Tag: reading

Book: Dmytry Lukashuk, Maxim Goryunov “The Belarusian National Idea”

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The book “Беларуская нацыянальная ідэя” (“The Belarusian National Idea” in English) probably would have passed me by entirely if its title hadn’t caught my attention in the news, where it was almost labeled as terrorist. Despite this, it was published in Belarus and even sold in a state-owned bookstore.

Essentially, it is a 600-page compilation of excerpts from 85 interviews with various well-known (whether widely or in smaller circles) Belarusian figures. All the interviews were conducted as part of the “Ідэя X” show on “Euroradio,” hosted by Dmitry Lukashuk and Maxim Goryunov. The central theme of the show was the Belarusian national idea. The hosts posed various questions: what exactly is this idea? Does it even exist? What does it mean to the guest, or how do they envision it? And is it even necessary?

Formally, the book is considered to be in Belarusian, but in reality, it is bilingual. Dmitry asks questions and converses in Belarusian, Maxim in Russian, and the guests respond in whichever language they prefer. Some answer exclusively in Belarusian, others only in Russian, while some guests switch languages, answering each question in the language it was asked. This means that the book can only be fully understood by readers who are fluent in both languages.

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Book: Minako O’Hagan, Carmen Mangiron “Game Localization”

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In game development (and software development in general), there is one discipline that, in my opinion, receives far too little attention. Yet it is extremely important and can significantly impact both the perception and the sales of a product. This is localization—the process of preparing a product for another market, which is often understood simply as translating it into another language.

I can talk quite a lot about the topic of localization in general and game localization in particular (and, if all goes well, I’ll share more separately), as I spent many years as the head of several service departments at Wargaming, including the Localization Department. This is precisely why any materials on this subject are always of interest to me.

One of my former colleagues recommended the book Game Localization, where the authors decided to take an in-depth look at this phenomenon from the perspective of a scientific approach to translation in general.

The scientific approach is both a strength and a weakness of the book. The strength lies in its thorough exploration of the topic, its study of the history of the issue, and its examination of many aspects of localization. The weakness lies in the same excessive scientific rigor: countless references to other academic works on translation, an overwhelming number of quotes from analytical studies by other authors… in short, all the hallmarks of a scholarly work that tend to be too tedious for the average reader. Such readers are usually more interested in understanding the essence of the topic rather than the various methods for preparing academic research.

The authors begin their narrative from afar, discussing the history of video games in general and their localization in particular—covering the period from the mid-1980s to roughly the present day (the book was published in 2013, and much has changed in the industry in the past eight years). They then delve into the essence of the game industry (GameDev), explaining key terminology, genres, the role of narrative elements, the industry structure, and so on.

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Book: Boris Akunin “The History of the Russian State. A Cure for the Empire”

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The previous volume of The History of the Russian State deeply disappointed me with its superficiality and inconsistency in presenting the material. I even ended my review with the words, “Interest and trust in the series are rapidly declining.” However, I had no intention of stopping my reading of the series. And now, a new volume has been released, focusing on the last rulers of the Russian Empire in the 19th century—Alexander II and Alexander III.

Let me say right away: the narrative has become more coherent. There is no longer any jumping back and forth across the years of their reigns. In fact, the entire volume is presented as one continuous story. It feels almost like a computer game: you have a mission, which starts under specific initial conditions (the end of Nicholas I’s reign), and the story unfolds as two “players” take their turns, with the second stepping in after the first.

Indeed, Boris Akunin illustrates what Alexander II inherited from the exceedingly strict Nicholas I, the conqueror of the Decembrists and any form of free-thinking. And how, despite this, his successor managed to implement a significant number of progressive reforms, many of which had been envisioned by his grandfather, Alexander I.

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Book: Alexey Markov, Alexey Antonov “Crypt-Your-Mathics 3.0”

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Bitcoin, blockchain… Over the past couple of years, everyone has heard these words, along with the phrase “should have invested in bitcoin in time.” However, very few people truly understand what this technology is and the principles behind these new digital currencies. I’ll admit, for a while, I also had only a vague idea of the details. But there are people out there who are willing to explain everything in plain language.

I first learned about Alexey Markov by chance when I stumbled upon a link to his book with the rather politically incorrect title “Hulinomics”. In this book, he explained economics in simple terms, peppered with some profanity, and why understanding its principles is essential for everyone. I rather liked the book (4 out of 5), as I mentioned in my review at the time.

