tag archive: reviews

FreeMind is a great free software program. It is identified as “mind mapping” software, for brainstorming or whatnot, but is also a general productivity/organizational tool. It’s early days for me, but I think it may help me organize my notes and projects more effectively. It’s basically just arranging things in a tree structure, but the visual/spatial layout seems to help me.

I tried it out a couple of years ago, but didn’t really give it a chance. Now with version 0.8.1, it seems very polished. It’s a Java program, which may suggest sluggishness to some people, but it’s very snappy and responsive for the maps I’ve created. It’s very easy to use: easy to add nodes and move things around and format them. After a day or two of use, I felt pretty comfortable with most of the features. It comes with help documentation that is itself a mind map, which helps in exploring …

This is a great book. You should buy this book. And buy it through Amazon via that link or by clicking on the book cover image. Then I’ll get a cut. But I’m not just shilling for this thing in a sordid attempt at (minuscule) personal profit. I really thought it was a fantastic read, and I want you to have the same (or similar) enjoyable reading experience that I had. My getting a (pittance of a) kickback for your purchase is just a pleasant side-effect, completely unrelated to my endorsement.

(Then again, I have my concerns about contributing to the growth of the Amazon Empire, so maybe it would be best to support your local independent retailer instead.)

One indication of the quality of this book is that I read the entire thing. And not only that, I finished it in about a week. It was engrossing enough that I kept wanting to pick it up …

Hackers

Many years ago I read Hackers for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. Levy takes exhaustive research and interviews and weaves them in to a great tale. I like reading about the people behind technology and how they came to do what they do (or did what they did), and this book is full of characters and their stories: “The Heroes of the Computer Revolution.” Starting with the origins of hacker culture at MIT in the Tech Model Railroad Club, I felt transported back in time and was absorbed by the story.

Crypto

A month ago, I saw a reference to Levy’s Crypto, and I immediately ordered a used copy from Amazon. This is a story about how we finally got good crypto outside of the NSA. Having just started it, I’m finally learning something about those Diffie and …

Run to the Hills: Iron Maiden, the Authorised Biography, by Mick Wall

I’m not sure if I should mention this, since it could affect the willingness of people to loan me books, but I do a lot of my reading in the bathroom. Some books don’t grab me enough to carry out of the bathroom and it can take a while to get through them. This wasn’t one of those books.

(Oh, by the way, I’m giving you a review of a book that seems to be out of print. I don’t even see used copies at Amazon as I write this.)

I wouldn’t say the book is especially well written. (Much like this post and web site.) It’s a bit fannish in parts. It can be overly exuberant. But I think it also captures the excitement and passion of the band and its music and fans. I enjoyed picking up on some British …

Just for FunLinus Torvalds

Welcome to my inaugural minimalist review. I recently finished reading Just for Fun, by Linus Torvalds and David Diamond. “The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary.” Now it’s time to blurt out a few comments.

(Remember: minimalist may refer to the small amount of substantive content rather than the word count. As often happens, I may have hidden some catchier stuff at the end: Pragmatism, Idealism, and Revolution.)

I have mixed feelings about doing reviews. Who am I to criticize anything? Well, I’m certainly not especially qualified, but everyone’s entitled to an opinion, right?

I enjoyed the book. I like computer “history” books; finding out about the people behind the technology and how they went about doing their thing, and there was a good dose of that with this book. …

I like reading reviews, usually of books and movies. I like it when the reviewer has some insight about the item being reviewed that helps me see things I missed, educates me, or clarifies my own feeble thinking.

Does that sound like I’m reading the review after the fact? Aren’t reviews supposed to help us make decisions on what to read or watch? Well, I use them sometimes for that purpose, but as often as not I want to read a review after finishing a book or movie, being curious what other people think.

Movies

Rotten Tomatoes is a good place to get a sprinkling of opinions on a movie, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen them link to my favorite movie reviewer: The Filthy Critic. (Caution: he really is filthy.) In addition to being very funny, he is insightful and surprisingly sensitive despite his foul-mouthed language and crude facade. …