Category Archives: books

Bookshelf: This Bleeding City

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This is another debut novel – that’s two in a row – but this is in stark contrast to the tech thriller which was Daemon. “This Bleeding City” is the first published novel by Alex Preston, and as an English graduate who became a trader in London, and then went on to become a writer, has a certain parallel and insight to the novel’s main protagonist.

However, given some of the events in the book, I hope much of the events are from observation rather than experience.

The prologue opens as Charlie Wales, the book’s main character,  forgets that his small child is still in his car in the car park as he gets absorbed with his work. He suddenly remembers hours later, and in a panic pitches through the crowds, returning to find his infant son unconscious – and we don’t know whether he lives or dies. This effectively sets the tone for the whole novel.

Set against the recent economic meltdown in the financial markets around the world, it tells the story of Charlie, and his friends Henry and Vero and their journey from their time at university in Edinburgh through unemployed times in London, to Charlie’s rise as an analyst and finally trader for the Silverbirch company, his dropping out for the woman he loves, and his going back again to achieve greater fortune, though that never seems to be enough.

In some ways it’s a character study, amplified through the greed and constant envy amongst the climbing financial markets. Charlie sees himself as being the poor relation both financially and culturally to his friends, he being from a lower middle class family in Worthington, and they from wealthier parts of England, and in Vero’s case, France, and spends much of the novel attempting to climb to the next rung, and as soon as he makes it up one he almost instantly sees the next and moves off to that.

Having worked on the fringe of the finance sector (the company I work for is mentioned in the book) I can find it fairly believable, and Preston writes the characters well, tracking the innate raw intelligence of most of the characters, which is then undermined by their pathological flaws for either wealth or status or sheer indulgence.

Preston inserts some great characters into the plot -  the tragic teeth stained Madison, who completely sees the insanity of her life, but who is unable to pull out of her job, so wed to it is she, and so determined to prove herself with her insight that the markets will soon fail. She is one of the the most fascinating people in the book, and perhaps represents rationality in that those around her aren’t at all interested in reality. She in turn links to the mentored Ray, who is completely outside the financial world as a low income adolescent, and sees Madison’s and Charlie’s choice of job and life often to be somewhat deranged.

Henry and Vero both weave in and out of the world of greed which is constantly associated with the markets, and seemingly are always better off when they’re away from it, though not directly, but mainly via Charlie, they all become entwined in the downward spiral and at the end I only really had sympathy for Henry, but it’s a sort of flawed sympathy somehow.

Charlie himself is carefully portrayed to try to let you maintain some sympathy for him throughout most of the novel, and only really towards the end (not wanting to put in any spoilers here) do we really see how he truly is – or at least what he has become – and eventually, I would argue, he gets what he deserves in many ways. Even then, even through the ups in his social status he maintains a small flat in Lodnon with poor heating, no television and an old car, as he reads compulsively and trawls real-estate website looking at possible future homes.

Overall I’d say this is a book well worth reading, even if you have no interest in the market – and no knowledge of them is needed to follow the story – just to see how someone with a bit of a chip on their shoulder and a fair amount of intelligence can not only wreak havoc in their own life and that of their family, but to almost everyone else they have a relationship with. The writing style is also very smooth, and very fluid given the topic of the storyline which makes some of the more unexpected and shocking events seem a bit removed or glossy which is perhaps the intent as the characters are often on drugs or just have a certain detachment from people and events, which is sometimes the crux of Charlie’s life.

Bookshelf: Daemon

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It’s been a while since I read a tech thriller, set just a little in the future. This one is the first published novel by Daniel Suarez, an actual IT and Security consultant who went into writing. In fact, Daemon was at first a self-published effort, but was then picked up by a ‘real’ publishing house for release in 2009; I actually read this on my Kindle.

Written across three parts separated by several months, it starts with the death of a genius MMORPG and AI designer – Matthew Sobol – which in turn provides the trigger for the eponymous Daemon he has designed which will re-shape the whole of global society, and not just on the internet, and the ‘darknet’, but in actual physical life, using recruits from the games, working in augmented reality rigs, and even controlled cars called AutoM8s. The book primarily follows some key law officers trying to unravel the mystery of the Daemon, and some of it’s key recruits from both the gaming world, but also from criminal ranks.

