This was one of the 4 major books I used for my senior capstone course in university, and I absolutely loved it. In hindsight, choosing a book that was this large with 3 other books to use in only one of my classes during my final semester was probably not a brilliant idea, but I’m forever thankful this book crossed my path when it did.

Collapse helped give me a glimpse into a world of science writing I was not very familiar with - most of my work in university dealt with scientific papers, which are world-renowned for their dryness and niche audiences within the scientific community. Collapse is definitely not a scientific paper, and it’s designed to make people care who are outside of niche scientific communities while also presenting facts and suggesting interpretations and conclusions.

I found it extremely interesting and completely engrossing - despite being considerably longer than any of the other nonfiction books I have on my shelves, I had no issues finishing it quickly. One thing is for certain, though, Collapse’s subject is a massive undertaking - and what we have is only what Jared was able to discover and condense into a readable length before publication. This book was published in 2005, which is eons ago in terms of science (in fact, Elizabeth Kolbert describes new details Collapse did not include in her 2014 book The Sixth Extinction). Still, this was a fascinating read.

Part of what worked so well for Jared is how he structured the book, beginning with his personal experiences in Montana, moving on to well known ancient societies (like Easter Island), and finishing with modern societies before giving practical suggestions and takeaways. I also really enjoyed how Jared tried to include as many different factors as possible and how they shaped each civilization in his analyses.

Whether Jared was correct in his conclusions or completely off the mark, I enjoyed this book from both an environmental standpoint and from a fiction writer’s standpoint. I am part of a generation who will need to find solutions for extreme environmental problems, and Collapse helps contribute to the knowledge at our disposal. From a fiction writer’s standpoint, I found Collapse to be extremely helpful in terms of world-building.

So, whether you take Jared’s word as fact or not, Collapse does give you an incredible amount to think about and encourages you to take the time to consider how fragile societies can be.

I read this book because of work, and I went into it with no expectations other than I was ready to learn something new that I could apply to my job. I was excited at the idea that the author would be explaining the key concepts in the form of a fable, but the idea fell utterly short for me.

In all, Radical Focus, is an average book that contains great information and concepts, but spends time on the wrong topics. I still feel the fable was a great idea, but the author executed it poorly. Instead of a fable, I found myself reading very basic, almost child-like storytelling with pages sprinkled throughout with business jargon, as if the author did not believe the reader could understand her unless she continually used basic sentence structure. The bits of profanity that were included felt misused and completely out of place with the rest of the book, and I was surprised they were included.

Luckily, however, the “fable” only took up the first two-thirds of the book, and the remaining third was used for a more in-depth discussion of the primary concept of the book: OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). This last third of the book was by far the most inspirational and motivating for me, since it included all the important information and potential steps employees could take to implement these concepts. It is also what saved this book from a 2-star review. However, I wish more time had been spent on explaining these key concepts and offering additional, concrete examples and ways to implement these ideas.

One of my biggest pet-peeves (which I’m sure you have noticed if you’ve read some of my other reviews) is finding spelling and grammatical errors consistently throughout a text, and Radical Focus was no exception. For a book that is only 153 easy-to-read pages, there are by far too many errors throughout. For example, the fable portion of the book is filled with sentences such as:

“The Sunday before Raphael started, he met with Hanna and Jack met at the Palo Alto Café.”

While I am excited to start implementing OKRs for the first time as part of my job, I would not recommend buying this book. Since it is priced at $24.99 (available for cheaper from sources such as Amazon), takes only a couple hours to read, and most of the information is found in the last third of the book, your time would be better spent checking it out from your library.

HOLY UNBELIEVABLE WOW.

This book was incredible and proved yet again just how much I love Laini Taylor - to the point where I’m not sure I could craft a review that would properly do it justice.

The first several chapters of Strange the Dreamer gave me shivers from Laini’s masterful storytelling. I was captivated from the first chapter and continually wanted to know more about everything in this fantastical world. Lazlo lives in a vibrant and original world, one that Laini must have really enjoyed creating, and one that has so many possibilities for exploring in the upcoming sequel. Strange the Dreamer reads like one massive dream, but the style fits the story so perfectly.

I went into this book knowing relatively little of the plot, and I was blown away. I loved this book. Hands down, Laini’s imagery is seriously out of this world - Strange the Dreamer was an incredibly beautiful read. Every time I sat down to read a couple pages, the story drew me in and a couple pages would turn into a couple more, until suddenly I was chapters further than where I started. This caused me to put the book down for an entire week because I just didn’t want it to end - I wanted to savor the world Laini had crafted. Still, by the time I had finished the book, I felt I could have easily read another 500 pages.

I was waiting for Laini to rip my heart out with this - a caution I learned from the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy and from the nagging voice in my head that said the story was too good to be true - and it did, but in a way that I cannot wait to read the sequel. Kudos to you, Laini, but are you really going to make us wait until October? I hope all the characters receive the stories they deserve in the sequel, and I can’t wait to read them.

First of all, let’s get the most pressing question out of the way: How did I wait so long to start reading this series?!?

This was my first introduction to V.E. Schwab, and I have to say I completely enjoyed it. This book, among so many other things, was masterful. I honestly did not expect to love this book as much as I did, and it skyrocketed to near the top of my favorites shelf. It’s a fast-paced dark fantasy adventure that is entertaining on every page.

V.E. Schwab did an incredible job creating an inventive and imaginative world filled with stunning characters. The idea of parallel Londons with varying degrees and attitudes towards magic was plausible, and the world building seemed effortless. Every time I picked up the book I found myself in a world that I wanted to learn more about and did not want to leave.

Like many of the other reviews, I was blown away by the characters in this book. I found each of the characters to be complex and full of both good attributes as well as flaws. V.E. Schwab was able to show throughout the story how none of the characters were perfect, and while some were undeniably more wicked than others, I was able to feel emotion towards all of them.

I was also pleasantly surprised that while this book was indeed violent and dark, it was not overly gory, which is something you can’t always find. I’ve steadily become a fan of dark fiction over the last year, and V.E. Schwab did an excellent job with A Darker Shade of Magic. But, because of the dark themes woven throughout, this book is definitely from more mature YA or adult audiences.

A Darker Shade of Magic left me wanting to read more, and since I am not currently in possession of the other two books in this trilogy, I’m off to go buy them.