Exjackly

Harry Turtledove scrambles history for us, taking situations from the first half of the 20th century and mixing them up geographically.

Imagine a dis-United States split into independent North and South with a breakaway state in the west. Great Britain attacking America, swirled alliances in Europe and warfare breaking out all over the place. Put the fascist governments in new locations with a different race as the scapegoat. Add fuel and ignite.

I think of it as World War II with an edge that we do not get in North America during History classes. The edge is that the worst fighting is happening at home – not overseas. It is civil war, world war, fascism, extremists, terrorism and sabotage rolled into one.

The first response when starting this book was antagonism – I felt like it was going to be cheap shots at sacred cows and not much character building or storyline. I am not too proud to admit I was wrong.

This book did develop some real characters. Perhaps overly flawed. Perhaps too real because of it. These characters became real enough to me that I understood their thought processes. I didn’t agree with them, but they were logical and understandable.

If all the characters were that real this book would earn a five star rating. Unfortunately, the cast of characters being developed was too big, and history was still being expounded upon towards the end of the book. Knowing that this is the first of a trilogy, it is easy to see how Mr. Turtledove is setting things up for the next books. I just wish it did not feel quite as formulaic.

Despite these complaints, I enjoyed this book and will probably look to the other two in the series if I ever run low on books to read.

4 stars.

Return Engagement (Settling Accounts, Book 1)

Harry Turtledove. Del Rey 2005, Paperback, 656 pages, $5.98

Drive to the East (Settling Accounts, Book 2)

Harry Turtledove. Del Rey 2006, Paperback, 640 pages, $9.00

The Grapple (Settling Accounts, Book 3)

Harry Turtledove. Del Rey 2007, Paperback, 640 pages, $9.00

Collin Moshman is a mathematician who turned away from post-graduate economics studies when he chose to pursue poker as a full-time professional. He has also written several books including this one.

This books looks at the easiest to join, most common online tournament: the Sit-N-Go (SNG). A Sit-N-Go tournament is a 9 or 10 player, single-table tournament that pays out to only the last 3 players. First place earns 50% of the prize pool. Second place earns 30% and third place earns 20%.

This guide takes a view that it is the result that is most important. It details a particular strategy that is intended to help a player increase the frequency with which they finish in the money. Along the way it delves (lightly) into the math behind the strategy, offers up personal insights, and includes specific examples to illuminate the points.

This book is split into three primary sections: Low Blind Play, Mid Blind Play and High Blind Play. Within these sections, different categories of hands are discussed, and the impact of the blinds on solid strategy at each level is covered. The fourth section discusses concepts for anybody considering playing sit-n-go tournaments for a living.

In a nutshell, Collin recommends a conservative start with aggression levels rising as the blinds increase and additional players are eliminated. The focus is on winning these small tournaments, as additional First Place finishes will more than offset a slight increase in out-of-the money finishes.

Overall, I am glad that I purchased this book. I enjoyed the read, and the concepts are not difficult to apply. Unfortunately, I did not get this book until after I had played in a number of sit-n-go tournaments and only managed to break-even. Since reading this book, I am much more successful.

I strongly recommend this book.

Sit ‘n Go Strategy

Collin Moshman. Two Plus Two Publishing LLC 2007, Paperback, 281 pages, $15.27

Laurell K Hamilton writes in a genre that I generally avid: romance. That was almost enough to stop me from reading this book. Ultimately, I chose to read this book for a couple of reasons: I am challenging myself to stretch my boundaries and this book promised to have some elements of the fantasy genre.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. For anybody who likes to have some story around the adult sections, this one delivers. I will admit that there were quite a few pages I rapidly skimmed – especially in the second half of the book. As I said – I generally avoid romance, and this book was not enough to change that.

Merry Gentry, a.k.a. Meredith NicEssus is the heroine of this tale. As a multi-racial (human, elven, brownie) sidthe princess, she does not fit into the Unseelie court she has been born into. When her enemies try to kill her, she flees and chooses to hide in a detective agency in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, as far as she runs, escape is only temporary.

This story begins a multi-volume storyline on what happens once she is found.

While I have only read the first book, I have linked to additional volumes in the series for anybody who desires more.

