Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

This book was right on target when it talks about how we must take into account many different variables and not only IQ scores when talking about how someone was able to become so successful.

Malcolm Gladwell talks about how the environment has influence over us. For example, before Bill Gates even went to college he already has access to computers that were far more advanced and superior than the ones used by some university students because he was attending a very expensive school. By having been born into a wealthy family he was able to surround himself with things that others might not have access too.

While this is not to say that his success was handed over to him, it does cause one to think. I'd say this has been one of the more thought provoking books I've read lately.

The Family Bones by Kimberly Raiser

This is a good book that doesn't take too long to get into the scary stuff. Almost right from the beginning, when they go to look at the house they have inherited, weird things begin to happen. You have to follow the events very carefully, however, so you won't get lost.

There were a few places where I had to backtrack and reread a few pages to make sure I didn't miss anything and understood what was happening. This book has many twists that you might not see coming. It sort of reminded me of those "Nightmare on Elm Street" episodes that I would see as a kid.

All in all, I would say this is a great book to read. It would make for a great late night read when you're all alone.

Perl 5 for Dummies by Paul E. Hoffman

I've always enjoyed books from the "Dummies" series because they tend to be easy to understand and do not overwhelm you with all the technical details that you usually find in the hard to read manuals.

This book, however, had quite a few important pieces of information left out and some of the examples in the book did not work. That's not good if you're using this book to learn from. I ended up having to look up some of the information from the internet or other perl books that I have.

It's an ok book but be sure to have other books handy, like maybe a reference book to accompany this one and you'll be ok.

NO EXPERTS NEEDED: The Meaning of Life According to You!

In times like these, when everything seems so gloomy with the economy the way it is, this is a good book to read because it is encouraging, uplifting and filled with hope. Louise Lewis does some searching to find out what exactly is the meaning of life and ends up writing this book during a time when she’s unemployed. A time, it turns out, that ends up being a major turning point in her life.

Early in the book Lewis talks about being alone and single. She mentions a time when her friends forgot about her birthday and so she ended up celebrating alone. This, however, happened to be a blessing in disguise; if anything had happened differently, this book might not exist today.

I like the way she did her “research” and interviewed everyday common people, just like you and me, for this book and have them share their thoughts on what the meaning of life is. I think this made the whole book better because it has a sort of spontaneous feel to it as opposed to everything being all planned out.

She writes about a time when she went out driving, not knowing exactly where she was going but knew she had to go somewhere, and right at that moment she was guided by “Spirit” and was told where to go. Once there, she found the reason for being there and ended up getting a different perspective on life. She seems to be a very spiritual person who is often guided by “Spirit” in her daily activities

In this book you’ll get to see the many hopes, fears, and dreams of many people and may come to realize that they, not surprisingly, look something like yours.

This is the kind of book you get for your friends and family…I highly recommend it!

The Almost Black Phoneman

Have you ever wanted to know what it's like to work for "ma-bell" or what used to be "ma-bell" a long time ago? This book takes you into the life of a telephone repair man and appears to be written in an easy to read conversational style.

The author talks about his many "visits" and horror stories of how he spent his days working the phone lines. It's a very funny and entertaining read. It's also not too many pages so you might be able to finish in one or two sittings.

Unix: Your visual blueprint to the universe of Unix

This is a good book to learn Unix. I tend to be a visual learner and this book has plenty of sceenshots so you could follow along on your workstation. There are some downsides however.

Some of the commands will work on different versions of Unix or "Unix-Like" operating systems such as the many Linux distributions, but it's meant mainly to be followed along by people with Solaris installed. All the screenshots are from the CDE gui.

I don't mind that most, if not all, of the screenshots were from the Solaris operating system but I think the book would've been more effective and been able to reach a larger audience if the book would've focused on the three major operating systems (Solaris, FreeBSD and Linux) and just note the slight differences in the commands where applicable.

This book has a lot of information for the beginner to get up and running with Unix but it's geared towards the novice who has no experience. It would be nice to have one of these visual books that go into more advanced issues such as setting up servers and getting Unix play nice with Microsoft Windows.

The Exchange by Inga C. Ellzey

I enjoyed reading this novel because the author uses very descriptive language that allows you to develop a lot of images in your mind. It seemed like she really spent a lot of time building up the characters and that payed off for her. Randy was an interesting character and I think it was a good idea to include her in the novel. It's a good read that would probably also make a good movie. Just a thought.