Book: Alexander Grigoriev “Word on the Slide”

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Many years ago, I absolutely did not know how to make presentations. I won’t say that I’m great at it now either, but at some point, I realized that the fate of your project, team, and even just an idea depends on how you present it. And although my public speaking is still far from ideal, my presentations in the form of files and face-to-face, based on them, have clearly become much better. First, thanks to experienced colleagues who taught me to do it better and always expressed constructive feedback. Second, because work required me to do it more often, both using standard templates and more creative ones to sell a great idea. And third, because I became increasingly interested in what those who do this constantly recommend.

Surprisingly, when talking specifically about presentations as a set of slides, much can be learned from related fields. For example, the ability to structure your speech more competently and simply is also a key to success. And here many tips from the book “Write, Shorten” would be quite suitable (although I have many other issues with it). Guy Kawasaki in his book “Art of the Start 2.0” dedicates a separate section specifically to preparing presentations. Alexander Bogachev in “Charts That Persuade Everyone” shows how to better convey your thoughts through graphical representation. And Kirill Egerev’s book “This Button Needs Text,” although not related to presentations, touches on important aspects of creating short, concise, and clear texts for UI, and these rules are universal, so they work in presentations as well.

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Book: Henry Lion Oldie “The Door into Winter

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I read this book by Henry Lion Oldie exactly one year ago, just a couple of months after their wartime diary, Invasion. This book is a collection of science fiction stories, but all of them revolve around one central theme — the war in Ukraine.

And today, it is impossible to separate them from real events, no matter how much you try to convince yourself that it’s “just fiction.” Because this “fantasy” feels far too real, and all the speculative elements are simply a backdrop for what’s going on in the minds of the authors — and in the minds of many people right now.

Normally, I try to write thoughtful and fairly in-depth reviews of books, but with this one, I couldn’t bring myself to write anything substantial for an entire year. It always felt like whatever clever ideas or interpretations I might come up with, any metaphors or hidden meanings I could find, would all crash into the wall of reality — a reality more fantastical and terrifying than fiction itself.

Even in their stories, the authors include fragments of autobiography. In The Small Circle, there are brief excerpts from their real diary.

And in the story Those Who Follow Me, they describe a magical wall that shuts the world away from the horrors of Mordor. A few years ago, I would have read that as quirky sci-fi. But now I realize — this is a dream many people share. They truly want an impenetrable wall to keep Mordor out. For many, many years to come.

I considered writing nothing about this book at all. But in the end, I decided to limit myself to a short note. Not all of the stories struck me as strong pieces of science fiction — and I did try to evaluate the book as a work of literature — so my overall rating is lower than for other story collections, whether by Oldie or other authors.

However, as a kind of mirror to our era and this war, the book deserves a much higher score. It is a must-read. At the very least, to get a glimpse of how this is being experienced, and how it finds expression in literature, by those who have now lived with this war for three years. Where people are dying who never wanted to fight — and every month brings news of children killed, children who should only have ever learned about war from history books.

P.S. I’m sorry I’m not able to write a proper review right now.

My mark: 3.5/5

Solomon Plyar’s Letkajenkka

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Not long ago, my wife and I watched another episode of Leonid Parfyonov’s brilliant show Namedni—this time dedicated to one of the years from the 1960s. One of the topics covered was the dance “Letkajenkka,” which gained massive popularity in the USSR during that era. Interestingly enough, as a dance it was incredibly simple—so simple, in fact, that it felt more suited for kindergarteners than adults, at least in my view.

The melody was originally created in Finland and very quickly evolved into a dance. From there, it swept across the globe, even slipping past the Iron Curtain. Variations with locally adapted lyrics were performed in 92 countries. In the USSR, the dance likely spread so freely because it was completely innocent in nature—simple, cheerful, and definitely lacking any hint of bourgeois undertone. (Though, to be fair, neither rock’n’roll nor the twist had such undertones either—but that didn’t make them welcome in Soviet leadership’s eyes.)

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Book: Ruchi Gupta with Kristin Loberg “Food Without Fear”

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There are a lot of people in the world with allergies, and research suggests that the number is only growing. Some even call allergies one of the defining illnesses of our generation. Back in my childhood, we would bring treats for the whole class on birthdays, but nowadays, before sending anything to school for a child’s birthday, you need to check a list of dozens of allergens. It’s often easier to just bring nothing at all to be safe.

