Review: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I resisted reading this book for a while since the garish cover and title made me think of books that are generally consumed only via “executive summary” and aren’t worth much more than that. However, I am glad I have read for it I found a fascinating overview of anthropological applied psychology and neuroscience that belongs on the shelf next to the works of [a:Malcolm Gladwell|1439|Malcolm Gladwell|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1224601838p2/1439.jpg] and [a:Steven Pinker|3915|Steven Pinker|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1235758085p2/3915.jpg].
Particularly interesting where the marketers at Procter & Gamble figuring out how to sell a Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history, by leveraging the habit of adding smells rather than eradicating them.
The CEO of Alcoa reaped marketplace gains by laser focus on safety, affecting and aligning worker habits and other corporate-scoped examples include Starbucks and the famous example (I heard it before of Target data mining for pregnant customers). Activism by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rick Warren (Saddleback Church) along with the power of weak links in Rosa Parks’ movements adds a socio-political dimension.
I was somewhat disappointed by the denouement, where [a:Charles Duhigg|5201530|Charles Duhigg|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1349273209p2/5201530.jpg] seeks to compare a sleepwalker’s murder to a woman who hides and finds enabled a multi-year million dollar gambling habit.

I think he intimitation of a theory of aspect - perceptional differences was both the most intriguing and least developed part of the book...



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Review: The Accidental Anarchist

The Accidental Anarchist by Bryna Kranzler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was a delightful read about a Russian Jew's comical flirtation with anarchist terrorism and fighting in the Czar's army in The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905). Captured for his politically motivated crimes and being doubly persecuted as a Jew, the diarist that was the source of this biography teams up with a good-hearted, optimistic thief and escapes from a Siberian prison camp. The story nicely ends with the meeting and marriage to the headstrong woman that delivered his cast off message and saved him from execution.

The Kindle edition has nice hyperlinks to explanations of Yiddishisms and historical facts as clarified by the family members that boiled down the diaries to this book and their small afterword material about that journey really completes this history.



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Review: Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present by Michael B. Oren

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Roughly three quarters of the book is given to American relations wiht the Middle East from 1776 to WWII, about 175 years. Post-WWII to the War on Terror is the final quarter, roughly three quarters of a century. As result, tying in where we are now seems rushed, almost glossed over.

However, the author does succeed in documenting his case that from birth of this nation until know the relationship of America to the Middle East has been a contradictory blend of exotic allure and Islamophobic revulsion.

I found it most interesting that even back in the terms of Thomas Jefferson the nation struggled with waging war or seeking peace, claiming acceptance of all beliefs while reviling the Islamic faith.

Also, the narrator has an occasional but distracting habit of putting the wrong syllable emphasis into a word.



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Review: Death Be Not Proud

Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



"As a professional writer, Johnny's father was capable of incarnating the spirit and intelligence of his ardent and precocious son. I am really convinced the world lost a brilliant inventor-scientist, but through this book we can all meet this atheist old soul and travel with him through 1940s cancer treatment.

Inlcuded in the book is many letters, quotes, and writings of Johnny. Among this impressive intellectual output, signifying an accomplished and seeking mind, is Johnny's list of chess tips, which I am saving.



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Review: The Story of the Second World War

The Story of the Second World War by Katharine Savage

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A good, quick read about thi epic European struggle that consumed so much of the world. I always pick up something new. This time I was appalled by Hitler's strategic use of German lads raised by charitable Norweigans to effect the invasion and occupation of that country.



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Review: Son of Harpo Speaks!: A Family Portrait

Son of Harpo Speaks!: A Family Portrait by Bill Marx

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I am not sure if this audiobook is the same content as the printed book, but it is the potential differences that are the charm of this edition: music interludes, a cast of voices, etc. So, this is more an audio production than a straight reading of a book's content.

Don't execpt any diry on the Marx borthers, although Bill does divulge some of Groucho's penis problems and Harpo's casual nudity. Rather, this is an open and easy-going recollection of talented musician adopted into the Harpo Marx family and soon at an early age prop assistance and msuic arranger to his "Dad".

As such, this life story goes beyond Harpo's life (although Harpo audio-communes with Bill from a reverberated beyond-the-grave) presenting Bill's recollections of being in the wings as Harpo performed for film, TV, and stage onto Bill's own music career, such as touring the U.S. and Canada with Carol McLaughlin resurrecting Harpo's music.

There are also anectdotes about having Jack Benny for a neighbor, dealing with Marx family legal issues (recast as a complex plot for a Marx Brothers film treatment), how Zeppo was apt to swing a fist, and more.



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Review: Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin

Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Well, this well-researched, fasinating book puts in the final nail in the coffin of MLK assassination consipiracy theories, IMHO.

It ends up that James Earl Ray/Ramon Sneyd/Eric Stavro/Galt/etc. was a petty criminal from a family of them with a murderous bent born of neo-Nazi thoughts, George Wallace worship and a specific loathing for MLK.

His basic false identity skills kept him on the run long enough to get almost half-way to Rhodesia where he hoped to be an Afircan-slaying merc.

It wasa bit confusing for the author to always call Ray/Galt/Sneyd but he then current alias, but I can understand his reasons.



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