I Read, Therefore I Blog

The Blurb On The Back:

”It may be poisoned with radiation, but this is my home … Even a bird loves its nest.”

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Svetlana Alexievich is a Nobel Prize winning writer who uses interviews and testimony to chart Russia’s emotional history by reference to critical events. Written in 1997 and revised in 2013, this intensely moving book (translated by Ana Gunin and Arch Tait) sees Alexievich return to her native Belarus to collect testimony from those affected by the Chernobyl disaster (both in the immediate and long-term aftermath) as they struggle to make sense of it.

The Blurb On The Back:

The Atlas Of Disease gives a unique perspective on how epidemics have spread throughout history, from the fourteenth-century plague that devastated Europe and the lethal outbreaks of cholera in the nineteenth century, right up to the AIDs epidemic of the 1980s and the catastrophic spread of zika in Brazil.

Interweaving new maps based on the latest available data with historical charts alongside intriguing, often unsettling, contemporary illustrations, this extraordinary book plots the course of some of the most virulent and deadly pandemics around the world. Discover how diseases have changed the course of history, stimulated advances in medicine and how mapping has played a key role in prevention and cure, shaping countless lives.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Sandra Hempel is a medical journalist whose illustrated book gives a potted history and description of 20 diseases that used to (and in some cases, still) ravage the world. It’s a weird mix of history, geography and science (some of which I knew from elsewhere) but there were nuggets of new information here and while the maps are a little haphazard and poorly designed, they do give a sense of the devastation caused by these diseases.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Handle M&A disputes with an insider’s skillset.

M&A Disputes provides a detailed look at the many components and nuances of M&A purchase price adjustment mechanisms and post-closing disputes. Although common, the negotiation and resolution of M&A disputes requires specialised knowledge and can be opaque to non-practitioners. This step-by-step guide takes you inside the world of M&A post-closing purchase price adjustments and disputes to provide an intimate look at how the process works.

This practitioner’s reference offers tools and guidance that can assist in preventing and resolving issues along the entire lifestyle of a transaction. It enables you to:

- gain a thorough understanding of the M&A dispute framework to guide you along the way
- Benefit fro situation-specific advice aimed at limiting the scope of disputes or preventing them altogether while fully preparing to win
- Understand the “dos” and “don’ts” of persuading an accounting arbitrator to achieve the best possible outcome.

Until the purchase price is final, you need M&A Disputes.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

A. Vincent Biemans and Gerald M. Hansen are managing directors of Berkeley Research Group and assist clients with M&A disputes. This is a US-centric guide that primarily focuses on carrying out accounting arbitrations on a net working capital adjustment basis and at times it’s a little dry and dense and gets repetitive but if you’re new to this area and have a finance background, then it’s a useful guide that provides a good overview of the key issues.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

If life in the Intelligence Service has taught John Bachelor anything, it’s to keep his head down. Especially now, when he’s living rent-free in a dead spook’s flat.

So he’s not delighted to be woken at dawn by a pair of Regent’s Park’s heavies, looking for a client he’s not seen in years.

Benny Manors could be anywhere, provided it serves alcohol. So John sets out on a reluctant trawl through the bars of the capital, all the while plagued by the age-old questions: will he end up sleeping in his car? How many bottles of gin can be afford at London prices?

And just how far will Regent’s Park go to prevent anyone rocking the Establishment’s boat.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The third of Mick Herron’s novella accompaniments to the JACKSON LAMB SERIES featuring the hapless milk men, John Bachelor, is a slickly written affair that blatantly alludes to the Jeffrey Epstein affair and its impact on the British royal family. There’s plenty of double dealing and hidden agendas and as ever, Bachelor has no clue of the bigger picture but it’s expensive for what it is and is probably for Jackson Lamb completists only.

The Blurb On The Back:

A strategic and operational guide to using 3D printing to drive value in the supply chain - featuring case studies and illustrated examples from across industries.

After many years as a tool for designers, 3D printing today promises to revolutionise supply chains. Cut through the hype and hyperbole, and it becomes clear that it offers unprecedented potential to redesign supply chain models, simplifying and shrinking them, enabling previously unimaginable designs to be produced where they are most needed. However, adopting it is a strategic endeavour, one that involves the consideration of several wider implications.

This book goes beyond touting the latest technological advances or listing the many wonderful things that 3D printing is being used to make. It teaches readers what is important about 3D printing, why they need to prepare for its emergence today, and how they can go about adopting it.

Supercharg3d: How 3D Printing Will Drive Your Supply Chain shows readers how to drive value in their supply chain by supercharging it - giving it more power - with 3D printing. Aimed at being a first reference for those in businesses who make strategic decisions on operations and supply chain matters, it takes a pragmatic position, balancing the opportunities that 3D printing presents with the reality of the limitations that it continues to have, so that readers can make the best decisions possible.

- Strategic guide that covers 3D printing and its implications in the supply chain
- Operational guidance and best practices for how and when 3D printing can be adopted
- Identification of 3D printing’s impacts on the individual SCOR supply chain elements
- Features new, transformative supply chain models that are enabled by 3D printing
- Includes case studies and illustrated examples from diverse industries including aerospace (Airbus), energy (Shell), consumer goods (Nike), medical (Align Technology), and transportation (Deutsche Bahn).

