My non-fiction reading is really all over the place. So many subjects grab my interest and there's so much written about each topic that it just gets frustrating. Sometimes I end up reading nothing about a particular topic because there's just too many choices (and not enough time).
As of this writing, I've read 80 books this year. 20 of them have been non-fiction. I don't know if that's a good ratio of fiction to non-fiction, whatever a good ratio would entail. Some of the non-fiction titles were about writing, some were about topics that interested me for only a brief time. Some I could have done without completely.
The most disappointing non-fiction book I read was His Excellency by Joseph Ellis, a short biography of George Washington. The problem: it was too short, too generic. Plus the writing wasn't very engaging.
Also disappointing was Frank M. Robinson's Science Fiction of the 20th Century, an over-sized history of sf/f magazines. The photos of the old magazine covers were fun to look at, but the text was pretty convoluted and often a downright mess. It seemed that Robinson tried too hard to cover the history of the century's magazines, stories, writers, artists, and publishing trends. When you try to cover everything, sometimes nothing comes out right.
I've really gotten into baseball over the past couple of years, but was embarrassed that I knew so little about it. To help correct my baseball shortcomings, I read and enjoyed Johnny Bench's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Baseball. So many of the Idiot's books I've seen aren't very helpful, but this one covers much more than the basics and actually makes you want to read more on the game. (Bench does, however, spend too much time lauding his beloved Cincinnati Reds. But hey, it's his book.)
Faithful by die-hard Red Sox fans Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King (Yes, that Stephen King.) was a pretty good chronicle of the Sox's 2004 championship season, but didn't convey enough of the excitement of the postseason (especially the ALCS) for me.
Oddly enough, the most enjoyable non-fiction book I read this year was Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins (author of Built to Last). Collins and his research team studied hundreds of U.S. companies over a period of several years and determined the ones that made the transition from a good company to a great one. Only eleven companies made the cut. What they have in common is fascinating and sometimes surprising. For me, the book was more about how you treat people than building businesses.
Next time = The Best Young Adult Books
Now Playing = Blue - Joni Mitchell
Now Reading = Vellum - Hal Duncan
4 comments:
The thing that always gets me about "Good to Great" is how readers go back and track the stock performance of the "Great" companies as compared to the "Good" companies since the book's original publication, as if that's an appropriate measure of the accuracy of the authors' thesis. Good companies don't necessarily make good investments. Doesn't seem like it should be that way, but there it is. If it was, my job would be much easier.
Ain't that the truth. I'm thinking about picking up the first Collins book, Built to Last. Have you read it?
I have read it, but it was so long ago that the only thing I remember is that visionary companies eschew strategic planning. Essentially it said that durable, leading companies keep throwing as many ideas as they can against the wall, going with whatever sticks.
What do you think of Vellum?
It's a mind-blower, in a good way. Duncan's really turning things upside down with this first novel --- I can't believe it's a first. I met him at WFC. He's a wild man!
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