I’m a massive fan of practicality in computing texts and this book doesn’t disappoint. It’s very practically laid out with a wealth of helpful illustration in it. The choice of having vendor tools output is instructive and lends real credibility when laid out against the author’s remedies. Although I imagine the tool vendors would not be pleased at their portrayal. More power to the author for having the guts to do that. The chapters build neatly to a logical point which is pleasant and none of the points seem overly laboured so there is pleasant pace to the delivery.

It is however difficult not to compare it with the work of Edward Tufte, which is sadly neither fair nor favourable. Tufte’s artistic flair and passion shine through in a way the author fails to deliver. It’s not bad it’s just a little pale in reflection. Also the concluding chapter could have had a couple more pages for the alternate dashboards and not lost any punch.

All-in-all a useful and practical read. Just read it before reading Tufte and you’re set :)

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There are some negatives about the book. Firstly the truth about the book is that it has aged somewhat. Back-rank mates will work against weaker players but stronger players will be well schooled in the defence of such attempts. That being said my perception I think it is still a useful body of knowledge to have. Secondly the first chapter or so which teaches the moves of the pieces seems redundant. I could be wrong but I don’t think many kids will be picking this as their way into learning chess. Finally, the fact the second half of the book is printed upside down is a real annoyance. Surely there are better ways to make the puzzles work?

Overall a good book, I’d recommend it to players who want to polish their mating but seasoned players will likely be beyond this book.

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When I saw this book I was hooked. As I work in Business Intelligence on a product that weeds out bad data I figured I was slap bang in the target market. I was right. While a lot of emphasis is put on the data scientist role within the book it has clear tones of business intelligence in it. Not to mention some discussion specifically mentions data warehouses, reporting and the like.

The book is really a collection of essays on a spectrum from non-technical through to technical. Earlier essays are much more practically oriented than later essays. As such it suffers from the classic issues of an essay collection. Namely there’s no one voice in the book (which weakens it’s overall authority) and that the whole is dragged down by it’s weakest elements. It’s fair to say that O’Reilly have really pushed towards the R, Hadoop, big/unstructured data crowd and that shows in the maturity of the commentary which is sometimes a little breathless. Having said that the book is refreshingly clear of the stodginess associated with much of the BI canon.

Some high points of the book for me were the essays Blood, Sweat and Urine, Bad Data Lurking in Plain Text and Detecting Liars and the Confused in Contradictory Online Reviews. The Blood, Sweat and Urine essay particularly was both human and useful. Bad Data Lurking in Plain Text mirrored my pain in dealing with plain text and was a very concise overview of a troubling area. Finally Detecting Liars and the Confused in Contradictory Online Reviews was an excellent experience report. An honourable mention should go to Data Quality Analysis Demystified: Knowing When Your Data Is Good Enough which was a good way to close the book.

However the lows were pretty low and knocked at least one star off the review. Social Media, Erasable Ink? Was a hyperbolic essay whose point seemed overly laboured. Spoiler, your public data sops being yours after you transmit it to the service to publicise it. Also Don’t Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good: Is Bad Data Really Bad was vague and wish-washy in the extreme.

Overall, check it out if you work with data, you’ll spend a lot of time nodding your head at least. The practical chapters trump the governance chapters in my opinion but that just reflects the relative maturity of the communities represented in the book. Sadly though this book won’t be a classic of the field in it’s current form. I hope O’Reilly knock out a second edition without some of the poorer chapters, as it would be nice to see this book evolve.

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The biggest criticism of the book is that some of the examples are dated. It’s hard not to be initially a little confused by the seemingly small numbers at play until you remember that 30 years of inflation have been at play. Having said that the issue is minor and fades with a little effort. The book is possibly also a little dry (it’s difficult to imagine a modern book having such a serious tone even for similar material) at times however the subject matter is weighty and so that’s also forgivable.

I’d recommend it to others but I might well spend a minute preparing them for the contents first.

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There are a couple of things I didn’t like. The treatment of mental illness and women leaves a lot to be desired by modern standards. Frankly almost all of the female characters serve as little more than reproduction machines, including the lead character’s wife. By the end I was pleased the book stopped talking about women as it was really making me uncomfortable. But perhaps that says more about me than the book. Also I was sad the inter-group dynamics weren’t better explored.

I’d recommend the book, it’s not average fare for the genre and characterisation aside it’s a thought-provoking read.