A Kiss of Shadows (Meredith Gentry, Book 1)

Laurell K. Hamilton. Ballantine Books 2002, Mass Market Paperback, 480 pages, $3.98

A Caress of Twilight (Meredith Gentry, Book 2)

Laurell K. Hamilton. Fawcett 2003, Mass Market Paperback, 368 pages, $2.35

Seduced by Moonlight (Meredith Gentry, Book 3)

Laurell K. Hamilton. Ballantine Books 2004, Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages, $4.38

A Stroke of Midnight (Meredith Gentry, Book 4)

Laurell K. Hamilton. Ballantine Books 2006, Mass Market Paperback, 416 pages, $4.33

Mistral’s Kiss (Meredith Gentry, Book 5)

Laurell K. Hamilton. Ballantine Books 2006, Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages, $3.98

A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry, Book 6)

Laurell K. Hamilton. Ballantine Books 2008, Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages, $4.19

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a novel by Phillip K. Dick. It also happens to be the story behind one of my favorite movies of all time: Bladerunner.

I actually saw the movie (several times) before reading the book, which is very unusual for me. At first, it was because I did not know that Bladerunner was based on a book. Later, it was because I did not want to be disappointed – either in the book or that the movie wasn’t as good as the book.

It was an unnecessary worry. There are differences, as there always are. Yet both are high quality, entertaining and worth the time.

The storyline focuses on a future earth that is contaminated. Science has continued to make progress – even to the point of being able to make short-lived humans called Replicants who live and help out off-world. This progression of science did not lead to a utopian existence. Deckard is a detective whose job is to find replicants who have come to earth and deal with them.

Throughout the book several themes are developed, all of which center around the questions of: What makes somebody human? and What does being human mean?

Bottom line, if you enjoy science fiction with depth, read and watch.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Philip K. Dick. Easton Press 2008, Leather Bound, 244 pages, $225.00

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Andy Hopkins (Editor). Oxford University Press 2007, Paperback, 128 pages, $7.86

Blade Runner – The Final Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Warner Home Video 2007, DVD, $9.78

Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector’s Edition) [Blu-ray]

Warner Brothers 2007, Blu-ray, $24.58

As indicated back in April 2009, I was contemplating making a change in the direction of this blog.

Like many – perhaps most – it was after writing for a little while that I began to question why I was trying to build a blog and what the goal for it is. All of the usual suspects came to mind: to contribute, to have my own say, to earn money, and even to encourage myself to learn more about different topics.

Unfortunately, none of these really struck a chord. The effort did not match up with the rewards, and even what I was contributing did not feel like it was going to have enough of an impact.

So exjackly.com stagnated. There was enough time invested to make it worth leaving it up, but no internal incentive to add more to it.

Until Now.

Lately, the number of books that I have read has increased.  I attribute most of it to the amount of travel that I do, and how much time it gives me to just sit back and power through more and more books.  It has been a nice perk.

Another contributing factor has been getting an Amazon Kindle.  The Kindle has allowed me to carry more books with me at a time, while being just as easy to read as a regular book (and much easier long term than trying to read e-books on a computer or phone).

Book Reviews

Since I have always loved to read, have read a lot of books, and am reading as many as I can now, I want to give back.  Specifically, the thought is to review the books I am reading (and as many of the ones that I have read in the past as I can recall).  By reviewing these books, hopefully I can help people find new books and authors.

Full Disclosure: At the end of these reviews there will be links to Amazon for these books.  Partially, this is to offer people an easy way to find these books for themselves.  The other part is in the hope to offset the cost of maintaining this web site.  While I hope this becomes self-sustaining, it is the secondary goal.  I would rather hear other people’s opinions in the comments – especially if they enjoy a book I recommend.

There comes a time for all of us that we have to admit that we do not know everything, and that other people have answers that we do not have. I think that time came for me about the time I was born. However, it has not stopped me.

I have spent time learning – some voluntarily, other not – about a wide variety of things. Computers, survival, volunteering, giving, even some personal finance and economics. A lot of the information has been gathered one tidbit at a time from a lot of different sources. My parents, my pastors, my siblings, friends, educators, off the internet and from books.

The ones that are the easiest to pass on to others are the books. What I would like to do here is to build up a list of people’s favorite personal finance related books. Feel free to comment and tell me what book and why.

I will return to this article to update it with my personal favorites as I pull them off my bookshelf.  I’ll also make a consolidated list of your favorites for easy reference.