The entire series by Boris Akunin on the history of the Russian state is very easy and interesting to read. Perhaps, at times, he adds personal emotions, but I didn’t notice any major discrepancies. Especially when you consider that history is often shaped by the victors , and the emotional component actually benefits the text, making it more engaging to read.
The fourth volume covers the Time of Troubles (after Boris Godunov), the rise of the Romanov dynasty, the annexation of Ukraine, and ends right before the final ascension of Peter the Great (which will be the focus of the next volume).
I am a big fan of ‘Firefly’ series and ‘Serenity’ movie as well. But this particular novel is mostly just a novelization of the ‘Serenity’ movie. Yes, it definitely gives you more inner emotions and thoughts of characters than a movie can do. But still it is just a text version of the story you know (if you watched the movie), slightly adopted screenplay, I guess.
The novel is good for fans, and I even want to re-watch the original series after that, but really don’t expect a lot here.
The book provides very valuable advice on writing business letters in general, not just in English. It thoroughly covers aspects such as the structure of a letter, the order in which information is presented, key points of emphasis, and more. English adds its own nuances, which the author addresses separately (as the book focuses specifically on correspondence in English).
The content is divided into thematic chapters with examples, and each is broken down almost paragraph by paragraph. I initially started reading the e-book version but soon realized that this is the kind of book you need to have as a reference on your desk. This way, you can refer to it when necessary and compose a letter with recommendations tailored to a specific situation or topic. It serves as a kind of cheat sheet.
I recommend it to anyone whose job involves a lot of business correspondence. It’s definitely worth getting the paper version and keeping it handy on your desk.
I had wanted to read the book for many years but, for some reason, always hesitated to start. Finally, riding the wave of the well-known game about Geralt the Witcher, I decided to give it a go.
Honestly, I expected much more. The saga starts as a collection of short stories about various contracts of the witcher, a monster hunter. Then, the author decides to turn it into a full-fledged epic saga. And this is where the tension started to weaken. The witcher gradually stops being a witcher, essentially losing all the traits that defined him (at the very least, he doesn’t use them at all). The intrigue keeps building and building, often interspersed with frankly tedious and unnecessary lyrical digressions that don’t add much to the main plot. Book after book, but the saga feels very uneven. Sometimes you fly through the pages, unable to put it down, and other times you want to skip entire chapters. And finally… it ends with a whimper. With nothing. There’s no clear understanding of what it was all for, and the “deus ex machina” feels contrived and unconvincing in terms of the characters’ logic. Even after that, there are a few more chapters that don’t give a sense of closure.
However, overall, I think the character of Geralt the Witcher far outshines the quality of the book itself.
The book is interesting because it brings together a variety of small, useful tips from different areas of everyday work that are relevant to almost anyone. Nearly all of the content can be found independently by reading books or watching video tutorials. However, the value lies in the concise presentation: everything is collected in one place and in a single book.
The material is conveniently divided into sections, and some may be less interesting to the reader if they don’t pertain to their field (for example, tips on marketing or big data, which are quite specific). Others are more universally applicable. If something piques your interest, the authors generously provide resources where you can learn more.
I didn’t find any groundbreaking revelations for myself, but some of the tips helped me look at tricks I already use from a different perspective, showing how they could be improved.
The book is easy and quick to read, so I can recommend it. No one is saying you have to do things exactly as suggested, but if you find something useful, the benefit will be undeniable.
The book doesn’t so much explain Starbucks’ corporate culture as it repeatedly emphasizes just a couple of fundamental principles of Starbucks. The author hardly delves into how this culture is built or instilled in employees (referred to as partners in the company’s culture).
Additionally, the book doesn’t feel like a cohesive work. The chapters are barely connected, and at times, they essentially repeat the same ideas but with slightly different wording.
I would say it feels more like the author’s personal journal, where he meticulously records his thoughts, often referencing other authors he constantly cites. If you approach the book from that perspective—as the thoughts of a Starbucks top executive—then it does contain interesting insights into building one’s work and relationships with employees and customers.
The description promised a lot of useful information about fonts for those who know little about the subject. The topic is generally very interesting to me, and the book is colorful—so I bought into. However, it turns out that the book is practically about nothing. It’s not even a book, but rather a collection of loosely connected thoughts, heavily sprinkled with images and tons of font names and highly professional terminology. After a while, you start to realize you no longer understand what’s being described. Even the design of the book, in my opinion as a reader, was quite inconvenient, despite the author constantly emphasizing the importance of choosing fonts and design for readability. Ironically, the book itself doesn’t excel in this regard. But the main problem for me is that it’s unclear who the book is for and what goal the author was trying to achieve. Simply put, the book feels like it’s about nothing. I don’t understand where all the praise is coming from.
