From 0a48162b43e8944c386860000191d604bc18bca8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Julio Biason Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2020 12:43:02 -0300 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Book reviews: How To Survive a Horror Movie and Microservices AntiPatterns --- .../books/how-to-survive-a-horror-movie.md | 31 +++++++++++++++++++ ...microservices-antipatterns-and-pitfalls.md | 29 +++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 60 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/reviews/books/how-to-survive-a-horror-movie.md create mode 100644 content/reviews/books/microservices-antipatterns-and-pitfalls.md diff --git a/content/reviews/books/how-to-survive-a-horror-movie.md b/content/reviews/books/how-to-survive-a-horror-movie.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2eca01e --- /dev/null +++ b/content/reviews/books/how-to-survive-a-horror-movie.md @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ ++++ +title = "How To Survive A Horror Movie - Seth Grahame-Smith" +date = 2020-03-06 + +[taxonomies] +tags = ["books", "reviews", "movies", "horror", "seth grahame-smith"] ++++ + +[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/293217.How_to_Survive_a_Horror_Movie): +From ghosts, vampires, and zombies to serial killers, cannibalistic +hillbillies, and haunted Japanese videocassettes, How to Survive a Horror +Movie shows how to defeat every obstacle found in scary films. + + + +{{ stars(stars=2) }} + +Honestly, I'm not sure who this book is targeted at. + +At first, I thought it would examine all the clichés on horror movies that +made the hero survive everything till the end. But the narration style +sometimes puts you as just someone living in the same world, sometimes it puts +you as the protagonist, sometimes you can engineer your way around every +problem, sometimes you have to force the screenwriter to do something (so you +don't actually _do_ whatever you need to do, you force someone else to make +you do something), sometimes you force the "movie" to move faster without the +screenwriter support... It is a huge hodgepodge of ways, and no consistency +between them. + +To be fair, I'm not a fan of horror movies (the book came from a Humble Bundle +pack) so I may appear a bit hard on the author, but still... diff --git a/content/reviews/books/microservices-antipatterns-and-pitfalls.md b/content/reviews/books/microservices-antipatterns-and-pitfalls.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..86f2cd3 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/reviews/books/microservices-antipatterns-and-pitfalls.md @@ -0,0 +1,29 @@ ++++ +title = " Microservices AntiPatterns and Pitfalls - Mark Richards" +date = 2020-03-08 + +[taxonomies] +tags = ["books", "reviews", "microservices", "antipatterns", "pitfalls", "mark richards"] ++++ + +[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31291348-microservices-antipatterns-and-pitfalls): +Remember when service-oriented architecture (SOA) was all the rage? Companies +jumped in before fully understanding SOA’s advantages and disadvantages, and +struggled to make this complex architecture work. Today, we’re poised to +repeat this same experience with microservices—only this time we’re prepared. +With this concise ebook, author Mark Richards walks you through the ten most +common microservice anti-patterns and pitfalls, and provides solutions for +avoiding them. + + + +{{ stars(stars=4) }} + +Not a book per se, but a paper about the tendencies that lead to microservices +to fail. If this was a book, I think I'd give it less stars, but since it is +just a short paper, it feels alright -- for a book, longer content and how to +implement the corrects would be nicer. + +In the end, for people starting with microservices, it is a good pointer for +"do not do that"; for people working with microservices for awhile, it's quite +a "I did that already" checklist. From d8c1f66e53cf236b1e094e178b6b0dd5a43da904 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Julio Biason Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2020 12:46:34 -0300 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Book review: Geek Wisdom --- content/reviews/books/geek-wisdom.md | 54 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 54 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/reviews/books/geek-wisdom.md diff --git a/content/reviews/books/geek-wisdom.md b/content/reviews/books/geek-wisdom.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a965d95 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/reviews/books/geek-wisdom.md @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ ++++ +title = "Geek Wisdom: The Sacred Teachings of Nerd Culture - Stephen H. Segal, N.K. Jemisin, Eric San Juan, Genevieve Valentine, Zaki Hasan" +date = 2020-03-10 + +[taxonomies] +tags = ["books", "reviews", "fun", "stephen h segal", "n k jemisin", "eric san juan", "genevieve valentine", "zaki hasan"] ++++ + +[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10418415-geek-wisdom): +Computer nerds are our titans of industry; comic-book superheroes are our +Hollywood idols; the Internet is our night on the town. Clearly, geeks know +something about life in the 21st century that other folks don’t—something we +all can learn from. Geek Wisdom takes as gospel some 200 of the most powerful +and oft-cited quotes from movies (“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”), +television (“Now we know—and knowing is half the battle”), literature (“All +that is gold does not glitter”), games, science, the Internet, and more. Now +these beloved pearls of modern-day culture have been painstakingly interpreted +by a diverse team of hardcore nerds with their imaginations turned up to 11. +Yes, this collection of mini-essays is by, for, and about geeks—but it’s just +so surprisingly profound, the rest of us would have to be dorks not to read +it. So say we all. + + + +{{ stars(stars=1) }} + +Although it is getting common in my reviews, I have to say this again: I have +no idea what's the target of this book. + +Everything starts with a quote: A scientist, a meme, a movie quote, a game +character, take your "geek" pick". Then, it is followed by a commentary about +the quote. And, finally, some piece of trivia/explanation about the quote +itself. + +The content of the book, then, is the commentary about the quotes. + +And that's where my confusion comes. + +Some explanations seem targeted to other geeks: "You see, So-And-So says this, +so we geek should be careful about that". Some others seem targeted to +non-geeks: "Geeks love So-And-So, because they said that and geeks related to +it". So, it's a book to geeks or to non-geeks? + +No only that, but some explanations are really dense, like the author (one of +them) is trying to push a point in a short form and throwing jumping stones +really fast, to the point that when you reach the end of the paragraph, you +have no idea how it started. + +And some are borderline insane: "Transformers! Transform and roll out!" is +related to Martin Luther King "Change does not roll in on the wheels of +inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle." And with that all I can +think is "Really? Like, really really?!?" + +In the end, it is just a book about geeky quotes and a lot of filler.