Since then, I’ve kept an eye on what else Markov has published, though I wasn’t in a rush to read more. He wrote a book about “why some people have it all, while others have nothing,” essentially exploring why not everyone earns a lot of money (“Zhlobology”). He also authored a collection of clever advice on various topics (“Hoolifacts”) and, together with Alexey Antonov, a book about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology titled Crypt-Your-Mathics. It was the latter that I decided to read.

I’ve already written about Markov in my previous review, so let me briefly introduce the second author of the book—Alexey Antonov. Since 2016, he has been interested in blockchain technology, actively involved in business in this field, and engaged in educational activities, giving lectures. In short, he jumped on the train early, so he knows both its advantages and drawbacks.

Together, Markov and Antonov wrote a book that, in style, closely resembles Markov’s eccentric manner, seen in his articles and his famous “Hoolinomics”. The authors set out to explain not only clearly but also as openly as possible about this new market, which is full of pitfalls. At least, that’s what they promise, albeit in their own distinctive manner:

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Book: Darrell Huff “How to Lie with Statistics”

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Darrell Huff spent most of his life as a journalist and writer, yet he gained worldwide fame as an expert in statistics. This recognition came thanks to his most successful book, How to Lie with Statistics, written back in 1954 but still relevant to this day. At least, publishers continue to successfully reprint it time and again.

The entire tone of the book can be summarized with its very first epigraph, which quotes Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

No, the author does not try to portray statistics as a terrible or useless science. Instead, in a light and ironic manner, he explains what many people perceive as infernal mathematical gibberish. He also demonstrates how numbers can be used to manipulate opinions and the perception of information.

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Book: Kiril Egerev “This Button Needs Text”

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The discovery of the past few months for me is the book This Button Needs Text by Kiril Egerev. It likely would have gone unnoticed if Alexey Arefyev hadn’t recommended it in his Telegram channel about product management.

Kiril Egerev is a seasoned copywriter who has worked in many online publications, both as an author and as an editor. Recently, he has been working as a UX writer at Russia’s Sberbank. For those unfamiliar with professional terminology, let me clarify: a “copywriter” is someone who professionally writes various types of non-fictional texts. These can include advertising copy, descriptions, official letters, and so on. UX stands for “User eXperience,” which essentially refers to how users interact with your product and what emotions they experience during this interaction. A UX writer (or UX copywriter) is a specialist focused on creating product texts. Here’s a direct quote from the book:

“UX writers are typically the ones who write clear and non-annoying texts for error messages, buttons, switches, and all other interface elements. They help develop the product’s voice, compile style guides, ensure consistency and adherence to typography requirements, and often handle user emails as well.”

In his book, Kiril aims to explain “briefly and clearly” what his work entails and why it is essential for any product, countering the common misconception of “who cares what we call the buttons; everyone will understand anyway.” In IT, there is also a role known as UX specialist (often called a “UXer”). In practice, the line between a UX specialist and a UX writer is very blurred. It’s generally accepted that the former focuses more on the overall interface and interaction (proper arrangement of elements, creating an intuitive design), while the latter specifically handles interface texts. However, in reality, one doesn’t exist without the other. As a result, the tasks often fall to either a team of two specialists with narrower roles or a single person who does it all.

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Book: Robert E. Howard “The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane”

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Today, there are probably few people who are unfamiliar with the character of Conan the Barbarian. Even if they haven’t read a single book about him, they are likely to remember the iconic image of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger portraying the character. However, in the Soviet Union, the author of the Conan series (and many other works), Robert E. Howard, was virtually unknown until 1989. Although Howard himself didn’t write a large number of works, several of his characters became cult figures, Conan being the foremost among them. The series about this hero, which many other authors have continued, now includes not just dozens but hundreds of stories.

Personally, I first encountered Robert E. Howard’s work back in the distant year of 1990, when the Minsk publishing house Eridan released a collection of the author’s works titled The Hour of the Dragon.

A year earlier, in Krasnoyarsk, a thin booklet of just 52 pages had been published, containing two of Howard’s short stories translated by Alexander Bushkov under one cover. Eridan, in its full-length book, used both of these stories in the same translation. The Eridan collection included works about various characters, including the titular novel about Conan the Barbarian. However, one of the stories translated by Bushkov was Wings in the Night, featuring a protagonist named Solomon Kane. At the time, this character didn’t leave much of an impression on me. The story was the only one about him in the collection, and for a 13-year-old, his image clearly paled in comparison to the ruthless, muscular barbarian Conan. It was read and forgotten, in short. Two years later, the same Eridan began publishing a four-volume collection of Robert E. Howard’s works, but even in this, Solomon Kane appeared in only two stories—Wings in the Night and Red Shadows. You’ll agree, that’s hardly enough to develop any strong feelings for the character.

