Mar 08 2010

The Spark – Cirque Du Soleil

- Igniting the Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All -

Created By: Lyn Heward

Written By: John U. Bacon

Rating: 5/5

Inside Jacket Snippet: ‘…invites readers inside the world and ideas of Cirque du Soleil through the story of an ordinary man searching for meaning in his work and life. …’

Comments: Great book. Definitely more entertaining and interesting than other business corporate books I have read recently. The Spark is small, focused, and  well presented. Maybe too small, but only because I would like any good book to be another 100 pages longer some-how.

Feb 21 2010

Results on UFC 110

Overall UFC 110 was very good. It even had super entertaining broad-casted under card fights; Chris Lytle submitting Brian Foster and Joe Steveson losing to rising star George Sotiropoulos.

Minotauro Nogueira knocked out by Cain Velasquez

Awesome fast knock-out win by Cain Velasquez. A main event fight like this probably bumps UFC 110 up to one of the best in 2010.

Wanderlei Silva barely beats Michael Bisping

A good fight, but not quite awesome. It just needed either fighter to be more decisive in earning the close decision win.

Keith Jardine loses to Ryan Bader

Ryan Bader knocks out Keith Jardine. The fight started out slow with these two good fighters being so evenly matched, but finished fast with Ryan Bader’s KO. Keith Jardine is always fun to watch, but he is losing too many fights lately.

UFC 110 was a surprisingly good show. It had great under card fights and for once  Stephan Bonner was fun to watch. Crazy.

Feb 19 2010

Predictions on UFC 110

Overall UFC 110 looks pretty good. The last one had too many wrestler style fights.

Minotauro Nogueira vs Cain Velasquez

Cain Velasquez is a definite UFC star right now. I hope he continues his mega win streak with a knockout on Minotauro. I like Minotauro, but he is just not a rising star like Cain.

Wanderlei Silva vs Michael Bisping

This is a great fight. I still can’t decide who to cheer for. Wanderlei is always awesome, but Bisping keeps getting better.

Keith Jardine vs Ryan Bader

I’m hoping Keith’s goofy punching style can knock-out Ryan Bader. Keith needs a bunch of wins to move back up the rankings.

Feb 18 2010

Noise

Author: Bart Kosko

Rating: 4/5

Inside Jacket Snippet: ‘… undertakes an equally groundbreaking and provocative exploration of noise in all its forms… ‘

Comments: An interesting book to read, but not an easy read. Quite a few pages explained sound noise graphs in detail with various Gaussian bell shapes, and I probably will never require those explanations in my brain again. Great for sound engineers, but not necessary for casual random library book readers. This book also has great quotes throughout and presents a lot of accurate sound detail very well.

Feb 13 2010

Leading In A Culture Of Change

Author: Michael Fullan

Rating: 4/5

Back cover review: ‘Offers valuable insights into the dynamics of change… full of illustrative case examples, exercises, and resources. ‘

Comments: This book contains great examples on change in education institutions, but loses a rating point by constantly over-stretching this material to the corporate workplace. The book was edited to favor corporate people to sell more copies, but if the book was edited only towards educational managers it would be better. Still worth reading, much more so if you are in a management job improving school systems.

Feb 09 2010

Search Engine Society

- Digital Media and Society Series -

Author: Alexander Halavais

Rating: 4/5

Back Cover Snippet: ‘… address crucial questions such as: How have search engines changed the way we organize our thoughts about the world, and how we work? To what extent does political control of search engines affect how they are used, misused, and regulated? …’

Comments: The first half of the book contained so many quotes from online sources, I wondered if the author was making a joke by using Google to publish a book on search engines. But the second half used less quotes and enough good ideas to make it a book worth reading. I don’t have an answer to improving the first part, since he is trying to cover a lot of educational search engine material quickly, but it could have been edited down some-how. Maybe less info on ancient search engine history and more later sections covering current and future states of search.

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