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Review | Tales from the Open Road (We’re the Russos)

Tales From the Open Road: The Adventures and Misadventures of RV Living (We're the Russos Book 2) — We’re The Russos Book 2

First, a disclaimer, Joe, and Kait sent me a Kindle version of the book. They didn’t ask me to review it here and my review is my own. Tales From the Open Raod: The Adventures of RV Living is Joe Russo’s second book. The first book Take Risks: One Couple’s Journey to Quit Their Jobs and Hit the Open Road was book one. I’ve already reviewed that book here in 2018 and you can read the review by clicking on the link above.

I’m a big fan of the Russos. I’ve been a subscriber to their YouTube channel since before Joe’s first book. As you can guess from the titles of the books, they are a couple from Los Angeles that quit their jobs, bought an RV and started traveling the US. This, however, as Joe explains in the most recent book was not early retirement.

I recommend reading the books in order as the first book does a good job of covering the period when they decided to make this leap. This second book goes into how. It covers the trials and tribulations of driving and finding parking for a large RV. And it also begins the story of them looking for a smaller RV. While there is a path forward mentioned in the book, we don’t actually find out in the book what happens next, but for all the YouTube followers of the Russo’s we already know how that story ends.

Joe’s writing flows well and while simple really works for me. It’s a fun read and I really liked getting to know more of the details as a YouTube follower I didn’t see all the behind the scenes information that Joe shares in the book. My only complaint is that I wish there was more in the book. More details and more of the class B journey. That said I think it takes tremendous bravery to share your story in a book and even more to share it on a medium like YouTube where the Internet trolls will offer unsolicited feedback on everything that makes it into a video.

Regardless of what the Russo’s do next, I look forward to following their journey on YouTube and in print!

Book Review | The Journey That Saved Curious George Young Readers Edition: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey

Okay for kids or adults this story follows the two creators of Curious George as they fled Europe like some many others during WWII. Well written with great illustrations.

This was a gift for my children from a family member. I saw it in the house and before it disappeared into one of the kid’s rooms, never to be found again, short of moving to another house, I grabbed it and finished it quickly. I think the shortness of this book also attracted me since I was in the middle of the summer reading program at my local library. This short book would help me get another book on the list and another entry into the contests they were running.

This was a fun read and I would recommend it for kids that are mature enough for the story. Nothing really scary here but it will lead to difficult questions about the Nazis and WWII. The Journey That Saved Curious George earned 4 stars from me.

Book Review | The Harvard Medical School Guide to Yoga: 8 Weeks to Strength, Awareness, and Flexibility

I grabbed this at my local library after seeing it from the corner of my eye. I’ve been doing yoga since last year at least twice a week. It has really helped with some chronic pains in my back and other places that I thought were just older age setting in. But after regular yoga these pains are gone for good. I feel a bunch better after a quick 30 minute session and complete rejuvenated after a good 60 minute session.

The Harvard Medical School Guide to Yoga is an excellent primer. Covers everything in depth. The best part is at the end where the authors have included an 8-week guide including sequences to get you going. This is a great place to start your yoga practice and will answer many of your questions.

This is a book to buy and keep as a reference if you have an interest in yoga. It earned 5 stars from me.

Book Review | It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy

It’s Your Ship was recommended to me from a former Vice President of my department at work. I finally found a copy available at my local library. It just happened to be a downloaded version of the audio book that I listened to. This was a wonderful book to listen to because the author himself reads the book to you. I really enjoy it when this is done, because you really feel like you are getting the story as it was intended to be told.

Captain Abrashoff tells a wonderful story of his growth as a leader through the Navy with many great examples. I was able to take much of this book and apply it to my team and department. The work he has put into this book and the audio really shows through. It was a great way to spend my commute for a few days. I looked forward to my time listening to this book.

If you are a novice leader or experienced leader I believe there is something from this book that you can take from it. I gave this book my highest rating of 5 out of 5 stars. It is defiantly worth your time. Grab the audio version if you can.

Book Review | From the Age of Discovery to a World at War

This is one of the few books from last year that I read as a hardcover book. From the Age of Discovery to a World at War by William J. Bennett was sent to me by the publisher because I am the host of a history podcast. Or I was… long story. It took me about 6 months to finish this 573 page book.

