Those who read my reviews regularly know that I don't review a lot of non-fiction. That doesn't mean that I don't read a lot of non-fiction. I get so much of my non-fiction reading from the research I do for my "day job" which is content management and freelance writing. I typically read two or three reports per day, several blogs and at least one newspaper. In addition, I will listen to one or two rebroadcasts of webinars or teleconferences per day as I get other things done. So, I certainly do spend the majority of my time absorbing information. When I kick back my reading is almost always fiction...
A few times per year, however, a non-fiction book comes to my attention as a "must read. Ferriss' book,"The 4 Hour Workweek," has been on the radar for a couple of years, and I finally picked it up last week at the behest of Nathan Jurewicz, the Short Sale Kid. He is an example of a twenty-something millionaire who took Ferriss' system to heart early on and now lives the 4 Hour Workweek lifestyle.
The heart of Ferriss' advice is to outsource. In my present situation I AM an outsourcer other entrepreneurs will turn to to get their article writing and blogging done. However, my partner and I are working diligently to turn our business into a turnkey system where we form writing and web development teams under managers to take care of our client's sites. We have been focusing on people who are already online, and that is one model--- supplying the people who are already successful with a way to get the content done for sites that can be projected out to strong sales as the traffic is built organically. The other model we are working to build up right now is one that is local-- helping successful local businesses become even more successful by capturing a log of the local traffic in niche areas. So, one of the things Ferriss' book does is to confirm the model we are developing. That's somewhat comforting to have someone like Timothy Ferriss confirm the appropriateness of the model.
Another aspect of the book is helping entrepreneurs make the most of the time that is freed up. Just because someone manages to replace himself in his work does not make someone happy. It is important to have a vision of what you want to do with your time and to do something that is socially and intellectually redeeming and challenging. Ferriss travels the world having new experiences and meeting new people. He also gives back through social service and charitable giving. Both are very important to having a fulfilling life.
The 4 Hour Workweek is neither the best written nor the most original book of its kind, but it certainly has had a wide impact on entrepreneurs around the world. It is therefore required reading for anyone who is an entrepreneur or wants to become a successful entrepreneur.
Liz Nichols
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini
This is the first Chiaverini novel I have read, and I am pleased to make the acquaintance of her Quilter's Series. She is obviously an accomplished quilter and a quilt historian in her own right, and she very effectively sews together solid tales by using bits and pieces of historical fact and quilting lore to start off her works.
In this particular book Chiaverini uses historial tidbits from the Historic Charleston Foundation and the Edisto Island Museum to create a story around a slave woman who is sold south to South Carolina after being caught as a runaway along the Underground Railway in Pennsylvania in 1859. She fashions a Birds in the Air quilt out of scraps from her owners' castoff clothes and her own rags and hides in the stitching hints as to how to find the Elm Creek Farm again the next time she runs. She leaves a son, her offspring with her master, in the care of the Elm Creek Farm owners.
Before she is able to return she is sold by her master in Virginia to his relatives on Edisto Island near Charleston, SC and eventually is allowed to marry and have a baby daughter. The Civil War stops any plans that she and her spouse, Titus Chester, can make to run north, but does not slake the desire or the secret planning that goes on to regain freedom.
The book is well researched and manages to hold interest both for the historic details and the dramatic storyline. This is an effective way to personalize and humanize the atrocities of slavery so that we never forget what happened to those who were enslaved.
Liz Nichols
In this particular book Chiaverini uses historial tidbits from the Historic Charleston Foundation and the Edisto Island Museum to create a story around a slave woman who is sold south to South Carolina after being caught as a runaway along the Underground Railway in Pennsylvania in 1859. She fashions a Birds in the Air quilt out of scraps from her owners' castoff clothes and her own rags and hides in the stitching hints as to how to find the Elm Creek Farm again the next time she runs. She leaves a son, her offspring with her master, in the care of the Elm Creek Farm owners.
Before she is able to return she is sold by her master in Virginia to his relatives on Edisto Island near Charleston, SC and eventually is allowed to marry and have a baby daughter. The Civil War stops any plans that she and her spouse, Titus Chester, can make to run north, but does not slake the desire or the secret planning that goes on to regain freedom.
