What Are You Reading Now?

[Donuthole]

Recently finished Just Mercy by Brian Stevenson. #1 NYT bestseller published in 2015. My daughter, son-in-law, and wife all read it and insisted that I read it. I have to say that this book impacted me more than any book I can remember in recent years. The author is an attorney that has made a career advocating for the poor and oppressed in our judicial system. The main story in the book is his effort to free a man on death row who was wrongly convicted. Absolutely gripping story. Ironically, it occurs in the hometown of Harper Lee. Atticus Finch has nothing on this guy. Discusses a number of other cases. Eventually he argues a series of cases before the Supreme Court.

After reading this book:

1. I am against the death penalty. Too many wrongly convicted people on death row, disproportionately discriminates against black and poor people. Life in prison is an adequate penalty.

2. I am against kids being tried as adults. I have always hated this practice, now I hate it more after learning that we have often thrown 13-14 year old kids in adult prisons, sometimes with life or death sentences. That is barbaric.

3. I believe mandatory minimum sentencing is one of the greatest mistakes we have made as a country.

4. No judge should ever be elected. That leads to a system skewed for long sentences, more death sentences, etc to satisfy our collective lust for revenge.

God bless Brian Stevenson and his organization.

I've had this on my nightstand for about a year and just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe I'll move it up in the queue. I'm currently reading Lincoln in the Bardo, and i'll admit i'm struggling with it. I'm about a third of the way in, and, while unique, the premise has not yet encapsulated my mind as I had hoped it would.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I've had this on my nightstand for about a year and just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe I'll move it up in the queue. I'm currently reading Lincoln in the Bardo, and i'll admit i'm struggling with it. I'm about a third of the way in, and, while unique, the premise has not yet encapsulated my mind as I had hoped it would.

I would love to hear an attorney's opinion of the book.

[BigPiney]

that was a stupid book

[falafel]

I would love to hear an attorney's opinion of the book.

Of Just Mercy or of Lincoln in the Bardo? Can't see why an attorney would ever want to read the second one.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Of Just Mercy or of Lincoln in the Bardo? Can't see why an attorney would ever want to read the second one.

Ha. Just Mercy.

[Sleeping in EQ]

Recently finished Just Mercy by Brian Stevenson. #1 NYT bestseller published in 2015. My daughter, son-in-law, and wife all read it and insisted that I read it. I have to say that this book impacted me more than any book I can remember in recent years. The author is an attorney that has made a career advocating for the poor and oppressed in our judicial system. The main story in the book is his effort to free a man on death row who was wrongly convicted. Absolutely gripping story. Ironically, it occurs in the hometown of Harper Lee. Atticus Finch has nothing on this guy. Discusses a number of other cases. Eventually he argues a series of cases before the Supreme Court.

After reading this book:

1. I am against the death penalty. Too many wrongly convicted people on death row, disproportionately discriminates against black and poor people. Life in prison is an adequate penalty.

2. I am against kids being tried as adults. I have always hated this practice, now I hate it more after learning that we have often thrown 13-14 year old kids in adult prisons, sometimes with life or death sentences. That is barbaric.

3. I believe mandatory minimum sentencing is one of the greatest mistakes we have made as a country.

4. No judge should ever be elected. That leads to a system skewed for long sentences, more death sentences, etc to satisfy our collective lust for revenge.

God bless Brian Stevenson and his organization.

I'm with you on all four, so long as there's still a way for the people to remove a judge.

[SeattleUte]

I've always wanted to read American Psycho because I love the film, but worried that the film was better (hard to top the perfectly cast Christian Bale). Finally, I'm reading and it's terrific! As usual, the book is even better.

This is a novel and a film for our times. In addition Donald Trump and Ivana repeatedly mentioned in discussion and appearing offstage, here you see dramatized in fitting satire the world that spawned Donald Trump. Satire is still possible! It's just very intense.

[Sleeping in EQ]

Thanks for the recommendation. I just finished this one.

Definitely a highly entertaining read, especially with the opportunity to share passages with my feminist wife.

I think it’s certainly true that in the freest societies with maximum opportunity for women that there will be professions that will be 90+% male or 90+% female based on interest/motivation. There’s nothing wrong with that.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's become one of the books I share (along with Robert Bly's Iron John) when I'm talking to someone who is really bothered by the "gender wars."

