Should perhaps be retitled to "How to Do Nothing: How I Used Bird-watching to Resist the Attention Economy".
It's an okay book. It just feels like I goShould perhaps be retitled to "How to Do Nothing: How I Used Bird-watching to Resist the Attention Economy".
It's an okay book. It just feels like I got to the end of the book and I was still reading an introduction. It never got "deeper". The title felt misleading. If someone picks this up looking for a guide, an actual "How-t0", none will be found. The attention economy is mentioned and muttered about by Odell, but what is it exactly. Why must it be resisted? If I am to resist it, what will it be replaced with? Who is benefitting, how are they benefitting and what can I do to be mindful of my time? How is doing nothing a part of the attention economy? Explain doing nothing!
Jenny mentions the community typewriter/bulletion board: is that resisting the attention economy? She mentions the next door app: I am assuming that is what is sucking our attention and is the opposite of doing nothing?
I think I just needed more explained to me. Pick it up if you'd like, it just probably is not going to be what you're expecting....more
THE first story written in the English language (I believe) about vampires. It’s a short, but exciting, story. Frankly, reading the introduction with THE first story written in the English language (I believe) about vampires. It’s a short, but exciting, story. Frankly, reading the introduction with Pollidori’s relationship with Lord Byron was more interesting than the story since I knew who vampires were, and where the story was going.
So interesting, researched and engaging that I finished the audiobook in less than 24 hours.
I can’t exactly tell you what was the best part; the entirSo interesting, researched and engaging that I finished the audiobook in less than 24 hours.
I can’t exactly tell you what was the best part; the entire premise rings very true to me. You succeed because of who you are AND the circumstances in which you were born AND the society you are from AND the society you grow up in, etc.
Malcolm Gladwell says something like “this book is antithesis of the myth of American individualism� and I heartily agree.
Having just read Outliers, I now know why Lean In bothered me so much while reading.
There is a passing acknowledgement of how Sheryl Sandberg and otheHaving just read Outliers, I now know why Lean In bothered me so much while reading.
There is a passing acknowledgement of how Sheryl Sandberg and other women like her got to the positions that they were in... and that's it. The other advice is considered universal.
Sandberg came from wealth and succeeded. Sheryl was raised in a family that encouraged her advocating for herself. She had the connections from Harvard that helped open doors. Nevermind, of course, all that came afterwards. She dated a guy who would fly to see her, or she would see him. They lived this way until they were married, and started having kids: each person in their own house and flying to see one another. Her husband had the fortunate "luck" of being able to move the company to be closer to Sandberg... what about that jobs' workers? Didn't they have Sheryls at home that they were now further away from?
There is only passing acknowledgement of EVERYTHING in Sandberg's life that helps her get to where she is. She mentions nannies and day care: yes, Sheryl, that's is a huge reason for your success. Especially when she's writing to an American audience: she knows how there is little to no financial assistance to people, and especially women, in need in the States.
I liked the story, and the advice that followed, about sitting at the table. The leaning in thing still doesn't really make sense to me: instead of drawing back, lean in... okay? I think maybe "A Seat at the Table" would have been a better title. I also think this should have been an essay. Apparently there was a TEDTalk that she gave? Maybe it should have stayed a TEDTalk with a transcribed essay, which TedTalks already do.
That's my other major issue with "Lean In": a lot of it was just... stories. Having just read a book that provided statistics and researched data, "Lean In" was just Sheryl talking about the lived experiences of the women around her. That does not provide a great sample size in a book which is supposed to talk about these universal experiences of women and their success at work. And I say universal because in the final chapter she writes about how this book can also help women in developing countries :). I'm just going to be quiet....more
I'm so happy that I read this book! I really believe in the existence of different love langauges for different people, and different ways to express I'm so happy that I read this book! I really believe in the existence of different love langauges for different people, and different ways to express love.
Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Recieving Gits, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch are the five love languages and Chapman spends the book describing how to "speak" those languages, as well as explaining each love language so you know which one is "yours".
I'll write more here, but, what the other reviewers are saying is true lol. Chapman is EXTREMELY Christian and brings lots of religious examples from the Bible (and uses holding someone's hand in church as an example of physical touch. hold the fire Chapman).
Just beware. I didn't super mind, because I think he knows who his audience is, and its a very niche Christian, chuch-going audience, especially since my version of the book is the 90s version. I was not super bothered by this, other people might be turned off by it, I don't know. Also, there was an example in the book where I wanted to scream, "LET THE WOMAN DIVORCE THAT GUY!" but I guess Chapman, due to his super-Christianity, doesn't advocate for divorce.
