection than it is about subject matter and vision." Indeed I found tips on basic creative principles such as composition more useful and understandable for me as an amateur. Also interesting are bits of the book on photo editing software, such as Photoshop, and a section on the camera phone. ("I love my camera phone. You can't do everything with [it], but where it shines is its portability. 

All-in-all this is an inspiring book as it encourages you to take photos that "may seem mundane to you now, but one day, I promise, you'll cherish the slice of life, as they were at that moment in time." 

Available on Amazon HERE.

World War II (What They Don't Tell You About) by Bob Fowke

Book review: History was never cool when I went to school but nowadays it is, and this is all because of Horrible Histories. This book has clearly been influenced by the Horrible History series of books, and that is no bad thing. 

This book tells the story of World War II in child-friendly text with definitions of possible unfamiliar words such as allies and evacuation. The book goes from the beginning of the war to the end and even covers a little of the aftermath. The title says "what they DON'T tell you about" but I would say that it actually covers the main facts, things like the reasons for the war starting, main events during the war such as the retreat at Dunkirk and the Normandy landings and so on. And there are plenty of black and white pictures along the way to enjoy too,

My 9-year-old daughter says "It has lots of amazing facts and a quiz at the end which tests your knowledge." History is now indeed cool.

Available now on AMAZON!!!!!

Dinosaurs in our Street! by David West

Book review: First impressions of this book are great. It is hardback. The front cover is slightly embossed with the tyrannosaur poking his head out of the Pink Floyd-inspired brick wall background. You can feel his teeth if you want, something you wouldn't want to do if it were real. The book's spine is good too. If you have this sitting on your book shelf a little dinosaur will be keeping its beady eye on you.

Inside all the pages are glossy full colour. There are thirty dinosaurs featured including the well-known ones. Each has a double-page spread with a computer-generated image of the dinosaur in an urban scene with people milling about it. So you'll see a brachiosaurus, for example, standing on its back legs and using its long neck to eat some vegetation from a roof garden at the top of a five-floor block of apartments as people nonchalantly walk past. Also by linking the dinosaurs to these modern urban environments there is a recognisable association that might bring these ancient creatures to life even more than other dinosaur books might.

Beside the images are a couple of paragraphs giving you the lowdown about the dinosaur and a little fact box contains the details of the dinosaur's period, where its fossils have been found, its size, weight and whether it was a herbivore or not, and a scale picture to a human to give you a visual idea as to how big it was. Having checked against Wikipedia quickly though I am not sure of the accuracy of the facts. For example the book says the altirhinus came from the Late Cretaceous period whereas Wikipedia says it came from the Early Cretaceous period. Maybe these things are too hard to estimate and I am probably being too picky.

My 9-year-old daughter loved the book: "It tells you about dinosaurs, how to pronounce their names, whether they are herbivores or carnivores and where their fossils have been found." She loves learning and facts.

My 22-month-year-old son loves it too. Especially when I act out a roaring dinosaur that wants to eat his belly. The pages are at risk of being ripped by him though if he isn't careful.

Overall I can see this being ideal for any young dinosaur fan, and if they want more detail into a particular dinosaur then that can easily be looked up online.

It's on AMAZON now: DINOSAURS IN OUR STREET!

The Fact or Fiction Behind Urban Myths (Truth or Busted)

Book review: I got this book for my 9-year-old daughter, but also read it myself for the purposes of this review. She loves this series of books having already read and re-read  The Fact or Fiction Behind London (Truth or Busted). She loves the facts and non-facts and loves de-mistifying things, especially stuff her mother may have said to her about things like swallowing chewing gum.

The presentation is probably one of the things that appeals to her with bold black and white and grey design throughout and lots of pictures in differing art styles. There's something going on on every page. And the text of the book is very bitesize making it ideal for children, but also ideal for the book to be picked up and read from any page at any time.

As well as the truth or busted bits there were other sections too, like sections called "It'll never happen" where figures from the past have said something about a modern (for the time) contraption and have since been proved wrong, or the "Where in the world" sections where things like champagne and poodles origins are explained and are not as we might have believed. Although these are not necessarily "urban myths" they are still interesting.

My daughter's thoughts on the book: "A lot of old wives tales aren't actually true and you find out in this book." And for me maybe the book was a bit short, being under 100 pages (like the other in the series), but I know my daughter loves it (even if she reads it all within a day) and that is good enough for me.

