Books, Books, Books

Hmmm, I haven't written a book post in quite awhile, mainly because I colored in all the pictures and the sticker books are just boring, but here we go:

What have I been reading lately

Military SciFi

Terms of Enlistment - An Amazon Kindle single.  Generally well written.  The story overall is fairly satisfying but the ending just leaves you hanging.  A little more thought should have been put into rolling that up.  It's obvious that the writer has some military experience and there is a scene in the middle of the book that seems like it was taken directly from the Battle of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down) .  2.5 stars because the ending was really unsatisfying otherwise probably 3.25 to 3.5.

Poor Man's Fight  - Another Amazon Kindle single.  Also generally well written, although the basic premise of why the main character joined the navy is a little too contrived.  Yes I could see the societal developments that have occurred in this fictional universe developing, what I don't see is the idea that the main character is the only one to figure out how he was screwed over.  There are some other issues too (like how do you simultaneously vent every single compartment on a spaceship that is designed to maintain vacuum integrity) but they don't detract much.  Again the guy who wrote it obviously has military experience.  Also again the ending is weak but not as weak as Terms of Enlistment.  3 stars.

Ender's Game – ReRead. I still think it sucks.  1 star no link.

Military Fiction

Empire and Honor - Just another installment in the Honor Bound series by WEB Griffin.  Take it or leave it, like all the books co-written with his son huge continuity holes.  1.25 stars  read it for series completeness nothing else.

Tech

Learn Windows Powershell 3.0 in a Month of Lunches -
Informative, easy to read, worthwhile if you need to do much scripting.  I have to do a moderate amount and it would help me tremendously to improve my skills in it which is why I bought the book.  I have been picking thru it on an as needed basis but I do intend to go thru the day 1 thru 24 and do the exercises.  4 stars.

In the Plex - An in-depth look at the history and culture of Google.  Jumps around a bit, but very informative.  Also very depressing, remember the scene in "The Big Bang Theory" where Penny says to Sheldon, "I'm just a blonde monkey to you"? Well reading this books makes me realize I haven't even achieved Google monkey status. 3.5 stars woul be 4 to 4.5 but the author made me cry myself to sleep so I am penalizing him.

General

Class Warfare -  An excellent book looking at the fight for educational reform starting with "A Nation at Risk" and culminating with "Race to the Top"  Surprisingly positive towards the efforts of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama and very critical of the teachers unions.  I think it may overstate the case for even high performing charters a bit, but it does point out in a number of places that these are very high performing schools and their successes can't just be duplicated using some sort of cookie cutter approach.  4.5 stars

All the Devils are Here - Probably the best recounting of the systemic events that led up to the 2007 - 2008 housing bubble burst.  Greed and Stupidity battle it out for top place and stupidity wins.  4.5 stars

Jeez, all that work on a post no one will read so I can post a picture of Jordan Carver in a sailor suit.