I Read, Therefore I Blog

The Blurb On The Back:

Rhiannon Lewis might seem like the average girl next door, but she’s got a killer secret.

Although her childhood was haunted by a famous crime, Rhiannon’s celebrity has dwindled. By day her job at a newspaper is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friend’s wedding plans whilst secretly making a list.

A kill list.

From the man at the supermarket who mishandles her apples, to the people who have got it coming, Rhiannon’s ready to get her revenge.

Because the girl everyone overlooks might be able to get away with murder …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

C J Skuse’s black comedy thriller (the first in a trilogy) is a shockingly entertaining and sweary read with Skuse making you root for the damaged and homicidal Rhiannon while at the same time being horrified by some of her actions. I did find some of the support Rhiannon gets a little difficult to believe and there were a couple of moments where the pace was slow but it’s an entertaining read with a great cliff hanger and I’ll be reading on.

The Blurb On The Back:

Shocks, from natural disasters to military catastrophes, have long been exploited by the state to impose privatisation, cuts and rampant free markets. This book argues that the left can use such moments of chaos to achieve emancipation.

Graham Jones illustrates how everyone can help to exploit these shocks and bring about a new world of compassion and care. He examines how combining mutually reinforcing strategies of ‘smashing, building, healing and taming’ can become the basis of a unified left. His vivid personal experience underpins a compelling, practical vision for activism, from the scale of the individual body to the global social movement.

This bold book is a toolkit for revolution for activists and radical millennials everywhere.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Graham Jones is a social movement activist with experience in grassroots campaigns including Radical Think Tank and Radical Housing Network and in this so-so book aimed at helping those on the hard left to mobilise and build support he offers a left-wing response to Naomi Klein’s THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, enabling the left to benefit from chaos by offering new solutions and so to take power with an emphasis on smashing, building, healing and taming.

THE SHOCK DOCTRINE OF THE LEFT was released in the United Kingdom on 27th July 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

ALL ABOARD THE TRAIN TO PARIS!

It’s 1911, and the young detectives of Taylor & Rose are turning their talents to espionage.

On a case for the mysterious Secret Service Bureau, the daring Miss Sophie Taylor and Miss Lillian Rose must leave London for the boulevards and grand hotels of Paris.

But danger lurks beneath the bright lights of the city – and intrigue and murder lie in store. As aeroplanes soar in the skies overhead, our heroines will need to put all their spy skills to the test to face the peril that awaits them …

Join Sophie and Lil on their first secret agent adventure!

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Katherine Woodfine’s latest historical adventure for children aged 9+ continues the SINCLAIR MYSTERIES SERIES, combining mystery and espionage to fast-paced effect while featuring evocative illustrations by Karl James Mountford. Because Sophie and Lil are older now, Woodfine introduces the younger characters of Anna and Alex to keep the target audience interested while making full and clever use of the intrigue and paranoia of the period.

TAYLOR & ROSE SECRET AGENTS: PERIL IN PARIS was released in the United Kingdom on 9th August 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanies by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid – a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot”. Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighbouring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Martha Wells’s science fiction thriller novella (the first in a series and the winner of the 2018 Hugo for Best Novella) is a tightly written and entertaining affair that neatly sets up the Murderbot’s world and backstory although I thought that the ending was a little rushed, the side characters a little thin and the reveal disappointing although I would definitely read the sequel.

The Blurb On The Back:

The Real Politics Of The Horn Of Africa delves into the business of politics in the turbulent, war-torn countries of north-east Africa. It is a contemporary history of how politicians, generals and insurgents bargain over money and power, and use violence to achieve their goals.

Drawing on a thirty-year career in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, including experience as a participant in high-level peace talks, Alex de Waal provides a unique and compelling account of how these countries’ leaders run their governments, conduct their business, fight their wars and, occasionally, make peace. De Waal shows how leaders operate on a business model, securing funds for their ‘political budgets’, which they use to rent the provisional allegiances of army officers, militia commanders, tribal chiefs and party officials at the going rate. This political marketplace is eroding the institutions of government and reversing state building – and it is fuelled by oil exports, aid funds and western military assistance for counter-terrorism and peacekeeping.

The Real Politics Of The Horn Of Africa is a sharp and disturbing book with profound implications for international relations, development and peacemaking in the Horn of Africa and beyond.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Alex de Waal is Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and a Research Professor at Tufts University and in this thought-provoking but depressing book, he analyses the political factors at play in the countries comprising the Horn of Africa through the prism of a rentier political marketplace where loyalties are bought and sold in a high-stakes game that prevents genuine state-building and undermines democratic convention.

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

The Blurb On The Back:

Outstanding quality control and continuous improvement shouldn’t be complicated and burdensome. Now, you can quickly understand and practice the next-level solution to operations management with Lean Six Sigma For Leaders.

Written by industry influencers with a long, brilliant record of producing high-performing teams, this practical manual opens up the world of Lean Six Sigma in a way senior management can immediately use to create the optimal environment for improving operations every day.

