On my trip to Indonesia, most of my conversations with locals and Americans were Asia centric rather than Euro centric. That was at first surprising, then obvious. Claude from Nihiwatu suggested this book and how it is re-writing western ideas about discovery of America, and a whole raft of euorcentric history books. I love it. In the same year that England invaded France with about 600 men making huge waves in western historical records, the Chinese emperor was marching an army of over 1 million north against the Mongols without as much as a note in the west. The most fascinating part for me has been reading the maritime exploration parts about a 10,000 ship armada with tankers larger than the largest supertankers today going all over the world to find a Southern Star for navigation. We in the west have alot to learn about World history. Read this book. I rate 5 of 5 stars.

and rightfully so. Very funny. Not a slapstick rolling funny as the show, but plenty whitty. And a bit smarter I think. Go see this summer fun movie. 4 of 5 stars.

I am a minimalist at heart. My house is minimal, all my art is modern, etc. Most books are too thick and have too many words. While I have never been a fan of graphic novels or cartoons generally, a friend suggested this book so I one-click’ed it off Amazon. Got yesterday and read it in about an hour. Entertaining. The “career” advice is pretty standard fare stuff for an old wizened CEO like myself, but will probably be manna from heaven for the 20 something lost generation it is targeted to.

Let me save you the hour if you are that pressed for time.

1. There is no plan
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It’s not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.

got it?

This is Finn’s new favorite movie. Teen romance at a surf wave pool in colorado. WAY overacted and you gotta love the 80’s hairdoos but fun fun fun. Kids love it.

but this is just too pithy and misty eyed. Did not connect. Rate 2 of 5 stars. give it a pass.

boring. Give it a skip. 1 of 5 stars.

i only finished it because I was on a plane. Too English. Not very engaging. Boring really.

it was on the sale rack. 30% off. I picked it up without checking that it was non-fiction. I just wanted a page turner for the plane. This is definitely not a page turner. It reads more like a long news paper article. Filled with facts, figures, dates and lots of names of people you never get to know enough to care. Billed as an indictment of the death penalty and an expose of small town injustice and railroading, I just thought it was boring. Sure one in a thousand cases happen like this but that doesn’t mean the vast majority of people on death row don’t deserve to be there. One bad case doesn’t indict the whole system. The checks and balances worked here. The guy is free. He didn’t get electrocuted.

If you are looking for a studied argument for or against the death penalty keep looking. And Grisham, leave the true crime to people who are good at it. You are not. I rate 1 of 5 stars. Leave this one in the bargin bin.

More engaging. Less transparent. Some engaging action around street kids life in Seattle. Seattleites will especially enjoy it. As will people interested in the Jesuits. I rate 3 of 5. Left this one in Nihiwatu.

his first book. if you are from northwest especially seattle, alot will be familiar. A bit formuleaic. Lots of “i had no clue what was going on” in the book to drag the plot out. You don’t need that. Just tell the story. I left it in my hotel in Bali. I rate 2 of 5 stars.