Category: Books

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

Book: Boris Akunin “After a Long and Severe Illness”

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And so, Boris Akunin’s nine-volume History of the Russian State has come to an end—a project that took him nearly ten years to complete. Beginning from the very origins, he concluded his narrative with the reign of Nicholas II and the year 1917. Of course, Russia’s history did not end there, but from that point on, it largely became a completely different country, transforming into the USSR for the next 70 years. One could argue that even in its earlier stages, it wasn’t quite Russia as we understand it today—after all, Kievan Rus’ was the cradle of several nations. Unfortunately, at the time I am writing these lines, even this topic is being used to justify war. That’s why I viewed this series as a history of the Eastern Slavs, with a focus on the people of modern-day Russia.

The closer the author got to modern history, the more eagerly I anticipated his take on events that we studied in detail at school—albeit in a rather one-sided way. From Boris Akunin, I expected a more impartial perspective on these events, delivered in his distinctive style.

The final stage of the Russian Empire’s life is the reign of its last emperor, Nicholas II, a figure who evokes highly polarized opinions—either as a completely inept autocrat or as a near-saint. Above all, he was a man placed in circumstances for which he was, evidently, not well suited.

This time, focusing on a period of history well known to many, Boris Akunin chose a new approach to his storytelling. He divided the book into two parts. In the first, titled “A Bouquet of Illnesses,” he examines the condition of the empire during this era, portraying the vast country as a sick patient suffering from numerous chronic diseases. He identifies many of the same issues he has repeatedly highlighted in earlier volumes: the conflict between the sacralized autocratic power and an increasingly self-aware society, the imperial obsession with expansion and the inability to manage it, national tensions (Jews, Poles, Finns, and others), and more. He also lays out how all these problems—along with the personality of the emperor himself—became entangled in a knot from which there was almost no way out.

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Book: Boris Akunin “The Road to Kitezh”

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The History of the Russian State series by Boris Akunin recently concluded with its final book on the reign of Nicholas II. However, the last part of the accompanying fiction cycle has yet to be released. The Road to Kitezh is the penultimate novel in this fictional series, which serves as “additional material” to the main historical narrative.

In these novels, Boris Akunin traces the life of a single family from pre-Varangian times—presumably up until the 1917 Revolution—while weaving in the historical events of each respective era around them. Sometimes it’s engaging, sometimes not so much. But in this particular book, The Road to Kitezh, the central figure of the titular dynasty, Adrian Lartsev, though portrayed as a highly unconventional individual with a deep passion for railroad construction that runs throughout the novel, is actually a secondary character this time. The true protagonist here is the State itself. Everything the characters do is for the benefit of this very State and its people. The entire struggle is fought for a better future, which different forces interpret in their own way.

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Book: Rosalie Gilbert “The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women”

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What does the average person know about the Middle Ages? That there were knights with their ladies, they went on several crusades to fight the infidels, the noble English king Richard the Lionheart (who was actually quite a scoundrel), the Knights of the Round Table (not from here), dragons and a talking donkey (also not from here), the right of the first night, Robin Hood and his men in tights, Teutonic knights on ice, and chastity belts. Probably something else too, but I can’t recall off the top of my head.

In her book, Rosalie Gilbert set out to examine some of these so-called “facts” that we know thanks to movies and books, focusing on a particular adult theme—intimate matters. Were people really all that virtuous? Was there even a sex life at all? (Obviously, there was, since people had to reproduce somehow.) And how did they guard against spousal infidelity, or, conversely, try to ignite passion in their partners?

It took me just a few pages to decide I wanted to read the book because the author jumps right in, debunking myths and revealing just how difficult it was to remain a virgin in those times. After all, male virginity wasn’t much of a concern back then, and women, in general, were considered the embodiment of sin (we all remember Eve and the apple in Eden, right?), whom men simply had to tolerate for the sake of the survival of the family line.

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Book: Alexander Bogachev “Charts That Persuade Everyone”

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Working with numbers, analytics—all of it always ends the same way: with graphical representation to clearly present data to ordinary people, management, shareholders, or even to understand it yourself. Many authors focus on the skill of presenting information in this form, although it’s often just a single chapter in books on broader topics. Even from those mentioned in my blog, you can refer to “The Numbers Game“ by Vasiliy Sabirov or “How to Lie with Statistics“ by Darrell Huff.

Following a recommendation from Vasiliy Sabirov, I read a book entirely dedicated to the correct way to convey any information through charts—“Charts That Persuade Everyone” by Alexander Bogachev. As a manager, I encounter charts frequently, but even I hadn’t considered some of the finer details that can drastically change how information is perceived.

This is a very short book—240 pages, nearly half of which are examples of various charts. But this is precisely its value: there’s almost no filler here; everything is strictly focused on the topic.

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Book: Alina Nahornaja “404 Language Not Found”

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The book “404 Language Not Found” is about how difficult it is to use the Belarusian language in modern Belarus.

Let me start with a bit of background, with the history of my relationship with the Belarusian language. To be honest, Russian was always the native language in my family, although older generations occasionally mixed in either Belarusian words or dialects (the so-called “trasianka”) or some words from Yiddish. However, the Belarusian language surrounded me from childhood, and I understood it almost as if it were my native tongue. In the 1980s, I once visited Kyiv for a programming competition and was struck by how extensively Ukrainians used the Ukrainian language in daily life. In the Byelorussian SSR, in Minsk, Belarusian was not used as actively. On the second day of this “trip,” I decided to speak only Belarusian in Kyiv. The locals gave me slightly curious looks but generally understood me perfectly.

