Raise the Titanic - Clive Cussler

Naturally, this story begins on that fateful January night in 1912. When the Titanic strikes the iceberg, a passenger corners one of the porters forces him to be a guide. Near the bottom of the Titanic is the cargo hold this passenger has chosen for his final resting place.

Flash forward to present day. The President has a secret agenda and a legacy that depend on the cargo that went down with the Titanic. Enter our hero, Dirk Pitt. The task of salvaging the cargo falls on his shoulders.

First things first, Dirk must find the Titanic at the bottom of the North Atlantic. The activities of National Underwater and Marine Agency do not go without notice. The Soviet Union are quickly interested in the NUMA ships scouring the sea. Things become more complicated when the CIA makes the President aware of the possibility of capturing one of the USSR's top spies. And all the President has to do is allow information to slip out about what Dirk and his people are actually after.

This fast paced adventure is thoroughly entertaining. Cussler has tapped into a story that captures the imagination and makes time stand still. This is Dirks best tale yet.

Killing Rommel - Steven Pressfield

This was a book I listened to on my last trip to the Philippines. At least, I listened to most of it then. I found this book in NetLibrary. After charging my MP3 player, the licence for it was no longer valid and I was unable to finish listening to it until I visited the NetLibrary site with my MP3 plugged in and requested the licence again.

Despite those travails, I thought it worth the effort. I found the plot and the storytelling quite compelling. Although it was billed as a biography on NetLibrary, it is really a work of fiction. The central mission described in the book never happened. The main characters are fictional.

The book itself, develops like a biography would. Giving us a rather complete background of the main character, Lawrence Chapman. Describing in some detail the pivotal developmental moments in his early life and schooling before dropping us into World War II. Chap is assigned to the Long Range Desert Group shortly after he arrives in North Africa. This group did exist at the time and carried out missions beyond enemy lines.

Many of the descriptions of events are accurate even though the story itself is fiction. We are treated to an experience of what life was like for the men of the LTDG. We get exposed to the passion they had for their role in the war and a feel for the turmoil they experienced when taking time to think about their families and friends.

This was a terrific book. Not the biography I was expecting but an accurate and compelling portrayal of life during the desert campaign of WWII. I highly recommend it to any history or WWII buff.

FeedReader3

I made another attempt at using an aggregator to streamline my web surfing. This time I tried FeedReader3. There are no frills with this. The left side contains the list of feeds you have set up and the right side displays the feed you choose to read.

I used it for a couple months and found it quite user friendly and functional. Adding a feed is as simple as cutting and pasting. Organizing the feeds is easy as well with the folder setup. If the feed you are reading includes pictures, they load very quickly within the applet. You also have the option to open the feed you're on in a browser window. Quite useful if you want to explore the site.

I did have some technical difficulties. Fortunately, they did not involve my computer being taken over by addware as another aggregator is prone to do. Rather, it impacted the functionality of my browser. When I would navigate within my browser I would occasionally experience an unrecoverable error. This only happened when the FeedReader3 was active. I would also receive an exception error in the aggregator itself. I decided to try repairing the aggregator to fix the problem. Unfortunately, when I went to add/remove programs it was not in the list.

It turns out, that the FeedReader3 is installed in the root directory. The only option you have is to delete the program and reinstall it. After deleting the program I no longer experienced the error in the web browser. It has been a couple weeks now and I still haven't reinstalled the FeedReader3. It worked out OK. I found nothing on the support pages of the website about the errors I was experiencing so I am not going to reinstall it. Maybe it was something unique to my system, maybe not. Either way FeedReader3 was not a WOW experience. I can and will live without it.

If I hear about another aggregator that has a strong following, I will certainly give it a try.

Million Dollar Hold'em - Johnny Chan, Mark Karowe

Million Dollar Hold'em is a unique book. Written by a world champion at no limit, this book focuses on the concepts necessary to be successful in fixed limit games. There is a lot you won't find in this book. You won't find an introduction to hand rankings or the rules governing how to play Texas Hold'em. This book is aimed at people who have an innate understanding of these things.

The structure of this book is unique as well. Johnny presents a concept. He presents it succinctly and then proceeds to demonstrate it. The vast majority of this book is a recap of hands that have been played. Using these hands to demonstrate the concepts presented. For someone with experience at the tables, this is a very effective method. Often I was able to think back to a hand I played earlier in the week or month and say, "That's what he was doing." Or sometimes, ok maybe more than sometimes, "That's why he called my bluff."

