Tag: biography

Book: Ray Dalio “Principles: Life and Work”

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Ray Dalio is a highly prominent figure in the world of venture investing. The company he founded, Bridgewater, ranks among the top ten largest private hedge funds globally. Ray Dalio is also known for his management approach, based on meritocracy and algorithms. His entire life and work are imbued with a set of principles and methods he has developed over many years and tested in real-world scenarios. Frequently sharing his ideas at conferences, Dalio has stepped away from direct management of the company but aims to make his accumulated knowledge—the fruit of decades of reflection—accessible to others. This led him to write the book Principles, where he outlines his views on life and management.

As an individual, he has greatly influenced other notable figures. For instance, the Russian edition of this book opens with an introduction by Herman Gref, Chairman of the Board at Sberbank of Russia. Additionally, the cover features a quote from Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.

The book Principles: Life and Work spent quite some time on my “to-read soon” list, even though I wouldn’t consider myself an ardent follower of this manager. However, I’ve heard plenty of praise about him from acquaintances. While reading the book, I got the impression that opinions about Ray as a person and his work are quite polarized. Some practically idolize him, while others see him as tedious and excessively overhyped. What’s my take? Let’s dive in.

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Book: Shimun Vrochek “My Soviet Childhood”

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Recently, Shimun Vrochek wrote a book about his Soviet childhood. Since his childhood and mine happened during the same years (he was born on November 1, 1976, and I was born three months later, on January 28, 1977), I was very curious to see how someone from my “generation” experienced it, but in a different part of the Soviet Union. He was born in Kungur, in the Urals, and grew up in Nizhnevartovsk, while I spent my entire childhood in Minsk.

I even had the same school uniform as the one he wears in the photo, though it wasn’t so easy to find in Minsk—my father brought it from Moscow.

The book originated from notes that Shimun wrote in his blog (at least some of which could be read individually). Eventually, those notes were compiled into this book. That’s why it isn’t a sequential narrative but rather a collection of short memories about various things, with no clear structure or connection between chapters. Sometimes, this approach works very well (just think of The Un-Chekhovian Intelligentsia or The Life of Remarkable People and Animals by Boris Akunin).

Even though there was a great distance between me and the author, many of the feelings and experiences resonate, making the book truly transport me back to my childhood. Like Shimun, I believed I was living in the best country in the world, where everything was wonderful, and a bright communist future lay ahead—a future of fairness, with no poverty, and so on.

For bringing me back to those years, I am truly grateful to the author.

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Book: Sid Meier “Sid Meier’s Memoir! A Life in Computer Games”

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In the video game industry, there are trendsetters, visionaries like Steve Jobs, and other legends. And then there are the gods. I’m not afraid of this comparison—Sid Meier can be counted among the gods of game development. Because it’s impossible not to know him, and his creations have forever changed the industry, setting the course for a significant number of genres and franchises. Even players who may not recognize his name almost certainly know at least one of his games, and that game is Civilization.

There are people whose names became their calling cards. Their games were bought without question, their name alone enough of a guarantee, because they had already created masterpieces in the past. But I can’t readily recall anyone else whose name was consistently placed directly in the titles of their games. With Sid Meier, this happened multiple times, starting with that very Civilization, officially titled Sid Meier’s Civilization (though the idea of adding his name to the titles didn’t actually come from Sid Meier himself).

Why can he be called a god? Precisely because, with resources modest by today’s standards, he managed to create an entire world with its own nations, a world that grew and evolved according to the rules set by its creator. He made his own Earth, where every player could also feel a bit like a god, guiding their chosen group of people from the dawn of time to the era of space exploration (in the original game, humanity’s journey to Alpha Centauri was one of the possible endings).

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Book: Shaun Bythell “Confessions of a Bookseller”

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Exactly two years ago, I wrote a review of Shaun Bythell’s The Diary of a Bookseller, which I thoroughly enjoyed and recommended to anyone who sees paper books as more than just bound sheets of paper. This real-life diary of a real secondhand bookseller unexpectedly became a global bestseller, even to Bythell’s surprise, so it’s not surprising that a sequel followed.

