Summary: Political hack turned apparatchik Jack Burden, narrates the rise and fall of “The Boss”, depression era Louisiana Governor and demagogue, Willie Stark. The roman à clef par excellence. My Take: “All the King’s Men” is quite simply the best dramatic exploration of the political experience in any medium. While it’s most famously known as […]
Entries Tagged as 'Under-Rated'
“All The King’s Men”, Robert Penn Warren
August 13th, 2010 · Comments Off on “All The King’s Men”, Robert Penn Warren · History, Literature, Politics, Under-Rated
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“Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge”, Cass Sunstein
August 9th, 2010 · Comments Off on “Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge”, Cass Sunstein · ICT, Under-Rated
Synopsis: University of Chicago Professor of Jurisprudence and polymath at large, Cass Sunstein reviews traditional models of aggregating and filtering information in the context of the impact of rapidly evolving technological change. If it was published on Twitter, I’d give it a re-tweet. My Take: The best summary of Cass Sunstien’s “Infotopia” comes from a […]
Tags:Cass Sunstien
New Arrival on the Bookshelf: Amazon Kindle
October 30th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Admin, ICT, Under-Rated
Another post, another excuse for sparsity of posting. Life remains professionally intense (though interesting) and Blogging the Bookshelf has had to take a backseat this month while I’ve focused on the day job. Thankfully while my blogging has suffered, my reading time has held up well (the one saving grace of interstate commuting) and I’ve […]
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“Foundation”, Isaac Asimov
July 25th, 2009 · Comments Off on “Foundation”, Isaac Asimov · ICT, Sci-Fi, Under-Rated
Synopsis: First novel (in order of release, not chronology) of the seven volume Foundation series tracing ‘psychohistorian’, Hari Seldon’s efforts to restore civilisation in the wake of the collapse of the Galactic Empire. My Take: I’m not usually a fan of Science Fiction (and I’m NEVER a fan of fantasy. Yes that includes The Lord […]
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“Lush Life”, Richard Price
July 10th, 2009 · Comments Off on “Lush Life”, Richard Price · Trash, Under-Rated
Synopsis: An aspiring writer and practising bartender is shot dead in a mugging gone wrong on the streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It’s written by a screen-writer for The Wire – what more do you need to know? My Take: I hadn’t even heard of Richard Price when a friend recommended “Lush Life” to […]
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"An Artist of the Floating World", Kazuo Ishiguro
June 11th, 2009 · Comments Off on "An Artist of the Floating World", Kazuo Ishiguro · Asian, English, Japanese, Literature, Under-Rated
Synopsis: An aging painter contemplates his life as an artist of the ‘floating world’ (‘Ukiyo‘) of Tokyo’s pleasure seeking districts and struggles to come to terms with his place in post-war Japan. Sometimes hindsight doesn’t come with 20/20 vision. My Take: As you may have guessed by now, I have a real peccadillo for Japanese […]
Tags:Kazuo Ishiguro