I’ve had food intolerances since childhood. For example, cabbage always gave me an unpleasant sensation, which was commonly referred to as heartburn (though now I know that real heartburn feels quite different). Mayonnaise also made me feel unwell, so I never ate this supposedly great human invention. Then and now, I always substitute sour cream for mayonnaise in salads. Yes, I’m that person who eats Russian salad with sour cream. And yes, adding an apple to it can be quite nice.

However, by the time I turned 25, my reactions became significantly worse. A few times, my whole body broke out in an itchy red rash. And on a couple of occasions, I even experienced Quincke’s edema—when everything swells up inside, making it difficult to breathe. Let me tell you, it’s not a great experience. Especially when you’re gasping for air, and the emergency operator on the phone is still trying to determine if you really have swelling and if you’re actually wheezing into the phone because you can barely breathe.

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Song and concert: Arthur Smolyaninov & cheLovek – “Elsinore”

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Disclaimer: Some meanings in this post, unfortunately, get lost for those who don’t speak Russian. However, I hope it will still be interesting for English-speaking readers. Thank you for reading!

Today, my wife and I went to a solo concert by Artur Smolyaninov. Artur is an incredible actor whom I first saw in one of the lead roles in 9th Company, a film about the war in Afghanistan, where his character is the only survivor after a brutal battle. Later, I remembered him from the series 9 Months, where he played almost the exact opposite—a young man who desperately wants to avoid military service and is instead assigned to alternative civilian service as a maternity nurse man in a maternity hospital.

Since then, I’ve seen him in many roles, and I’ve always enjoyed his performances. In 2022, when the war started, Artur was one of those who couldn’t stay silent. He spoke honestly about his views, and as a result, he was forced to leave his homeland—a decision that, of course, impacted his acting career. But for him, staying true to himself as a human being was far more important.

At the same time, beyond acting, Artur had also been writing songs. He never considered himself a professional songwriter, musician, or singer. But it’s clear that sharing this part of himself with the audience matters deeply to him.

Even before the war, in 2020, he formed a band called Smola (there’s a play on words here, as the Russian word “smola” (resin) sounds similar to the beginning of the actor’s last name). With this band he recorded several songs. But after leaving Russia, he had to start over from scratch in his musical journey. And in Riga, he put together a new band, which he named cheLovek (‘chelovek’ in Russian means ‘human’).

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Book: Mikko Vill “Deadly Forest”

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It’s always interesting to read works by new, unfamiliar authors—especially when that author turns out to be the pseudonym of a former colleague. (He’s not actively advertising that “Mikko Vill” is his pen name, but he’s not exactly hiding it either). Creative people tend to be creative in multiple areas, so I wasn’t surprised to learn that this colleague dabbles in various forms of art. But the fact that he also writes books? That one somehow slipped past me.

And now, his novel “Deadly Forest” has been released in the mystical fantasy genre—apparently, the first book in the “Chronicles of Ivar” series. So, of course, I had to give it a try.

The premise is fairly classic: there’s a forest people shouldn’t enter because, well, sometimes they don’t come back. But there are always daredevils who refuse to believe “old folks’ tales” and set out to prove them wrong. And then, the same old folks have to find someone to go in and drag those “skeptics” back out. (That’s as vague as I can be without slipping into spoilers).

Since this book is intended as the first in a series (the author is currently editing the second one), we also get to meet the protagonist, Ivar. He’s the one unlucky enough to be tasked with solving this whole mess—not that he seems too upset about it. He’s a rather odd and reclusive character, the kind people like to call “not of this world.” But precisely because of that, he’s in high demand as a lone warrior who simply does his job—exceptionally well.

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Book: Boris Akunin “My Calendar”

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At one time, I really enjoyed Boris Akunin’s collections of short essays on various fascinating facts—“The Life of Remarkable People and Animals“ and “The Un-Chekhovian Intelligentsia.” Both were “compiled” from different short posts the author had originally published on his LiveJournal. In a similar fashion, he occasionally shared notes about specific days of the year—highlighting interesting events that had happened on that particular date.

