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Hi everybody! It’s me, Lightning!

My owner’s son has this book for his AP U.S. History class. You should read it! The title — Don’t Know Much About History — makes you think of the famous song by Sam Cooke, so right away you want to know more about it!

History is fascinating! For example, did you know that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor had ELEVEN pugs?! The Duke used to be the King of England but he had to “adbdicate” (that means quit) so he’d have enough time to walk all of his dogs.

I hope that fact is in the book!

— Lightning

Gayest. Crime Story. Ever.

Full disclosure: I got a free advance copy of this book because I know the author, G.L. Hoffman.

The books I’ve read on business and career advice fall into three main categories:

1. Academic theory
2. (Quoting Dogbert) A bunch of obvious advice packaged with quotes from famous dead people
3. A person who’s actually done something talks about what worked for them and what didn’t.

Dig Your Job is in Category 3, like every other book I can think of to recommend to people.

It’s a high-density book. Hoffman has done startups for 25 years and shares hundreds of ideas and observations about the workplace in blog-sized chunks.

The style is conversational, easy to read — like having a career mentor you can consult whenever you want to.

Hoffman is currently running excerpts from the book on his blog, so you can click over there for a free preview.

Highly recommended!

Unreadable . . . unbelievably bad. Ironically, for a book about innovation, the concepts are trite and the prose consists of one lazy cliche after another.

Watch — I’m going to open the book to a random page and list the cliches: “secret sauce,” “blow the doors off,” “boil the ocean,” “where the action is,” “ivory tower,” “marching instructions.”

The book is an insult to the intelligence of anyone who might conceivably want to read it.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter C.P.A.

And I know a father who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he’d done
He came a long way just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and he headed home again

— Paul Simon, “Slip Sliding Away”

Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories.

— John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

You might get the idea from reading this book that being rich is synonymous with being happy. I’ve never seen any indication that that’s true.

Continue reading HW’s Book Reviews