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martijnreintjes's reviews
261 reviews
Designing Bots: Creating Conversational Experiences by Amir Shevat
3.0
Designing Bots gives a nice overview of the space, but lacks the depth to be really useful.
It's basically a long ass blogpost repurposed as a book.
It's basically a long ass blogpost repurposed as a book.
Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com by Marylou Tyler, Aaron Ross
2.0
A lot of people recommend this book, so I gave it a go.
The promise is there, but it is so badly written that I couldn't plow through.
So much fluff, so few actionables.
I felt I kept reading the same paragraphs over and over again, but Aaron was just repeating the same anecdotes.
Eventually I gave up reading it, but still wanted to know why the book was so highly recommended. So I watched this book overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FFegJxM86w
And read these summaries:
https://predictablerevenue.com/blog/detailed-reviewsummary-predictable-revenue
https://predictablerevenue.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/PredRevCheatSheet-DBradley.pdf
The ideas are solid, so I'm going to implement some in my company.
But oh-my, what a boring read ...
The promise is there, but it is so badly written that I couldn't plow through.
So much fluff, so few actionables.
I felt I kept reading the same paragraphs over and over again, but Aaron was just repeating the same anecdotes.
Eventually I gave up reading it, but still wanted to know why the book was so highly recommended. So I watched this book overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FFegJxM86w
And read these summaries:
https://predictablerevenue.com/blog/detailed-reviewsummary-predictable-revenue
https://predictablerevenue.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/PredRevCheatSheet-DBradley.pdf
The ideas are solid, so I'm going to implement some in my company.
But oh-my, what a boring read ...
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
5.0
The Windup Girl is an amazing book playing in a post apocalyptical Bangkok.
I've been to Bangkok dozens of times now and that helped me visualise the new setting a lot.
The book paints an interesting picture about what a world looks like when it is ruined by designer plagues that wiped out the world food supply, corrupt mega companies, fallen nations and of course: climate change.
The story follows main characters from different factions who are warring for power.
The cool thing is, that you as the reader root for a lot of the characters, even as you know that they are opposing each other.
Very cool read, highly recommended
I've been to Bangkok dozens of times now and that helped me visualise the new setting a lot.
The book paints an interesting picture about what a world looks like when it is ruined by designer plagues that wiped out the world food supply, corrupt mega companies, fallen nations and of course: climate change.
The story follows main characters from different factions who are warring for power.
The cool thing is, that you as the reader root for a lot of the characters, even as you know that they are opposing each other.
Very cool read, highly recommended
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
4.0
Do andoids dream of electic sheep? When it comes to Murderbot not. He mostly dreams of soap opera's and other tv-series.
This book plays a bit with the idea of human vs augmented human vs construct (half biological android) seen through the eyes of the android. Who has what rights? And if a being can have original taught, is it a person? Can it be owned? Would that be slavery?
This isn't a philosophical book, and it's too short to really flesh out these ideas. But I enjoyed it non-the-less and look forward reading the rest of the series.
This book plays a bit with the idea of human vs augmented human vs construct (half biological android) seen through the eyes of the android. Who has what rights? And if a being can have original taught, is it a person? Can it be owned? Would that be slavery?
This isn't a philosophical book, and it's too short to really flesh out these ideas. But I enjoyed it non-the-less and look forward reading the rest of the series.
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
5.0
I love Murderbot.
This last edition of the novella series was a nice and exciting end to his story arch.
It was an exciting glance in what could go on in the mind of a part biological conscious AI with high processing capacity. How it could interface with systems and outmanoeuvre humans (augmented or not). Scary and exciting when you really think about it.
The series is a must read if you liked the Bobiverse series.
This last edition of the novella series was a nice and exciting end to his story arch.
It was an exciting glance in what could go on in the mind of a part biological conscious AI with high processing capacity. How it could interface with systems and outmanoeuvre humans (augmented or not). Scary and exciting when you really think about it.
The series is a must read if you liked the Bobiverse series.
The Singularity Trap by Dennis E. Taylor
2.0
Darn, that was a disappointing read!
After the Bobiverse I expected a lot, but this book never delivered.
Some of my main disappointments:
- Characters where way to flat and one-dimensional.
- Too many dumb nineties pop-culture jokes that didn't fit in a story 200 years in the future (and felt like a Ready Player One rip-off)
- Storyline was super slow, it took about half the book to get into it.
- There was almost no talk about the singularity, or what that would look like.
I would say: just go read another book. This one isn't worth your time :(
After the Bobiverse I expected a lot, but this book never delivered.
Some of my main disappointments:
- Characters where way to flat and one-dimensional.
- Too many dumb nineties pop-culture jokes that didn't fit in a story 200 years in the future (and felt like a Ready Player One rip-off)
- Storyline was super slow, it took about half the book to get into it.
- There was almost no talk about the singularity, or what that would look like.
I would say: just go read another book. This one isn't worth your time :(
Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World where Facts Don't Matter by Scott Adams
2.0
WOW, Scott Adams (the writer) is so full of himself that it makes it almost impossible to work yourself through the book.
He does give an interesting take on why Trump won the elections. But instead of Trump, he made the book all about himself and how he saw what was coming (and maybe even caused it).
I was hoping to learn a bit about persuasion from the book, but all the "lessons" are so huff-puff branded and self-encompassing (for the author) that you really have to dig hard to distill them.
If you like to sit next to your self-absorbed teenage cousin during family dinners and hear her go on and on about herself, then this is the book for you!
He does give an interesting take on why Trump won the elections. But instead of Trump, he made the book all about himself and how he saw what was coming (and maybe even caused it).
I was hoping to learn a bit about persuasion from the book, but all the "lessons" are so huff-puff branded and self-encompassing (for the author) that you really have to dig hard to distill them.
If you like to sit next to your self-absorbed teenage cousin during family dinners and hear her go on and on about herself, then this is the book for you!