My Review (of The Good That Men Do)

I'm a big Star Trek fan. Not the costume wearing, convention going, Klingon speaking fan--but the other kind of big fan. My favorite, out of all the series, was Star Trek Enterprise, taking place 100 years prior to Captain Kirk. It lasted for four short seasons (arguably the first two being the best) and had a horrible series finale. The Good That Men Do is an attempt to appease Enterprise fans by rewriting a bit of canon to give a more fitting end to the series and my favorite character, that of Trip Tucker. I picked up the book first without knowing a thing about it--really by just looking at it's cover. I think the cover art is fantastic and that the title embodies what Star Trek is all about, the goodness of man, the self sacrifice, and heroism.

First of all, you have to understand the book is written for a Star Trek fan, with lots of technical jargon and references to the overall Enterprise story line. However, there is still a lot of exposition concerning events of the fourth season of Enterprise that lead directly up to the book. Often times, these passages read more like an episode synopsis than a fluid narrative and it can be quite annoying. Some of the analogies made throughout the book are a bit too Trekish as well.

For fans of the show, the story does not disappoint. It's right up there with most of the other over-the-top Trek story lines, specifically reminding me of Unification from TNG. The Good is an enjoyable read if all you're looking for is something entertaining. There is nothing cerebral here and most of the time, if you put too much thought into the story, you start to find holes--not plot holes but story holes that just don't always add up.

My biggest complaint about the book is that the ending does nothing to tie up the Enterprise franchise. It instead opens a door to the possibility of another franchise with the character of Trip Tucker as the star. Star Trek is plagued by so many literary franchises anyways that this isn't really the best of ideas. I got the feeling after reading the final chapter that I was being set up for a sequel, just like watching a bad movie.

As a Trek fan though, I couldn't have asked for more from the story. It was exactly what I was looking for; a more heroic fate for my favorite character.

My Review (of Pour Your Heart into It)

So I recieved a few books and some Barnes & Noble gift certificates for Christmas and one of the books I just finished has been on my want list for a while, Pour Your Heart into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time. I'll start by saying that I love Starbucks. No matter where I'm at, if I want a good cup of coffee, I can go into a Starbucks and order a cup that tastes the same as the Starbucks back at home. One of my biggest problems when I'm out of town at a class or conference is not being able to find a good cup of coffee. I love the Starbucks experience as a whole; the feel of the stores, the friendliness of the baristas, and that taste of the coffee. All of my Starbucks beliefs have been reaffirmed.

Pour Your Heart into It is written by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and he tells the story of how Starbucks as we know it today was created. The book is a mix of Starbucks history, personal biography, business phylosophy, and management self-help. Schultz does a wonderful job of conveying his love of coffee and his company, his drive to build an employee and customer centered company, and his personal ideas about the kind of business he wants to run. Every chapter of the book balances parts of the Starbucks story with Schultz's business philosophies and management advice. Overall, the highest points of the book are when Schultz is passionatley describing how he was struggling to build Starbucks into a national company. The low points of the book would be when his advice segments would run a little long.

I picked up the book because I wanted to learn about the history of Starbucks and I came out the other end educated and enraptured in the Starbucks experience. This is in no way a book about how to run a successful company, the notes are paragraphs that Schultz includes are more about highlighting or illustrating a point in the story than acting as a teaching point on their own. You have to have a little patience when reading the book as some of it reads like an essay (a little reminiscent of my time reading A Perfect Thing), but I worked through the slow points because of how much I love Starbucks. If you're a Starbucks fan, this is such a great story that teaches you so much about the cup of coffee in your hand.

My Review (of Drop Dead, My Lovely)

My wife and I just got back from a week in Orlando where I was able to read a few short, "just for fun" books. The first of which, Drop Dead, My Lovely by Ellis Weiner is the story of a PI out of touch with the modern world. Following a head injury, Pete Ingalls awakes believing he is a tough talking, 1940s private investigator and goes forth to open his own PI company.

The story itself is cliched and not too inventive; Pete has a sexy, aspiring actress as his secretary and his clients are "dames in distress" with missing persons work. There's plenty to love and hate about the book, but what I kept in mind is that it's meant to be a fun read. The dialog, often touted in reviews as one of the high points of the book, is noir-ish and rich. However, the dialog is so over the top at times that it hits you over the head and you wonder if the author did this accidentally or intentionally, the intent is often not clear. That said, it's easy to find yourself snickering at the remarks and quips made by Ingalls.

My other grievances are the story lines that at times are difficult to follow as the characters of the clients are difficult to differentiate. I also felt that the author stretches a bit near the end of the book to tie everything together and make sense of the plot.

Those misgivings aside, I found Drop Dead, My Lovely to be a pleasurable, quick read. It was easy to get attached to the absurd character of Pete Ingalls and his intelligent, profanity wielding secretary. This is a recommended read for anyone looking for something fun and easy.

My Review (of Red Mars)

I just finished (well, two weeks ago anyways) Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars and I have to agree with most of the reviews of it that I've read. The story, taken as a whole, is fantastic. However, I put the book down for about three months because the story dragged so much in the middle. I found that some of the characters, especially that of Michel Duval and the entire section of the book dedicated to him, were boring and tedious. The environmentalist views spread throughout the book sometimes beat you over the head. And Robinson obviously uses the novel to promote his own political viewpoints, which is his prerogative.

What I enjoyed the most was how detailed and richly descriptive the novel is. Mars is literally brought to life as if Robinson had been there himself. The science is incredibly researched and believable and is a highlight of reading the book. The story is sweeping, spanning the journey to Mars by the first 100 explorers, the initial frontier settlements and terraforming efforts, to the relative overpopulation of the established city-settlements and the social and economical strife that follows. Robinson does a fantastic job of keeping the individual stories of all his characters distinct and easy to follow as he picks up one and leaves off another. And while frustrating to some, I enjoyed reading different sections of the story from different character's perspectives.

Overall a great, epic read and I'm looking forward to the following Green Mars and Blue Mars.

My Review (of A Perfect Thing)

So I just finished "The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness" by Steven Levy and maybe my favorite thing about the book is how it made me fall in love with my iPod all over again. Written as a series of essays regarding different aspects of how the iPod changed the Apple company, has affected culture and personalities, and created a new iPod economy, the book "shuffles" the chapters around from copy to copy, making sure each book is as unique as a shuffled playlist. The downside to this format is that the chapters can stand alone as essays and therefore have a certain amount of redundancy from chapter to chapter and there is also little sense of continuity.

I enjoyed the book because the author has an obvious love of technology and his iPod in particular; this is someone who knows iPods (and the Apple company) writing out of love. You'll find lots of great interview with Steve Jobs and others from within Apple. In reading, I learned so much about the iPod development process, the philosophy of the Apple company, and the history of digital music players. Overall, the book is insightful for those interested in the tech industry and written in such a way that it's accessible to everyone.