Mr Nice is an autobiography by Howard Marks about his life. I don't usually copy & paste from the book's description, but it's hard to explain his background:

During the mid 1980s Howard Marks had 43 aliases, 89 phone lines, and owned 25 companies throughout the world. Whether bars, recording studios, of offshore banks, all were money laundering vehicles serving the core activity: dope dealing. Marks began to deal small amounts of hashish while doing a postgraduate philosophy course at Oxford, but soon he was moving much larger quantities. At the height of his career he was smuggling consignments of up to 50 tons from Pakistan and Thailand to America and Canada and had contact with organizations as diverse as MI6, the CIA, the IRA, and the Mafia.

Clearly, an interesting story. However, the writing was atrocious. It was choppy, with significant scene shifts mid-paragraph. It was also overly detailed. I had to carefully re-read parts at times because I missed what was happening. It is hard to know what is true and what is not...the crazier the stories, the more attractive this is to readers. Eventually, his story was turned into a movie.

First time in a long time that I did not finish reading a book. It was too slow and painful. I probably made it 80% of the way, but frankly I lost interest.

My rating for Mr Nice: 1 star out of 5. Get it here!

Range by David Epstein

My team at work started a small book club. Range was our first book. We had a month to read the first half of the book, which we discussed, and then we had another month to finish the book and discuss. I tend to read fast, so I read the week of our meetings. But because of the gap, I took notes to remember the chapters.

The subtitle does a good job describing the book: why generalists triumph in a specialized world. The author's examples are really good. Things like letting kids play different sports vs focusing on one sport. Trying many different instruments. Trying and failing vs being led toward the answer. Using analogies and fresh perspectives to solve problems. The point is breadth's benefits outweigh deep specialization.

This was one of the better business books I have read. I liked that the examples were long and specific and thought they flowed together nicely. I had a hard time seeing how this would conclude, but that was decent with commentary on how to think about resumes and applicants. The author's piece of advice was "don't feel behind". Personally, I liked one other quote he concluded with, which is a common quote except that the last part is often forgotten: "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but often times better than a master of one."

While I classify this as a business book, it applies to all aspects of life. Some might find parts of it heavy, but I would definitely recommend the book.

My rating for Range: 4 stars out of 5. Get it here!

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

 

American Dirt is really, really good. About as good as it gets for a fiction book. American Dirt is a fictional story of a Mexican woman and her son running for their lives and attempting to cross the boarder into the United States. She was a bookstore owner who had encounters with the local cartel leader, seeing his more personable side. Her husband, a journalist, writes a story about the local cartel leader that exposes much about him. Shortly after, the cartel kills her entire family. They go on the run.

The book is a page-turner. Very well written, with Spanish woven in. You are on the edge of your seat throughout, along for the journey and hoping they make it to the boarder. There were one or two parts at the end that I did not love, but overall it was a very good book.

The war on drugs and cartel violence has been going on for a long time. Almost to the point where most people are numb to the stories. Writing a personal story about one individual makes everything feel much more real. Sometimes, this can make a greater impact than statistics, pictures, or news articles.

The book is somewhat controversial in that it received a ton of positive reviews and praise when it was first released. This attention brought upon others to criticize things like the author's race, writing about other cultures, stereotypes, and the list goes on. Each person has their own opinion on all of that, but there is no doubt this is a well-written book and it brought significant attention to a sad issue that too many face.

On a personal note, this book was strongly recommended by multiple friends. I purchased the book as a gift to my wife, knowing she would like it but also fully knowing I would read, too. We decided to read it together, staying with a couple chapters of each other. It actually worked out pretty well.

My rating for American Dirt: 5 stars out of 5. Get it here!