giapet.net

Title: Science Books by Dava Sobel
Price: $0.99 each (Longitude & Galileo’s Daughter); $1.99 (A More Perfect Heaven)
Author: Dava Sobel (The Planets, Letters to Father)
Publisher: Walker Books
Genre: Nonfiction – Science/History

Publisher’s Summary:
(For A More Perfect Heaven)

In 1539, a young German mathematician, Georg Joachim Rheticus, drawn by rumors of a revolution to rival the religious upheaval of Martin Luther’s Reformation, traveled to Poland to seek out Copernicus. Two years later, the Protestant youth took leave of his aging Catholic mentor and arranged to have Copernicus’s manuscript published, in 1543, as De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres)—the book that forever changed humankind’s place in the universe.

In her elegant, compelling style, Dava Sobel chronicles, as nobody has, the conflicting personalities and extraordinary discoveries that shaped the Copernican Revolution. At the heart of the book is her play And the Sun Stood Still, imagining Rheticus’s struggle to convince Copernicus to let his manuscript see the light of day. As she achieved with her bestsellers Longitude and Galileo’s Daughter, Sobel expands the bounds of narration, giving us an unforgettable portrait of scientific achievement, and of the ever-present tensions between science and faith.

Conclusion: Not Buying

I am mildly tempted to buy Galileo’s Daughter, which tells the story of Galileo and his nun daughter, who took the name Maria Celeste along with her habit. But I have an awful lot to read, and stuff that’s of greater interest, so I’m less inclined to pick it up, especially looking at the reviews.

Pretty much every book Amazon has made available as a Kindle Daily Deal has had a lot of positive reviews, and it’s not really fair to only look at the negative ones, but it’s still helpful. The complaints that I keep seeing are that the book isn’t really about Maria Celeste (which is what interests me), and that it’s rather dull if she’s why you picked it up (which is what I was afraid of). So, I’m going to pass on this one.

I just heard about this site, What’sOutt, from LifeHacker, and I’m madly in love. It’s one of the simplest ideas in the world: a collection of theatrical films, DVD/Blu-rays, books, music, and video games that are coming out “this week,” “next week,” and in “two weeks.”

The only release dates I actually check on are for films, and that’s usually because we have to know when something’s been out long enough to be eligible for our Thursday night discount price ($3.50 with student ID). But a simple thing like this that’s easy to browse and has a lot of categories is definitely something I’ll just browse around for ten or fifteen minutes once a week to see if there’s anything I should know about.

For example: on January 10, Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano (best known for his work with the Final Fantasy franchise) is releasing an art book, and that’s something I’m interested in. Also, it’s good to know that Iron Lady is out next week since I’d like to see it, as well as Beauty and the Beast in 3D.

It’s not all happy fun time. For example, today I learned that there’s something called Vampirates and that makes me cry a little inside.

There are also some features I could see them implementing over time: some kind of browser shortcut/button that you could click and have it notify you about a release when it comes out or is about to (or moves), for example, and a way to look up the release date of a specific item, since they’ve got a bunch of info in their database anyway.

But mostly it’s good.

Title: Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
Price: $0.99
Author: Brian Tracy (Jones and the Salesman, Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life)
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Genre: Nonfiction – Self-Help/Productivity

Publisher’s Summary:

Bestselling author Brian Tracy cuts to the core of what is vital to effective time management: decision, discipline, and determination. In this fully revised and updated edition, he provides brand new information on how to keep technology from dominating your time. He details twenty-one practical steps that will help you stop procrastinating and get more of the important tasks done–today!

Conclusion: Buying

I’m not a big self-help person and I’m a pretty decent time manager…at least, at work I am. But I do have problems sometimes getting the less-urgent-but-important not-work-related tasks done, something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, so for a buck, I’ll go ahead and see if I can learn anything from this book. The vast majority of its reviews are positive (negative ones mostly decry a lack of original concepts and poor marketing— they wanted something with de-procrastination techniques rather than prioritization, I think), so it could be worth a shot.