Review of "Teensville USA," edited by Lawrence Lariar

Review of

Teensville USA, edited by Lawrence Lariar

 First published in the late 1950’s, this book of cartoons about teenagers is very dated. If they were to read it, modern young people would find it largely incomprehensible. Other than the historically knowledgable, the only group that will understand the content are those now aged people that were in their teen years at that time.

 The theme of the cartoons is that there is a “generation gap,” where the parents and teens possess limited mutual understanding. Demonstrating that the latest iteration of the lack of mutual understanding between parents and their teen children is exactly that, an iteration, not a new phenomenon. For that reason, this book has historical and cultural relevance.

Review of Instaread Summary of "The Nest" by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

Review of

Instaread Summary of The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney 

 The main flaw of this summary is that the brief descriptions of the main characters occurs after the summary. There are many significant characters with very complex relationships and often nefarious behavior. Quite frankly, I got lost in the flow as I was reading through the summary, there were several times when I had to stop and execute a mental reset before I could continue. The plot summary is also very thorough, most readers will find themselves thoroughly plot-spoiled when they complete it.

 The main characters are the Plumb siblings, Gen X-ers living through the 9/11 and 2008 financial crises. Talented in several ways, yet horribly co-dependent and not above engaging in massive failures that wreck lives, including each others. I found the complexity piled on the interactions to be overwhelming, it appears to me that this is a novel where the author relies on the introduction of more complexity rather than making an attempt to develop solutions to what are complex personal problems. This is a feature that I nearly always find overwhelming so I avoid such books.

 If you like your novels complex with characters possessing major flaws that they cannot overcome, this is a book you will probably like. Otherwise, the constant churn may turn you off. 

This book was made available for free for review purposes. 

https://www.amazon.com/Summary-Nest-Cynthia-Sweeney-Analysis-ebook/dp/B01F7E7KPQ 

Review of Instaread Summary of "The Innovator’s Dilemma When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail" by Clayton M. Christensen

Review of

Instaread Summary of The Innovator’s Dilemma When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christensen 

 The introduction of dramatically new technologies has been a constant theme of human history, in many cases the new things led to the rapid expansion and dominance of one society over another. This is summed up very well in the bit of prose by Hilaire Belloc from the time when the Europeans were engaging in their policy of colonial conquest. “Whatever happens, we have got, The Maxim gun, and they have not.”

 Although the consequences are no longer wars of conquest, sudden changes in technology can lead to a death sentence for formerly vibrant and seemingly stable companies and the pace of this change has accelerated.

 The book was first published in 1997, yet remains just as relevant today and will no doubt still be so in another two decades. Clayton M. Christensen is a professor at Harvard Business School and uses a series of case studies to illustrate his points of change. The most important point is that customers can generally tell you what they want to change/improve in what they have now but are generally as clueless as you are about any dramatic changes that may be coming unseen over the hill.

 This is one of the best summaries that I have read in the Instaread line, it is concise and makes a series of solid points of awareness. While some product lines still remain fairly stable, many are on the verge of being new producted out of existence.

 Although it is clear from this summary that Christensen does not tell the reader much about how to meet your existential threats the book does one of the preconditions well. It gives you a very prominent sign that is dangerous to ignore, “Warning, land mines ahead!”

This book was made available for free for review purposes.

https://www.amazon.com/Summary-Innovators-Dilemma-Christensen-Analysis-ebook/dp/B01F2WTNOO