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2010.08.30 11:29:42

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"The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures" explores the power an image can yield as a conveyor of ideas or concepts. Although it was recommended to me as a friendly way to learn about modeling languages (a rather work related topic), its not at all a technical book. Instead it aims to convey its ideas to the general public, demystifying the use of our innate visual thinking. By a series of business stories the author describes how simple sketches over a napkin (or similar) can explain complex ideas with ease, as a counterpoint to ordinary and sleep-inducing powerpoints/bullet point presentations. And, if you don’t consider yourself, as I don’t, “a drawing person”, you’ll get a lot of encouraging throughout the book, as it makes a point in defending that if you can draw a stick figure you’re up to the job.

While the topic is interesting enough (at least for me) the methods presented didn’t manage to convince me, at least not compared with other available creativity-related tools. It seems to me that a good brainstorming session with drawings included (brainsketching) is much simpler than the methods developed by Dan Roam. Also, the concept of simple drawings as abstractions of complex concepts is not a novelty (Understanding Comics by Scott McLoud masterfully explains this), so no breakthrough there as well. The book also dedicates much attention to help avoiding those sleep-inducing presentations, but again it lags behind other works (Presentation Zen is a must read). Moreover, doing a presentation based on sketches personally doesn’t feel as the right approach, and while I don’t condone “bullet pointing” everything, I also don’t like to see my choices limited. I stick to make it simple and engaging as a rule of thumb. Drawings can, and certainly are, a useful addition, but not a stand-alone magic formula to keep your audience from taking a nap (especially if your presentation is at a rainy Monday morning…).

Only a side note, the book is the size of a napkin and, while it might seems it’s a original set-up, it’s actually cumbersome and not very manageable. Well, before I start criticizing the typeset used I’ll conclude by stating my disappointment with this book. Maybe I was expecting too much as I heard quite a buzz around it but, until further proof of the applicability of the proposed frameworks I’ll remain a faithful follower of brainstorming. So, here’s a 5 out of 10 to The Back of the Napkin.

Next I’ll be reviewing “Cheap: The Real Cost of Living in a Low Price Low Wage World” and, fifty pages down the road, things are not looking good.

 

Books | Score 5 | Dan Roam | Visual Thinking | Presentations

2010.08.27 12:11:01

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A cyberpunk novel that's actually good!

 

Finally I manage to review this book! It was lent to me over a year ago and it just stayed on the shelf.... After not quite enjoying William Gibson's Neuromancer and Burning Chrome I must confess I was not very excited about another cyberpunk novel. But my suspicions were unfounded as Snowcrash revealed itself as an excellent reading. Of course the story is bizarre, otherwise it wouldn't be cyberpunk. In Stephenson's vision of the future the world is a patchwork of fiercely defended corporations and neighborhood-large franchises, with no central authority as the USA is but one of these corporate-like organizations (alas the more paranoid one, interestingly enough).

There is also an augmented version of the Internet, something like Second Life but with actual added value, where Hiro Protagonist, our protagonist hero (got that?) spends most of his time. And he is also an hacker, a Mafia’s pizza delivery boy and an expert samurai swordfighter. Can it get better than this? Yes! Add it a brain-frying computer virus, Sumerian culture, meta-language philosophical discussions and you have Snow Crash.

I guess I’m not a good critic or I choose very well the books I read, because this one is another solid 8 out of 10.

Next, for something totally different (and work related), I’ll be reading “The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures).

 

Score 8 | Neal Stephenson | Cyberpunk | Books

2010.05.04 11:41:17

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Child 44 from Tom Rob Smith,

 

Totalitarism | Crime | Books | Score 8 | Tom Rob Smith

2010.04.13 10:23:12

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It is said that all good things come to an end, and the principle (unfortunately) applies to the Commonwealth Saga. While I was reading Judas Unchained, the second and last book of this saga, I found myself racing throw the pages, eager to discover the end result of the war between humanity and the Primes. As the final pages drew near a thought crept in my mind, increasingly persistent it reminded me that there was no third book, that after 2400 pages I would cease to accompany the Commonwealth towards their (ours?) brighter future. And how I wished to keep contact with all of those fantastic characters; Nigel, Ozzie, Mellanie (ah...Mellanie...), Kime, Adam, Johansson, the SI, the HighAngel, Qatux, Tochee... they all were like close friends now (even Dudley Bose).

But, not everything is perfect, and I found the end somewhat rushed. Maybe I expected a more refined ending, with more finesse, or something like that. Nevertheless I can't give this book nothing less than a great score. The thing with Peter Hamilton's sci-fi books is that they sound so plausible that you can almost see those same things happening, or wish you will live enough to, at least. So you just devour the pages, hoping to catch all what the future reserves us, and how humanity will meet the challenges those times present to it.

Well, like I said in the beginning, all good things come to an end and, believe me, the Commonwealth Saga is good enough to be missed in the end!

