Q4 2019 Reading Review

On The Clock: Emily Guendelsberger travels into the world of wage labor after being laid off from her job writing for a local Philadelphia paper. The story takes place across three different cities and three jobs, where Guendelsberger works for Amazon in Louisville in one of their fulfillment centers (the most haunting), for Convergys Call Center in North Carolina (the most spirit crushing) and for McDonald's in San Francisco (the saddest). Guendelsberger does a fantastic job explaining what makes each job so hard physically, mentally and financially and does it in a way that shows the reader both humor and heartache inside the trenches of daily working life. A sober read, especially for anyone that hasn't done hourly work in their lives. The book calls into question what makes life worth living and how the work we do, and how we are treated when we do it, is a critical component to that equation.

Talking To Strangers: I believe Malcolm Gladwell always intended this to be an audio book and a set of podcast interviews. Though interesting, when reading the book chapter by chapter, it comes across as a bag of disassembled parts that never get assembled into a more cohesive argument. The central narrative is that we're all really bad at distinguishing liars, poor at getting at the true intention of others and in most instances, too easily deceived. He wanders through a series of stories about Hitler, to stats on the suicide rate in England and Sylvia Plath, to the story of Texas motorist Sandra Bland who eventually takes her own life in a holding cell after a botched police car stop. At the end I just came away confused really. I guess I missed the point on this one but honestly - it was one of his weakest efforts.

Venture Deals: A great book for anyone looking to understand deal structure in VC. It should be a must read for any entrepreneur who is dealing with or contemplating dealing with term sheets.

The Perfect Horse: A winner of the PEN Award for Non-fiction - this was probably my favorite story of the quarter. It is the true story of the last great US Army Cavalrymen of World War II, Colonel Hank Reed and how he and his small crew of war weary men run a clandestine mission behind enemy lines to save a group of priceless Austrian Lippizanner horses from the Nazi war machine. The story includes an incredible tapestry of characters from Alois Podhajsky, director of the famed Spanish Riding School of Vienna, a former Olympic medalist who is forced to flee the bomb-ravaged Austrian capital with his entire stable of priceless horses; Gustav Rau, Hitler's chief of horse breeding, a proponent of eugenics who dreams of genetically engineering the perfect warhorse for Germany and Hank Reed who, with General Patton's blessing, takes his Calvary division code named "Thoroughbred" into a life in death moment to save a group of rare animals from certain slaughter. It is the first and only time the complete story has been told since the end of the war.

Blue Ribbon 2019 CBB: The bible of college basketball. If you're a fan it's a must read. Every single year.

Lithium: A story about a naturally occurring chemical element which happens to also singularly help with bio-polar disorder in humans. The book details the life and times of John Cade who is the unlikely scientific hero to discover the benefits of Lithium as a treatment. The book then details the long and unceasing assault on the efficacy of the treatment by drug companies that couldn't patent it, couldn't profit from it and demonized it instead. Fun fact from the read - lithium occurs in most natural springs (though at very low doses) and may attribute for happier people and lower suicide rates for those that have lived near these springs and consumed the waters over generations. Another reason to like Saratoga NY - if you really needed one.

Cult of the Dead Cow: A book on the oldest and most famous computer hacking group of all time. The story takes you through the individual stories of the founding members, the expansion of the group over time and all the derivative twists and turns along the way.

Who is Michael Ovitz?: The most feared and revered agent in the history of Hollywood and the story of how he came to be king. From a nobody kid growing up in "The Valley" to the leader of CAA, the most vertically integrated agency in entertainment. Ovitz has some incredible stories of working with the BIGGEST stars in Hollywood (The Bill Murray stories are the best of course) and he also has some incredibly insightful comments on what made him tick as a business man and what made the famous people around him tick too. A great behind the scenes look at Hollywood and the business of Hollywood through the lens of one of the great lion tamers of our time. The story is summed up nicely from this line in the book: When someone asked Robert De Niro, “Why don't you leave Ovitz? He's such a tough asshole,” De Niro replied, “Yeah, but he's my tough asshole.”

Steve McCurry: Animals: If you have noticed the photographs that have dotted this final book review of the year - you will see the life's work of Steve McCurry. Every so often I find a book that is primarily photography or heavily photographic in nature and spend the good money to buy it, hold it in my hands and really appreciate the images. This is a fantastic book of photos and it shows the connection of man and animal in some of the most powerful visual ways I have ever seen. If you are looking for a last minute holiday gift for someone in your life that loves animals and appreciates photography -- my recommendation of this book is my gift to you.

I hope you have a happy, safe and kind holiday season - take care out there.

Dzik