Reviews and Comments

Enjoyable book, see my full review here:
https://mkaz.blog/life/book-review-it-came-with-oil/

A good book that shows the importance of writing as a means of learning, regardless of subject. The first half was a little more interesting, Zinsser discovers that you can learn by writing and how some schools are using writing as tool to improve thinking and learning in all subjects.

The second half is good, but harder to engage with. It is a collection of good writing samples from various authors on various subject. Zinsser discusses the aspects that makes the writing interesting, so its read and see the examples.

If you are looking for a book to improve your writing, Zinsser's On Writing Well is the best, I highly recommend it.

I really liked how King continued the Shining story, even bridging the differences between the movie and original story. Doctor Sleep has a bit too much setup taking more than halfway through to really get going, but once it does it is enjoyable.

A really good read talking about the importance of writing and user interface. Well worth reading for anyone involved in crafting a user's experience in a product.

Getting ready for baseball season, an enjoyable light read.

I hadn't read Flowers for Algernon since high school, and probably only read the bare minimum of what was required back then. It's a classic, a great book that still holds up today.

Merged review:

I hadn't read Flowers for Algernon since high school, and probably only read the bare minimum of what was required back then. It's a classic, a great book that still holds up today.

The writing is excellent, but what I really enjoyed about this book was discovering the dedication Robert Caro has to his craft. His curiosity and willingness to do the work comes out -- from his commitment to research, to his compassion to tell well-rounded stories. The book doesn't really cover nuts-and-bolts of how to write, but dives deeper into motivation and passion and what it takes to write a complete story, and not being scared of doing the work, asking questions, or as Caro tells it "turn every page".

A good read, I would recommend it. Culture Code offers a different view on what is truly important for forming successful teams. The key qualities of trust, safety, belonging, and communication are more important than most other factors usually attributed to successful teams.