Beauty in Red

Rebel Talent. Why it pays to break the rules at work and in life. Francesca Gino. 2018. ISBN 9780062694638.  The author is a Harvard business professor who researches the psychological, cultural and business structures which lead to growth, innovation and success. Since she uses the case study method, the book is a collection of case studies that she has collected in the  the course of her career. The studies are diverse and often ones you will not have read before. She has  knack of pulling out the inner stories of widely variable subjects like Napoleon, Houdini, Hot dogs, Italian high end cuisine, Landing a jet on the Hudson, Pixel and more. She has a tidy and compelling writing style . A good book for a summer read or a four hour flight. I read it almost non stop.

Perennial Seller. The art of making and marketing work that lasts. Ryan Holiday. 2017. ISBN 9781101992142. A refreshing book by the author of The Obstacle is the Way.  He is proponent of releasing products only when they are ready – as his goal is to create lasting works, classics that will be read for a long time and generate long long royalty lives.His case studies and work with authors like Tim Ferris, James Altucher, Mark Strauss are well documented . Clearly written, this looks like a book that will stand up over time. Good for a four hour plane ride read.

Robin. Dave Itzkoff. 2018. ISBN 9781627794244.  A detailed and fond look at the life of Robin Williams.   Reading this book feels like a page by page preview to tragedy. It is a heartfelt autobiography that allows us to revel in the many favorite Robin Williams moment.  The author has tried to be objective and truthful in all his work.   Clearly and concisely written it is worth the time to learn more about this wonderful comic.

John Rain Series . Barry Eisler.  A series following the exploits of John Rain a Japanese-American living mostly in Japan ( Tokyo) . He is a US special forces, SOG type who was in Vietnam at 17 and went from there.  He becomes a gifted judoka and assassin , specializing in making death look natural.  He has his share of romantic episodes and through the series picks up a few associates/friends who come in and out of the stories.  A jazz and scotch lover the hero gives quite good descriptions of good bars and coffee shops in the carious cities he finds himself. Underlying the books are two themes, the chronic corruption of the Japanese govt/yakuza and the over reach of US surveillance power – NSA and CIA (which comes as results of the US being run by big business interests/corrupt politicians).  The author has a deeper vocabulary than most of these types of books and he allows the heroes some deep emotional entanglements and  times of mental angst. The pace moves well and they last about four hours.