[SteelBlue]

I forgot to add I am also reading Andrew Roberts new biography of Napoleon. Since it is on my Nook, it isn't going very fast

http://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-...poleon+roberts

I'm a little over halfway through this one and I am loving it. Highly recommend.

[happyone]

I'm a little over halfway through this one and I am loving it. Highly recommend.

That is an excellent read - I think the main problem I had with it was reading in on a Nook, I much, much prefer dead trees

[SteelBlue]

That is an excellent read - I think the main problem I had with it was reading in on a Nook, I much, much prefer dead trees

Do you agree that this one is among the best? Knowing you, you’ve read them all.

[happyone]

Do you agree that this one is among the best? Knowing you, you’ve read them all.

yeah, however my Napoleonic knowledge is a bit on the sparse side

As a rule I'll read anything Roberts writes. He is definitely in the top tier of currently writing Military Historians. IMO he hasn't written a bad read.

[BigPiney]

Anyway, back at work again and reading less. Currently tackling this year's Pulitzer winner for fiction, Richard Powers' The Overstory.

This was pretty good.

I have been more in a reading mode lately, so trying to push through the Wheel of Time.

I also enjoyed Welcome to Lagos. I haven't read much African literature, but this was good, so up next will be My Sister, the Serial Killer when I finally get that from the library.

I am also listening to The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber. Fun book.

[Scott R Nelson]

Just finished Skunk Works, about Lockheed Martin’s famous high tech, top secret aerospace R&D division.

It was mostly written by Ben Rich, the head of Skunk Works from the mid-70’s to 1990. Very fascinating. He starts by discussing the development of the F-117 stealth fighter which started in the late 70’s, but wasn’t really utilized until the Gulf War. Then he discusses in depth the development and history of U2 and SR-71 spy planes. Lots of “other voices” contribute, such as pilots, military, and government officials.

He goes into how the culture and small, agile processes used allowed them to develop technologies that were generations ahead of their time.

I'm reading this book right now. I enjoy reading about engineers solving engineering problems and it's great for that.

It also makes me thankful that I never got involved in any secret projects because of all the rules they had to deal with. I had to get a secret clearance at one point, but never actually used it. Most of the engineering work I did was of the "trade secret" variety where you're not supposed to divulge things, but you don't have to work in special rooms and put all of your work in a safe whenever you leave the office.

I think one of the things I like about the Skunk Works working environment is that they had a few very good engineers rather than a bunch of "okay" people. One of my favorite quotes back when I was working is "if you want to win the high jump, you need one guy that can jump seven feet, not seven guys who can jump one foot". Most of the manager and decision makers that I worked with couldn't grasp that concept.

[BigFatMeanie]

I'm reading this book right now. I enjoy reading about engineers solving engineering problems and it's great for that.

It also makes me thankful that I never got involved in any secret projects because of all the rules they had to deal with. I had to get a secret clearance at one point, but never actually used it. Most of the engineering work I did was of the "trade secret" variety where you're not supposed to divulge things, but you don't have to work in special rooms and put all of your work in a safe whenever you leave the office.

I think one of the things I like about the Skunk Works working environment is that they had a few very good engineers rather than a bunch of "okay" people. One of my favorite quotes back when I was working is "if you want to win the high jump, you need one guy that can jump seven feet, not seven guys who can jump one foot". Most of the manager and decision makers that I worked with couldn't grasp that concept.

You wouldn't like working in my organization then. I hate the "hero" or "rock star" model in software engineering. Yes, the top software engineers are 10X more productive than the average software engineer, but if you get a team with too many "rock stars" or "heroes" then you've got yourself a bottleneck where only the "hero" knows about a specific component, project, module, process, etc. Then the "hero" wins the lottery and moves to Tahiti (which is the new version of "gets hit by a bus" because the sensitive wuss crowd can't handle the imagery of getting hit by a bus) and your team is screwed.

I constantly tell my organization that I would rather take the short-term hit in productivity and do necessary cross-pollination/project rotation/cross-training/code reviews/knowledge transfer/knowledge sharing/<insert name of practice here that "rock stars" usually whine about slowing them down> than to let the heroes move forward at top speed and leave everyone else behind in the dust.