Finished reading: The Dream Hotel: A Read with Jenna Pick by Laila Lalami 📚

3.5 stars, rounded up

I discovered this book via the Writer’s on Writing podcast. The author, Laila Lalami, was a guest on the show. I was surprised at how her ideas about the future mirrored my own manuscript that I’m working on. Part of me wanted to skip the book to avoid any creative cross-contamination. But the structure of her story was very different than my own so I gave it a spin.

The book is set in the near future where people are given risk scores based on algorithms that analyze all aspects of their lives through data points. One of those data points are your dreams. If your risk score exceeds a certain threshold, you’re eligible for “retention”, a cooling off period of sorts to keep you from causing harm to people. Think Minority Report. The story follows Sara Hussein who is detained after an encounter with authorities following a business trip. Her behaviors combined with her risk score flags her as a potential danger to her husband. She’s detained in a facility and struggles to follow the rules while standing up to the injustices of the facility and its operator.

I was coming off a dismal reading experience with the previous book in my list, so this was a breath of fresh air. The story started strong, the world building solid and I was generally vested in the character’s plight. There’s a strong sense of injustice, profiling, and abuse of power that is done so well I found my blood pressure rising throughout the story.

About 2/3rds of the way through the book, things start to slow down. The main character has an overall goal but it never feels like you’re making progress towards that goal. The story seemed to transform into more of a character study which isn’t really my jam. Then the end comes hurtling at you at 200 mph, leaving you a little unsatisfied.

I’m still glad I read it but just wish my excitement was maintained through the entire read.

Finished reading: The Kubernetes Book by Nigel Poulton (@nigelpoulton.com) 📚

I listened to this book on Audible during my long drive. I’ve never listened to a technical audiobook (not even my own) and was curious how it would translate. I opted for a Kubernetes book since I’m reasonably well-versed in the technology and could evaluate it from an already knowledgeable perspective.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked. I think part of it is that @nigelpoulton.com has a keen sense of what works in an audio format and what doesn’t, so he didn’t hesitate to modify the content to suit the medium. The key points came across well. Some of the examples were hindered by the format, but you were still capable of following. (And if you were at a computer with the example code, I’m sure it would be even easier)

If you’re new to Kubernetes, I’d highly recommend this book in any format.

Finished reading: Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher Alexander 📚

I learned about Christopher Alexander from a video by Ryan Singer. I have no idea how I stumbled upon Ryan’s video though so the whole experience felt surreal. Either way, I was fortunate that the local library had a copy so I said what the hell and gave it a read.

I’m not a designer per se but I think most of us have some design responsibilities in our roles. This book starts strong, using abstract terminology to describe the problem space of design. Even though Alexander may be talking about architecture, mapping his points to your field was straight forward. But as you get deeper into the book the more esoteric it becomes.

This might be due to my own deficiencies but I got lost once the book turned to math proofs on variables of design requirements in a problem space to evaluate the fit of a solution to a problem. Luckily the book is fairly short at about 140 pages, so tail end confusion aside, it was worth the read. It gave language to the design problems and new ways to think about how we identify and evaluate potential solutions. (I believe this is what Alexander calls a “pattern language”, which he has another book about)

This is just one of a few books by Alexander and while I don’t do enough design work to continue diving into his catalog, those who do design daily might find it useful. Ryan’s video is a primer into Alexander’s work but even that veers into the swamp of the abstract.

Finished reading: Upstream by Dan Heath 📚

I really enjoyed this book and it has a number of great case studies that are generally interesting even outside the context of the subject matter. The book is structured in a way to make it digestible and applicable to a wide variety of use cases.

One of the more useful takeaways for me was the idea of “ghost victories”.

there is a separation between (a) the way we’re measuring success and (b) the actual results we want to see in the world, we run the risk of a “ghost victory”: a superficial success that cloaks failure.

The book goes into the various types of ghost victories as well as a series of questions to help “pre-game” against ghost victories. Very useful stuff.

A famous example of a ghost victory would be the drop in crime in New York City during the 90’s. The CompStat program and the leadership of Bill Bratton were hearlded as key change agents for reducing crime in NYC. The problem is that crime everywhere in the US, not just NYC, was dropping in the 90’s. How does a program in NYC magically have the same effect as an unknown source in Boston? We don’t know what caused the drop in crime in the 90’s but few still believe CompStat was the cause.

The book is filled with examples like this, some of which will leave your mouth open in awe. If you’re looking for a book about effecting change in an organization, Upstream and Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard are two great options.

Currently reading: Upstream by Dan Heath 📚

This was a recommendation from one of the leaders at work. I previously read Dan and Chip’s book Switch which was incredibly insightful. I read the first chapter this afternoon and I’m already hooked.

Currently reading: How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth by Meg Bowles 📚

Leadership is about storytelling. Being able to frame a situation that communicates and motivates. Makes sense to start studying storytelling No one does it better than the Moth.

Currently reading: The Ten Year War by Jonathan Cohn 📚

This book has been engaging, despite it not being what I originally thought it would be. I expected more of an examination of the law post-implementation and an examination of its execution. The majority of the book is focused on the conception, creation and passing of the Affordable Care Act. Still quite interesting, but not what I expected.