Recent books -- Made to Stick, Burroughs' Mars series, Bazell, McDevitt, and more

* “Made to Stick”:amazon by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Excellent how-to on how to effectively promulgate ideas. Reader’s Digest version of the book – tell stories, not bullet points. I don’t like many business books, they all seem to blur together, but this is an excellent book. * “Why Startups Fail: And How Yours Can Succeed”:amazon by Dave Feinleib. Solid lessons for startups from a guy who has been in many, and has invested in many. And is a friend and colleague from MSFT and other past endeavours. * “A Princess of Mars”:amazon by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Ok I admit I actually read this book almost 40 years ago, and I bet it hasn’t aged well, but I loved it and I in fact still have the whole paperback series and am hugely looking forward to the movie, tho I fear it could be a bomb. * “Firebird”:amazon by Jack McDevitt. One of his Alex Benedict novels, think Indiana Jones in space. Fun stuff, solid tale. A Nebula nominee, for good reason. * “Wild Thing”:amazon by Josh Bazell. Not as good as his first, “Beat the Reaper”:amazon but still a fun ride. * “Don’t Put Me In, Coach”:amazon by Mark Titus. I wanted to like this book – a loyal Buckeye – but it is sophomoric, misogynistic, and homophobic. When you claim not to be bigoted but use misogynistic and homophobic language over and over again as “humor”, well, you need to rethink.