Batched Book Reviews #5
Published in
3 min readJun 9, 2023
- Beware of Chicken (3/4) -A really nice twist on progression fantasy. The main character decides to get out of the rat race and start a farm. He plows the land, keeps bees, gets married, and has a very chill life. Yet the progression fantasy is still there, and every now and then, there is some action where the main contributors are his animals: chickens, cats, pigs, rats, fish, and more. I liked it a lot, read two existing books, and will gladly read the third one, even though I had a feeling that the second one was slightly worse.
- The 2-Hour Cocktail Party (4/4) — This might not be the best book I have read, but it’s probably one of the best four-hour-long books I have read. It’s short, concise, and practical. What’s intriguing is that it has the potential to significantly impact your life, not in a fundamental sense, but from a particular perspective. Even if you’re not interested in enhancing your social life or relationships, the book provides a few tips and tricks that can be applied in other contexts and is worth a read.
- Waybound (4/4) — Many people are already familiar with the Cradle series, and this is its final volume. The series is good, and if you enjoyed the first part, it only gets better through the next 11 volumes. While this final volume is not spectacular, it definitely maintains the level of quality established by the series as a whole, which is “rather good”.
- Evil Has a Name (2+/4) — Please don’t give too much weight to this review. The book is probably decent, but I discovered that I simply don’t enjoy the true crime genre. It’s entertaining and well-written, and even somewhat interesting, but I wouldn’t choose it again. Bonus points for providing some insight into genetics and genealogy-based investigations.
- Many Lives, Many Masters (1/4) — I’m not sure how this book ended up on my wishlist. Perhaps I thought it was some interesting non-fiction related to psychiatry. Instead, it turned out to be a short report from a psychiatrist about a supernatural experience with his patient. Even if the story is true, I would prefer to wait for some scientific elaboration on the matter.
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2+/4) — The book is well-written and pleasant to read, and its content is valid. So why did it receive such a low rating? The book heavily focuses on C-level management, which made it difficult for me to apply its principles to the reality of individual contributors. Although I gained some good insights from it, I believe there are better resources that build on the same principles (value of trust within a team).
Stats:
- Books read this year: ~67 (+7)
- Books on the shelf: 30 (+21)
- Books on the wishlist: 144 (-18)
