tim_ohearn's reviews
382 reviews

I feel like I just explored South America myself. The purposeful choice of wording is powerful and timeless. A classic adventure.

I really enjoyed imaging how these tactics and ideals may apply to modern insurgencies. Fifty years later, the epilogue's argument against "monopolistic" capitalism is sure to fall on deaf ears. It was much easier to understand Che Guevara's immortalization after reading The Motorcycle Diaries than this book. The amount of synonyms he uses in place of "unsuspectingly killing someone in cold blood" is telling of just how horrific that period of time in Latin America was. I'd say the book is a bit overrated, all things considered.

Horrible and depressing.

The book is exactly what everyone says it is. Approachable and cited enough to the point of historical significance. I grew tired of seeing it referenced in books where skilled poker players became quantitative masterminds, so I picked it up. I felt like I was missing out.

The author doesn't at any time make things complicated. That is, aside from his choice of rotating through every poker variant under the sun when giving examples. The math isn't hard, the examples are clear, and the counterintuitive aspects of the game are given just the right amount of attention.

I found it difficult to internalize and apply the finer concepts even as I read the book at a slow pace. Since I wasn't sitting at a poker table as I read through, I accept that I should have taken better notes and will probably have to pick up the book should I ever decide I am serious about improving my playing.

The Marrow of Tradition is a powerful novel. Chesnutt's grasp, mastery, even dominance of the English language at the turn of the 20th century is mind-blowing. The narrative is littered with a huge cast of characters and the benefit of this is that it steers the reader away from what are, in retrospect, mostly predictable plot points. Unless you commit a serious effort to this book, you'll find that the characters' names and minor story lines are easy to tangle up. Regardless, you'll find yourself obsessing over random details wondering if they are worth remembering for the sake of the plot.

Just okay. A rather poignant example of why I dislike self-help books. I disagreed with very little of the advice but I found that a lot of it boiled down to treating others how you'd like to be treated. Especially from Chapter 6 until the end, I felt small adaptions of the golden rule were being substituted for true wisdom. There are something like twenty self-help publications (mostly books) cited which is excessive. I think the worst thing someone could do is get caught in the trap of obsessive focus on self-help and not enough focus on self.

A solid overview of Japanese culture from essays written by student authors. It lacks depth, but those seeking wholesome learning will be able to find it by way of the questions at the end of each chapter. It also lacks unifying elements, the only cross-references having been put in by editors, since all of the essays were written independently. The discussion questions left me thrusting selected Japan facts onto my friends then trying to corner them into discussion, which didn't work too well. As lonely as it was, spending some time carefully considering the discussion points drastically increased my reading comprehension. I chose to read this book, among others, with the object of writing an essay about Japan for a class I am taking. After working through only half the book, I had an excess of material to run with as a result of the frequent analysis that was encouraged.

I recommend this book. Cover to cover, there truly was not a single dull essay. It increased my appreciation for and curiosity toward the enigma that is Japan.

I appreciate this book on many levels. For its bullet-proof research. For the author's willingness to risk his life. For the fact that it would be nearly inconceivable as a work of fiction. For the interweaving of numerous personal horror stories. For the author's sly England shout-outs. It was equally appealing for its action-packed entertainment as it was for its meticulous classification of different aspects of organized crime and their implications not only in Latin America, but the entire world. Ioan Grillo is an extremely talented writer, finding more unique ways to refer to drugs and to refer to Mexico than I thought possible.

Read this book, and if you don't find it wholly engrossing from the get-go, you should put it down and start with Goosebumps and work your way up because this is nightmarish.