Mining Bezos Communication Skills

 

One of the most important skills for a would be entrepreneur is being able to communicate effectively. The author chose Bezos as an example of a successful entrepreneur. Combing through the twenty-four letters from Bezos to the Amazon shareholders, the author extracted writing skills that can help anyone improve their communication.

The chapters range from telling a story to how to place the critical information at the beginning and end of sentences to leave your readers with the critical points. I found the author’s emphasis on creativity and storytelling one of the most interesting facets of the book. Most writers on business communications focus strictly on what to get across. Thinking about storytelling is a way to involve the reader in what you’re saying. Stories are often the most effective way to make the reader remember your points.

This is a very readable book. If you’re interested in improving your communication skills, it’s a good choice. I highly recommend it.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

Money is Not Necessarily the Solution

 

Many people believe that if they had more money they would be happy. This collection of books challenges that idea. Money is not the only prerequisite for happiness. What you believe about yourself and your life is equally important. In fact, that’s what allows you to enjoy your prosperity.

This collection of books addresses the issue of becoming wealthy, but more important the mindset that allows you to attain and enjoy wealth. Too often people become wealthy through the lottery, or an inheritance, perhaps a high paying job and find themselves even more miserable than they were before. The windfall didn’t solve their problems with their feelings and beliefs.

This collection of books is dated from the standpoint of being written well over fifty years ago. The phrasing and some of the illustrations are from social activities decades ago. However, the ideas in the book are as pertinent today as they were then. I enjoyed the books. You don’t have to read them in sequence, but if you do I think you’ll catch the thread of what is most important in the collection.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

A Cozy Bookshop Mystery

 

Ellie Christie is back in her hometown of Last Word, Colorado. She’s excited to restart her life particularly since she’s running her family bookstore,, the Book Chalet, with her sister Meg and their adorable cat, Agatha. Things seem to be going perfectly until a strange man enters the book shop. He’s obviously looking for someone.

He returns that night when the sisters and Gran are holding a séance. He leaves mysteriously and forgets his briefcase which contains an Agatha Christie novel written under the pseudonum, Mary Westmarcott. When the sisters see the man later, they follow him down the mountain in the gondola behind his hoping to see what he’s doing. They never get the chance. Before their gondola lands, a woman tries to enter the gondola the man rode in, but finds him dead. This catapults the sisters into the role of witnesses and sleuths in the best Agatha Christie tradition.

This cozy mystery has all the features to make it a fun read. The scene set in a small town in the mountains reached by gondola is a good background. What makes it even better is that Christmas is coming. The characters are quirky. The sisters are resourceful, and Agatha steals everyone’s heart.

I enjoyed the book. It’s a quick, relaxing read. At times I was annoyed with Ellie. She seemed to be missing clues right under her nose, but it was part of her character. If you love cozy mysteries, this is a good one.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

Ancient Egypt’s Experiment with Monotheism

 

The pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty have always fascinated me. Akhenaten and Nefertiti are particularly interesting. The reasons for Akhenaten’s withdrawal from the polytheistic worship of Amun, creation a single god in Aten, and his removal of the capital to a new city in the desert has been explored many times with varying degrees of scholarship. I found this book particularly well done.

The authors are archaeologists. They rely heavily on the evidence from art, tomb inscriptions, and the meager history of Akhenaten’s reign, He and Nefertiti were essentially erased from history by the priests of Amun after his death. The book is very scholarly, but relatively easy to read. Some of the descriptions of how to decipher hieroglyphics are slow going, but contain a lot of information that I had not come across before.

I liked that the book started with his father’s reign. It gave a more comprehensive picture of the Egyptian people and particularly the religious issues. The authors give detailed descriptions of the festivals based in large part on the tomb paintings. Each section starts with a fictionalized description of Egyptian life. At first I was put off by them, but gradually I appreciated that they added to the understanding of that period of Egyptian history.

If you’re interested in the 18^th dynasty, I highly recommend this book.

I received this book from Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for this review.

A Jogger Haunted by Finding a Dead Girl

 

People run away to New York City to find new lives, and sometimes it ends in tragedy. Alice Lee left her home in Wisconsin with $600 and her camera hoping to find a find a new life. Ruby Jones left Australia after a bad romance also hoping to remake her life. When jogging along the Hudson River, she finds a dead girl who turns out to be Alice. The girl is one of the anonymous people who are tagged Jane Doe, but Ruby finds she cares and wants to know who the girl was.

Alice has not yet crossed over. She connects with Ruby and tells her side of the story from the grave. Ruby is obsessed with the girl and finds she can’t stop thinking about death until she finds a group of friends she can talk to.

This is a murder mystery, but the mystery takes a backseat to the emotions of the characters. The story focuses on loneliness, loss, and connection. The women are very strong characters. The author pulls you into their lives and you find it hard to break away. The book starts slowly, but when you connect with the women, it’s hard to put down.

The background on New York City is accurate and well done. Set against this background, it makes what happened to these women very believable. I highly recommend it if you love mysteries that are more than police procedurals.

I received this book from Atria Marketing for this review.