Quench Your Own Thirst by Jim Koch

One of my co-workers mentioned this book. I like Sam Adams and always admired the little I knew about the company. This book seemed like a perfect opportunity to learn more about Jim Koch and Sam Adams.

The book is about how Jim Koch started Sam Adams. It was a time before craft beer was even a thing. He left a successful career to brew his own beer (well, his grandfather's recipe). The story goes through the highs and lows as the business grew to become what it is today (1% of all beer sales).

I loved this book. Like could not put it down. I love business start-up books and Jim Koch had so many cool stories. There is so much that I did not know and it made me like Sam Adams even more. He still does things the right way. It is a very light read too. Highly recommended to anyone.

My rating for Quench Your Own Thirst: 5 stars out of 5. Get it here!

Make Your Bed by Admiral William H. McRaven

A Father's Day special here. My dad asked for this book as a Father's Day gift. Not knowing anything about it, I figured I would read it before giving it to him next week. This task was made even easier once the book arrived from Amazon and it was the size of a card with pretty big font and only 100 pages. Also good for those who don't really like to read : )

Admiral William H. McRaven had a long career in the Navy. A few years ago, he gave the commencement speech at the University of Texas. It went so well that his speech was turned into this book. Make Your Bed, with the subtitle "little things that can change your life...and maybe the world", expands upon the stories and ten lessons shared during the commencement speech. The lessons are simple, but we often forget the most simple principles to live by.

The first point in the book is to make your bed. He explains the tradition of making your bed in the military, which I'm sure many people know. The message is not about actually making your bed, but accomplishing a small task first thing in the morning. Starting your day on the right foot. Taking pride in even the most simple tasks. And if you have a bad day, at least your return to a bed well made.

In my opinion, the "make your bed" lesson was the best one of the ten lessons in the book. The book ends with the script from his commencement speech. Truthfully, I liked that better than the expanded version in the book. That being said, the book is selling very well and I recognize this is a way to capitalized off of a successful viral moment (although I am sure he was paid handsomely as the speaker).

In summary, not the best book but also not the worst book. I do think it makes for a good Father's Day gift. I hope my dad enjoys it!

My rating for Make Your Bed: 2.5 stars out of 5. Get it here!

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Book #2 for the book club I am in. We wanted to read a classic, one that none of us had read yet. We settled on Catch-22. I feel like everyone has heard the phrase "catch-22", but when I tried to explain what the book is about to friends, I struggled.

Catch-22 is a satire military book. Set during World War II, Yossarian is a bombardier. He must fly a certain number of missions in order to complete his service. But every time he comes close to the required number of missions, the military increases the number of missions. Yossarian is trapped by catch-22: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

The beginning of the book was slow. I fell asleep numerous times trying to read it. It did end up picking up with some more interesting characters. Each chapter is about a character. There are A LOT of characters. And they don't necessarily interact. Each character provides an avenue to make satirical points about war. There is a lot of weird humor, double meanings, and sarcasm.

I have to admit I did not finish the book. In fact, no one in the book club did. I know this book is a classic, and truthfully it was not that bad. You have to read it slow and really pay attention. High schools and curriculums that force kids to read books like Catch-22 are the reason kids do not like to read. If your first few experiences reading "adult" books are like this, then I can understand why you would hate reading. It's sad, because there are so many good books out there. Imagine if high schoolers were required to read Harry Potter and write papers about him. Their interest in reading would skyrocket and things would be so different.

My rating for Catch-22: 1 star out of 5. Get it here!