Pages: 352, Kindle Edition

Cover Rating: 4/5

Max Brooks’ World War Z is terrifying. Not the book but rather the concept of ZOMBIES. Subtitled as an Oral history of the Zombie War, I had expectations from this book. I thought it would be more than just science fiction scenery of sane beings surrounded by the lifeless and apathetic creatures.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

There is not much into the plot. It’s just a matter of survival. Loose series of events build up the genesis of storyline. The story narrates in the form of interviews with different survivors from different regions and countries. These narrations are short and unfold an important event that lead to the next expedition. This narrative concept is clever and I applaud the author for using it. This whole idea makes things interesting and let’s a reader reach the end of the novel and thus, can be classified as a page turner.

Another important aspect of Brooks’ writing is the in-depth strategies for fighting against the zombies and how most of the known techniques he discusses are useless. He shows another perspective of the human psychology and the society collapses immediately. His urge to create real and authentic events in a reader’s imagination through his words works splendidly. There isn’t much into the characterisation.

I could not feel the same pressure, terror and stress from the plot and the lack of characterisation even though I eagerly consumed this different manner of narration.

This book is a bliss for zombie fans, post-apocalyptic lovers and science fiction seekers.

3 out of 5!

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The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton
Genres: Nonfiction

I picked this book this book for two reasons: one, it has images in it. Secondly, last year I remember reading Botton’s How Proust Can Change Your Life? which was a fascinating read on Marcel Proust with an evoking title.

The Architecture of Happiness is a completely different book and while reading it I observed the same essay-like writing style from Botton’s previous work. This book if full of images and involves short chapters. It revolves around one simple question: What is beautiful building? and to provide an articulate answer author takes his readers on a tour with focus on architectural psychology and talks about the way we think about our homes, our streets.

After reading this book I took some time and tried thinking about the way Botton tries to convince “us” to rethink the way we think about our dwellings. But I failed to understand the vibe behind psychology the Botton’s words tries to attain from an individual’s point of view. I still think it’s personal and totally individually dependent on understanding the beauty of architecture whether it’s a two storey building with scrapped paint or a monument or a football stadium.

This book is amusing if you are looking to read something completely different on a Sunday afternoon or on a Saturday night. You might manage to get something out of Botton’s words.

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Pages: 232, Kindle Edition

Published: October 2017,  by Harvard Business Review Press

Cover Rating: 4/5

We see startups everywhere. Being a part of the fastest growing economy the word startup is now on the mouth of everyone. Some have their own definitions of it, but as Jeffrey Bussgang mentions it is hard to define the word startup in mere words. To help reader understand the concept and those aspiring to work for startups will definitely get some help by reading this book.

Entering StartupLand: An Essential Guide to Finding Right Job is pragmatic approach to various career options or job profiles and responsibilities that are available almost in every startup. This includes product management, business development, marketing, growth and sales. To help one figure out what to expect when someone joins a startup there are insights from Jeffrey’s own life as he started his career with Open Market that was once a startup in 1997.

The book divides in eight chapters and begins with introduction to the startup culture and then discuss various but essential job profiles. Within the context, Jeffrey has made an effort to clarify and get his readers familiar with terms like Scrum and Agile working methodology. This I feel, is good for the reader to know some of the main buzzwords and make an effort to understand if they are new or not familiar with the context.

Having worked myself in one startup, I will say there are times when you dwell in uncertainty. Be ready for that. You may have to handle multiple responsibilities. Jeffrey has differentiated the two organisational paradigms, what a stable corporate life is and how it is different from the startup.

Since it is a nonfiction work, I don’t have much to write about the narrative voice. The book is written in an expressive and clear language. I do strongly feel that the author could have make an effort to explore the possibility of other skills that are common with startup culture.

If you want to get familiar with this term and its scions then this book is a great starting point. Perfect target audience are students in colleges and universities, and also recommended to someone looking for a job or career change.

4 out of 5!

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Pages: 352, Paperback

Publication: February 2018 by Nation Books

Cover Rating: 5/5

Das Reboot How German Football Reinvented Itself and Conquered the World which was published in 2015 after the German National Team won the FIFA World Cup and recent achievements of German Clubs in European Football.  It is written by Raphael Honigstein who has come up with another German Football related story for us, and this time a high profile manager Jurgen Klopp.

