Category: Books

Notes about everything related to books, including reviews of books I’ve read

Book: “Dealing with Difficult People”

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Sometimes, I read individual articles from Harvard Business Review and even posted one on my blog (Misconceptions about Feedback). They also publish books that compile several articles on specific topics, organized into sub-series.

I decided to read one from the Emotional Intelligence series, titled Dealing with Difficult People, as this topic has interested me for several years. The book includes eight articles by seven authors. It’s not very thick (around 150 pages), and with a more modest font size, it would be even slimmer.

As the title and description suggest, the main theme of the book is dealing with difficult people, those under stress, and troublesome colleagues.

On one hand, it’s a collection of very short articles, and I wouldn’t say each one is revolutionary or highly valuable. On the other hand, it’s brief and to the point, unlike many business writers who often stretch a single idea over 300 pages.

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Book: Susan Cain “Quiet”

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I remember, during my childhood, there was a period when I became very interested in various tests, even collecting them in a separate notebook. It all started with Eysenck’s temperament test, where people were categorized as choleric, sanguine, melancholic, or phlegmatic. But Eysenck had another test, which, by the way, overlapped significantly with his temperament test—the introversion-extroversion test.

Who are introverts and extroverts? There are actually a huge number of scientific interpretations, and they sometimes differ in the details. But I’ll try to explain in simple terms.

Introverts are generally rather reserved people; they tend to focus on their inner world. They are usually not very sociable, feel uncomfortable in public or in large groups, and would prefer an evening with a book to a party.

Extroverts are the opposite of introverts 😉 They enjoy being in the spotlight, often becoming the life of the party, have a large number of friends and acquaintances, and are very sociable.

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Book: Oleg Divov “Tech Support: Dead Zone”

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tehpodderzhka-mertvaya-zona

Last year, I wrote about Oleg Divov’s book Tech Support, and this year its sequel, Tech Support: Dead Zone, was released.

A brief summary of the events in the first book: In the not-too-distant future, the Russians decided to sell a prototype walker in Africa as a highly valuable piece of military equipment. But during the pre-sale demonstration, things didn’t go as planned, a small revolution broke out, and an ordinary marketer, Lyokha Filimonov, unexpectedly found himself in the middle of combat operations that supposedly weren’t even happening—no one actually knew what was going on. That’s why this ambiguous conflict was dubbed a “Schrödinger’s war.”

The ending of the first book was left open, clearly suggesting a sequel, so I wasn’t at all surprised when the second book came out. However, it doesn’t continue the events of the first book but presents a new story. The main character, Alexey Filimonov, remains the same, but now he’s no longer a marketer; he’s an employee of the not-so-secret Schrödinger Institute, whose headquarters are located on the alluring island of Cyprus (it’s nice to learn that the place where you live is depicted as almost a paradise in the future, attracting people even from the USA).

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Book: Guy Kawasaki “Art of the Start 2.0”

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Guy Kawasaki is described as “the boldest venture capitalist in Silicon Valley,” according to the cover of the Russian edition of his book The Art of the Start. In the original English version, however, no one characterizes him this way, nor did he include his own name in the book’s title—that was the work of the Russian publishers (in the Russian version, the book is titled Startup by Kawasaki.)

I can’t speak to his boldness, but Guy Kawasaki is best known for promoting the Macintosh brand at Apple in the 1980s, and he is credited with creating both the strategy and even the term “evangelism” (when a product gains passionate fans who promote and advertise it on your behalf—”evangelists”).

The book is often recommended as an excellent guide for those wanting to start their own business and for those seeking investors for such ventures. The book’s subtitle positions it as a collection of time-tested methods for launching any business.

Yes, the book consists of a series of relatively short chapters covering everything that might be needed to start a new business: from preparing a pitch and finding investors to hiring employees and working with customers.

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Book: Isaac Babel “Collected Works. Volume 1”

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babel_1

The way Jewish Odessans speak is something I find incredibly charming—at least, how it’s portrayed, as I’ve never been to Odessa to see for myself. So, I love what I read in jokes or see in films. Two series have stood out to me for capturing the life of Odessa’s courtyards in such a delightful way.

Liquidation, directed by Sergey Ursulyak and starring Vladimir Mashkov as David Gotsman, is an excellent post-war detective story. Even more memorable than the main character is his friend Fima, brilliantly played by Sergey Makovetsky. Lines like, “Return the stolen goods to the calloused hands! You still have to eat off them!” are unforgettable.

The second series is the lighter The Life and Adventures of Mishka Yaponchik, which also plays as a musical, featuring outstanding musical numbers inspired by the songs of the American Barry Sisters. We know that much of what we know about the legendary Odessa gangster Mishka Yaponchik comes thanks to Isaac Babel, who based his character Benya Krik, the “King,” on him. The series builds on Odessa Stories by Babel, though here Benya is called by his real-life inspiration’s name—Mishka Yaponchik.