Supercharg3d: How 3D Printing Will Drive Your Supply Chain is the go-to book for operations and supply chain decision makers in manufacturing, engineering and technology companies looking to incorporate the technology into their business operations.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Len Pannett is a management engineer and operations implementation expert with over 25 years’ experience in supply chain management. This is a clearly written, easy-to-follow, thoughtful and even-handed look at 3D printing and the advantages and disadvantages that it offers for manufacturing businesses with Pannett using case studies and examples from a number of different industries to illustrate his points.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

This is Michael’s story.

Join him as he enters the world with tiny feather eyelashes. Travel from school to college, where he discovers his flock, and comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen. At university, take a seat in the audience and watch him find his wings as a drag artist, The Black Flamingo.

A bold story about discovering that only YOU get the privilege of choosing who you are. There is power in embracing your uniqueness. What’s your story?

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Dean Atta’s contemporary LGBTQ+ YA novel (sensitively illustrated by Anshika Khullar) is a sympathetic coming of age tale that’s beautifully told in verse and which is a moving reflection of the intersectionality issues of being bi-racial and gay in modern Britain and trying to find your own place and identity. It’s a beautifully written book that I found very touching and I can well understand why it’s on so many YA prize shortlists.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Go deeper, they said. Look closer.

Pleo Tanza is a survivor. Her father was broken by tragedy, her twin sister is dead - chewed up and spat out by the corruption and injustice of Chatoyance - but she’s going to make it, whatever it takes. She’s going to get off this rock.

But escape is for the rich or lucky. Pleo’s framed for the murder of a rival student - the daughter of one of the colony’s wealthy, squabbling clans - and goes on the run, setting off a chain of events that could destroy the fragile balance of the old colony forever …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Eeleen Lee’s debut SF thriller (the first in duology) successfully creates a future that feels very alien while also facing similar issues of unaccountable corporations, unchecked oligarchies and systemic corruption. However the thriller part didn’t work as there’s so much world building that the pacing falls away while the mystery is a little obvious but there’s a lot of interesting ideas here such that I’d definitely read the sequel.

LIQUID CRYSTAL NIGHTINGALE was released in the United Kingdom on 19th March 2020. Thanks to Abaddon Books for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

A century ago the idea of ‘the economy’ didn’t exist. Now economics is the supreme ideology of our time, with its own rules and language. The trouble is, most of us can’t speak it. This galvanising book shows us why this is damaging democracy, and what we can do about it.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Joe Earle, Cahal Moran and Zach Ward-Perkins were founding members of the Post-Crash Economics Society at Manchester University. This sobering book highlights how university economics courses almost exclusively focus on neoclassical economics and modelling, to the detriment of other branches, which means that when a crisis hits, economists are poorly placed to explain why or to realise the impact their policies really have on ordinary people.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, central banks created trillions of dollars of new money, and poured it into financial markets. ‘Quantitative Easing’ (QE) was supposed to prevent deflation and restore economic growth.

But the money didn’t go to ordinary people: it went to the rich, who didn’t need it. It went to big corporations and banks - the same banks whose reckless lending caused the crash. This led to a decade of stagnation, not recovery. QE failed.

In this book, Frances Coppola makes the case for a ‘people’s QE’, in which the money goes directly to ordinary people and small businesses. She argues that it is the fairest and most effective way of restoring crisis-hit economies and helping to solve the long-term challenges of ageing populations, automation and climate change.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Frances Coppola is a financial writer and blogger whose book takes the reader through the post 2008 financial crash quantitative easing (QE) programme and why it failed. Using Milton Friedman’s ‘helicopter drop’ proposal, she then sets out the arguments for QE aimed directly at the population. While I’m not convinced by the mechanics and the benefits seem overstated, it sets out some interesting arguments that I’d like to read more about.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

The old way of treating employees at work has failed. Only 30% of employees are engaged in their jobs and, in this fast-paced world, that’s just not enough.

The world’s most successful companies have been quietly doing things differently for nearly two decades. Over that time, they’ve generated stock market returns of twice the norm and the’ve had half the employee turnover of their peers. Their staff innovate more, deliver better customer service and beat the competition. These companies outperform and disrupt their markets.

They break the rules of traditional HR. They rebel against the status quo. Build It has found the rebels and the rulebreakers, and shares their best secrets for engaging their people.

A decade in the making, the Engagement Bridge is approved model for building an engaged company culture.

Developed from working with almost 2,000 organisations worldwide - big to small, public to private - the model is a lens that will help you examine the places in your business where engagement is made, or broken.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Glenn Elliott is a writer and founder of Reward Gateway (a company dedicated to improving employee engagement). Debra Corey is a HR director with 30 years of experience, including Gap and Honeywell. This book is a thought provoking, high level look at how companies can build and change their culture to improve employee engagement and productivity featuring plenty of real life case studies but be aware it’s light on potential negatives.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.