Bring the Noise: The Jürgen Klopp Story is expected to be release in February in 2018 yet I was tempted to read in whip. For those who are familiar or interested in modern day football, are familiar with the name Klopp. He is currently managing a top English Football Club, Liverpool who are rich in history but what made him famous is his skillfull, brave intention to coach a football team in Mainz. His coaching career began in the German second tier at the unfashionable club of FSV Mainz 05, whom he steered to the Bundesliga (German Top Division) for the first time in forty-one years. He then took the command of Borussia Dortmund, a club that is driven by its passionate uninamous stream of fans.  He achieved back-to-back league titles and took the club to the UEFA Champions League final. He left Germany for one of the England’s most challenging jobs: to manage Liverpool, a once-mighty club that had not managed sustained success since the 1980s.

There are occassional interviews in the book of people of have worked with Klopp. He holds an ecstatic personality, with passion for the sport in his body language and is famous for his teams to play a different kind of tactical game, called gegenpress. This biographical work is presented with occasional flashbacks but concentrate enough of Klopp’s life at Liverpool, for whom he is still the manager at the time of writing this book review. The book does take a deep dive in his management/coaching career.

The writing style of the book is not the most encouraging factor. Das Reboot had an influential way of telling the story of German Football to its readers, but this time Honigstein is plain and lacks a bit of creativity or just could not present an interesting personality in an interesting way enough.  Martí Perarnau has done a better job both times with Pep Guardiola’s biography. However, the book is still a good read for people who want to dive more into Klopp or for Liverpool fans who have high hopes for the club and share a similar trait as Dortmund fans in terms of being passionate.

3 out of 5!

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Pages: 77, Kindle Edition

Published: 2011, Random House

I am big fan of Conan Doyle’s writings that include Sherlock Holmes and this year I realised I should try adaptions of same character written by other authors. After reading Martin Greenberg’s anthologies on Holmes’ Christmas Stories I came across Laurie R. Kings Mary Russell series. Mary Russell is a young girl that Holmes after retiring from being a Private Detective and relocating him in Sussex, takes an apprentice of. This short novella can be called the origin of this new series of adventure.

The plot is interesting but the adventure Sherlock Holmes pick up at the age of 54 to save his wealthy orphaned protégée is bit off for me in terms the time it takes to develop.

I did not enjoy this much not because the adaption of Holmes and Mrs. Hudson is actually accurate but the other main character, Mary Russell is too young and clearly being shown as a work in progress.

There isn’t much to conclude for me on the writing style since this book is only 77 pages and I am going to take my chances with her other books in which the characterisation is fully developed.

2 out of 5

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Pages: 272, Kindle Edition

Published: September 2017

Cover Rating: 5/5

From the author of The Art of Nonconformity, The Happiness Pursuit and The $100 Startup, we have now in our hands a book that describe tips and share stories of similar ambitious beings who are earning extra cash while hustling. The book is an idea out of the popular podcast hosted by the author himself, Chris Guillebeau: Side Hustle School which is available both on iTunes and for Android.

Side Hustle can be a great start for someone who is obsessed with the idea of entrepreneurship or want experience starting their own business. In the book, the anecdotes and real-life stories shared by the author of people who is already hustling in various fields clearly follows a pattern of little investment in those businesses. So what is a side hustle? It can be anything from an online product selling the business to a service provider. In past year, I have met and learned about people who work remote, have quit their 9-5 jobs, are happy, working hard and supporting themselves by doing what they want to do. Thus, a side hustle does not have to be something big for which one tends to have business school experience, but it is about to settle on an idea to generate that extra amount of cash, or support yourself full-time and to give in the hours along with your full/part-time job.

This book can be a great start for readers who are interested. It provides basic anatomy inside this hustling business. I would not call this a bubble because side-hustling has existed in our culture from ancient times. The fixed mindset of doing or working on one thing for the rest of your life by sitting in a cubicle is changing with time. It is not the most secured reality anymore.

Having read almost every book written by Guillebeau, I have come to a conclusion that I like his writing style. It is simple, easy to understand, and the coverage area of his topics are in my interest and very much engaging. The book does provide necessary tools that have already in practice and seems a pragmatic approach if you are just starting out to build a profitable side hustle. From brainstorming an idea to implementation, this book walkthroughs a reader step by step.

