Books I've Read Part 5

A heads up, the blog formating functions are not working so hot right now. So there are some extra spaces in there where there shouldn't be.

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Much like his first book, Gladwell follows a formula. Make big and bold predictions about stuff that appears normal. Then use lots of stories and studies to give examples that may only vaguely support your main thesis. By this time hope the reader has forgotten the thesis so you can give them more (very interesting—not kidding here, they are very interesting) stories and examples. At the end scale back so your conclusions are positively mundane. Go on speaking tours.

China Safari by Serge Michel and Michel Beuret

This is a fascinating book. It tells the story of the burgeoning Chinese investment in Africa. This, development of the third world and the opportunities this poses, is the story of the coming decade. We don’t realize it. From my own experience I have a contact in Mozambique. He told me of a Chinese guy there who opened a plastic bag factory—he makes over $1 million a year since no one else was doing it. When I was in Africa the estimate that I heard was that there were over 1 million Chinese in Africa. So the authors have plenty of material—and they do a very good job of showing both the good and bad of Chinese investment. That said they focus very much on the bad and they use a sarcastic tone at several points (maybe this is the result of the French translation.

Stones Into Schools by Greg Mortenson

Greg Mortenson is amazing and I hope he wins a Nobel Prize someday. He has been able to accomplish so much with limited resources. If you haven’t read Three Cups of Tea don’t worry this book stands on its own and explains the back-story while also explaining how he has expanded his work into Afghanistan. There really isn’t much more to say—I was fan of his going in and I’ve given money to his organization—I was going to like the book no matter what. But don’t take my word for it.

The Forever War by Dexter Filkins

I had read some of his stories in the New York Times and found him knowledgeable and insightful. So I decided to read the book. Especially at the beginning, it is choppy and disjointed. I understand why it was like that. But I thought it would have been more interesting to provide more background and give more stories about some of his experiences covering the Middle East. Still that doesn’t take away from what is a very engaging book from one brave reporter.