This is a Story Worth Dying For

The Bookshop Guru

Book Review: Worth Dying For by Lee Child

This is the first book I have read by Lee Child. I came upon it by chance. I was on the way out of the bookshop when I saw this book. So I started to read a few chapters and ended up buying the book. I like the way Lee Child writes. And the storyline is good. I hate the way some writers think they are clever by over use of metaphor and simile. I hate what I call descriptive diarrhea which is what some writers marinate in. Lee Child writes in a way that lets you read fast without losing the plot. You do not have to read a long list of adjectives in his book.

The main character is Jack Reacher who is what I call a superhero, but not in the sense of someone with super human abilities, no, he is an all-round good guy with courage. And he has the skills as an ex-army cop to tackle the bad guys. Whatever comes his way, he will find a way to put things right.

‘Worth Dying For’ is a story about a missing child that disappeared some 25 years before Reacher hears about it. Reacher cannot let go. And why should he. He is the good guy. Someone you want and trust to dig deep and find out what happened to the missing child. You want the bad guys found and dealt with.

The location of the story is in the heart of rural Nebraska, America. It is a flat and dusty landscape of fields where corn and alfalfa are grown. You can drive for miles without seeing a living soul. It can be a harsh environment. And Reacher soon finds out what that means. Reacher finds the locals living under the spell and fear of a local redneck family, the Duncan’s.

The red-faced, pot belly Duncan’s are a family that have contrived and ruled the county using brute force with a small army of cornhuskers and they must find and stop Reacher snooping around. An irritation they must bring down before he finds out the truth.

The Duncan’s are waiting for a mysterious shipment and they want Reacher down and buried before it arrives. But Reacher is smarter and tougher than they can imagine. He never gives up. He keeps going. Every stone is turned. Battered and bruised he never gives up. He just keeps going. Reacher is the all-action hero. Reacher has no time for court room justice only the battlefield where you shoot first and maybe ask questions later if you can be bothered. Jack Reacher, I like.

The book also has a bonus chapter of Lee Child’s latest story due to be published 29^th of September 2011. I have started reading another of Lee Child’s books ‘Gone Tomorrow’ which I will review shortly. Jack Reacher is the all-action hero. He never gives up. He keeps going. He is tough and just. He is commando style. I recommend the book.

P.S. Sponsored by Madbrokes a comedian on antidepressants.

Why didn’t I think of that?

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In my latest book “It’s Never Too Late” read how dreams do come true, but be careful what you wish for. Understand the secret of greed and you will attain one of the secrets of prosperity. The book will also take you on a journey and explores love, money, luck, and much more.

Click Here

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P.S Tomorrow Never Comes

Hey, Chuck. Did you bring any spending money? Viva la vida loca.

Conducting Survey into Precognitive Choices

Which would you prefer half-price digital or paperback?

Never late, but sorry.

 Read my latest book "It's Never Too Late" by Anthony Fox,  published by Chipmunka Publishing

Stonehenge the Enigma

The Bookshop Guru

Today, people will travel to Stonehenge to watch the sunrise over the gigantic stones of Stonehenge. The autumn equinox on the 23^rd September marks the day when the day and night are equal length at all points on earth except the poles, after that the nights will get longer and the days shorter. The fascination with Stonehenge started for me when as a young boy my grandmother took me to see the historic site. Back then being able to walk around and touch the stones and sense the magic and appreciate the scale of the stones increased my thirst to understand the reasons why Stonehenge was built. We are still none the wiser. We do not know what culture and why Stonehenge was built? We can make assumptions and that is about it.

Stonehenge is a mystical place of mystery and it is where the solstices are celebrated. The giant stone circle has always fascinated me. I remember as a boy walking through and under the gigantic lintel which bridge two giant trilithon uprights which symbolise the image of megalithic Stonehenge. And thinking: Why was Stonehenge built? Questions such as ‘why are we here’ and ‘who are we,’ these thoughts resounded in my mind at the time and today is much the same.

Authors such as Erich Von Daniken and his book ‘the chariots of the gods’ have all inspired my interest in science fiction and history. As a young boy I was inspired by the words and voice of Carl Sagan who would talk about the cosmos and its wonders. I guess, I have always been a dreamer. A dreamer who thinks too much, but then who doesn’t like to dream. For in those dreams, we can dream the impossible without the burden of logic. A blurred logic is what sometimes creates new science. For me science fiction and the mystery surrounding the possibility of extraterrestrial life and all these other questions are still today, facets of my thinking.

Stonehenge © (pen and ink drawing by Anthony Fox)
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If time travel was possible then going back to see the culture that created Stonehenge and finding out the reasons why would be a trip I would like to make. I would not be surprised if Stonehenge had more meaning to those who built it then we imagine today. The 2012 prophecy, the Mayan calendar and other mysteries from the past symbolise how time has a way of clouding the future and the past.  

Are you listening,  what are you dreaming?

In my latest book “It’s Never Too Late” read how dreams do come true, but be careful what you wish for. Understand the secret of greed and you will attain one of the secrets of prosperity. The book will also take you on a journey and explores love, money, luck, and much more.

Click Here

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P.S. Tomorrow Never Comes

Hey, Chuck. Did you bring any spending money? Viva la vida loca.

Conducting Survey into Precognitive Choices

Which would you prefer half-price digital or paperback?

Never late, but sorry.