If the first book was recommended to me by a friend, I discovered the second one quite by accident. Still, riding the wave of unforgettable emotions from the first, I immediately added it to my “to read soon” list. The new book, titled Confessions of a Bookseller, closely mirrors the structure of the first — it’s again a diary spanning a single calendar year. Once again, each day he records the number of online orders received and processed, the number of customers in the store, and the earnings. In other words, absolutely nothing has changed. Do you like my diary? Here’s part two. The cover of the first book featured the little bookshop itself (which really looks like that; there are now many photos of it online), while the second book’s cover shows Shaun Bythell himself in his shop. By the way, the likeness is accurate — here’s what he looks like in real life:

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Book: Alexander Feduta “Lukashenko: A Political Biography”

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On August 9, 2020, my home country, the Republic of Belarus, held another presidential election, in which, according to the official results, the incumbent president, Alexander Lukashenko, once again won by a large margin. On that very day, I began reading Lukashenko: A Political Biography, written by Alexander Feduta, a former ally of the president who worked in his first campaign headquarters and in his first government. When he wrote the book, Lukashenko had already been in power for 10 years, and even then, the author noted many changes in the initial promises and direction chosen by the country’s first and, so far, only president.

Today, Lukashenko has been in power for 26 years. Many of today’s voters were born during his rule, attended kindergarten, went to school, grew up, and became parents themselves. And for the second month after the election, protests in Belarus have not subsided, as the authorities attempt to brutally suppress them.

Why did I start reading this book? In 1994, I was 17 years old, not yet eligible to vote, and probably not very interested in politics at the time. But my coming of age took place “in the Lukashenko era.” I wanted to understand how Alexander Grigoryevich came to power and what kind of person he was. I remember all the events described in the book, but I could hardly assess them back then in the way a person “over forty” can now.

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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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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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Andrey Podshibyakin “Time of Games!”

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vremya_igr_

It seems that the book Blood, Sweat, and Pixels was quite successful in demonstrating that the public is very interested in stories about games and their creators. Suddenly, previously published books started being reprinted, and new ones began to appear quickly. One of these is a book by Andrey Podshibyakin, who started his career in the gaming industry as a journalist for the “GAME.EXE” magazine. Unlike Jason Schreier’s aforementioned book, Andrey focused only on Russian games and companies, including our very own “World of Tanks.”

Like Schreier, Andrey Podshibyakin selected a few games around which he built his book, giving it the subtitle “The Russian Gaming Industry in Faces and Dreams: from Parkan to World of Tanks.” The list includes:

  • “Parkan,” 1997
  • “Vangers,” 1998
  • “Hard Truck,” 1998 (and sequels from 2001 and 2009)
  • “Rage of Mages: The Seal of Mystery,” 1998
  • “Sea Dogs: The Curse of the Distant Seas” (actually, it’s called “The Curse of Far Seas”), 2001 (and the sequel from 2003)
  • “IL-2 Sturmovik,” 2001
  • “Silent Storm,” 2003
  • “Perimeter,” 2004
  • “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl,” 2007, and “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky,” 2008
  • “Cut the Rope,” 2010
  • “World of Tanks,” 2010
  • There are also several unreleased titles, such as “Vseslav the Sorcerer” and “The Adventures of Captain Blood,” among others.

Even this list shows that just text may not be enough for such a book. While Schreier covered globally recognized games, here are titles that many modern readers may not know, and those who do may not remember the details. Hence, illustrations would be very helpful. Memory is unreliable: you may recall that something was fantastic, but you still want to look back and compare those breakthrough graphics with today’s standards.

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Boris Akunin “The Life of Remarkable People and Animals”

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Boris Akunin is an extraordinary author. Whatever he writes, it always turns out to be interesting. True, some of his books may not be great overall, but they are always engaging to read. In much the same way, I used to follow his posts on LiveJournal, where Boris Akunin would share notes about people and events that piqued his interest.

The book “The Life of Remarkable People and Animals” is essentially a collection of those posts, gathered under one cover and published in book form.

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