The book is well researched and manages to hold interest both for the historic details and the dramatic storyline. This is an effective way to personalize and humanize the atrocities of slavery so that we never forget what happened to those who were enslaved.
Liz Nichols
Death of a Witch by M.C. Beaton
British author, M.C. Beaton has spun another tale about Scottish bobby, Hamish Macbeth, and the small Highland village of Lochdubh. This tale is also appropriately read in the fall when we are thinking about the ghosts and goblins of Halloween.
The hero is called to investigate the murder of a woman considered by many to be a witch, Catronia Beldame. Beldame has been giving local men a potion that is supposed to enhance a certain part of the anatomy, but actually just creates an itchy rash. Hamish is about to investigate the potion complaints when Catronia turns up dead. Is she killed by a jealous wife, an angry client, or someone who knows something more about her past?
Vying for Hamish's attention and assisting in assessing the murder clues are Priscilla, the daughter of the local innkeeper, and Hamish's former girlfriend, Elspeth Grant, a journalist for one of the area newspapers.
It's fun as an American to read the Scottish dialect in this book and to try to beat Hamish at solving the case.
Liz Nichols
The hero is called to investigate the murder of a woman considered by many to be a witch, Catronia Beldame. Beldame has been giving local men a potion that is supposed to enhance a certain part of the anatomy, but actually just creates an itchy rash. Hamish is about to investigate the potion complaints when Catronia turns up dead. Is she killed by a jealous wife, an angry client, or someone who knows something more about her past?
Vying for Hamish's attention and assisting in assessing the murder clues are Priscilla, the daughter of the local innkeeper, and Hamish's former girlfriend, Elspeth Grant, a journalist for one of the area newspapers.
It's fun as an American to read the Scottish dialect in this book and to try to beat Hamish at solving the case.
Liz Nichols
Friday, October 9, 2009
Michael Gregorio's A Visible Darkness
This is one of the darkest tales I've read in a long time, probably since I read Gregorio's last mystery a year or so ago. Gregorio's protagonist, Magistrate Hanno Stiffeniis from a small city in Prussia, is ordered to investigate why Prussian women are being murdered along the Baltic coast while they are employed in mining for amber.
Gregorio weaves a psychological thriller mixed with Gothic mystery and the reader is left to decide whether the women are being killed for the amber they frequently smuggle to other communities in Prussia in 1808, or are there other reasons these women are being brutally murdered and mutilated? Are the French to blame? A mysterious Prussian doctor? A student at the Kantian school in Konigsburg? Stiffeniis has promised to solve the mystery within two weeks to be home in time to see the birth of his new child. He needs to figure out why the murder suspect knows so much about him and his family.
This book will take a strong stomach. It begins with a graphic description of a putrid cow dung problem in Stiffeniis' town, and continues with extremely graphic details in both sight and smells, about a mutilated body. The gore doesn't let up throughout the book.
Michael Gregorio, which is a pen name for a husband and wife team Michael G. Jacob and Daniela De Gregorio, are on top of the game in this taut and graphically written Gothic mystery.
Liz Nichols
Gregorio weaves a psychological thriller mixed with Gothic mystery and the reader is left to decide whether the women are being killed for the amber they frequently smuggle to other communities in Prussia in 1808, or are there other reasons these women are being brutally murdered and mutilated? Are the French to blame? A mysterious Prussian doctor? A student at the Kantian school in Konigsburg? Stiffeniis has promised to solve the mystery within two weeks to be home in time to see the birth of his new child. He needs to figure out why the murder suspect knows so much about him and his family.
This book will take a strong stomach. It begins with a graphic description of a putrid cow dung problem in Stiffeniis' town, and continues with extremely graphic details in both sight and smells, about a mutilated body. The gore doesn't let up throughout the book.
Michael Gregorio, which is a pen name for a husband and wife team Michael G. Jacob and Daniela De Gregorio, are on top of the game in this taut and graphically written Gothic mystery.
Liz Nichols
Monday, September 21, 2009
Fatally Flaky by Diane Mott Davidson
Whenever I see a new Diane Mott Davidson Goldy Schultz mystery I grab it, and I find it difficult to get anything else done until I've finished it! They always leave me wanting the next one right away.
