4 stars (memorable stinker) - There's something here for everyone. Short chapters and oversimplified technical explanations make the vapid reader feel smart. The more astute may savor the stinkiness of Dan Brown's early work. The research, the writing, the characters, the dialogue, the plot - it's all comically bad. Meet David, a language professor, and the heroine's boyfriend: "Over six feet tall, Becker moved across a squash court faster than any of his colleagues could comprehend. After soundly beating his opponent, he would cool off by dousing his head in a drinking fountain and soaking his tuft of thick, black hair. Then, still dripping, he'd treat his opponent to a fruit shake and a bagel." The whole book is like that. This isn't five star stinky, but it's close. 4 stars ( Digital Fortress ) - Outstanding Dan Brown thriller. More of a story than you might be used to but builds to a I cannot put this down type Dan Brown book. Computer buffs dare not miss this. 3 stars (Well...Everyone Has To Start Somewhere) - Working my way backward through Dan Brown's books, I have finally arrived at his first novel, " Digital Fortress ", and...well, this novel is obviously a first effort. Many reviewers have trounced this book thoroughly, but I won't be so harsh-every writer has to start somewhere, and " Digital Fortress " still makes a passable airplane/airport book. Readers will recognize the themes that Brown has used in every one of his books: boy/girl protagonists aroused from their routines at the last minute to be sent on a quest, the significance of which isn't realized until the evil bad guy-assassin shows himself; a conspiracy from the highest levels, and conspirators whose nefarious plans begin to cascade out of control as the unwitting protagonists expose the deception. This is formulaic niche stuff-nothing wrong with that as long as the reader sticks to the paperback editions and avoids investing in the hardcover editions. Where Brown struggles is in writi... Thomas Dunne Books :: Thrillers :: Technological :: Fiction-Espionage&Intrigue :: Fiction - General :: Fiction - Espionage & Thriller :: Fiction :: Espionage&Intrigue :: Dan Brown :: :: Digital Fortress
4 stars (Readable User-Friendly Book on Innovation) - I am enjoying this book. I like the title "Serious Play", but I dislike the sub-title "How the World's Best Companies Simulate to Innovate". Companies don't innovate people do is my thought. I think the author could have taken this concept one step further. That is tie in the concepts of how innovation relates to chaos theory and fractals and larger concepts. The author's ideas are not that new to me because I am a project manager in a software engineering environment where prototyping and iterations is the name of the game. We have at most 3 months to make a difference, to deliver and then we are swept into the ocean of change. You have a small window of opportunity before both the game and the players change. I think that the world may be on the verge of moving so fast that we begin to see things like the wiki, open source culture in that it takes all of us innovating collectively in serious play. Long term I wonder if you are not free, workable and now, you are not in the game. Some concepts for me are: 1) Importance of being able to improvise in the moment 2) Prototyping both reveals the underlying power cutural structures and changes them. 3) Human beings are relationship morphing entities. 4) the importance of shared collaboration space that invite clever interactions between people. 5) Treating prototypes as conversation pieces 6) Watch for the underlying feeling of geniune fun 7) The importance of the challenge or obstacles to the game 8) We shape our models, our models shape us 9) "In order to have actionable meaning, the fuzzy mental models ... must be externalized in representations in ways... that can be grasped" 10) Prototypes force individuals to confront the tyranny of tradeoffs (i.e. difficult decisions) 11) "All models are attempt to manage the complexity by making it simpler and more accessible" While the text is very readable I had trouble pulling out the underlying structure of the b... Harvard Business School Press :: Technology :: Technological Innovations :: Strategic Planning :: Simulation methods :: Nanotechnology :: Models and model making :: Management :: Decision Making & :: Serious Play- How the World-s Best Companies Simulate to Innovate
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