The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Philip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass is the third and final book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, following The Subtle Knife and The Golden Compass. Unfortunately, as part of a series, I don’t know how to effectively describe the book without giving away too much about the first ones.

Out of the three books, I think I can definitely say that I liked this one the best. I found it to explore the characters quite a bit more than the other books, and it had a more fascinating (and often faster moving) plot. I also liked the over-arching ideas in the book. I found the (fictional) look at authority, revolution, freedom, and eternity to be quite interesting.

The only thing about this book that stands out as not being particularly in my favour would be the ending. I found the ending to be abrupt and cheesy.

All-in-all, however, I did enjoy reading His Dark Materials and especially The Amber Spyglass. I found it to be a well rounded book with interesting characters, plot, and ideas. For fans of easy-to-read fiction, this would be a good series to check out!

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Stop With The BS by Shane Mac
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Shane Mac’s Stop With The BS was shared with me by Humaira. It is a book whose writing was started, completed, and taking place entirely on a series of train rides down the West coast.

I found the book to be a lot of ranting and preaching in the form of short, distinct essays. I found little in the book to be enlightening.

However, I gave it two stars because there were a couple of ideas that did get me thinking about different things. Again, these ideas weren’t particularly life changing, but they did get me to stop for a second to ponder (and I did write a couple of them down to revisit later when I have more time).

Anyhow, if you enjoy reading the musings of random people, or if you’re up for taking the risk of finding enlightenment in this book, check it out!

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The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Philip Pullman’s The Subtle Knife is the second book in a trilogy, following The Golden Compass. Unfortunately, as part of a series, I don’t know how to effectively describe the book without giving away too much about the first one.

In any case, I felt that upon first starting this book, I didn’t feel like it was part of a sequel. It took me a while to understand how this book tied in to the previous book, and thus also it took a while for me to get into it.

But once I did get into it, I did find that I liked the story. I thought it was an interesting attempt at mixing science and fantasy/religion together. I found the plot to be usually fast moving, which I think is what I found most attractive about the book. The characters weren’t flat, but I can’t say I found them to be particularly interesting either.

Anyhow, I’m currently reading the third book, which brings me to the end of the trilogy! I’ll post about it soon!

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Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m writing a super short version of this now because Good Reads ate the longer version I wrote earlier…

Dan Pink’s Drive is a non-fiction book exploring the idea of motivation.

The book opens by looking at research that suggests carrot-and-stick motivational techniques are effective. Digging a bit deeper, Pink argues that carrot-and-stick methods are motivating only for tasks that are simple and mechanical, and examines research that shows rewards and punishments are actually de-motivating for tasks that require thought and creativity.

Next, Pink looks at what he suggests are better motivators for those tasks that require thought and creativity. Those things are Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. In examining each of these, he explains how and why each is motivational, and also introduces ideas to implement such motivators into one’s personal or professional life.

The last part of the book is a reference guide with a bunch of resources further explaining how to implement Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose in life, and also resources for deeper reading on these topics.

Overall, I quite liked Dan Pink’s Drive. I thought it was both informative and practical. I also personally resonated with it as I see Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose as big motivators in doing work I enjoy.

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So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cal Newport’s So Good They Can’t Ignore You is a non-fiction book in which he explains “Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love.” I found out about Newport’s book as I am a regular reader of his Study Hacks blog. I was driven to read it by the provocative claim that “Follow your passion” is bad advice.

Newport decided to take a provocative marketing approach by being an antagonist to the passion hypothesis. His book opens with “‘Follow your passion’ is dangerous advice.” Many of his articles, such as in the Harvard Business Review, share the same message. This provocative statement drives his marketing campaign, and is antagonist to much of what many (young) people believe today. I think this is what really drove me to read the book: to see what he had behind his claim.

Early in the book, Newport clarifies the Passion Hypothesis as “The key to occupational happiness is to first figure out what you’re passionate about and then find a job that matches this passion.” Note that this is much more specific than simply “Follow your passion.” I think this is where the marketing campaign is a bit misleading. To say “‘Follow your passion’ is dangerous advice” is, in my opinion, a very different statement than “‘Passion alone can land you a job’ is dangerous advice.” But I feel that this latter message is what this book intends to say.

This book, in a way, states the obvious by pointing out (and elaborating on the fact) that employers hire you for what you can do, not simply what you’re passionate for. I think it is a well known fact that if you cannot sing well, you aren’t going to land a place in an opera no matter how passionate you are about singing. If you cannot act, you’re not going to get the lead in a play no matter how passionate you are about acting. If you don’t know how to program anything beyond HTML, you’re not going to be selected as a software engineer for a major project no matter how passionate you are about software design. But I think (read: assume) this is pretty common sense for most people, non?

