[Book] Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Book cover Originally a play, then released in book form as Peter and Wendy, this book is the basis of Disney's cartoon movie, Peter Pan.  The movie is surprisingly faithful to the book with the exception that Disney's version doesn't portray deaths that the book does. Problematic doesn't begin to describe this experience.  Like a lot of classic literature, defenders will point out that this is a product of its time....

7 Aug 2019 · 2 min · Gary Allen Vollink

[Book] Every Tool's A Hammer by Adam Savage

Book Cover Subtitled, Life is What You Make It, this is a book about making things.  It has many, many other components though.  It is partly a memoir of the author's career.  It is partly a book about management, especially the end of Chapter 4 which covers delegation and the importance of communication.  It is also very instructional, in that it prescriptively lays out a number of best practices for making, along with illustrative stories of why these practices are so important....

31 Jul 2019 · 2 min · Gary Allen Vollink

[Book] Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray

Book cover Set before the first prequel movie, this book follows Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, and his Jedi Apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, on a diplomatic mission set forth by the Jedi council.  They are sent to a planet, Pijal, that we haven't seen before, which really is a great way to see the author's creativity. We are presented with a wide array of new characters on this new world, like the Jedi Rael Averross, who has been the regent of Pijal for the last 8 years, and the escaped slave Rahara Wick....

24 Jul 2019 · 2 min · Gary Allen Vollink

[Book] Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Book Cover Every once in a while, I try to get in a review of a classic.  Something that some of my readers are likely to have read themselves.  I do this, mostly, to help readers calibrate my taste...  That is, it seems likely enough that some readers are likely to disagree with everything I like, and might find it compelling to read a book that I really didn't like....

17 Jul 2019 · 2 min · Gary Allen Vollink