The book itself comes out quite strongly, though in the first section, primarily about Sobol’s death and the storming of his mansion and the ensuing carnage, is well written, but suffers a little from the sheer number of characters who are introduced, many of whom are never seen or referenced again in the book, which detracts a bit as you’re mentally trying to retain all these names before you realise it doesn’t matter. There are also two key action sequences at the beginning and end of the novel which seem wholly written for a film adaptation, which for me sort of spoiled them a bit, though they are well written and relevant to the overall plot for the most part.

It’s apparent from the opening that the author does have more than a passing knowledge of technology, and seems to be able to write comfortably on it – tech references don’t feel as forced as they do in some books, when the author is dropping in words he learned in the research phase. The only minor thought I had on the tech name dropping was the references to datacentres running Cat5 data cabling. Really? Not Cat5e or Cat6? That’s a fairly nerdy piece of nit-picking though.

The whole world works well though when successive characters sense the futility of what they’re doing, and more importantly, who they’re doing it for. As the book progresses, and the scale and severity of the Daemon becomes apparent, it seems less and less that U.S. Federal forces, in the shape of the initial police, FBI, NSA and CIA members are really running the show, and more and more people and functions are shown to be merely outsourced to private security contractors, who as corporate entities like the Daemon, can be infiltrated.

Overall it was a real page turner, so to speak, and as soon as the sequel’s price drops for the Kindle version, I’ll definitely be snapping it up. The story is a very refreshing read, and makes a more convincing scenario not only for a virus to go global, but also how it could social engineer itself into the real world via operatives recruited online. I must admit that at times some parts did feel like a geek version of ‘Fight Club’ as people on the fringes of society are recruited for fun, then turned to an anti-establishment goal, but not to the detriment of the storyline, where for once, some police officers are portrayed as the heroes, themselves let down by their system, which cannot decide how do deal with the Daemon, and again, how many of them are actually working for the system anyway and are not merely out-sourced.

I always try to read a new author as often as I can, and Daniel Suarez, even though this book has been out some time, deserves a selection, especially as the sequel to this book – Freedom (™) – was released earlier this year so you can read them closer together.

Bookshelf: Rework

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This is, perhaps,  another unconventional business book, taking the passionate elements like ‘Crush it!’ but more tech business based, coming from the founders of 37signals.com. These chaps make web based project management tools, and have built a fairly decent business on it, as well as being we respected in the coding community.

I listened to the book unabridged via Audible and at 2hr 50mins., it’s almost a long podcast. You can also dowaload PDF samples from their website, but the book itself is only 288 pages – it’s a quick read. So how did I hear about it, and why did I read it. Well, I’ve followed their products for a few years, but never been able to use them, and have heard a few speeches of theirs, and seem interviews, so I thought it’d be an interesting book from people who have actually done it. I really don’t find Harvard Business Review type books very interesting at all, and a lot of guru books just seem to be angling for consultancy or speaking gig deals. So how was this raw book?

It comes out from chapter one aggressively, citing it’s from real business people, not from academics and that it flies against conventional wisdom – a point it returns to several times.

They rail against long term planning. ‘Planning is guessing’ so why not called it that – ‘financial guessing’?  They go on that planning is inflexible and does not allow for improvisation as you know most when you’re actually doing it.

‘Why do people assume a bigger company is better? If that was true,  why doesn’t Harvard and other business schools grow like that? Maybe a company does have a right size.’ It’s a fair point, and it does make you wonder; of course, 37Signals is a private company – they can chose their growth, whereas traded companies can’t. So, following their points – isn’t that their fault for going public?

‘Workaholism is bad…it’s stupid. They [workaholics] make more problems, they miss opportunities and create poor solutions. It also creates the ‘ass in seat’ mentality.’ This is something I see more and more tech startups and such coming back to – not that the goal doesn’t get hit, but the mentality behind it. Ironically, I’ve seen this in Japan for years – yet the ‘West’ lauded Japan for long work hours. But that was it, no awesome results, just attendee-ism, so yes, I think they nail this point in that section.

One section -a mini rant – I quite like is their discussion on support, and when you call a support line you are on hold whilst a pre-recorded voice tells you that you call is important to them – just not important enough to hire more support people right?

