Darkest Fear by Harlan Coben (2013)

Another tight Harlan Coben thriller with fun characters, plot twists and wheels within wheels of an overly complex mystery.  The characters in the Myron Bolitar saga are becoming a little too cliche.  I did enjoy it when the narrator broke the fourth wall sometimes. 4/5 Stars.

Progression to the Mean

I can no longer find the reference, but I read somewhere that we regress to the mean performance of the five people with whom we spend the most time professionally.  There is a lot of sociological evidence that would lend some evidence to this theory but I can't find academic papers that have measured the hypothesis.

In my case, at my current "day job," I am getting much better every day as I try to keep up with the fantastic people with whom I work.  I am energized, engaged, passionate about the work, and having a great time with awesome people.

Governor by David Weber and Richard Fox (2021

Fun military space opera with great politics. The story is much like the books in the Honor Harrington universe, but the  celestial mechanics are better. 4/5 Stars.

Das Glasperlenspiel von Hermann Hesse (1943)

Die Sprache, der Takt und die künstlerische Darstellung der Geschichten im Buch sind wunderschön und sehr angenehm zu lesen. Allerdings sind die antifaschistischen Gefühle und der Sarkasmus veraltet und die Geschichten langweilig. Ich hatte für keinen der Charaktere Verständnis. 2/5 Sterne.

Libraries

Where I live in King County, Washington, USA, the libraries and all of their services are completely free.  The buildings provide great meeting rooms, free WiFi, computers, printing , research, and dozens of other community services, in addition to books, media, and online services.  

I am also a member of the Association of Berlin's public libraries aka Verbund der Öffentlichen Bibliotheken Berlins (VÖBB).  They charge $12 per year for their services. It's a great deal for access to all their online media.  But it's interesting how differently our cultures and societies perceive taxes and fairness.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas (2016)

For those of us who love Laurie King's Mary Russel books, here is another great author who embraces the Victorian era and the famous Sherlock Holmes tropes. Especially well-presented in this series is Holmes's near-psychic ability to divine information from subtle clues.  Although the feminism and outrage is a little bit exaggerated, the plot, characters, mystery, and story-telling are fantastic. I enjoyed it enormously. 4/5 Stars.

Mein Leben als Suchmaschine von Horst Evers

Witzig, geistreich und manchmal sehr lustig. Aber es gibt immer noch zu viele übertriebene peinliche Momente und Schadenfreude für mich. 3/5 Sterne.

The Cunning by Jason Anspach & Nick Cole (2023)

Better than the first book. Fun D&D adventure with less magic and gratuitous bronze age close quarters combat. 4/5 Stars.

Machine Vendetta by Alastair Reynolds (2024)

It's wonderful that the author has returned to his Revelation Space universe to write thriller cop stories again.  I enjoyed this one, despite the inconsistent magic system. 5/5 Stars.

Measure What Matters by John Doerr (2018)

When I read books written by successful venture capitalists or megalomaniacal leaders, I am uncomfortably reminded of Peter Thiel's power law concept in Zero to One, and the modern business reality that success means complete, ruthless domination, including out-competing all rivals.  John Doerr is a fiery-eyed "true believer" zealot of his OKR process.  The book is over the top with superlatives and examples. The book is a "hard sell" campaign to convince the reader to adhere to this goal setting methodology, and an homage to Doerr's mentors who forged the ideas. The methodology makes a lot of sense and includes nuances and details about balance, alignment, and communication.  I am using the methodology and hope it is more broadly adopted at work. 4/5 Stars.