The End of Advertising by Andrew Essex

Book review: The End of Advertising by Andrew Essex A former Madison Avenue ad exec, the author chronicles how the changing digital age has put the advertising world in a spin that it has not figured out how to get out of. With the digital age growing bigger and print basically being dead, he argues that the present digital ad market is a bubble waiting to burst. He goes into the history of modern advertising also. Basically Misters Proctor and Gamble looking to sell soap, and it just grew from there. Since modern advertising has only been around for about 100 years, it does not have a strong foundation to fall back on. This is a good book to pair with the One Device book, since in essence the iPhone is one of the reasons that print is dead and the digital keeps growing. When he is writing about branding, here is a list of items he included that I thought was great: Mr. Clean; Mrs. Olson; Mr. Whipple; Charlie the Tuna; Aunt Jemima; Tony the Tiger; Betty Crocker; The Quicker Picker-Upper; It’s Miller Time; Finger-Lickin’ Good; Have It Your Way; The Antidote for Civilization; Mmm, Mmm, Good; We Try Harder; You’re in Good Hands; Reach Out and Touch Someone; Plop-Plop, Fizz-Fizz; Breakfast of Champions; the Ultimate Driving Machine; Don’t Leave Home Without It; The Real Thing; The Pause that Refreshes; Sometimes You Feel like a Nut; Think Different; Just Do It; Where’s the Beef?; Fly the Friendly Skies; A Diamond Is Forever; A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste; When It Absolutely Positively Has to Be There Overnight; Got Milk?; The Uncola; I Want My MTV; Takes a Lickin’ and Keeps on Tickin’; Look, Ma, No Cavities; Let Your Fingers Do the Walking; I’d Walk a Mile for a Camel; Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute…The list goes on and on.

The One Device by Brian Merchant

Book review: The One Device by Brian Merchant This is the history of the iPhone, and this tech reporter just a great job of getting behind the secrecy of Apple to outline the amazing story of how this device came to be. He goes into every aspect of the iPhone, what exactly is the phone made of, and I mean every element that is included in the phone. He travels the world to track down where the raw materials come from, Peru, Kentucky. He also travels to China to see where the phones are made. He then goes into the culture of Apple and the drive that it took to bring this altogether. But most interestingly he brings up the point that Apple really didn’t invent the technologies in the phone’ multitouch, Google Maps, GPS, the Corning glass. But it did put it altogether in a brilliant way that changed the world. One complaint is that there are a lot of typos in this book, not sure if it was rushed to market.

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan

Rook review: This is a very thorough exploration of the history, biology and politics of the Great Lakes, the largest body of fresh water in the world. The Lakes have been such an integral part of the history of North America, its easy to take them for granted. The point of this book, I think, is to point out the mess that things are in, and how global climate change is just going to make it worse. But at the same time the resiliency of the Lakes comes through with a hope of optimism. I like these sweeping comprehensive kinds of narratives. He illustrates well how the impact of the Lakes goes far beyond the watershed that feeds the lakes as what happens in and on the lakes has national repercussions.

The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks

Book review: The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks I have been following the author of this book on Twitter for some time. He is a shepherd in the Lake District in England, and the photos he posts of sheep walking in meadows and across streams are gorgeous idealic images. This book is his chronicle of a year in the life of his farm. So you get all four seasons and a description of what happens at different times of years. Also described is the history of the area and shepherding. A charming narrative of a life that I am sure is not easy and not as romantic as you come away with. Between this, H is for Hawk and The Outrun you would get an impression that life in the UK is all country walks and rural fairs. These are wonderful fantasies and maybe says something about who has the time and inclination to write books, but all the urban problems are not covered, no poverty, crime and hardship. Well some of that in The Outrun, but that is basically what she is leaving behind.

Long Haul: A Trucker’s Tales of Lie on the Road by Finn Murphy

Book review: Long Haul: A Trucker’s Tales of Lie on the Road by Finn Murphy This surprisingly interesting memoir turned out to be one I could not put down. I got the iBook sample of this book after seeing something in the NYTimes Book Review, and ended up reading it over the weekend. This is a well written memoir of a life of a middle class raised white guy who took a different path. Part philosophy and part a description of the details of a life and profession that none of us would have a clue about, he describes a life as an outsider who has found his niche. One of the great things about this is the leap he writes about from his young life to being in his 50s. He describes being a teenager, how he gets into the moving/truck driving world. Then at 31 he walks away from it, only to come back to the life at age 51. There is absolutely no description of what he did in the interim 20 years, which whether it was meant to or not keeps the reader engaged. An interesting literary device. This is an example of why I have come to like memoirs so much, especially when they are written by people who are not professional writers but who apparently have a natural affinity for writing.

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Book review: H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald This recent best seller has been much talked about, mainly for its writing. It is so rare to find something that is such a joy to read. This memoir is the story of the author’s year after her father passed away. To deal with her grief she adopts a young hawk, and enters the age old world of falconry. This was one of those can’t put it down books that I will probably go back and read again. She weaves stories of raising and caring for the hawk with reminiscences of her father, her delving into the falconry world and culture with her journey through grief.

Barbarian Days by William Finnegan

Book review: Barbarian Days by William Finnegan The story of a life time of surfing provides a history of surfing over the last 50 or so years. By happenstance the author ended up in surfing meccas so fell into the world of surfing at a young age. He chronicles the changes in surfing from a fringe sport to really something mainstream and gentrified, as we tend to do with some many things on this planet. But he is still able to find those ‘endless summer’ moments, and weaving the story of surfing with his biography and his family creates a very pleasant reading experience.