It’s an interesting read, and indeed it isn’t an academic approach and whilst it does come from a small company (16 people) and at first my reaction was along the lines of ,”Well, that works in a small web company, but in a big, real company, it would never work…” but actually that’s wrong – headed. The truth is many of the points are true anyway, and you can implement them in any business – perhaps the “we’re too big” is just a default excuse for the rest of us.

Case in point are meetings – they can be useful when focussed but think of them as man hours taken for everyone to see the real cost of a meeting – it’s not one hour, it’s a six man hour meeting. The section ‘meetings are toxic’ kind of sums it up. I’ve actually been thinking about that a lot when I schedule meetings, and think – how can I keep the man-hours for this meeting to a bare minimum.

There’s a good section on interruptions and that they destroy productivity and potentially having ‘alone zones’. Again, why wouldn’t it work? Why not even try it?

All in all then, it’s a quick, worthy read for anyone in any business. For the small business it might remind you a bit on really, what are the growth goals for your company? For those of us in larger companies, it’s really a challenge backed up by the benefits of results and the fact that deep down you get this feeling that quite a few of these points are simply right.

Bookshelf: Crush It!

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“Crush It!” is a book by entrepreneur, wine evangelist and now social media consultant, Gary Vaynerchuck. I was trying to think of how I actually heard about him in the first place, and I remembered it was listening to him on “This Week In Startups”, hosted by Jason Calacanis. That podcast should be listened to to give you a flavour of the man, and in turn, give you an idea of what to expect in the book. On that podcast, he comes across as a passionate and driven man, and that comes across in the book. You can also see him live at the Rails 2010 Conference (if you don’t like swearing, give it a miss!).

The hardback is relatively short at 142 pages, but it’s a fast and flowing read. Let’s be honest though, this doesn’t have that much new in it, and given it talks about social media and came out in mid 2009, some bits appear dated already. However, that’s not what’s of interest in this book.

What Gary ‘Vee’ does in the book is put a lot of things into a framework, and unlike other dry, business oriented attempts to ‘get rich quick from the web’, this truly is written with passion and enthusiasm, indeed that’s the full title of the book: Why Now is the Time to Crush It! – Cash in on your Passion. On page two he lays it out:

“Love your family. Work superhard. Live your passion.”

If you’re used to Harvard Business Review style books which seem to make a few good points, but make you feel they’re just hiding the real meat of the subject so you’ll subscribe or attend a seminar, or just recite dry case studies to pad the book out, definitely read this book. This book is short, but self contained. It’s a basic manual to social networking.

So it is partly evangelizing how to work in a more social media affected, and effected era. He rails against CVs/Resumes, something I agree with, and points out how it’s more about your personal brand, whether or not you are looking for a job, and that since employers – or anyone – looks for your online presence, you need to own it and define it.  He also gives a lot of tips on how to do it, and gives real, recent examples, both good and bad about how other people and companies are doing it. It’s not just about “get a blog”, it’s a question of stitching together a blog, to Twitter to Facebook and so on, and driving traffic. He tends to focus on defining a niche and driving traffic at that, but even if you aren’t looking to build a business, that online branding is still very important, interesting – and useful.

Remember that this is exactly how Vaynerchuck himself broke out – as host of winelibrary.tv – which was an online extension to his family’s co-op beers/wines/spirits shop in New Jersey, massively increasing revenue and ultimately growing the business. He then grew beyond that to be a social media proponent, leading to the aforementioned speaking gigs, the book, and now a consultancy.

For the book though, is it worth it? Yes it is; business books tend to be boring, written by academics – this is a man who has done it and enjoyed doing it, so that’s what comes across. Again, this is more about how to mix the ingredients, and that’s what it brings to the table – as he says at one point – the only part of your product a competitor can’t replicate – is you.

Bookshelf: The Windup Girl

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A Book Review: The Windup Girl
by Paolo Bacigalupi

This was a book I saw recommended on the ‘Swords and Laser’ website and podcast, otherwise, I’d probably have never have heard about it. That said, I listened to the audiobook version – unabridged of course – from Audible.com.

