Book – Page 2 – Made by Mikal

Lights Out

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 13, 2024
Post category:Book

This book continues the story of General Electric in the period after that covered by The Man Who Broke Capitalism, thus presenting an opportunity to validate if Jack Welch really was the bad guy while also learning more about where Welchism took General Electric in the longer term. This book is very readable, with nice short chapters -- for example it introduces Welch as a character, but does not dwell on his time at General Electric more than is necessary. Immelt's time as CEO got off to a rocky start, with the 911 attacks occurring on just his second day in the job. GE was financially exposed to these events, both as an insurer of some of the destroyed buildings, but also as a major manufacturer of aerospace equipment whose grounding reduced demand. My second day as chairman, a plane I lease, flying with engines I built, crashed into a building I insure, and it was covered with a network I own" Then of course came Enron. While the book asserts that GE's behaviour lacked Enron's criminality, GE was certainly creative and opaque with its accounting and would have to clean up its act under the new stricter post-Enron accounting…

The Stranger in the Woods

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 23, 2024
Post category:Book

At 20, Chris Knight set off into the woods to avoid society. He didn't come out apart from to commit petty theft for supplies for 27 years, when he was finally caught after about 1,000 burglaries. Catherine and I are a bit divided on this story -- I think Chris clearly had something wrong in terms of mental health, whereas Catherine thinks he crossed a line when he committed theft to survive. Either way, I don't think you could claim that Chris was living in luxury in isolation, especially when research has shown that extended isolation is generally very bad for mental health. I came across this book because Digital Minimalism recommended it as a good exploration of solitude, but most of the book really isn't about that. Mostly the book is a description of Knight and his life for those 27 years. That said, it's still an interesting read. I'd avoid the book if talk of suicide is a trigger for you, although Knight does not appear to have carried through on his threat.

Drive

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 19, 2024
Post category:Book

This is a book about motivation, specifically about how our assumptions that biological urges and extrinsic motivation are sufficient to model all human behaviours. It turns out that's not true -- intrinsic motivation plays an important part, and in fact badly applied extrinsic motivators can harm the much more powerful intrinsic motivating factors. (It will be interesting to see what corporations currently cutting bonus payouts experience in terms of overall productivity now that they've removed an extrinsic motivator). Intrinsic motivation is more important for heuristic work where the outcomes aren't algorithmic or clear cut the book argues. It's not as simple as just cranking and handle and creativity comes out the other end. However, that's just what traditional management is -- a series of carrots and sticks to crinkle that handle as fast as possible. Its important to note here that the book repeatedly states that intrinsic motivation only works if the person's baseline needs are already met. That is, you need to be earning enough to pay your bills and so forth before you start valuing how interesting work is. Instead, the book encourages companies to consider things like 20% time, self organizing teams, flexible work hours, and so forth.…

Plays Well With Others

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 12, 2024
Post category:Book

This book lied to me. It purports to start out with a description of a hostage situation in New York city. However, the twist is it turns out that its a simulation instead of the real deal. The deception is complete! However, this is a pretty unusually effective way to "hook" people at the beginning of a non-fiction book. Importantly, the book also points out that the techniques that hostage negotiators use to take the heat out of a situation don't work for your marriage: Note to self: something designed for terrorists and emotionally disturbed people isn't perfect for your family. That opening is indicative of the rest of the book -- very readable, and good at keeping your interest. I guess that's good in a psychology book? Every chapter starts with a story, and sometimes the stories are event related to the topic at hand, which is admirable. The whole book is written in a lighthearted style that is fun without coming across as forced, which I think is a pretty impressive thing to have achieved. The book starts out discussing if you can judge a book by its cover -- that is, how good are humans at reading…

Argo CD in practice

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 10, 2024
Post category:Book

I guess it's no surprise that work uses Argo CD, so it seemed like time to understand it a bit better. Unfortunately this book has what I have come to expect from Packt publishing -- it could do with a more solid editorial pass to be honest. The English in the book is awkward, and a simple grammar pass by an experienced editor would have made a big improvement to the whole book. Worse, its clear little technical review occurred either, there is at least one case where a Kubernetes YAML field is typo'ed in the text and simply wont work as published. As an aside, I went and looked at my technical bookshelf, and I have literally zero books from Packt that I've bothered to keep. I am very close to just stopping buying books published by them. This book starts with an introduction to Kubernetes, which is a bit repetitive if you already use it. Given Kubernetes is a prerequisite for using Argo CD, it certainly seems like that will be the case for many readers. Explaining Kubernetes makes sense in the context of explaining where Argo CD fits in, but I can't help but think there should…

Exit Strategy

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 8, 2024
Post category:Book

Another really good if a bit short book. My only real criticism of the first four books in this series is they really should have been one book.

Rogue Protocol

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 29, 2024
Post category:Book

The third installment in the murderbot series. Another fun if a bit short read. Honestly these books should all have been a single volume. That's the only way I don't enjoy these books -- they're super expensive for their length.

Hands-on Ethical Hacking and Network Defense

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 25, 2024
Post category:Book

This is the textbook for a course I am doing at the moment. To be honest the book is kind of old and nothing special, but I read it so it gets at least a brief mention here. Overall the book is too dated to be particularly useful, and I find it hard to believe that something better hasn't been published in the intervening 11 years. That said, if I ever need to enumerate NetWare servers (remember those?) I'll know where to look for information!

Artificial Condition

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 23, 2024
Post category:Book

Another short and fun sci-fi read. Our favorite anxious and depressed murderbot is off trying to solve the mystery of why in fact he murdered all those nice people. Along the way he meets a mildly annoying but actually kind of friendly AI transport ship with a lot of unexplained capabilities. Definitely worth a couple of winter evenings to read.

Children of Time

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 19, 2024
Post category:Book

While being a fairly transparent metaphor for refugees, this book is also an excellent read with a relatively believable premise. I especially like the ending, which I thought was quite unexpected. I don't want to ruin any of this for anyone, but I really really enjoyed this book.