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Book: Ben Orlin “Math with Bad Drawings”

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I fell in love with mathematics in the early years of school. I was very fortunate to have a math teacher who not only showed us how fascinating this subject could be but also greatly influenced me and many of my classmates in shaping who we became as individuals. He was truly a Teacher with a capital “T.”

In the fourth grade, I completed both the fourth and fifth-grade math courses (even though the official education system didn’t really support such an approach at the time), and I carried my love for mathematics all the way to university, eventually earning a degree as an officially certified “mathematician-systems programmer.” (Though I must admit that by the time I was in university, I realized I didn’t enjoy all areas of mathematics equally—but that’s a story for another time.)

It was probably this childhood passion that made me pay attention to a book titled “Math with Bad Drawings” when it randomly appeared in my feed. Or perhaps it was the description, which mentioned that not every student is lucky enough to have a teacher like Ben Orlin, who knows how to reveal the beauty of this subject in an accessible and engaging way. I was eager to compare the methods of this unfamiliar American author with the approaches that had such an impact on me.

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Reading Results of 2021

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The main theme of my blog is books, so I decided to write about the best ones I’ve read this year and would recommend.

I’ve read 78 books, but the number isn’t as impressive as it seems because it includes several short children’s books that I read with my younger kids before bed. Still, there are many great books I can recommend.

As for fiction, I didn’t read much this year, and most of it consisted of well-known works that I either finally decided to read or was revisiting. I’ll highlight just one:

  • Britt-Marie Was Here — a wonderful novel by one of the best contemporary authors, Richard Backman. I savor each of his books and wait a long time before picking up the next one.

And the most delightful part: this year, I received the first review of my own book (only in Russian) — Graphomaniacs Don’t Cry.

Book: Brad Feld, Jason Mendelson “Venture Deals”

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Over the past couple of decades, the word “startup” has become insanely trendy, and for most people, it’s synonymous with the promise of inevitable success. We know dozens of stories where an ordinary student started a business in a garage that later turned into a multibillion-dollar company. Everyone wants to try on that role for themselves. To help them, there’s an abundance of books explaining how to create the company of your dreams, refine your idea, and build something people truly need. Even in my blog, I’ve reviewed several such books (for instance, “The Art of the Start“ by Guy Kawasaki and “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future“).

Of course, few people mention that for every success story, there are thousands of failures, but who’s interested in those? Everyone wants to look up to the best (this tendency is known as “survivorship bias”). Moreover, not all authors tell you that often, to launch a successful and rapidly growing business, you need funding. At best, they give advice on how to structure your presentations for potential investors. But what comes next… few will shed light on that.

The book “Venture Deals” is one of the rare few that focuses specifically on communicating with investors, the rules of drafting investment deals, and all those details that a future owner of a successful company must know and understand—unless, of course, they want to end up with nothing, even if their business turns out to be groundbreaking. The book’s subtitle is “Be SMARTER Than Your LAWYER and VENTURE CAPITALIST”. And it’s written by none other than those very venture capitalists who’ve mastered the art of such deals.

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Book: Mike Girvin “Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Mastering Excel Array Formulas”

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Microsoft Excel is a tool almost everyone is familiar with these days. And electronic spreadsheets are used in one way or another by nearly everyone who works with a computer. However, I believe most people are unaware of the full potential of this tool.

I’ve never considered myself a spreadsheet guru, even though I knew the basic formulas, performed many calculations myself, and often used complex tables at work to track budgets and other tasks. Still, I always considered myself an intermediate user in terms of proficiency.

Occasionally, though, I faced tasks that required processing large amounts of data, often in rather complex ways. That’s when I started digging through various articles to find methods for building more sophisticated calculations. I began working more and more with the concept of arrays in spreadsheets. At some point, I noticed that many of the examples and solutions I found frequently referred to the same author—or even directly cited his book titled Ctrl+Shift+Enter: Mastering Excel Array Formulas. The author? Mike “ExcelIsFun” Girvin. He runs a popular YouTube channel where he explains the intricacies of working with MS Excel. The channel bears his pseudonym, ExcelIsFun.

As for the book, it’s a refined collection of his materials, compiled into articles focusing on one specific topic: array formulas.

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Book: Alla Shevelkina “Afghan Diary”

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This year, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, effectively disregarding all the efforts by the Americans to establish order there. For decades, this country has been engulfed in war, serving as a battleground for various forces.

In the fall of 2001, journalist Alla Shevelkina traveled there as part of a team from a French television channel. During her stay, she decided to keep a diary, documenting the events of each day. Of course, over the past 20 years, the country has experienced much, but the diary shows that even then, it was a shocking medieval world for people from so-called civilized nations.

I came across this book on the recommendation of Viktor Shenderovich, just a few days after the Taliban entered Kabul. Again.

From the description, it promised to be an honest and profound immersion into that very medieval reality during the days when the Taliban last ruled Kabul. I was very curious to get a glimpse of life in the country, not through official news reports, which often craft stories for dramatic or sentimental effect (sadly, this is true).

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