basepi's reviews
96 reviews

The book is dense; it’s filled with perhaps-unnecessary jargon and flowery language; and honestly it rambles and repeats itself a lot.

But it’s still the most important productivity book I’ve ever read.

I’ve been aware of GTD for many years, and have read some of this book, and many summaries. I’m glad I finally settled down and read it cover to cover, but it wasn’t easy. The book has a lot of problems, but these are it’s two biggest: it could be half (or less) as long, and it could state things more simply with fewer business jargon words.

But it’s still probably the most important set of techniques for taking control of your life.

I read the new edition, and while it does a better job of talking about modern technology’s role in GTD, it could do more, and make concrete recommendations (such as OmniFocus).

Anyway, read it. Stick with it. And implement the ideas in this book. It’s good stuff, if not presented as well as it could be.

Just like the first two books, this is a great mix of science fiction and fantasy that would make a great movie. I love all the characters and the unique settings Brandon keeps bringing us to.

He almost lost me with what I was afraid was going to be a giant deus ex machina ending. But he digeridooing saved it! Managed to even send goosebumps down me with the last line.

Anyway, great book. If you read the first two, read it! Fear not the conclusion.

tl;dr: This book is possibly the most important political book you’ll read this year.

I went into this book pretty pessimistic. After reading Sasse’s op-ed on the same topic in the WSJ I was convinced he was one more out of touch Republican senator.

But I picked up this book on the recommendation of a friend. And I’m very glad I did.

It turns out Sasse is not what I expected. The book is a surprisingly frank analysis of what divides our country. He does a really good job of calling out problematic behavior on both sides, and mostly leaving policy out of it.

And I think he’s right on pretty much all counts. My view of him has completely flipped. We may not agree on policy, but I would be pretty hard pressed not to vote for him if I lived in Nebraska.

Read the book. Whether you agree with it or not it’s a side of things that’s worth inspecting.

Pretty fun young adult read! I found this book at the recommendation of Max Temkin on the Do By Friday podcast. It’s definitely a book for a younger audience but I bet I would have loved it when I was younger. The tech aspects hold up better than I expected and it’s a fun romp. I expect I’ll read the other two books because I want to know what happens next!

3.0 stars

Another entry in the young adult series The AI Gang. I actually liked this one better than the first in the trilogy. It suffers from some of the same issues in writing style but kept me pretty interested. And once again the tech doesn’t age as poorly as it probably should. Fun, short read! I’m excited to read the finale!

3.5 stars

I enjoyed the conclusion to the AI Gang trilogy. I mean, it’s young adult fiction, and not that great from a critical standpoint. But who cares? I was reading to find out what happens next, good literature or not. The end didn’t throw anything I wasn’t expecting, but again, who cares? It’s junk food and I enjoyed it. If you liked the first two, read the conclusion.

3.5 stars.

This is (believe it or not) my first Stephen King novel.

Obviously I’ve known his name most of my life. It’s associated with horror, which, as a genre, I generally abhor. Then again, most horror I’ve experienced has been in movie form, and I mostly hate it.

However, I recently learned that he writes more than just horror — fantasy, science fiction, etc. And one of my favorite podcasters, John Siracusa, kept going on and on about the fact that King was his favorite author. So I decided to jump in. And after reading a few reddit threads and blog entries about what to read and where to start, I decided to just start from the beginning.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in two days and was hooked very quickly. It’s a thrilling page turner.

What I didn’t expect to find was a surprisingly thoughtful look at the terror that is not fitting in in high school. I think King did a really good job of showing how horrible that world can be. And his characters were marvelous in how real they were.

Loved the book. Looking forward to others. We’ll see how the more horror-y books like It and The Shining leave me. But this one was great.

4.0 stars.

Phenomenal photography book, especially for me as a beginner. I love that every example photograph has both camera settings and lays out his thinking behind those settings. I feel much more confident in my ability to create “creatively-correct” exposures (as he terms them).

Some of the analogies are not-so perfect (ISO as worker bees collecting water from a faucet?) but they get the point across well enough.

4.5 stars.

This book was incredible.

It gripped me from start to finish. It was painful to be so invested in a character that went through so much hardship, so much self-doubt.

And besides the amazing characters, the world that Brandon has created here is fascinating, pulling me to read just so I can learn a little bit more about it.

And there’s so much more to learn! The ending was really just a beginning. I haven’t been this excited about a sequel in many years.

The ending itself was masterful. It left me salivating for the sequel but wrapped things up well enough to leave me without frustration. It was triumphant and incredible.

Also, M-Bot. Need I say more?

Read this book.

5.0 stars

Unremittingly bleak. I think that’s how I heard Patrick Rothfuss describe this series. And it’s true — sometimes it’s hard to keep reading, because everything goes wrong, over and over. But it seems like we’re finally getting to the point where we can start exploring the idea of recreating civilization. And the writing is great as always. I’m excited to get started on the next compendium. But maybe a break first. Read something happy?

4.0 stars