4 out of 5. Recommended!

The post BOOK REVIEW: Side Hustle – From Ideas to Income in 27 Days by Chris Guillebeau appeared first on Confessions of a Readaholic.

Pages: 221, Kindle Edition

Published: 2016, Bloomsbury

Cover Rating: 5/5

Nominated for The Man Booker’s Prize in 2016, Hot Milk by Deborah Levy has been siting on my virtual shelf for over a year. I thought, before this year ends I should give it a go.

With an interesting cover, the plot revolves around Sofia, a twenty five year old anthropologist, born to a British mother and a Greek father. She believes she has spent much of her life trying to solve the mystery of her mother’s unexplainable illness. She is frustrated by her mother’s constant complains and travels with her to the coast of souther Spain to see a famous consultant in the hope that he might be able to cure her mother’s unpredictable limb paralysis. With doctor’s strange methods, Sofia track while tracking down her mother’s symptoms in an attempt to solve this msytery of her pain but along this journey that, she discovers her own desires, her sexual personality and coming on terms with herself.

The storyline starts flat but as it moves forward it becomes interesting and enjoyable. It might take some readers to adjust with the plot but let me tell you this is one of the books where plot is secondary. This I realised after I was done with almost half of the book. The characters are the mai point of this book. These characters are always thinking and feeling. They develop on their own, some of them instantly and are interesting personalities. Whenever the author shifts focus from our protagonist I observed how intelligent the other characters in ths novel are.

Moreover, one gets to see the transformation of some characters as the plot move forward. The writing style has a pace with it and I highly enjoyed the narrative. The writer has clearly captured the strangeness of a mother who demands attention from her child who is an adult. The element of this type complexity is explored through out the novel. The landscape described in the book is limited but I think it has high impact both on the readers of the book and the overall characterisation.

I enjoyed reading Deborah Levy’s work. She is now one of the those authors on my list that I have to explore and read their other published works. This book can be finished in a day as I managed to read. Something different, not your usual contemporary fiction.

4 out of 5

Buy this from Amazon

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Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk
Published by Harper Collins on 2009
Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Entrepreneurship
Pages: 161
Format: eBook
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

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Work That Matters by Maia Duerr
Published by Parallax Press on 26/12/2017
Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Entrepreneurship
Format: eBook
Goodreads

Maia Duerr’s new book is all you want to read before this year ends. Why? Because her book holds that element of getting you enthusiastic to start the New Year with an authentic perspective of how to keep living and do what you want to do.

After having multiple jobs in her life and feeling trapped by her intuition of what she wants to do and struggling in the wage slave economy, in this book, Maia advices on how stop living a meaningless life. She defines that a career for an individual is an expression of one’s life and its core intention, we must take necessary steps that are practical enough with vivid reality we are all part of. Work That Matters: Create a Livelihood that Reflects Your Intention is all about that. Author starts from some pragmatic tips like being self-aware with some well known mindfullness practices, shares her own vision and experience with them and concludes in first few chapters how highly beneficial they are when adapted as a habit.

Work is one of the primary vehicles for expressing our deepest selves.

When I picked her book, I wasn’t so sure that it will have such a deep influence over me. Well there I said it. Her words are soothing, pragmatic and visionary in terms of creating livelihood and fill all the gaps by doing what you want to do for living rather than what you do not. In this book, she has covered anecdotes from own life and few others like her and do provide tools to create a joyful work that embodies love and compassion for self. In the book, she examines emotional, psychological and cultural barriers to create work as the driving force of one’s life, after wandering through a dozen jobs in a period of a decade. She does provide few steps that I would not call it a roadmap, but it does make sense and entitled under “Liberation-Based Livelihood”.

The writing style is smooth, with steady in pace and I’d recommend the only way to get something out of this book is to read and be self-aware about what you are reading. Some of the pragmatic tips she provides are really helpful if one decides to constantly mingle with them. This is one of the greatest wisdom holding book I have read this year. The perfect audience for this book are freelancers, digital nomads and the person who want to pursue a career opportuinty on their own terms.

5 out of 5!

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