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Book: Gareth Moore “Lateral Logic”

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Since childhood, I’ve loved logic puzzles, IQ tests, and other brain teasers. In 2018, I found a book by Gareth Moore called Lateral Logic, which is essentially a collection of tasks aimed at developing thinking skills. The subtitle sums it up: A Puzzling Path to Non-Standard Thinking.

The book is divided into three parts by difficulty level. The first part serves as a warm-up and introduction to this type of puzzle, with examples illustrating the thought process needed to solve them. Then, it gets harder, with the third part reserved for masters of the craft. Each puzzle includes several hints that don’t give away the answer directly but are meant to steer you in the right direction.

It sounds like paradise for enthusiasts like me. And at first, I did enjoy it. But as I progressed, doubts started to creep in, certain puzzles began to irritate me, and by the end of the book, I had solidified my mixed feelings about its content.

There are definitely some interesting puzzles in the book that are fun to work through. Some I was already familiar with or knew the approaches, thanks to skills I’d developed long ago. But overall, the book didn’t really resonate with me, leaving my final rating rather low. So, why is that?

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Boris Akunin “The Un-Chekhovian Intelligentsia”

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nechehov

When I read Boris Akunin’s book The Life of Remarkable People and Animals a year ago, I had no idea that it was merely a selection of entries from the author’s blog. Moreover, it turned out to be the second part, and I had completely missed the first one. Then, one day, I came across a familiar-looking cover in my recommendations—aha, so that’s the first volume! Titled The Un-Chekhovian Intelligentsia.

Let me remind you that both books together (which I now know) form a collection of rather short notes by the author about various interesting people and facts, initially published by Boris Akunin on his blog, and later released as a book with the subtitle Short Stories About All Sorts of Things.

Yet, regardless of how much the author may veil it with this “all sorts of things,” it’s quite clear that he is primarily interested in people and their lives. The topics are very diverse: tyrants and geniuses, holiday histories, revolutionaries and the civil war, British spies and love stories… but all of it revolves around people.

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Heather Morris “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”

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Those who have known me for a long time remember that the Holocaust holds a special place on my list of important subjects. I read about it myself, and I tell my children what happened and how it happened. Such things must be remembered. So, not a year goes by without me reading a book on the topic or watching a related film.

No one recommended The Tattooist of Auschwitz to me; I happened upon it on a bookstore shelf, and then my wife read it before I did. Although it’s a novel, it is based on the real-life memories of Lale (Ludwig) Sokolov, who worked as a tattooist in Auschwitz for several years during the war, survived, and eventually moved to Australia.

Heather Morris, the author, merely recorded his memories and turned them into a novel. Before this book, she wasn’t well known, working in a hospital and trying her hand at screenwriting. Then she was introduced to Lale…

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Diane Setterfield “The Thirteenth Tale”

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Once upon a time, there was a writer. She was both famous and incredibly mysterious. In all her interviews, she never gave a truthful answer about herself or her family. Instead, she would tell a new, wonderful story each time. Just before her death, she invites biographer Margaret Lea to visit, promising to tell the true story of her life.

And she does tell it. It’s a tale as intricate as the plots of her other books, perhaps even surpassing them.

It’s a rather dark story, reminiscent of Jane Eyre (a book mentioned several times in the novel) and Consuelo. Yet it’s told in such a way that one cannot doubt it could have truly happened. Margaret Lea, and therefore the reader, has no reason to doubt.

The story ends, the lives of all the characters are recounted, and the mysteries are revealed. Only two questions remain unanswered. The old writer herself didn’t know the answer to the first. The second question isn’t even a question, but rather a small box filled with childhood treasures. Its appearance at the end of the book could signify something simple, or it could suggest that everything told was just another fairy tale and nothing more. But we’ll never know the answer—the writer has passed away.

The book is often described as a new Gothic novel and a revival of classic English literature from the Brontë era. I think the book will appeal to those who love the atmosphere of mysteries and secrets in decaying English estates, where both servants and masters have their own secrets, hidden safely within the old mansion, and the story spans multiple generations.

A film adaptation was released in 2013. I only saw the trailer, which captures the novel’s spirit well. However, I had pictured Margaret Lea as much younger.

Diane Setterfield “The Thirteenth Tale”buy

The Russian Teacher “50 Deadly Sins in the Russian Language”

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50-grehov-russkogo

There’s a concept known as “grammar Nazi,” even covered on Wikipedia. It started as an internet meme and refers to people who are extremely meticulous about language accuracy. Naturally, it has no actual connection to Nazism or fascism, though the joke went far enough that an emblem, based on Nazi symbolism, was created for the term (and rumor has it this even led to law enforcement issues).

But the term has taken root, and people often use it in conversation—when correcting someone, they might say they’re a “grammar Nazi” and thus don’t tolerate such mistakes.

I was naturally lucky; Russian came easily to me in school, even though I didn’t study the rules all that much. I have an internal sense of the language. Over time, I’ve always been interested in the meanings of rare words and in which words people most commonly misuse. I even corrected some of my own speech mistakes as soon as I learned about them.

Then, just the other day, I stumbled upon a book called 50 Deadly Sins in the Russian Language, with a bold cover to boot. Naturally, I couldn’t resist picking it up.

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