This is one of those rare series where the characters are so compelling that it is as if they become part of your family. You care what happens to them and how they get out of the next mess. You watch as their kids grow up. Every nine months or year when the next installment comes out it's just like you've come for your next year's visit to a favorite cousin or best friend. When you finish, it's like wrapping up the visit until the next year.
"Fatally Flaky" does not disappoint. Goldy gets involved in catering a couple of weddings and it sets the scene for relationships that become important later in solving the mystery. The second wedding is for a ridiculously self-involved bride and her overly indulgent mother who is going out with Goldy's godfather, Jack, who recently moved to Aspen Meadows from New Jersey. Jack has his flaws, but he also has a heart of gold.
When Jack's friend, Doc Finn, is murdered it sets Jack and Goldy investigating. As usual in a Davidson novel, there are so many suspects each with a plausible motive, that it took me until shortly before Goldy breaks the case to figure it out myself.
This is classic Davidson and her fans will love this book.
Liz Nichols
This is one of those rare series where the characters are so compelling that it is as if they become part of your family. You care what happens to them and how they get out of the next mess. You watch as their kids grow up. Every nine months or year when the next installment comes out it's just like you've come for your next year's visit to a favorite cousin or best friend. When you finish, it's like wrapping up the visit until the next year.
"Fatally Flaky" does not disappoint. Goldy gets involved in catering a couple of weddings and it sets the scene for relationships that become important later in solving the mystery. The second wedding is for a ridiculously self-involved bride and her overly indulgent mother who is going out with Goldy's godfather, Jack, who recently moved to Aspen Meadows from New Jersey. Jack has his flaws, but he also has a heart of gold.
When Jack's friend, Doc Finn, is murdered it sets Jack and Goldy investigating. As usual in a Davidson novel, there are so many suspects each with a plausible motive, that it took me until shortly before Goldy breaks the case to figure it out myself.
This is classic Davidson and her fans will love this book.
Liz Nichols
Monday, September 14, 2009
City of Silver by Annamaria Alfieri
This is Annamaria Alfieri's first novel. She is a student of Latin American history, and her careful research shows in every detail in this book.
The story is about the events that lead up to and include the visit of the Grand Inquisitor to the City of Potosi in Chile. Potosi is the center of the silver lode in 17th century South America and the home to both sin and corruption and some saintly good works.
The saint is represented by Mother Maria Santa Hilda, the Abbess of the powerful Convent of Santa Isabella de los Santos Milagros. One of the convent's novices is found dead and the Abbess chooses to bury her in sacred ground, even though she cannot prove right away that the girl did not commit the mortal sin of suicide. When she is taken by the Inquisition for the crime of heresy her Sister Herbalist and the Father Confessor of the convent are left to resolve the issue of what killed the girl.
There is also considerable interplay between two rival families, both of whom lost their daughters to the convent when the girls disobeyed their fathers. There is considerable social commentary about the fate of women during the 17th century in Spain and her colonies, the miserable working conditions for the conscripted Indian miners, the rivalry between Spanish and Portuguese inhabitants of Potosi, secret debasing of silver coins and the King's punishment for this crime, colorful holidays and festivals, herbal remedies and poisons known by the Incas, costumes and weapons of the day, details on the Inquisition, and many other historical and cultural details. For those who enjoy this period of history and wish to know more about Latin American history while enjoying the excitement of a mystery novel-- this is the ticket.
I will say that I was a little confused and bored at first. I persisted and after the first 10 or 15 pages I got into the time period and locale and began to let the puzzle of how the novice died carry me into the details of the book. This won't be everyone's cup of tea, or matte, but those who like historical mysteries and Latin American history will probably appreciate the painstaking detail in this book.
Good first novel.
Liz Nichols
The story is about the events that lead up to and include the visit of the Grand Inquisitor to the City of Potosi in Chile. Potosi is the center of the silver lode in 17th century South America and the home to both sin and corruption and some saintly good works.
The saint is represented by Mother Maria Santa Hilda, the Abbess of the powerful Convent of Santa Isabella de los Santos Milagros. One of the convent's novices is found dead and the Abbess chooses to bury her in sacred ground, even though she cannot prove right away that the girl did not commit the mortal sin of suicide. When she is taken by the Inquisition for the crime of heresy her Sister Herbalist and the Father Confessor of the convent are left to resolve the issue of what killed the girl.
