Author: Jeff

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#BookReview: Did Jesus Rise From The Dead by William Lane Craig

Solid Introduction To The Arguments. This short and easy to read book is a solid introduction to the various arguments on the issue at hand. The only way it is lacking is in that many of these arguments probably need a lot more discussion of their various points and counterpoints and nuances, but that doesn’t seem to be the intent of this particular book. Instead, this book seems more geared to those that are looking for the basics, and is written in exactly that tone – scholarly, yet more of a “fireside chat” and not the hyper dry prose normally reserved for works aimed at fellow academics and particularly those in the same field. Very much recommended.

This review of Did Jesus Rise From the Dead by William Lane Craig was originally written on December 29, 2019.

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#BookReview: Ending The Era Of The Free Lunch by Jeffrey Dorfman

Decade Old Data, Still Solid Reasoning. This book was written nearly a decade ago now, in 2011. The data is solid from that period, though I did dock a star specifically due to lack of a detailed bibliography – truly the only major flaw I could find with the book. The reasoning is centrist-ish, maybe a touch libertarian, but purely focused on economic, cost/benefit rationale. Indeed, this book seems to have influenced the thinking of the economic policy proposals of 2012 US Presidential candidate Gary Johnson, who ran as the nominee of the Libertarian Party that year. (At one point late in the text, he specifically notes cutting Federal spending by 43%, back to 2001 levels, and this was one of Johnson’s core proposals that year.) Remarkably, more recent works such as Gilbert Gaul’s Geography of Risk -published in late 2019 – back up at least some of the author’s assertions. (Here specifically, the rising cost of damages from coastal storms and flooding being due at least in part to US Federal economic policies that encourage building in more flood prone areas.)

A final note of disclosure, just to be safe: Despite then-regional proximity (I lived in Georgia all my life until right around the time this book was being written, and even then moved closer to UGA – where Dorfman is a Professor of Economics – itself despite being in another State altogether) and even similar-ish politics (I was very active in the Libertarian Party of Georgia in my last few years of living in the State, including serving as its Legislative Director and as a regional representative on its State Executive Committee), to my knowledge the author of this book and I have never interacted other than the very asynchronous nature of his writing this book and my buying a copy of it and reading it many years later.

This review of Ending the Era of the Free Lunch by Jeffrey Dorfman was originally written on December 29, 2019.

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#BookReview: Crash Test Girl by Kari Byron

Real “Myths”. Real Woman. This memoir from one of the first female “reality tv” stars is an extremely interesting look at both her decade+ working with the (possibly arguably) the show that made her famous… and how she got there and a bit of what has happened since that fateful day in 2014 when she (and later the world) was informed that she would no longer be on that show. And she doesn’t hold back too many punches, usually only being a bit circumspect when it is clear that being more direct could result in legal issues. While some of her work is now directed at getting kids into science, if you’re squeamish about f-bombs… she is known to casually drop a few in this text. But ultimately the tale is that of an extremely interesting life on and off camera and how an artsy/ edgy world traveller from San Fransisco wound up working at M5 Industries and becoming world renowned as a “science girl”. Overall a very much recommended book.

This review of Crash Test Girl by Kari Byron was originally written on December 29, 2019.

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#BookReview: The Spirit of the Dragon by William Andrews

Gone With The Kimchi. This book has the depth and emotion of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, but it is set beginning in 1930s Korea and continuing through the major events of the Korean people from then to now. Never overly graphic, yet conveying the appropriate gravitas regardless, this book highlights so many of the horrors of the Imperial Japanese government during this period – and how being a part of it came to haunt one (fictional) man. Ultimately a story of undying love and an undying belief that we are all truly one people, this is a book that cannot be missed. And if you happen to read Jeremy Robinson’s Island 731 before or after, you’ll have an even better sense of the true tragedy conveyed in this tale. Very much recommended.

This review of The Spirit of the Dragon by William Andrews was originally written on December 24, 2019.

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#BookReview: Fake Dating the Unsuspecting Heiress by Maggie Dallen

Another Excellent Hallmarkie Romance. If you like Hallmark type romances, Dallen is absolutely an author you’re going to want to check out. In fact, from that angle the only real quibble here is that the epilogue is primarily setup from secondary characters for the next book – as they are talking about the primary characters from this book. Beyond that, typical sweet romance with a bit of fairly quickly resolved drama at the end. On a more personal note, this is Book 200 on the year for me – a personal record I never thought I’d achieve and one that will likely stand for many years. Very much recommended.

This review of Fake Dating the Unsuspecting Heiress by Maggie Dallen was originally written on December 27, 2019.

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Featured New Release Of The Week: Husband Material by Emily Belden

This week we’re looking at a book that features a view of my own “real life” industry, software engineering. This week, we’re looking at Husband Material by Emily Belden.

As a romantic comedy, this book falls into the “zany/ WTF” kind of mold. A “numbers girl” who has recreated herself as a software engineer following the death of her husband after just a single year of marriage in her mid 20s finds out that sometimes life itself isn’t nearly so clean as numbers and code. And sometimes that is actually a very good thing.