On AMAZON: The Fact or Fiction Behind Urban Myths (Truth or Busted)

The Art of the Jersey: A Celebration of the Cycling Racing Jersey by Andy Storey

Book review: “The Art of the Jersey” looks back at a selection of cycling jerseys from as far back as 1952, right up to 2015. The jerseys are ordered chronologically, each presented via an individual colour photograph of its front (lying flat), together with some brief accompanying information. At the start of each chapter, the author, no doubt aided by the fact that he works for a cycling clothing company, is able to talk about developments/advances in materials and printing technologies used in producing the jerseys of the corresponding era. In particular, he explains that such advances allowed for more intricate and elaborate designs from the 1980's onwards, and thus the vast majority of the jerseys covered are drawn from this timeframe.

The balance struck between images and text works well for a book of this nature. The companion text for a jersey notes the manufacturer as well as frequently containing interesting notes on the associated team and its sponsors, though it has a slightly repetitive feel at times. The inclusion of comments on key riders to have worn the respective jerseys, and some of the things they achieved while wearing them, is a great idea as this will bring memories flooding back for many cycling enthusiasts. The action photos showing a small number of the jerseys being worn in competition are also a nice touch, but there are sadly relatively few of these.

Many of the 228 jerseys highlighted seem to be taken from the author's personal collection, and though the selection is certainly interesting, it isn't particularly comprehensive. While it would of course be unreasonable to expect to see every cycling jersey that ever existed, there were some surprising omissions. For example, there is not a single jersey from some very well-known and important teams such as Française des Jeux, Casino, AG2R, TVM, Cofidis, Europcar, GAN, Astana, BMC, Phonak, and Gerolsteiner. In addition, teams such as (Deutsche) Telekom, Festina, Banesto and Lampre each make only a single appearance with jerseys that many readers probably won't consider to be the "classical" designs most associated with those teams. There are perhaps a few too many versions of some jerseys (for example, Giro d'Italia leader's jerseys numbering into double figures, many of which look very similar), as well as some curious selections of commemorative jerseys and other jerseys that never belonged to any team. Replacing some of these with examples of those from a number of the aforementioned omitted teams would have improved the breadth of the selection.

From the perspective of a cycling enthusiast, this attractively presented book is enjoyable and certainly does a solid job of filling a void, as it isn't always easy to get that cycling jersey fix. However, it would have benefitted from a more structured approach to selecting the featured jerseys, and may not be comprehensive enough to live up to some cycling fan's expectations.

- Review by Dr. Mark Parsons, cycling enthusiast

Book available on Amazon now!!!

Philip's Children's Atlas by David and Jill Wright

• Book review: This children's atlas is aimed for 7-12 year olds. For that age group I think it is excellent.
  
  
  The book is full colour with maps and photos and images throughout. It starts off with some general bits and pieces about the planet Earth, like where it is in the solar system, and explains things in simple terms. For example population density is explained very well. Then it looks at areas of the world in more detail starting with Europe. This includes a focus on the main countries that children will be learning about at this time at school. There is also a focus on all the 50 states of the US which is useful general knowledge to have.
  
  
  All the pages have just the right amount of info on them for the age group. They are in bite-sized chunks. Of course there could be more info but that's what the internet is for.
  
  
  My 9-year-old daughter is probably best placed to give an opinion. She says this book is good because "it tests your knowledge, has brilliant facts and is easy for children to understand."

Children's Atlas by David and Jill Wright

Socks: The Rule Book by Sock Club London

Book review: I have often wondered as I meander along the sunny beaches of my home town Luton in my little white shorts whether it is appropriate to be wearing these thick socks with my sandals. Now thanks to this book I know the answer.

I have also often wondered to myself what socks I should wear when I grace the top quality park-maintained tennis courts of my home town Luton in my white sports t-shirt, white training shoes, white sweatband and little white shorts (not to mention my fancy racquet). And thanks to this book I now know.

What’s more I have also often wondered to myself as I’ve traversed the gold-paved streets in my home town Luton during coldest winter when even the snowmen are going indoors to get out of the cold what socks I should be wearing to compliment my winter costume of polar bear fur hat, coat and little white shorts (made from the polar-bear’s face), and thanks to this book I now know.

Yes, this book has changed my life. Gone are the days when I walked into parties only to be shunned by all and sundry because my novelty Tinky Winky socks were simply not fit for polite society. These days I can stride in with my head held high knowing that, after many hours of deliberation beforehand, my sock game will be top notch and that all the ladies will soon be swarming towards me urgently wanting to hear about how I moved up the sock ranks so quickly to become the true sock aficionado I am today.

True I needed to chuck the kids and wife out to make room for my suddenly expanded sock collection, but that doesn’t matter because I now have the finest merino wool socks money can buy. And even though I had to remortgage the house and max out all my credit cards I know that when I slip my foot into that hand-linked toe sock with the argyle pattern my worries will just slip away.

However there is a part of me that wonders if this book hasn’t just duped me, as if in this book isn't just one big advert for Sock Club London and their cult where anonymous members live by the motto “No apologies, no regrets”. When I think these thoughts I become morose, stop ironing my socks and start throwing them around the room instead before also emptying my sock drawers in a massive rage before breaking down just like a girl wondering just why did I let my wife and children go.

Overall then this is a great book, but please bear in mind the small caveat as mentioned above.

Amazon UK link: Socks: The Rule Book

The Book of the Bothy by Pheobe Smith

Book review: "The Book of the Bothy"" is, surprise, surprise, about bothies. But what are bothies. Well a bothy is "a  mountain hut that's completely free to use as an overnight stop", thanks to the organisation called the MBA, the Mountain Bothies Association, and they are in remote locations far from roads, so this is a book for walkers and hikers of Britain, and those who love the countryside.

Firstly upon getting the book it is full colour. The beautiful picture on the front is typical of the pictures that follow inside. And the inside contains information about 26 bothies including one on the Balmoral estate, one that was set up as a remote hostel and one that was the very first bothy. Each entry has a little history about the building and sometimes a little detail about its past residents before the building was abandoned. Then there is a map, map reference, details of the route in (by foot), an alternative, more challenging route, what facilities each has (no toilets in most), what to look out for while you're there (wildlife etc.) as well as the author's bothy book entry, the bothy book being a book found at each bothy allowing visitors to write their thoughts down for the next set of visitors to find and read and add to.

The author's bothy book entries included things like imagining what the five-year-old girl who wrote an earlier entry felt whilst she stayed in this bothy in a typically beautiful location. These entries definitely helped to break up the more factual information bits that the rest of the book brings, as do the lovely full-colour pics of course, even if common themes do pop-up in them, such as talk of the mice that also live at the bothies, and the author's frustration when she realised she would have to share with others who arrived before her (but then it turned out alright anyway).

The book is suitable for beginners and also for experts I guess, although they may want to skip the early sections on what bothies are, the etiquette involved, what to take, as they probably know these parts or may disagree slightly.

There are some bothies missing from this book as it says there are over 100 in Britain, and this book covers just 26 of them. The author's reason for excluding the other 74 plus is that she "didn't want too large a spread so that there were no new ones for you to discover yourself - that is after all the joy of bothying."

As for me I've never been in a bothy before, and may never do so in the future, but at least I am aware of them now, and should I go on a walking holiday I have a new option available to me, possibly allowing me to explore parts of the country I would never otherwise have seen.

Published on 15 August 2015

Out now on AMAZON.

The Observer's Book of Association Football by Albert Sewell

Book review: Observer’s Books produced these pocket reference books for many different subjects between 1937 and 2003 (birds, insects, trees, etc.). This one was the first time they covered “Association Football” with the book being correct up to end of the 1971-72 season.

 

Although up to date upon publication reading it now is like reading a history document. This was a time when Alf Ramsey was England manager, Bobby Charlton (who stars on the glossy dust jacket cover) was still playing and Southport and Workington were still in the Football League.

 

The book’s contents are:

 

 

 

 

 

• Foreword by Sir Alf Ramsey
• Guide to the 92 Football League Clubs in England and Wales
• The Scottish League (First Division Members 1971-72)
• Prominent European Clubs
• Prominent South American Clubs
• World Stars of 1972-73
• The World Cup
• The European Championship
• The European Cup
• The European Cup-Winners’ Cup
• The U.E.F.A. Cup
• The World Club Championship
• Records Section
• * England’s Complete Record in Full Internationals
• * Football League Champions and their Records
• * F.A. Cup Winners
• * Scottish League Champions
• * Scottish F.A. Cup Winners
• * Scottish League Cup Winners
• The Field of Play

 

The most interesting bit of the book is the profiles of the English league clubs where you can learn a little about Fulham’s Bedford Jezzard, where you can find out that “Middlesbrough were formed following a tripe supper at a local hotel” (see what tripe can do to you) and that Shrewsbury’s record gate receipts were just £4,962.

 

The profiles for Scottish top division clubs, European and South American clubs are less informative, particularly on the honours and records front. Nonetheless you can still find out a little about Standard Liege’s Congolese player Paul Bonga Bonga.

 

The World Stars section then provides details, and pictures, of 20 of the stars of the time. Here you can learn about Roberto Rivelino, for example, who “next to Pele is reputedly the world’s best-paid player at £80 a day” and that Pietro Anastasi “set a world transfer record fee when signed by Juventus for £440,000” (as opposed to the British transfer record of the time, Alan Ball for £220,000 from Everton to Arsenal).

 

Following this there are little profiles on the European competitions, which were still quite new at the time, and some limited stats sections.

 

Overall the stats sections are perhaps a bit primitive by today’s standards, although at the time they may have been cutting edge with the book presenting “England’s complete International results in a form not previously published”. It is the written parts that are the most interesting as names from the past are brought to you possibly for the first time along with now defunct competitions such as the Latin Cup, the International Cup (held in New York) and the Ford Sporting League.

 

So an interesting read from a historical perspective.

 

Original publication date: 1972

 

Amazon UK link: The Observer's Book of Association Football

 

Other link: Interesting article on same book

Ways of Looking: How to Experience Contemporary Art by Ossian Ward

This book is meant to "transform a potentially intimidating encounter with cutting-edge art into a dramatic, sensually rewarding and thought-provoking experience." Well, does it?

If nothing else that sentence makes a good blurb. I must say I haven't felt intimidated by art before, although I haven't experienced many performance pieces (some of which are mentioned in the book) with artworks of that type in-particular having the potential to be excruciating I guess. 

What this book does do is provide a tool to approach contemporary art pieces (contemporary being 2000 onwards) "as if it were your first experience with that format," so as to get the most from it - the TABULA tool. This is introduced at the book beginning, tabula rasa being Latin for fresh slate and TABULA standing for Time, Association, Background, Understanding, Look again, and Assess. The author then goes on to show how to use this approach in the following chapters where contemporary art is grouped in categories: entertainment, confrontation, event, message, joke, spectacle and meditation.

In truth these chapters could have been grouped by anything really, and there is also crossover between them, but they act as a classification to help you bring pieces of art such as big playground slides, an estate agent tour, and some copper boxes that get FedExed from gallery to gallery alive.

The tool is simple to remember and use, even for a more-than-casual art observer as myself, and would work with non-contemporary pieces too. The author is impressive when he delves into pieces through the book (see for example the spotlight features at the end of each chapter), although some art he brings up is glossed over quickly. Also not all the art mentioned has a visual image within the glossy full-colour pages of the book. Similarly video pieces, performance pieces and other "scheduled or timed" pieces are difficult to decipher from a still image so having an internet device handy when reading this book to reference these would be desirable. Even then you may still need to do what the author recommends which is to go and see the artwork in person to get the most out of it (I haven't done that though).

There may be a London bias given the author's past as chief art critic at Time Out London, but the artwork featured still covers the world, even including an out-of-the-way rural Thai province. Anyway you would expect London to feature prominently in such a book anyway so this is not a criticism.

Overall then this book introduces a useful tool that,  if used, should help to bring out a finer appreciation of contemporary art (and non-contemporary too) even without being well-versed in any art history knowledge.

Publication date: 1 Sep 2014

Amazon UK link (£7.99 at time of writing): Ways of Looking: How to Experience Contemporary Art

The ONE Thing by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan

Being called "The ONE Thing" there is still a lot to take in when reading this book.

"The ONE Thing" is about putting your focus into your most important thing, rather than focusing on lots of things, because "if you chase two rabbits... you will not catch either one." Using the ONE Thing approach the authors also help you to aim big - "the moon is reachable if you prioritise everything and put all your energy into accomplishing the most important thing".

The book is split into three sections - the Lies, the Truth, and the Extraordinary Results. "The Lies" section tries to debunk common theories that people hold that are anti-One Thing if you like. For example, the lie that multitasking is good, when in fact "to do two things at once is to do neither".

"The Truth" section goes through the processes you should do to make the ONE Thing work, then "the Extraordinary Results" section gives you the tools to use it to break through the ceiling.

The chapters in the book are arranged with introductions, have key points underlined and end with a Big Ideas section providing a summary of the chapter if you just wanted to skim read through. There are also appropriate quotes from various people dotted through the pages and several diagrams to illustrate some of the concepts explained.

Some of the bits in the book you may have come across before, e.g. how writing and sharing your goals with others makes them more likely to be acted upon, but there is no harm in being reminded of these things. The writing is concept-y so takes some concentration. There is some story-telling in there that makes it more readable, but not enough for me. And the ONE thing idea is stretched a bit, e.g. "...your first ONE Thing is..." (surely there should just be one?). However if you make the effort then reading this book could be worthwhile.

Overall I think the ONE Thing approach could work with the key thing for me being to continually use the "focusing question" - "what's the ONE Thing I could do such that by doing it everything else will be easier on or unnecessary?"

Publication date: 25 April 2014

Available on Amazon UK: The ONE Thing

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell's "David and Goliath" is about perceived advantages and disadvantages, and how they may not be all that they seem. The points are brought to life using stories of real-life people.

For example the introduction discusses Goliath the giant and how he was felled by the tiny shepherd boy David. We assume Goliath, because he is big and dressed as a warrior, will win the battle but really the weapons used, plus other things, put him at a disadvantage, as evident from the outcome of the bout.

Then we get into the book proper with a chapter looking at a youth basketball coach doing things unconventionally to great effect despite the fact the team has not the best players.

Other chapters of the book look at:

• whether smaller class sizes are better
• whether being a small fish in a big pond, e.g. a great institution like a top university, is better than being a big fish in a smaller pond
• whether dyslexia is a disadvantage or a desirable difficulty
• how losing a parent at a young age, a traumatic experience, can lead to a different, possibly advantageous outlook in life later
• how when you have nothing to lose you can have unexpected power
• and so on.

All the while this is told through people's real stories, some of which are really touching like the way leukemia used to mean certain death for the kids who had it, but thanks to pioneers is now a treatable cancer.

Overall then this is a readable book that gets you thinking about things differently, although the focus is on the positive attributes rather than the negative, e.g. dyslexia and how one third of entrepreneurs are dyslexic with only a brief mention how kids with dyslexia are more likely to end up in the juvenile system. Also at the end the same idea seems to be presented multiple times. But a good read nonetheless.

Amazon UK link: David and Goliath

Publication date: 8 May 2014

Wonderwise: My Body, Your Body by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

My 7-year-old daughter likes learning facts. About this book she said, "I like it. It has interesting facts, like about the eagle's eyes, and that houseflies can smell food from another street."

But this book doesn't have that many facts in my opinion being quite short, and even those that are in the book aren't necessarily things you didn't already know ("cheetahs are the fastest land animals on Earth"). However the one-liner style snippets together with a picture of the corresponding animal probably suit new readers such as 7-year-olds because of the colour and the bite-size nature.

The facts are grouped into categories based on human aspects like our senses, parts of our bodies... I don't think my 7-year-old really picked up on that, although there are some games suggested on the inside covers to bring out these elements more.

All in all a quick ride but one that she enjoyed.

Publication Date: 9 Jan 2014 (this edition)

Amazon UK Link: Wonderwise: My Body, Your Body

Happy Graffiti: Street Art with Heart by Jenny Foulds

This book was born from a website of the same name. The website is a photo blog of “happy graffiti” the author of this book has photographed, or someone else has submitted. This book has some of the best artworks from there.

The foreword talks about how “Happy Graffiti” is the kind of graffiti that grumpy commuters might see from the train station and be cheered up by, and how some of the phrases used are like poetry.

The introduction then talks about how graffiti has a bad name and how positive graffiti can bring a smile to people as they go around their daily lives, and how the book is intended to do the same for the reader.

Then it is the photos, plus some artist profiles, although not well known artists such as Banksy. And some of the bits of graffiti do make you smile, which is exactly what the author wanted.

Mission accomplished.

Publication Date: 7 October 2013

Website: Happy Graffiti

Link to Amazon: Happy Graffiti: Street Art With Heart