 Read my latest book "It's Never Too Late" by Anthony Fox,  published by Chipmunka Publishing

Success is not Dependent on Failure

The Bookshop Guru

A book review of Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure by Tim Harford

I started reading this book because I was intrigued by the title and the subject matter. The first two chapters were good and well written, but after that I felt the book lost touch with the initial premise. This is because not all success starts with failure. The basic premise of the book is that complex systems of organisations are too centralised and use inflexible doctrine to run their organisations. These organisations have little or no experimentation or trial and error policies, and so they lack the adaptability needed for today’s fast changing economic landscape to succeed in the long run.

Many examples are used to illustrate the point Harford is trying to make. But that is easy to do – find examples where success came from failure. But that doesn’t prove the point Harford is making, that is just coincidence and to some extent luck. Consider the example of Google versus Microsoft. Harford tells us that Google became a dominant company because of how they are willing to experiment and allow their employees the freedom to develop new ideas. Nothing new here many companies including Microsoft develop and test new products all the time and will have failures. In fact even Harford acknowledges that Google’s success with tailored search engine adverts was by chance and not by design. Harford says Google’s engineers did not set out to design optimised advertising they happened upon it by chance.

History tells us that many great innovations have come from luck and chance. So without luck and chance on your side even with experimentation and failure is no guarantee for success. So it’s a false premise to say success always starts with failure.

Another example touted was how the top-down approach used by previous leaders in the wake of the Iraq war that initially failed led to success because a few inspired commanders responded to ground conditions and adapted their policy to suit. I am not sure how this example shows that success always starts with failure. In my opinion its human nature to under estimate and be over optimistic on complex events and that success is subjective and only time will tell if this true.

Harford also uses the banking crisis of 2007/8 to tell his readers why success comes from failure. I personally do not see the correlation between bank failure and success. Everyone knows that the crisis was largely caused by greed and ignorance and not because the banks failed to adapt or were too centralised as organisations. In fact the banks failed and the only reason why some of them exist today is because taxpayer’s money bailed them out – that is not a success.

Overall an entertaining read but I do not agree with the evidence Harford presented that success always starts with failure.

Are you listening,  what are you dreaming?

As Jesus said, “belief is everything.”

In my latest book “It’s Never Too Late” read how dreams do come true, but be careful what you wish for. Understand the secret of greed and you will attain one of the secrets of prosperity. The book will also take you on a journey and explores love, money, luck, and much more.

Click Here

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P.S. Tomorrow Never Comes

Hey, Chuck. Did you bring any spending money? Viva la vida loca.

Conducting Survey into Precognitive Choices

Which would you prefer half-price digital or paperback?

Never late, but sorry.

 Read my latest book "It's Never Too Late" by Anthony Fox,  published by Chipmunka Publishing

How to Write a Bestseller?

The Bookshop Guru

This should interest those of you who are budding writers or wannabe’s. I read this book called ‘How to write a blockbuster’ about a year ago now, in part preparation for my task of writing a book. The book is from the ‘teach yourself range’ by Helen Corner & Lee Weatherly, and contains all the semantics of crafting a story plus all the ins and outs of getting published. In fact, I contacted one of the agents mentioned in the book. I ended up re-reading much of the book several times while writing my first two books. I found the information very useful.

Although the first book I wrote was rejected it was not a novel, but a memoir about me. Looking back now, I can see why it was rejected. The book I had written ended up being perhaps parts of several books. I wanted to write about bipolar and ended up with several bits about different topics. But, no harm done, I now have the beginnings of some new books and some experience.  It was a learning curve. Luckily, I only sent the book to two agents, one of which was kind enough to reply.

The whole process of finding an agent or publisher seemed to involve a lengthy and frustrating time. Happily, my second book was accepted for publication and is now available. In this book I chose to write about my experience at university while studying for an MSc in artificial intelligence. The book is a study guide in how to pass a degree with confidence. I wanted to share my experience with other students because I was well aware of the stress and pressure of gaining a university degree.  Hopefully the book will be a bestseller.

My experience as a budding writer – the rejection, finding agents, and publishers is limited. But, I would like to think I can write a book in the same genre and quality as Malcolm Gladwell, Tim Harford, Dan Gardner and others. To this aim I have already started on what will be a likely 2-3 year project, maybe longer, without the resources such as research help. At the same time I am trying to write a novel. It appears multitasking is a habit of mine, a common trait and one I associate with bipolar. I have a habit of going off in several directions or trying to do too much at once. At least I am aware of it and can make allowances.

 Sunset © Anthony Fox

But writing a novel – crafting pure fiction is not as easy as it may sound. I am given some encouragement though, by what Ernest Hemingway said to his friend Scott Fitzgerald, about how it had taken him all morning to write just a paragraph, and he didn’t hold much hope of writing a novel. This of course is when Hemingway was an aspiring writer living in Paris in the 1920’s, before he published his first novel. Writing a novel is a challenge and one that I have set myself. Follow and I will endeavour to blog about my progress as the weeks and months pass. Yippee ki kay!

Are you listening,  what are you dreaming?

As Jesus said, “belief is everything.”

In my latest book “It’s Never Too Late” read how dreams do come true, but be careful what you wish for. Understand the secret of greed and you will attain one of the secrets of prosperity. The book will also take you on a journey and explores love, money, luck, and much more.

Click Here

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P.S. Tomorrow Never Comes

Hey, Chuck. Did you bring any spending money? Viva la vida loca.

Conducting Survey into Precognitive Choices

Which would you prefer half-price digital or paperback?

Never late, but sorry.

 Read my latest book "It's Never Too Late" by Anthony Fox,  published by Chipmunka Publishing