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Book: Olga Gromyko “Year of the Rat”

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Although I became acquainted with Olga Gromyko’s work even before her very first book was published and have since followed her writing closely, it so happened that one particular series slipped past me. As I kept reading Olga’s new works, I never found the time to go back to the Year of the Rat duology. This was partly due to several opinions I came across that were rather critical of the series compared to her other works.

However, the time finally came to fill this gap and form my own opinion by reading both parts consecutively. First of all, I must say that this series is best read as a single piece—both volumes together. It’s essentially one story split into two parts, with the second book (Wanderer) released about a year after the first (Seer). The first book ends quite abruptly, right in the middle of the story. Secondly, I must admit that my opinion of the series was mixed, both during and after reading it. I can understand some of the critics, but let’s try to delve deeper into the details.

Year of the Rat was published in 2009 and 2010, and it can, in a way, be considered a transitional work between the Belorian series (which made Olga Gromyko a well-known writer) and the subsequent space epic As*troheads. Yes, there was also the novel A Plus for a Minus, co-written with Andrey Ulanov, which explored an almost contemporary world. But stylistically, Year of the Rat is closer to the Belorian series. The action takes place in a pseudo-medieval setting where magic exists and is generally acknowledged by the populace. The protagonist is, once again, a young woman, although she is now accompanied by two companions. In the next series, Olga would depart from this approach, but here it seems she was still experimenting with new creative directions. Of course, this is just my speculation.

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Book: Vasiliy Sabirov “The Numbers Game”

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about Alexey Savchenko’s book Game as Business, which provides an excellent description of the gaming industry from the perspective of production and working with publishers. However, it says almost nothing about what comes next. Especially if your game is designed to last for years: how to work with users, how to study their behavior, and, ultimately, how to make millions.

That’s why Vasiliy Sabirov’s book Game by Numbers, which was also published last year, serves as a perfect complement. Its subtitle, How Analytics Helps Video Games Thrive, speaks volumes.

But first, a bit about the author. Vasiliy Sabirov is an analyst with extensive experience. Over the course of his career, he worked as an analyst and head of the payment solutions department at Xsolla (one of the largest players in the gaming payment market), as a lead analyst at the gaming company Alternativa Games, and then moved on to the emerging devtodev (now the largest gaming analytics service in the Russian-speaking game development sector). At devtodev, he worked as head of the analytics department and also served as an evangelist for both the service itself and its educational platform, where he released a course, including one on gaming analytics. In 2020, he made a major life change, transitioning (and relocating) to work as a lead analyst at the gaming company Easybrain (also one of the major players in the mobile gaming market). In other words, Vasiliy knows what analytics is and how it works. I would even say that if you’re talking about game analytics in Russian-speaking companies, Vasiliy Sabirov is the first name that comes to mind.

Now about the book and game analytics. If people around you are throwing around strange terms like MAU, LTV, ARPPU, and others, and you find yourself staring blankly, it’s time to read this book. Because behind these intimidating acronyms lie concepts that aren’t all that complicated. Learning how to work with this data properly, however, is the next step. But let’s take it one step at a time.

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Book: Esther Derby, Diana Larsen “Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great”

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When I wrote about Alexey Krivitsky’s book Agile Retrospective Kickstarter a month ago, I mentioned that much of his work is based on the work of Esther Derby and Diana Larsen (as he openly acknowledges in his book). At that time, I also promised to write separately about the book by these women facilitators. So here I am, fulfilling that promise.

I read the book in English, although in 2017, it was also published in Russian by Dmitry Lazarev Publishing under the title “Agile Retrospectives: Turning Good Teams into Great Teams.”

Why do teams need retrospectives? I’ve already written about this in detail elsewhere, but here’s a brief reminder: retrospectives help teams learn from their mistakes and grow. Without them, no Agile methodology can operate at full capacity.

Esther and Diana explain how to make such meetings as productive as possible, drawing from their many years of experience and unique insights. It is in this book that they propose the five-stage format for retrospective meetings, which Alexey Krivitsky actively adopts and promotes in his own book.

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