There is also considerable interplay between two rival families, both of whom lost their daughters to the convent when the girls disobeyed their fathers. There is considerable social commentary about the fate of women during the 17th century in Spain and her colonies, the miserable working conditions for the conscripted Indian miners, the rivalry between Spanish and Portuguese inhabitants of Potosi, secret debasing of silver coins and the King's punishment for this crime, colorful holidays and festivals, herbal remedies and poisons known by the Incas, costumes and weapons of the day, details on the Inquisition, and many other historical and cultural details. For those who enjoy this period of history and wish to know more about Latin American history while enjoying the excitement of a mystery novel-- this is the ticket.
I will say that I was a little confused and bored at first. I persisted and after the first 10 or 15 pages I got into the time period and locale and began to let the puzzle of how the novice died carry me into the details of the book. This won't be everyone's cup of tea, or matte, but those who like historical mysteries and Latin American history will probably appreciate the painstaking detail in this book.
Good first novel.
Liz Nichols
Saturday, September 12, 2009
31 Hours by Masha Hamilton
In the hours following 9/11 it's especially appropriate that my review is for Hamilton's "31 Hours," a dark exploration into the thought process of a domestic terrorist. Masha Hamilton is the perfect novelist to tell this tale. She is not only an accomplished fiction writer, but also a journalist with experience in such hot spots as Afghanistan, Russia, the Middle East and Africa. She understands how
Americans are seen in developing countries and she has obviously very carefully thought through how such a disaster as is told in "31 Hours" could happen-- very easily.
The plot is entirely plausible: a jihadist alien resident from Saudi Arabia has recruited a seemingly normal white, middle class student from New York City to be among the suicide bombers to detonate explosions in the major subway and rail stations in New York City on a given day and time.
We follow the last 31 hours of this young terrorist's life (or we assume it is) We watch as the terrorist, Jonas, shaves himself from head to toe. We don't necessarily get an explanation of why each of the rituals performed is important to the pre-suicide bomber protocol. We just know that the many activities and prayers that Jonas offers in that last 31 hours are on the list that Masoud, his Saudi friend, has given him following his return from terrorist training in Pakistan.
Jonas' reasons for this impending action are given, but most Americans will find it very hard to identify with his concerns. Essentially, Jonas believes that it takes extreme violence to end American intrusion into the affairs of other countries. He believes that other countries will back away from supporting U.S. imperialism if the price exacted by terrorists is truly fearsome. Somehow Jonas doesn't see that violence actually begets more violence most of the time. Perhaps the mindset is similar to that of the U.S. government when they dropped the atomic bomb. In that case, extreme violence did beget peace, but only because Japan was too weak by that time to continue.
This is an extremely well written, chilling psychological thriller that delves into the dark recesses of the mind of a terrorist. It is highly recommended.
Liz Nichols
Americans are seen in developing countries and she has obviously very carefully thought through how such a disaster as is told in "31 Hours" could happen-- very easily.
The plot is entirely plausible: a jihadist alien resident from Saudi Arabia has recruited a seemingly normal white, middle class student from New York City to be among the suicide bombers to detonate explosions in the major subway and rail stations in New York City on a given day and time.
We follow the last 31 hours of this young terrorist's life (or we assume it is) We watch as the terrorist, Jonas, shaves himself from head to toe. We don't necessarily get an explanation of why each of the rituals performed is important to the pre-suicide bomber protocol. We just know that the many activities and prayers that Jonas offers in that last 31 hours are on the list that Masoud, his Saudi friend, has given him following his return from terrorist training in Pakistan.
Jonas' reasons for this impending action are given, but most Americans will find it very hard to identify with his concerns. Essentially, Jonas believes that it takes extreme violence to end American intrusion into the affairs of other countries. He believes that other countries will back away from supporting U.S. imperialism if the price exacted by terrorists is truly fearsome. Somehow Jonas doesn't see that violence actually begets more violence most of the time. Perhaps the mindset is similar to that of the U.S. government when they dropped the atomic bomb. In that case, extreme violence did beget peace, but only because Japan was too weak by that time to continue.
This is an extremely well written, chilling psychological thriller that delves into the dark recesses of the mind of a terrorist. It is highly recommended.
Liz Nichols
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