I have very mixed feelings about this book, both during the reading and after finishing it. On the one hand, there are many interesting insights worth considering. On the other hand, much of the material felt quite superficial and unlikely to truly help someone become a better negotiator just by reading this book. This becomes especially apparent when you compare it to other negotiation training resources. Even the appendix at the end—on national negotiation traits—seems questionable: my personal experience working with colleagues from various countries suggests that things aren’t as simple or clear-cut as the author presents them.
Do I recommend reading this book? Yes. Will it genuinely help as a training tool? In some aspects—yes, but not significantly.
I read a lot on my tablet. I also have a Kindle, but the tablet is always with me, and carrying two devices makes no sense at all. So, over time, the tablet became my main tool for reading (in addition to its other important functions). I mostly read books in PDF (some books require layout preservation) or, for the most part, in EPUB/FB2. These are two formats that are quite similar in terms of their philosophy.
I’ve tried a ton of different reading apps, and I’ve purchased at least five in addition to the native iBooks. But I still haven’t found the perfect option for myself. That’s why I periodically switch between different apps.
The closest to ideal for me is KyBook. In fact, I liked the first version more than the current KyBook 2. The new version, in my opinion, is overloaded, which affects basic functionality, requiring too many extra steps. However, the first version had occasional rendering glitches, and now the author is no longer developing it. Nevertheless, it still has its undeniable advantages:
It’s almost universal: it supports all the formats I need—PDF, EPUB, and FB2.
It displays pages when viewing the table of contents (which helps me gauge the length of chapters).
It can show footnotes on the same page, meaning the footnote text pops up above the main text instead of redirecting to the end of the book, as most readers do. This is incredibly convenient because you don’t lose your place and can see the context immediately. However, it seems to only work for FB2.
It natively supports an English-Russian dictionary (which is sometimes very useful), with translations popping up in the same way above the text. And it works in all three formats.
Although a bit clunky, it keeps a history of the last few books (which is handy since I often read several books in parallel).
It allows you to create a folder structure for better organization of your library (though I have to admit, the new version makes this very inconvenient. The old version did it better because the new one introduced the concepts of “Books” and “Files.” Folders only work for files, while some other functions only work for books. It’s incredibly frustrating).
It displays the current progress, the number of pages in the book, and the remaining pages in the chapter. Although it only shows progress as a percentage on the “recently read” tab, it’s not a big deal since I don’t need that feature often.
It allows for scrolling through PDFs (not just page flipping) and provides zooming options. Plus, it can convert PDFs to sepia.
There are other features, but they’re less essential.
Unfortunately, the program has its downsides. Rendering glitches occur from time to time, where all the paragraphs merge together, including the headings. Sadly, I haven’t been able to fix this. And this leads to the second downside: the developer, who used to be very responsive, has recently been slower to reply to user questions, often redirecting people to the FAQ, which, by the way, is very superficial and doesn’t answer more complex questions. Plus, it often seems like the developer takes many questions personally, which makes for an overall unpleasant experience. I can understand that on a human level sometimes, but after all, it’s the customers and buyers asking.
The second contender is Marvin. An excellent reader. I bought both the second and third versions (both had free versions, but there are also premium ones). When compared to KyBook, here are the differences:
It only supports EPUB.
It doesn’t display page numbers in the table of contents (or I couldn’t find this feature).
It supports either system dictionaries, transferring to Lingvo (which requires purchasing the dictionaries separately), or using a web lookup. However, this is still inconvenient since it can’t display an English-Russian translation directly above the text, and jumping to another app is less comfortable (the web option isn’t ideal either: it’s inconvenient and requires internet, which isn’t always available).
It can’t show in-text footnotes. But to be fair, I haven’t seen any other reader, including foreign ones, that does this either.
And then there’s the third option: the native iBooks. In terms of features, it’s the most limited. It displays PDFs only in the original color scheme, with no scrolling (just page-by-page flipping). Most of KyBook’s advantages for EPUB are also missing.
There are other apps, but they’re also quite limited or outdated. So, I mostly stick with KyBook, but when its minor flaws or the interface issues in the new version become too annoying, I switch to Marvin or iBooks.
What do you use for reading? What features are essential to you when reading?
This book isn’t entirely about digital piracy. It delves into many aspects of copyright law as a whole, as well as its application in the modern world. So-called “digital piracy” is just one facet of the topic. The author attempts to look at the issues from various perspectives, though it’s clear that they have less affection for copyright lobbyists, as they highlight how outdated this law has become and how it largely benefits corporations more than creators and authors themselves.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking to deepen their understanding of what lies behind modern concepts in this field—how much “pirates” are truly pirates, what drives both sides, etc. This knowledge will help you better adapt to the evolving world instead of holding onto outdated notions.
, and the emotional component actually benefits the text, making it more engaging to read.
