Another 3 reviews

Finished 3 books in the last couple of weeks and I am pretty sure that I have not blogged about them. I will start with the business one and move on to the other ones. It may sound like I am spending a large amount of time reading, but I have to say that riding the train is definitely a plus to my reading.

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

E-Myth Revisited actually takes place in the E-Myth series prior to E-Myth Mastery. This one again uses the example of Sarah and her business of all about pies. Much of my initial reaction to this book was largely negative compared to the E-Myth Mastery, but after getting through with it, there was a large amount of good information. My major gripe with it was that it seemed as if Michael Gerber was pushing the idea of the Franchise Prototype on to the reader as the only way for one to truly be successful in a business, but later on that message seems to soften. The end of the book focuses on the right things of a franchise, which involves creating a business system that makes the business run without YOU, which leads to much less stressful business. In the end though, I would not buy both books, but instead just buy E-Myth Mastery as it seems to set up a much better framework for a business and how to focus one's energies.

Prince of the Blood, 15th Anniversary Edition

I have been a big Raymond Fiest fan, but I started a little backwards with the Serpent War Saga. I have since gone back through his other books all set within the same basic universe. Mr. Fiest has a wonderful ability to create rich characters and a intriguing environment and this book is no exception. The story tells of the two sons of the Prince of Krondor and their "punishment" and coming of age. Although this book is not as good as some of his other works, it is a worth while read. There is always a sense of fun and adventure is these books and this is another of the series. However, as you read more and more of his books, you start noticing the reoccuring emergence of character traits, but in the end it is just a great fantasy "spaghetti western".

The Man Who Sold The Moon

The Man Who Sold the Moon is a series of short stories by the great sci-fi master R.A.H. The short stories in this book were written early in Heinlein's career and cover the later half of the 20th century and how he predicted the future based on the occurrences of World War 2. The primary story is based on a character who's goal in life is to first visit the moon (being the first human) and then setting up a colony on the moon. Harriman (the character) uses is past business successes and his business savvy to convince his friends, his company, and complete nations of children to help back his venture, which is of the goal to fulfill a childhood fantasy instead of make money. The rest of the stories tell of the engineers who make that path possible via their inventions and work and it sets up a beautiful backdrop. The painful part of reading this was Heinlein's attention to detail around concerning everything but the inventions and many of his shady business practices and national politics seem to be more far-fetched than the inventions themselves. But in the end, I did enjoy it, but for all I would recommend that one sticks with Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress as they are much better stories.