From a more technical standpoint… it is pretty clear that the author herself is not a coder. Much of the plot revolves around our main character constantly “tweaking the algorithm” to match certain desired outcomes. Including using the same program designed to demo-mine social media to help companies target their advertising to also attempt to determine whether or not potential dates match her own desires. From a non-programmer perspective, I can see where a non-techie would think the two ideas are close enough that it would be plausible that the same code and algorithms could do both tasks. As an experienced Senior Developer with now 20 years of programming knowledge and 13 years of professional corporate level experience… yeah, no. Doing both is very doable, and in fact I’m aware of real world programs that do either/ or. And while yes, the actual algorithms themselves are at least superficially similar – you’re scanning a particular thing and looking for matches to a given set of criteria – the actual implementation details would be too dissimilar to keep even within the same project and likely even within the same database. (Though *perhaps* a strategy could be arranged that they could share at least the same database but with only a few tables referenced by both projects.)

Regardless of the technical inaccuracies though, the overall point of the book is that our lead character has dived into the programming side specifically because she is running away from living in the actual real world of breathing human beings, and that is something that many of us in this field come face to face with at some point in our careers – particularly after long and detailed projects that force us to dive deep for a while. And in that scenario was very much relatable indeed to many of us, and in the particulars of what is going on in that real world is at least somewhat relatable to many beyond our field.

Ultimately a story of actually healing long after you had thought you had healed from a tragedy, this is a story that is very much recommended for all.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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#BookReview: Dark Times by SD Gripton

Lee Child-Styled Compelling British Mystery. Note up front that I did NOT say “Jack Reacher styled”. What I mean here is that the actual writing, with the frequent use of short, choppy sentences, very much feels like Lee Child’s style of writing. For those that enjoy that particular mechanic of the Reacher books, you’ll at least enjoy the similar mechanics here. Ultimately I docked it a star because the book just starts so slow and depressing – enough to keep you reading and hoping for more, but slow nonetheless – and because of the explosive, abrupt, shocking, and arguably incomplete ending. For me, the ending makes me want to immediately grab Book 2. For others, well, it could be seen as reminiscent of the outrage over the ending of Allegiant. Ultimately a strong tale with a compelling mystery and a good amount of humor, the book is recommended.

This review of Dark Times by SD Gripton was originally written on December 21, 2019.

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#BookReview: Bridge 108 by Anne Charnock

Compelling Premise. Lacking Execution. This was one of those books that seems destined for critical and maybe book club success at the expense of a wider commercial following. It was effectively a more interesting and less utterly depressing character drama in a sort-of-ish style of The Road.

The book only has 10 chapters, 4-5 of which are from the perspective of our main storyline character Caleb, the rest are from various adults on the periphery of the story but which sometimes provide key perspectives that Caleb can’t possibly have.

Still, the utter lack of world building can be a solid narrative choice – when executed well. Unfortunately this simply wasn’t executed to the level that I generally expect, and I’m not all that picky, y’all.

Finally, the abrupt and inconclusive ending was a bit too much and honestly in and of itself sunk this book from 4* to 3*.

If you enjoyed The Road and/ or generally like “awards season” dramas for your entertainment, you may well like this book. I personally despised The Road and prefer more “summer movie season” type entertainment, so it just wasn’t for me.

This review of Bridge 108 by Anne Charnock was originally written on December 18, 2019.

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Featured New Release Of The Week: Destination Sofia by David Wood and Sean Ellis

This week we’re looking at the latest entry in a long running and expansive universe. This week we’re looking at Destination Sofia by David Wood and Sean Ellis.

This was yet another excellent example of Wood and Ellis’ abilities to take seemingly somewhat random real world mysteries and impressive sceneries and combine them into an action tale with just the right combination of adventure, intrigue, and guns blazing action. The intrigue here centers on the real life Tsarichina Hole, and Wood and Ellis truly do an excellent job explaining the real world mystery in the context of the tale, then spinning their own tale around that real world mystery.

Filled with the action and humor long time fans have come to expect from this universe, this is also a good enough entry point for people new to the series – at somewhat shortish (under 200 pages), it is a fairly quick yet highly entertaining read, perfect for trying to squeeze in another book or two at the end of the year to hit some numerical reading target. Very much recommended.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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#BookReview: Sin by JM Leduc

Excellent Action Story. This is the re-published edition of a book that has been around for several years, but with most/ all proofreading mistakes caught and with a new cover. And I’ve had this book for most of the time it existed – and only chose to read it now, with the third book in this series releasing this week. Man, I should have read this book years ago. Truly an awesome action story with a richly developed world and a bad-ass, take-no-prisoners type heroine. The former cover of the book had me thinking it was *vastly* different in style than it turned out to be, and the new cover (with the orange background and standing female figure) is much more indicative of the near frenetic action you get with this tale. It cannot be said enough: If you like Jack Reacher type action tales but with a bit less brooding and a bit more knives in throats… you’re going to love this book. Very much recommended.

This review of Sin by JM Leduc was originally written on December 17, 2019.