It is not a dry history book. Bennett writes with feeling and imparts excitement about the events of our great nations history. But its not your high school history book. Bennett knows there are black eyes in our Nations history and they are in display in this book too. Nothing like a Howard Zinn book, but its still there in a way.

Bennett is very patriotic and that also comes across in the writing. The book is an excellent overview of American History. A little slow in spots and if you are a history buff then not much will be new to you, but I was surprised a few times at the detail he got into certain events. Especially when he had so much to cover. I don’t believe anything was left out or missed in the tome. There two other volumes as well that get us into modern history: From a World of War to the Triumph of Freedom and From the Collapse of Communism to the Rise of Radical Islam. Really well-done overview of American history right up into WWI. This first in the series earned 4 out of 5 stars from me.

Book Review | Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

I listened to the audio format of Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time in March of this year. It has been some time since I listened to this book but I still remember, how enlightening it was to learn about Scrum. My work has been using this for some time now. Not my department specifically, but the IT departments that we interface with utilize it as well as JIRA.

I like to read business books mixed in with reading for enjoyment whenever I can find a good business book to slip into my to be read list. Which is not hard for me since I have just over 700 books on the Want to Read list on goodreads.

Jeff Sutherland the author of the book is the co-creator of Scrum, so who better to explain how it works and not just that but why Scrum was created in the first place. You not only get a great understanding of Scrum, but in this book you also get a behind the scenes history of its development.

If you are looking for something to get you acquainted with SCRUM this is where to start.

Book Review | Supergirl, Vol. 1: Last Daughter of Krypton

Another comic and another failed review. I wrote only two sentences to describe my review of Supergirl, Vol. 1: Last Daughter of Krypton on goodreads. Thirteen whole words. I don’t have much to go on with this one. I really need to catch up with my reviews and write them as soon as I finish the book or in this case the comic book. I think the goal should be to write the review while I still have to book in hand. Here I am writing about a book I finished months ago when I really need to be writing about the book I just finished this week.

What I do remember about this comic is that the artwork was good but not as good as Captain Marvel I had read just before. I also know that I grabbed this from the library and it really confuses me why they would buy only one volume and then never buy the next? Was it a request from a patron and then never followed up with a request for the next in the series? I liked this Supergirl comic and would like to read more.

I’d like to read more comics of lots of different kinds, but my libraries really don’t invest much in them. They do however have a subscription to Hoopla which recently acquired the rights to “lend” Marvel comics. That’s very cool, that means they will have the Star Wars comics on there. It’s been so long since I read one I don’t remember where I was in all the different series. I will have to find out though!

5/5 Stars!

Book Review | Captain Marvel, Volume 2: Down

Captain Marvel - Down — Captain Marvel – Down

I failed as a goodreads reviewer on this one. I read Captain Marvel, Volume 2: Down, but I failed to write a review. I remember the story and the art from the issue but for whatever reason, I did not write a review of this comic. I’ve been a fan of Captain Marvel for years. She is very straightforward and wants to do the right thing. She doesn’t seem to have an evil streak or anything sinisterly wrong with her like some other comic book heroes.

This comic had an interesting story where Captain Marvel meets with someone from her past and manages to get them fired up again. I think it also has a positive effect on the Captain as well. The artwork is perhaps the best of the Captain Marvels that I have read.

4/5 Stars!

War and Peace | App Recommendation

I’ve started to use this app called serial reader to help me tackle the very large War and Peace. So far it is helping a lot. It has broken up the tome into 235 segments. Each segment is about 10 to 15 minutes in reading time. If I can stick with it, I will be done with the book in less than a year at this rate. I’m currently around 62 segments read. That means that I am about 27% complete with the tome.

This new way of attacking the book seems to be working for me and I’m looking forward to checking it off my list and moving onto the next large tome.

Review: The Red Pony

I read The Red Pony by John Steinbeck as part of a summer reading program. It was a great quick read. Always a good story to be had with Steinbeck. And this one has four! I’m looking forward to find out what happens to Jody when he grows up and if he and Black Demon are as good buddies and he thought.

Steinbeck has long been one of my favorite writers. In my opinion you can not go wrong choosing to read one of his books.