In any case, this is the main point pushed by Newport in his book. He expands using other points that I also believed to be pretty common sense. For example, to stand out, you need a valuable skill, sure, but that valuable skill must also be rare. But this is simple supply and demand. It doesn’t matter if you get an A+ in ANAT 391 if most other people also got an A+ in the class. Sure you’re damn good at naming body parts, but so are the thousands of other people who took the class. (Why should you be hired over them?)

All in all, I did like this book by Newport. I liked the way the information was presented, and I like the key points he highlighted. I do not think that this book really brings many new ideas to the table, but I think it is a useful read to some people who have not yet perspective on how employers select employees.

What I didn’t like was the marketing campaign behind the book. I thought it was misleading, and I don’t think I was the only one misled (for instance, I feel that Eunice at 54:29 in the attached audio below may have been misled as well; though, I did not talk to her directly about it). When it comes to things non-career related, “Follow your passion” can still be great advice. Additionally, if you have two equally qualified people apply for a position, but one is passionate about the position whereas the other is not, I think there would be preference to hire the passionate one. Pretty much, I don’t think it’s right to say not to “Follow your passion”… …I think it would be more accurate to say “Follow your passion, but in the case of careers, if you choose to follow your passion, make sure you’re damn good at it.”

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Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Start With Why is a book by Simon Sinek. After watching his TED talk, I decided to check out his book on the sample topic. That is, in this book, Sinek argues “How great leaders inspire everyone to take action”. Although I agree with the fundamental premise of this book though, I was not impressed with the presented argument.

In his book, Sinek provides a plethora of examples of people and companies who succeed, or not, and then provides an explanation that he ties to as their WHY (their purpose). My issue with the book is that every example is tied to Sinek’s perspective of the example, with what I found to be lacking concrete evidence supporting his claims.

For instance, possibly his most famous example is Apple computers. He claims that Apple markets their products from their why. That is, that in everything Apple does, they challenge the status quo. But I remain unconvinced that this is actually Apple’s WHY as opposed to something that Sinek sees in Apple (regardless of whether or not Apple recognizes the same thing or not). I may just be biased in this case especially since at the University of British Columbia, owning an Apple computer is not challenging the status quo: it is the status quo. Regardless, I had the same concern with most of the other examples.

All in all, I was unconvinced and unmoved by Sinek’s arguments in this book. Although I do agree with his claim on the importance of starting with WHY, I do not see this book as an effective argument supporting the claim. Perhaps a worthwhile read for people simply looking for an introduction to the idea, but not so worthwhile for those seeking a more critical or convincing argument in defence of WHY.

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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a personal development book written by Stephen Covey. A fairly long read, this book covers in some depth 7 habits that Covey articulates to be important for the development of an individual from dependence on other to interdependence. In addition to the writing, the book also includes several exercises for people who are looking for ways to implement the habits in their own lives.

The 7 habits are:
1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win/Win
5. Seek First to Understand … Then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

I liked the ideas presented in the book, and the order in which they were presented. The first habit, Be Proactive, is essentially you do not control what happens to you, but everything that you are you control; you may not control the universe, but you can control how you respond to the state the universe is in. The second habit, Begin with the End in Mind, is making sure that you are doing the right things (it doesn’t matter that you’re getting stuff done unless you’re getting the right stuff done. Your employer isn’t going to pay you for doing somebody else’s work if it involves neglecting your own). That being said, once you know what should be done, the third habit, Put First Things First, looks at how to accomplish everything that should be accomplished. These three habits are described as moving from a state of dependence to independence. That is, they are presented as how to better live life as an individual.

The next three habits deal with moving from independence to interdependence. In other words, they examine how to better deal with other people. The first of these three habits, Think Win/Win, states that when making decisions, both parties involved should win, or no deal can be made. It is a difficult thing to do, I agree, but there are obvious benefits to be had by eliminating a losing party from social transactions. The next habit, Seek First to Understand … Then to be Understood, deals with communicating with other people. Evidently, it deals the ancient wisdom that you should listen to others before saying your own piece (and it’s important to differentiate between listening and hearing here–simply waiting for someone to finish their piece before starting your own completely overlooks what this chapter has to offer). The last habit, Synergize, looks at how working together can have emergent benefits. In other words, it is an examination of how multiple parties working together can produce something that is greater than simply the sum of its parts.

The last habit, Sharpen the Saw, simply looks at how to maintain one’s health, habits, etc. It is an attempt to keep everything together by bringing back the big picture in times when focus may be elsewhere.

I personally thought that this book has quite a bit to offer, and I thought the presented tools can be quite useful. I have yet to seriously explore many of them, but I intend to do so soon. Hopefully I will update when I start to explore this book in more detail.

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Do you like reading? Do you have an eReader? Do you like reading things on the computer? Would you save money to print out a book you like yourself instead of purchasing one?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be interested in checking out Project Gutenberg, which is a collection of free eBooks (free because the copyright has expired) available for the general public.

(Thanks to Hack College for sharing!)