+1 for Islam, I guess.
ANYWAY, a useful book if you want to know what people are talking about when they refer to the love languages! They are mostly intuitive, but it was still nice to know a little more about different ways of expressing affection....more
I thought Tana French did a great job with "The Secret Place". I cannot explain how much I loved it. I just genuinely cannot. I need to buy physical cI thought Tana French did a great job with "The Secret Place". I cannot explain how much I loved it. I just genuinely cannot. I need to buy physical copies of all these books because I keep borrowing online copies from the library and I mark them all up and have to return them. The only physical copy of any French book that I have is the next one, "The Trespasser". I cannot wait to finally read it, and get to highlight and scribble all over it.
I am also excited to once again revisit the world of Antoinnete Conway and Stephen Moran. Conway took some time getting used to-and that was absolutely by design. You have Stephen, who is a people-pleaser, who operates by making people like him, and then you have Conway, who knows that letting herself getting walked over like a dormat, or pretending to play nice, would never work, and so she just does not try it at all. Moran and Conway, and the Dublin police squad, mirror the high school dynamics of St. Kilda. The point is nearly driven home with an anvil: Bowling for Soup said it best when they sang "High School Never Ends".
A lot of people reacted negatively to this book, which is their perogative, but I thought French did something new with this one, and that made it feel a little fresher. She moves between the past, and the present, and most of the past is just entirely the events between 4 friends. The entire detective-solving business also takes place over the course of one day, a little less than 24 hours. You feel as trapped as the students. You feel as desperate as the detectives. You feel as eager as Stephen to get away from Cold Cases and into the Murder Squad. I thought it was beautifully written.
French's writing is a big part of why I love this book--all her books, in fact. She is an author who is self-assured and knows how good she is. She does not end each chapter with a cliff-hanger; she does not need to. Her books are good enough through the strength of her writing alone. Other people might not enjoy her writing, but I sure do. She knows people, and she knows how to write them. Everything is deliberately placed in her books, which makes me really want to--and look forward to--reading them again.
This is a 5-star book for me, but technically is a 4.5 star rating. But I love the writing too much to give "The Secret Place" a 4.
My main reason for docking off that half-star is that I do not believe in magic and don't like it bleeding into contemporary stories as if it is real. It also why I didn't like Stephen King's "The Outsider". There is just this 'well, this surprising and unexplained magic thing happened, ain't it cool?!'
As always, French is recommended. Start with "In the Woods" to know how you feel about her writing style....more
A creative premise involving time travel and a cast of characters at a Japanese cafe.
The novel is a series of 4 vignettes, and the lastMore like a 3.5
A creative premise involving time travel and a cast of characters at a Japanese cafe.
The novel is a series of 4 vignettes, and the last one was so incredibly predictable, that I bumped it down. It doesn't mean that it's a bad book at all. I saved the last story for another night because I really wanted to savor it, and then when it was a let down it soured my view....more
"The truth is, I'd spent most of my life avoiding my sister's allegations--and not just publicly. I did not want to be defined by the worst years of m
"The truth is, I'd spent most of my life avoiding my sister's allegations--and not just publicly. I did not want to be defined by the worst years of my mother's life, of my sister's life, of my childhood. Mia Farrow is one of the great actors of her generation, and a wonderful mom who sacrificed greatly for her kids. And yet so much of her talent and reputation was consumed by the men in her life, and I took from them that a desire to stand on my own, to be known best for my work, whatever it might be. That left what happened in my childhood home frozen in amber, in ancient tabloid coverage and permanent doubt--unresolved, unresolvable" (32)
That quote is why Ronan Farrow feels like the perfect person to report on this, and why so many actresses felt comfortable speaking to him. I am sorry about what happened to his sister, but grateful that it gave him the delicacy with which he approached so many actresses about the same unfortunate incidents when they happened to them.
I have not read "She Said" which broke the Weinstein story a little before Ronan Farrow and who he mentions in "Catch and Kill", but this book reminded me a lot of John Carreyou's "Bad Blood". There is a lot of incompetence [in C&K, sexual assault], and then so many people who are entrenched in covering up that incometence [/sexual assault] who then tried to be rats fleeing a sinking ship, and I really hope the stink of being associated with the Weinstein story, with Matt Lauer, with Leslie Moonves, with every person who has used their access to power to intimidate and control women can never wash off them.
This was a good read while waiting for America and its election results. I really hope that "stories--the big ones, the true ones--can be caught and never killed"....more
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