The story is set in a Thailand of the future, amidst a dystopian world ravaged by the downside of genetically modified foods – blister rust and other diseases have left most crops unviable, meaning the world is scrambling to find enough food and electricity and easy international travel have disappeared with the last of the oil. Now people travel by dirigible airship and sail boats, and store energy in wound springs.

Thailand has somehow shut itself off from the failing outside world, despite mass atrocities across the border in Malaysia, and pressure from global food companies and their ‘calorie men’ to succumb to single grow crops, and keep their own food clean. This self sufficiency and wall against modified crops is ruthlessly enforced by the ‘white shirts’ of the environmental ministry who seek out and cleanse any sign of disease – a cleansing usually of fire and lime.

Into this world, a calorie man called Anderson Lake is sent undercover to a factory which makes springs, as he seeks out the elusive Thai seed bank.

By accident he meets Emiko – a windup – a genetically engineered servant named after their almost clockwork jerky movements – abandoned by her Japanese master to serve in a secret sex club. Plagued in the humid capital of Bangkok by her tiny skin pores her former master requested to give her smoother skin, but unable to break with her conditioning of subserviance, she looks for a way out of her life to live in a fabled village of windups in northern Thailand.

The setting is original – I haven’t seen too many sci-fi stories set in Thailand, and the overall feel, with the lack of electricity clashing with the high tech of the genetic rippers produces a world akin to a hot, sweaty steampunk novel, though I’ve seen it referred to as a ‘biopunk’ work, which does kind of fit.

The writing is solid, truly achieving the feel of a failed society, the heat and sweat of a summer in Thailand, and the desperation of almost all the characters. All sides are represented, and whilst much of the story follows Lake and Emiko, the texture of the world is shown through an incorruptible white shirt and former Muay Thai fighter Jaidee Rojjanasukchai, his assistant, and a yellow card, Hock Seng, a formerly wealthy trader from Malaysia who now runs the spring factory since his entire family were slaughtered in his homeland.

The whole storyline twists and turns, and overall, the plot has a satisfactory outcome, winding through politics, military intervention and indeed the indigenous beliefs of the Thai people themselves, and their pragmatic approach to this new world order. It isn’t a book which relies on its setting to prop up a weak story, it balances the two quite well, which makes it easy to get into and quite satisfying right to the end. Indeed, at the end you might realise that the Thais, as underdogs have held together far better as a society, than the west represented here by the huge seed companies, and other nations which have embraced them and fallen.

[Wikipedia Link]

Bookshelf: The Amber Spyglass

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The Amber Spyglass – Philip Pullman

The third and final of the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy sees the main two protagonists, Lyra and Will essentially just wandering around. I know they go to the land of the dead and it’s all quite scary, and we learn more about dust (remember that) and daemons, but it just comes off as, well, wandering around.

Let me put this in perspective – given the build up of the first two books, I was expecting this last one to be something of a ‘Return of the King’, but somehow, the two key children seem to miss the great battle a little and what goes on afterwards seems like Mr. Pullman just didn’t want to type ‘The End’.

Will seems to have forgotten his mother for great chunks of the book, or at least not be too bothered, Metatron gets a nice build up then seems to be gone in a page, as does his boss and Lord Asriel and company, which is a shame as I was hoping that was going to become a showdown with neither or them being good nor truly evil, but probably a lot closer to the latter.

I suppose for many of the adult characters, the point is that they’re arrogant and have more interest in who has the power, rather than the Plato notion of what they do with it.

The writing itself is solid, but somehow what could have been show stopping, seems to get caught at acceptable. Mary Malone gets scant to do with the rest of the cast, though the mulefa and that story arc was well thought out provided a nice counterpoint of evolutionary concepts to balance the other ‘religious’ sentiment in the books. Ironically, she’s the one who makes the amber spyglass of the title, which gets used but a handful of times.

Of the throwaway characters, the assassin sent by the Church should receive a prize, or be fired for incompetence, were he not done away with swiftly and almost by accident. I did like the concept of his pre-emptive penance though, a nice touch on the concept of the forgiveness of sin.

In all then, it’s an ending of sorts to the trilogy whilst leaving the door open (excuse the pun) for another novel in the universe. In itself its worth reading if you’ve done the other two, but in isolation, I cant help feeling that somehow it loses its shape in the last third.

The Amber Spyglass @ Random House