This treatise can be very enlightening. Also of key importance, Johnny assumes the reader has the skills to identify what kinds of plays people are fond of. What kinds of risks other players are willing to take. Most of these concepts work or don't work because you have more than just a guess about how your opponent will react. If you are struggling to identify who is tight aggressive and who is weak passive at a table there is very little this book can help you with.

You always hear that poker is a people game, not a card game. This book shows you just how true that statement is. Is you understand the people you are playing with, this book will help you improve the decisions you are making against them and ultimately, when you make good decisions you will make money.

Final Presidential Debate

I watched the debate this past week. This debate focused on domestic policy. America is in the middle of an economic crisis and the plans that these men put forward to address this issue is likely to be the deciding factor for a significant number of voters. It was this specific issue that prompted me to stay at work and watch the debate in the break room rather than make the 45min drive home.

I was more than a little disappointed in both candidates. Obama is a slick talking, charismatic politicians politician. McCain, not so much. When the topic turned to economics I was ready to hear some courageous talk about how to fix the situation. McCain struggled to articulate any word with more than 2 syllables. Obama deftly ignored the topic completely while using words that are typically associated with economics. In the end, I came to a conclusion about each candidate.

John McCain. He has a plan. I don't know what it is or how it would work. He struggled to put forth examples of what the plan entails but, he couldn't put together a complete sentence that made sense. Let alone that paragraph that would be necessary to convey a concept.

Barak Obama. He has no plan. He knows what he wants but, it has nothing to do with helping the American people. It has everything to do with helping Barak. He is polished and articulate. To bad he has nothing to say.

I should have just gone home. I have no idea which candidate to vote for. I want to vote against them both. After this debate, I weep for Americas future.

King Rat - James Clavell

I reread (sorta) King Rat the other day. Clavell is one of my favorite historical fiction authors. I had a paperback copy that fell apart years ago so, I was excited when I stumbled across it with my torrent program. This time I thought I would let the Stephen Hawking-like Microsoft Reader tell me the story.

I have always found the way Clavell weaves stories together very appealing. In this case, there is no tie to his previous (chronologically) novels. But there is a tie to his next novel, Noble House.

I am very appreciative of the fact that he doesn't go overboard with description. The story is in the characters and he lets them weave the fabric. Very little time is spent describing the environment and yet, I have a vivid image in my minds eye of what Changi prison looks like and how it smells.

Set near the end of WWII, King Rat is a brave exploration of life in a POW camp. The characters are vividly developed and their plight is not glorified. Clavell focuses his attention on the internal battle the individuals wage within themselves. Battling to hang on to their sanity. Balancing their survival needs against their personal morality.

Unfortunately, this brilliant writing does not come through when Microsoft Reader is vocalizing the words. There is no emotion of course and the cadence is so consistent I found myself tiring quickly. After only a few chapters, I gave up on having the story read to me and read it myself. I am sure this feature of the reader has its audience. People who are suffering eye ailments for instance. But if your need for auditory consumption of written material is more long term, I suggest regular audio books.

Phantom Prey - John Sandford

Lucas Davenport gets thrust into the middle of series of murders he would rather have nothing to do with. At the same time he is on the team trying to get the Twin Cities ready for the republican convention. Preparing for security of the participants and crowd control with a limited police staff is quite a daunting task in and of itself.

The daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur goes missing and presumed dead. Shortly afterward, her friends begin to show up murdered. After Weather runs into the mother at their gym, she convinces Lucas to get involved in the investigation.

Sandford uses this story to explore the world of Goth. Lucas meets and talks with a number of different people within this subculture and we get some insight into who they are and how they think. And just like most groups, they have their factions and clicks and competing philosophies. Sandford is taking his art to a new level. He is no longer just telling a suspenseful tale. He exploring the sociological aspects of society. In the decades to come, Sandford may well be required reading in many universities and high schools.

Iceberg - Clive Cussler

It was a windy Saturday in Arizona and the college football was not compelling. I pulled out my laptop and let myself be entertained with another of Dirk Pitt's adventures.

This time Dirk finds himself in the North Atlantic searching for a very special iceberg. Inside the iceberg is a ship. Dr Hunnewell, travelling with Pitt, has several explanations as to how a ship could become encased in an iceberg. And since we are here for an adventure, I refuse to think about how plausible any of his theories really are.