Of course, almost any day you pick from the calendar has seen at least something noteworthy happen somewhere in the world throughout human history. So, in the end, it would be possible to gather an entire calendar of such notes. And that’s exactly what Boris Akunin did when he released his book “My Calendar.”

However, he set a rule for himself: for almost every day, he tries to choose just one event—the one he finds most interesting—and tells its story, whenever possible, backing it up with photos or illustrations. He then wraps up almost every “day” with an optimistic message. He does this so that the book can be used like a tear-off calendar—you wake up, read about the day in the morning, get some encouraging words, and ideally, the day should go well for you.

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Book: Ihar Sluchak “10 Centuries of Statehood and Discrimination of the Belarusian Language”

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Ihar Sluchak is a Belarusian lawyer and an active advocate for the Belarusian language. For many years, he has dedicated himself to preventing the language from disappearing and being undeservedly discriminated against in favor of Russian in the Republic of Belarus. Despite the seemingly hopeless nature of such a mission in the current circumstances, Ihar has managed to defend the rights of his native language. For this, he is strongly disliked by many Belarusian officials and propagandists, it’s worth noting.

Holding a Master of Laws, Ihar Sluchak devoted his dissertation precisely to the history of the Belarusian language. Later, he reworked it slightly and published it as this book: “10 стагоддзяў дзяржаўнасцi i дыскрымiнацыi беларускай мовы” (in English, “10 Centuries of Statehood and Discrimination Against the Belarusian Language”).

The uniqueness of the Belarusian language lies in the fact that it is formally the first state language of the Republic of Belarus. For a time after the collapse of the USSR, it was the only state language; later, Russian was added. However, the actual situation with the language is dire. It has been systematically suppressed for many centuries, and the Soviet era (along with most of the post-Soviet years) is not an exception but rather a direct example of this trend. The majority of the country’s population speaks a form of “trasianka”—a mixture of Belarusian and Russian, often with elements of Ukrainian and Polish, depending on the region’s proximity to a particular border. In Minsk, you are far more likely to hear Russian, while in other cities, even the Russian spoken often includes Belarusian words or carries the accent and nuances of Belarusian pronunciation.

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Book: Raphaël Lucas “The History of The Witcher”

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The Witcher is one of the few Eastern European franchises to achieve worldwide fame and recognition. In his book, Raphaël Lucas set out to tell the story of how this franchise came to be.

I know that many fans of both the games and Andrzej Sapkowski’s literary original were thrilled when this book was announced. It quickly became a coveted gift for any occasion. I’ve read the main saga (except for the later novel that stands somewhat apart) and played through all three games in the series adapted by CD Projekt RED. My feelings toward the books are lukewarm, which has earned me the disapproval of some of my more fervent fan friends. Among the games, I especially highlight the third one, where the developers clearly sold their souls to the devil (and I say this with firsthand knowledge of what it takes to create games).

That said, I’m always interested in reading about how such iconic products come to life, especially from industry peers, so it didn’t take long for me to pick up the book—luckily, it’s not very long.

While expecting a comprehensive overview of the franchise, I knew this wouldn’t just be about the games (even though the cover prominently features a poster from the third installment). However, the author started from an even earlier point.

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Song/Music: Arno Babajanian “Nocturne”

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Armenia has given the world many famous figures, and one of them was composer Arno Babajanian. He wrote numerous works, including songs for Soviet pop music (for example, “The Best City in the World” and “The Queen of Beauty,” performed by Muslim Magomayev). But there’s one melody of his that I’ve always loved, even though I didn’t know its author for a long time.

It’s simply called “Nocturne.” Originally, Arno Babajanian composed it as a musical piece that didn’t need any lyrics. This happened in 1980. According to the composer’s son, Joseph Kobzon had asked Babajanian for permission to have lyrics written for this beautiful melody, turning it into a song, but Arno Harutyunovich wanted to keep it purely as music.

At the same time, he reportedly “bequeathed” the idea, saying, “After my death, do whatever you want.” And when the composer passed away in 1983, Joseph Kobzon again pursued the idea of creating a song, this time turning to one of Arno Babajanian’s frequent collaborators, lyricist Robert Rozhdestvensky. Thus, the music gained lyrics. Moreover, Robert Rozhdestvensky managed to capture the melancholy of the melody perfectly in the text.

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