Tag: reading

Book: Oleg Divov “Tech Support: Dead Zone”

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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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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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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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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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Maxim Ilyakhov, Lyudmila Sarycheva “The New Rules of Business Correspondence”

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If anyone remembers, I really didn’t like Write, Shorten by Maxim Ilyakhov and Lyudmila Sarycheva, a book on editing texts. Judging by the number of likes my review received on Goodreads, I’m far from alone in this opinion. As a result, I had no intention of reading another book by these authors. However, a colleague first recommended it to me, then another gave it a high rating. So, I decided to give them a second chance—anything’s possible.

From the very first pages, I felt this might have been a mistake, although my opinion shifted slightly later on. As before, there are some practical tips in the book. But let’s break it down step by step.

The authors begin much like they did in their previous book: first, they highlight how poor the world of business correspondence has become, the old ways we were taught for years, and how outdated those norms are. Now, they claim, they’ll teach us how to do things right. At least this time, they spared us a pompous comic about their battle against evil. But the tendency to exaggerate and sometimes paint a bleak picture without much basis is still present right from the start.

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Mark Manson “Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope”

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Mark Manson caught my attention right from the first book of his that I read, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, which I discussed previously. Mark is 36, a popular blogger, and recently an acclaimed author.

He has a fairly cynical outlook on the world, yet he presents this perspective with a sharp and interesting style. We’ve read about not caring in his first book; the new one shocks right from the title, setting the tone with Everything is F*cked, while the subtitle complicates it further: A Book About Hope.

Like the first book, this one drew me in from the start, though I hit a point where I stalled, setting it aside and only returning a month later.

It’s hard to pinpoint a central theme in this book. It seems to build on the previous ideas that you should keep things simple, that the world can’t be changed, but you can change yourself. Yet it doesn’t feel entirely cohesive. Manson structures the narrative so one idea flows into the next, but afterward, you realize the connections don’t hold together that tightly. At least, I found the connection too artificial. Still, this doesn’t stop the book from being good.

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