Score 9/10

Books | Peter F. Hamilton | Score 9 | Commonwealth Saga

2010.03.15 15:19:40

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My first Peter Hamilton's novel was Misspent Youth and, let me be blunt about it, I hated it. In fact it was one of the very very very few books I stoped reading before getting to the end. I'll not get into details about it, but after Pandora's Star I might give Misspent Youth another try.

The first impression about Pandora's Star is that the volume is huge! 1152 pages to be more precise. Space Opera indeed! I must say I always liked stories who take their time, even if this kind of reading can make you feel disoriented in the first one or two hundred pages. Where you are, three hundred years in the future, with the human race expanding through the stars thanks to a wormhole technology that makes instant travelling between planets a reality. You have almost immortal human beings, capable of storing their memories in data banks for future retrieval and able to regenerate themselves. Everybody is wetwired to a global network that would make the Internet seem a 19th century postal office and human society is more liberal than The Netherlands. The setting is good, but it gets better when Hamilton starts to pour in the political intrigue, explaining the new social setting and giving all sorts of enticements about sexual liberation.
Like I said, the story takes its time until you reach the final three hundred pages, then you can kiss the night's sleep goodbye, because you'll want to keep reading until it's over. And, in my case, I had Judas Unchained (the second and final part of the Commonwealth Saga) right there in the shelf. Being 3 A.M. I managed to resist it's calling but, I can assure you, it has a hard thing to do.

This one is a must read and after one thousand and plus pages you'll just end up wanting more!

Score 9/10

Peter F. Hamilton | Commonwealth Saga | Score 9 | Books

2010.03.14 19:06:16

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Having said this I quite liked "The Hunt for the Red October", a submarine Cold War story full of the American/Soviet espionage and diplomatic trickery. Like almost all the books that are adapted to movies, the latter can't capture the story's intensity and detail so, even if you liked the movie, you can surely read the book and come out winning. Also worth mentioning is that this book is the first one with the legendary Clancy character, Jack Ryan.

I also like to compare Clancy's books to Dan Brown's; full of action, and entertaining but, in the end, they seem to much like a Hollywood movie. Not that I don't like Hollywood movies ;)

Score: 7/10

Books | Jack Ryan | Tom Clancy | Score 7

2009.10.03 17:18:13

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O Mar de Ferro de George R.R. Martin

Oitavo livro das Crónicas de Gelo e Fogo, uma das mais recentes sagas de fantasia que pretendem ombrear com o legado de Tolkien, O Mar de Ferro, de uma forma geral, desiludiu-me. E devo confessar que a minha primeira palavra de desagrado vai de encontro à editora Saída de Emergência. Conforme tive oportunidade de confirmar na minha livraria de eleição (Amazon.co.uk), a série original conta com 4 volumes (sendo que um deles, numa edição, também é dividido, ficando assim o total em 5) até ao momento. Ora bem, a portuguesa já vai no oitavo, o que se me permitem a matemática simples é qualquer coisa como 18€x8=144€ de Crónicas, e quase meio metro de estante. O autor é profícuo, sem qualquer dúvida, mas isto de andar a dividir as edições originais em dois não me parece bem. Os livros são bonitos sem dúvida, mas os custos são desproporcionais, principalmente quando por cerca de 50€ temos os cinco livros da edição inglesa.Devo dizer que se os primeiros exemplares da série não me tivessem sido oferecidos, provavelmente ia voltar a contribuir para o PIB inglês, ao invés do nosso.

Mas enfim, I digress.

Passemos ao conteúdo literário do exemplar em questão. Esse, francamente, também não me mereceu especial agrado. É a continuação natural do que a série nos tem habituado, com as suas belas descrições, a linguagem e a narrativa por vezes dura, a sexualidade explícita e os twists que já não surpreendem, por tão frequentes que são, e aqui refiro-me à totalidade das Crónicas. Neste momento a narrativa vai tão complexa, cheia de sítios e personagens, que um novo leitor que por acaso do destino encontre no oitavo livro o seu primeiro contacto com a série vai sentir-se como se observasse um filme ao longe, sem nunca se afeiçoar a qualquer personagem. É por aqui que peca, uma vez mais, esta divisão feita pela Saída de Emergência.

Porém, as reviravoltas na história, que no início tanto me entusiasmaram, são agora quase previsíveis e impedem que se crie uma verdadeira ligação com o que se passa, já que neste universo nada nunca vai bem, nem dura muito. Talvez seja mesmo essa a intenção do autor, ilustrar um mundo a desabar no caos, e por essa perspectiva dou-lhe o crédito que merece. Porém, a magnitude deste mundo que George R.R. Martin criou faz com que as histórias avancem lentamente, perdidas em miríades de circunstâncias e locais.

Aguardo um desfecho grandioso para esta saga gigantesca e tudo indica que será algo verdadeiramente épico, no entanto, o caminho para lá chegar está a ser, e adivinha-se, penoso. Tanto mais que o próximo volume só sairá, na sua versão original em inglês, lá para finais de 2010.

Pontuação: 6/10

 

 

O Mar de Ferro | Livros | Pontuação 6 | Crónicas de Gelo e Fogo | George R.R. Martin