Finding and identifying the ship within the iceberg solves one big mystery and leads to several more. Unfortunately for Dr. Hunnewell and NUMA's Special Projects Director, they are not the only ones interested in the iceberg. And the other interested parties are not pleased that they have competition.

The damsel in this story is a beautiful Icelandic princess. Well, technically she isn't a princess but, Dirk is still smitten. When he discovers just after meeting her that he has competition for the lady's heart as well, he employs a most unusual strategy to displace her fiance.

All my college teams took a pounding. Never the less, I had an enjoyable Saturday afternoon thanks in no small part to Dirk.

E*LEADER - Robert Hargrove

This is an interesting perspective on corporate leadership. The traditional company has everyone working in one location. Ok, maybe that isn't exactly true. These companies often have offices in several locations but, everyone working for them lives near and works in that location. More and more companies are employing people without much consideration to their geographic location. When you are managing a team of people who don't commute to the office, there are some unique challenges you will encounter. Hargrove argues that in order to be an effective leader in this environment there are some fundamental changes to the leadership philosophy that must be embraced.

One of the key changes I took away and am recognizing in my own job has to do with how the leader approaches decision making. Successful leaders in an e-economy need to be "sourcing" leaders rather than "reactive" leaders. Basically, in the traditional leadership profile there is a significant emphasis on understanding what is working, what has worked and how to keep it working. This is reactive. Letting history guide your decision making and influence your creativity. A sourcing leader envisions the future with no concern for history. Often these ideas are initially considered impossible. They have little to no resemblance to traditional processes or models.

In this sourcing style of leadership, the team has a more important role. The team must have more decision making ability. To create the future requires the team to be able to not only think outside the box but be empowered to blow the box up. With this emphasis on changing the culture of the team and the leader, Hargrove envisions companies becoming embattled in "talent wars."

The survival of companies in the e-economy will be more dependant on individual contributors. Getting and keeping the top talent is a critical key to success. Once you have the talent, the real test of the leader begins. Your talent must be able to effectively work together. Your talent must gain shared vision on where they are going. Your talent must trust each other and their ideas. Your talent must be willing to admit that someone else may have a better idea and abandon their competing concept.

This is a very interesting perspective of the leadership role in an evolving 21st century economy. I am employed in a tech firm and we have recently taken action to blow up a support model that has been very effective for 25 years. The new support model we are using has very little recognizable from 6 months ago. It is quite an adventure as we are tweaking and refining it.

I found this book very helpful personally. I have a better understanding of why our company is changing in the manner it is. If you are in a company that is making changes that seem to make absolutely no sense, you might give this book a read. It may not apply but, it just might. And even if it doesn't, the concepts will really make you think.

The Dragonhead - John Sack

John Sack does a masterful job portraying the life of Johnny Kon. Johnny Kon began life as Yu Kon in Gongjalu, 1943. He grows up poor in the rural area of China. When he is 16 his father sends him to Hong Kong to get a job and send money to support the family. In Honk Kong, Yu becomes Johnny.

His motivation is simple. Johnny Kon wants to take care of his family. This never changes. He is a janitor in a Hong Kong furrier when the owner gives him the opportunity to sell a fur to a customer the owner does not believe will buy. Johnny sells the coat and is immediately promoted to salesman. Johnny is smart and learns the business. Soon, he has broken out on his own and runs Johnny Kon Furs.

It is the early 60's now and Johnny has a friend that introduces him to American GI's visiting Hong Kong. This friend recommends Johnny to all the Americans who wish to buy fur coats and fur hats to send to their wives and girlfriends and mothers in America. Quickly Johnny realizes he can sell more if his is in Vietnam the he can waiting for the Americans to visit him in Hong Kong.

When the Americans leave Vietnam, Johnny is selling much more than just fur. He and his wife and 2 boys are living in Cambodia. On a trip to Hong Kong with his wife, their boys are killed by the Pol Pots forces. Johnny eventually blames the Americans for the death of his children. If the Americans had not abandoned Vietnam, he reasons, Pol Pot would not have become so strong and so brutal. Johnny swears to have his revenge.

It is this quest for revenge that leads Johnny Kon to become one of the most respected and feared leaders in the Chinese mafia. Dragonhead is a compelling look at the decisions he made and their consequences. His story is one well worth reading.