⭐⭐ How to Engineer Your Layoff by Dogen

I picked this book up during a time that I was evaluating leaving an employer. I had heard of it in the past but balked at the high price tag (nearly $100!). Ultimately, I decided to buy it since the ROI potential was huge. I came away pretty disappointed.

This book probably contains maybe a few bullet points of valuable information. Certainly, the core of what is said could be handled within the context of an essay or blog post. This is a common complaint I have of non-fiction / self-help style books already, but this felt bad even for those standards. Outside of the first few chapters, you’re basically reading a loose collection of thoughts that are related to the concept of leaving a job, some not even by the author himself.

I think the book could also really use a professional editor. There’s a few places I noticed where there were grammatical errors, and formatting can be inconsistent. Many chapters contain tons of filler — for example, the case studies in Chapter 9 were seemingly just copy-pasted emails without modification.

In the end, it did cause me to consider the perspective a bit more, so I offer two stars instead of just one. But you can get that mostly from reading the title.

February 5, 2025 Book Reviews

⭐⭐ Stories of Your Life and Others by Chiang

I had seen this book recommended so many times on HN that I felt like I had to pick it up. Ultimately, I came away quite disappointed — it’s not necessarily that the stories were bad, just that they weren’t particularly good. Ended up stopping after reading about half.

Not recommended.

January 6, 2025 Book Reviews

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Amusing Ourselves to Death by Postman

Vacillated between 3 and 4 stars. I have a buddy who talks alot about “the medium is the message” (a concept originally introduced 20 years before the publishing of this book), and Potsman engages with the same kind of concerns here. The contrasting views of truth in print-based vs. oral cultures was an interesting exercise in perspective, especially his point that a photo, while being “worth a thousand words,” actually allows the least room for deeper / nuanced truth, forcing the consumer to stay in a decontextualized slice of space-time.

The most enjoyable part of the book for me was the discussion on colonial / 19th century America and the media consumption habits at the time. Both the high literacy rates and the impressive attention spans of ‘common folk’ during the time offer ready contrasts to the present day. The Lincoln and Douglas debates, which gave each side hours rather than minutes to speak (and had the audience leave to eat dinner & come back!) feel so foreign today.

While the book is a little long in some places and shows its age with its over-reliance on the TV as the medium, I still think it is a worthwhile read (though probably via audiobook rather than physical book).

December 30, 2024 Book Reviews

⭐⭐⭐ Boom by Hobart

Pretty good. Although I was aware of the examples of booms the authors do deep-dives on, I was relatively unfamiliar with the Apollo Program and what the authors term “The Golden Age of Corporate R&D.” Both of those chapters were instructive. The Bitcoin chapter I don’t believe really fits in the book (its comparative lack of spill-over innovation weakens their thesis), and the ending is a little weak.

For folks interested in the topic, would recommend stopping before getting to Bitcoin.

December 15, 2024 Book Reviews

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Mating in Captivity by Perel

I was torn between 3 and 4 stars. The book feels more like a collection of loosely connected ideas rather than a cohesive narrative. Perel’s insights, drawn from her experience as a therapist, often meander without reaching clear conclusions in each chapter. Still, I enjoyed many of the fresh perspectives she offered, and the real-life examples she shared made for a more engaging read.

September 27, 2024 Book Reviews

⭐⭐⭐ Love Life by Hussey

Read on the recommendation of my mom. Overall I felt that the majority of the book was perhaps targeted at younger folks / those in a different stage of seeking relationships. It’s also quite woman-focused (though not surprising given what the author’s known for!)

The last third of the book — Core Confidence and Happy Enough — is definitely the strongest. One example: Hussey describes his view that self-love should be more akin to familial love rather than romantic love, or one based on identity characteristics. I hadn’t really thought of this distinction before and it’s a model that I think can be quite useful. There’s a few other ‘reframing’ nuggets like this in these two chapters.

Probably worth a read for young adult women, though not others.

September 18, 2024 Book Reviews