A diverse collection of illuminating case studies reveal how organisations in several industries succeeded or failed using the Lean Six Sigma approach. First-hand insights from the managers leading the initiative offer valuable advise on what they learned and might do differently next time.

Start your new path to ever-increasing levels of excellence with Lean Six Sigma For Leaders.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Martin Brenig-Jones is Managing Director of Catalyst Consulting (a consulting and training company) where Jo Dowdall is also a consultant and in this thought-provoking and practical book they set out how Lean Six Sigma problem-solving can be applied by leaders to identify and then rectify problems within their organisations, although the description and application of the methodology is more valuable than the repetitive case studies at the end.

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

The Blurb On The Back:

Walmart, Coca-Cola, BP, Toyota. The world economy runs on the profits of transnational corporations. Politicians need their backing. Non-profit organizations rely on their philanthropy. People look to their brands for meaning. And their power continues to rise.

Can these companies, as so many are now hoping, provide the solutions to end the mounting global environmental crisis? Absolutely, the CEOs of big business are telling us: the commitment to corporate social responsibility will ensure it happens voluntarily.

Peter Dauvergne challenges this claim, arguing instead that corporations are still doing far more to destroy than protect our planet. Trusting big business to lead sustainability is, he cautions, unwise – perhaps even catastrophic. Planetary sustainability will require reining in the power of big business, starting now.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Peter Dauvergne is Professor of International Relations at the University of British Columbia and in this caustic, thought-provoking book he argues that while big business sustainability efforts help minimise the destruction of the environment, they play second fiddle to the need to generate profit and therefore governmental and international control is required to curb their activities and reduce their damaging impact on the environment.

WILL BIG BUSINESS DESTROY OUR PLANET? was released in the United Kingdom on 6th April 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Modern societies set limits, on everything from how fast motorists can drive to how much waste factory owners can dump in our rivers. But incomes in our deeply unequal world have no limits. Could capping top incomes tackle rising inequality more effectively than conventional approaches?

In this engaging book, leading analyst Sam Pizzigati details how egalitarians worldwide are demonstrating that a “maximum wage” could be both economically viable and politically practical. He shows how, building on local initiatives, governments could use their tax systems to enforce fair income ratios across the board.

The ultimate goal? That ought to be, Pizzigati argues, a world without a super rich. He explains why we need to create that world – and how we could speed its creation.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Sam Pizzigati is an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC and in this fascinating book he examines whether a maximum wage would help to reduce inequality within society, what a maximum wage would entail and how it could be implemented. I wasn’t convinced that his ideas would gain political momentum to become law but there’s plenty of food for thought here if you’re interested in the topic.

THE CASE FOR A MAXIMUM WAGE was released in the United Kingdom on 4th May 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

1947

Governess Alice Miller loves Winterbourne the moment she sees it towering over the wild Cornish cliffs. The house promises refuge from her past – and her charges, motherless twins Constance and Edmund, are angelic.

2018

Adopted at birth, Rachel’s roots are a mystery. So, when a letter brings news of the death of an unknown relative, Rachel travels to Cornwall, vowing to uncover her family’s secrets.

With each new arrival, something in Winterbourne stirs. It’s hiding in the paintings. It’s sitting on the stairs. It’s waiting in a mirror, behind a locked door …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Rebecca James’s gothic horror novel has some tense scenes and nicely nods at THE TURNING OF THE SCREW but while I enjoyed the 1947 storyline with Alice’s increasingly fragile mental state, the 2018 love triangle was a little clumsy, the central curse storyline never really convinced me and there were too many unanswered questions about the twins while the twist ending didn’t ring true given that Rachel knew what the curse was attached to.

THE WOMAN IN THE MIRROR was released in the United Kingdom on 14th June 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

In the wake of the terrible shock of 9/11, the CIA scrambled to work out how to destroy Bin Laden and his associated. The CIA had long familiarity with Afghanistan and had worked closely with the Taliban to defeat the Soviet Union there. Superficially the invasion was quick and efficient, but Bin Laden’s successful escape, together with that of much of the Taliban leadership, and a catastrophic failure to define the limits of NATO’s mission in a tough, impoverished country the size of Texas, created a quagmire, which has now lasted many years.

At the heart of the problem lay ‘Directorate S’, a highly secretive arm of the Pakistan state, which had been covertly arming and training the Taliban for years as part of a wider competition for global influence, and which assumed that the USA and its allies would soon be leaving.

This remarkable new book tells a powerful, bitter story of just how badly foreign policy decisions can go wrong.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Steve Coll is a staff writer on The New Yorker who has previously written about Al Qaeda and the CIA’s activities in Afghanistan and in this insightful, gripping and horrifying read (a companion book to the earlier GHOST WARS), he aims to give a history of the relationship between the CIA, ISI and Afghan intelligence agencies and their respective governmental foreign policy and how their collective failures led to the rise of jihadi terrorism.

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