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In truth you’re not going to enjoy this as much as the first foundation novels (particularly Foundation) but any Asimov book generally puts modern SF to shame. This book’s plot is more predictable than the other and the characters interplay betrays the age of the book (the attitude to issues like jocks vs geeks and women is frankly odd in 2013). Also the tie-ins from Asimov’s other work feels strained (something the author admits in the epilogue) but overall this is a fine book and you’ll enjoy the story even if it feels a little too comfortable.

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There are other reasons why I gave this book five stars, not least among which is the vivd characterisations within the book. The author clearly spent a large period of time living with these people and making a concerted effort to understand them. He doesn’t slap them into boxes or shy away from the fact sometimes he can’t unravel them completely. this leads to vivid and real people who are sensitively portrayed. Even better the author clearly cares for the people he documents, they’re doing something tough and he gives them due credit for such. His examination particularly of the management styles employed by the senior characters is fascinating and he rightly criticises where some of the characters have a blind spot. As the project moves on the author brings the different elements of the environment together in a seamless way so you feel you understand why things are happening as they do. That’s not simple for a complex project such as the one undertaken in the book.

if I’m critical it’s really only that some of the technology terminology is explained in laymen’s terms when as a technologist I didin’t need the hand-holding. that lead to some skimming of sections within the book. I’d have preferred a glossary of terms but really, I’m picking out a tiny issue for a small number of readers.

Particularly because I work in technology and because I’m old enough to remember Data General machines (even having used one fleetingly) this book has a lot of meaning for me. Filling in the blanks on a heap of stuff I was barely cognisant of at the time. I wonder if this review would be as applicable to someone younger or not into technology. However, if you are late thirties plus and a geek buy this book. Marvel at the heroic efforts of the protagonists and maybe spend a moment asking yourself if we’ve really moved on that much. You should thoroughly enjoy yourself along the journey.

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If you’re going to criticise this book it probably on the basis that the book’s formula is now reasonably weel known and at times feels derivative. The fact that a new race is involved will surprise no regular Pratchett reader nor will the manner and form of Vime’s travel through the narrative. If you want a great departure from classic Pratchett you’re not going to find it here. Lord Rust and the magistrates are particularly flimsy characters and it’s hard not to feel like the they could have been better used.

Having said that the book is likeable, the characters are suitably Pratchett and the cameos are effectively woven together to make you feel very familiar with the book. It’s a kind of cosiness that makes you forgive the book’s warts and appreciate it’s style.

Nice book, totally what you expect it to be.

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So what was wrong? Three things stand out, at a base level there was something wrong in the presentation of long terminal dumps. Particularly frustrating was the repeated output of apt and yum. Surely anyone who works in operations or development for that matter can install software without this kind of handholding. It demeans the reader and just makes the book feel 100 pages too long. I also think that created the second issue at hand which was a lack of diagrams to explain the structure of the tool and its operation. It’s not that there are no diagrams, more that the diagrams tail off quickly and so more complex puppet configuration and the interactions between the components are left as an exercise for the reader. What exacerbates that issue is the long strings of terminal output that demonstrate the success or otherwise of the tool. Why did it do that? Show me visually how this was missing rather than stumbling through the text trying to locate the point in the run the authors refer to. Finally and I think most crushingly I have no idea why this book is called Pro Puppet. If I see the word Pro I’m expecting an in depth discussion of the tool’s philosophical underpinnings and it’s sweet and rough spots. There was none of that. The tutorial in the book was welcome but again why in a Pro book was there this tutorial? the latter chapters do have some discussion of tools like MCollective but without sufficient detail to really be useful.

The book has already dated but as I wouldn’t recommend buying it anyway it seems churlish to point that out. Stay away.

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The main thrust of the book is a discussion of the reasons girls don’t make it into technology (well it’s actually broader, under the term STEM but I’m focused on the T). As a man in technology it’s a thought-provoking read. The author has worked in advertising and so brings out key points with neat graphics and callouts. If nothing else just check this book out for the great stats in the margins of the pages. The book switches gear towards the end of the piece discussing why work is challenging for women in technology. This section was also fascinating and sadly I caught glimpses of myself in the descriptions of wrong behaviour which probably brought the message home with extra force.

If I’d criticise anything I’d say that some of the graphics seemed needless, the one separating chapter 3 and 4 would be a good example. Also I wanted the conclusion to be broken into educational change, parenting change and workplace change.

In conclusion read this book. You’ll get a lot out of it and moreover it should spur you to help change the world.

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