Book Review: Strategy For You

Strategy For You by Rich Horwath is a book about setting goals and achieving them. It takes it's processes from the business and tries to apply them, somewhat successfully, to personal life. If you're a hardcore left brained logical thinker then this may be the book you're looking for to take you're life to the next level. For me personally, it was interesting and got me thinking about goals but was ultimately hit-or-miss. I love my life and do want to try to get more out of it, but I'm not sure making charts, graphs, and maps is the way to get me there. This is my personal take on it and your results may differ.

The Avengers

I saw the Avengers yesterday and one word comes to mind... Awesome! I have seen all of the films leading up to this one and must say that they handled this film really well. There is very little recap and the story just starts assuming that you know what is happening. This is one of the movies strengths to me. I totally geeked out at the large scale comic book action fight sequence toward the end that really capped off the movie well. It was a sight to behold and definitely the best comic book movie I have ever seen. This is saying a lot when compared to The Dark Knight, which is one of the best movies ever made.

If you haven't see the movies leading up to The Avengers, rent them first on DVD to catch up. The movies are:

- Iron Man

- Iron Man 2

- Thor

- Captain America

- The Avengers

This is the order they were released in and I left out the good movie The Incredible Hulk because they recast him with a different actor. If you want to see that one too, it came out between Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

If you're not a comic book fan, I still recommend giving the series a try. The intertwining of the plots is something not seen before in action movies and is really enjoyable. If you're a geek like me, then you've probably already seen it and trying to decide if you're going to see it again.

Book Review: Extra Lives

Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
by Tom Bissell

I recently had a chance to fit in some reading between work and classes and wanted to give my impressions from the book. First, I found the title to be a bit misleading. While many aspects of video games and the experiences they give to gamers are discussed, the book never really dives in to societal relevance of these game experiences.

I did find the book fascinating in it's coverage of storytelling within games and the different impacts that the different forms of narrative give to the player. This is not a book for the average person, it's a book for game lovers.

The coverage of games range from older games, such as a gripping take on the first Resident Evil, to newer powerhouses like Mass Effect, to indie games like Braid. Each take is interesting and gives insight in to the game and how they reach people.

This is not a textbook approach to how video games have a affected society or whether video games have enhanced or ruined our lives. Rather it is a deeply personal and reflective trip through one man's video game life and how they have personally affected him. If you consider yourself a gamer or know someone who is and want to understand them more then you may find interest in this book, otherwise you may want to pass.

Buy it here: