Getting Things Done
Posted by HDTV in eBooks May 26th, 2009 | No Comments
With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, “flow,” “mind like water,” and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you’d almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance.
Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do’s clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists–all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you’re working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed “the personal productivity guru,” suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)
As whole-life-organizing systems go, Allen’s is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can’t junk, The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant “in-basket”
That’s where the processing and prioritizing begin; in Allen’s system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen’s ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there’s anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It’s commonsense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment; Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belabored, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to soccer moms (who we all know are more organized than most CEOs to start with). –Timothy Murphy
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars Nearly impossible to read
The general system is about getting organized and getting lots of little things done, but I don’t know as that over all everyone will get more done with it unless you’re someone paralized by indecision about how to complete a project.
The problem is the writing in the book is AWFUL, even if the idea is good. 267 pages to describe an idea that could have been laid out in as little as 10. Not to mention all of the distracting quotes all over the place.
Presumably if you’re reading this book you’re a busy person, so I don’t know why he wastes your time repeating the same ideas over and over and over in the same chapter and then again in subsequent chapters. The publisher probably demanded the book be over 200 pages so people would feel like it was a good value for the price. As if they would say “Gosh look at all this information I’ll be getting for just a few bucks!”
If you don’t like repetitive, vague, obvious instruction, you might want to read a couple websites about the system and just get on with your life.
4 Stars Really Helped Simplify My Life
I kept reading mentions about GTD in blogs and articles but I’m very resistant to trying fads and the “happening” trend. However, I’m trying to improve myself this year and one of my goals is to get myself organized. So, when I saw the book in an airport bookstore, I thought it might be a sign.
Like some other reviewers, I have to agree that Allen is overly repetitive; he could have easily written the book in half the pages. Still, the book really did change my life — I know it’s cliche.
I’ve tried making lists and keeping up with them before. I’ve tried all sorts of methods for organizing my life. I’m a creative mind stuck in a routine world and I’ve never got the hang of schedules and doing things all orderly, but lately I’d been feeling lost at work. Too many little things were flitting through my mind needing to be done.
The GTD method was exactly what I needed. Now I’m really good at putting every little detailed task down for work projects and I feel so much more relaxed on the weekends because I can check my GTD list home context for household projects and chores and work on things that need to be done around the house. Now I’m not worrying about what I need to get done when I get home while I’m at work and vice versa. I know it’s written down so it’ll be taken care of. I even have ticklers set up to remind me to call the pharmacy each month for refills so I won’t be waiting to the last minute any more.
Now, if I could just get the dog and cats to do the chores on the list for me while I’m not at home, then it really would be stress-free productivity. 
5 Stars He becomes the good angel over your shoulder…
OK, so maybe, just maybe I have some sort of strange crush on this guy–(don’t worry my husband is all for it). I like his books and I like his style. I like to listen to him read the book, and find myself sticking the CD in whenever I get distracted–which is painfully often–(hey, did I just see something shiny?). The idea of collecting and sorting all the bits and bobs that make up the modern life is almost idiot savant in it’s simplicity–probably why it works. Do I follow him as much as I should? Nope, it’s a process, but he does become a voice in your head when a tidal wave of “stuff to do” is looming and it can be very calming. I think calmly approaching it all may be his strength and I applaud him for it. He’s helped me tremendously–what more can you ask for? I love his sense of humor about it all. He has no illusions about his role in helping out the world. He can train us to “get things done” and no matter what your goals are, the completion of your decided tasks is key. Yep, I’m a BIG fan and this is a great book.
5 Stars The Standard by Which All Others are Judged
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivityis arguably the authoritative resource for getting your productivity act together. The tips and insight David Allen gives in this book are magic. I started seeing results the same day I started.
I think most people focus on the ability to cross things off their lists faster when they look to read this book, but I don’t think that is the biggest insight it provides. I think the biggest insight it provides is that a system that eliminates “stuff” and categorizes it frees up tremendous volumes of cognitive resources. I was shocked at how much of my brain was tied up trying not to forget stuff. As soon as I implemented the techniques in this book I was a little more relaxed and found myself able to more fully focus on the task at hand whether it is writing a report or participating in a meeting. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is challenged not only by keeping up with the workload but by those who seem to have a difficult time focusing and don’t know why.
5 Stars Great services
Great service. During shipping 1st cd was broken. They turn around and send me new 1st CD. Within schedule time.
His Majestys Dragon
Posted by HDTV in eBooks May 25th, 2009 | No Comments
In this delightful first novel, the opening salvo of a trilogy, Novik seamlessly blends fantasy into the history of the Napoleonic wars. Here be dragons, beasts that can speak and reason, bred for strength and speed and used for aerial support in battle. Each nation has its own breeds, but none are so jealously guarded as the mysterious dragons of China. Veteran Capt. Will Laurence of the British Navy is therefore taken aback after his crew captures an egg from a French ship and it hatches a Chinese dragon, which Laurence names Temeraire. When Temeraire bonds with the captain, the two leave the navy to sign on with His Majesty’s sadly understaffed Aerial Corps, which takes on the French in sprawling, detailed battles that Novik renders with admirable attention to 19th-century military tactics. Though the dragons they encounter are often more fully fleshed-out than the stereotypical human characters, the author’s palpable love for her subject and a story rich with international, interpersonal and internal struggles more than compensate. (Apr.)
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Sarahs Key
Posted by HDTV in eBooks May 25th, 2009 | No Comments
Starred Review. De Rosnay’s U.S. debut fictionalizes the 1942 Paris roundups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held at the Vélodrome d’Hiver outside the city, then transported to Auschwitz. Forty-five-year-old Julia Jarmond, American by birth, moved to Paris when she was 20 and is married to the arrogant, unfaithful Bertrand Tézac, with whom she has an 11-year-old daughter. Julia writes for an American magazine and her editor assigns her to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vél’ d’Hiv’ roundups. Julia soon learns that the apartment she and Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand’s family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers—especially about Sarah, the only member of the Starzynski family to survive—the more she uncovers about Bertrand’s family, about France and, finally, herself. Already translated into 15 languages, the novel is De Rosnay’s 10th (but her first written in English, her first language). It beautifully conveys Julia’s conflicting loyalties, and makes Sarah’s trials so riveting, her innocence so absorbing, that the book is hard to put down. (July)
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User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars An Unexplored Facet of French World War II History
Holocaust fiction seems to be a recently-reinvigorated sub-genre, and as such, ‘Sarah’s Key’ requires contextualization against the other players. The book is well-written and evenly-paced such that it can be read with equal amounts enthusiasm and without waning patience. The characters are developed enough to relate to, but still maintain some stock-fiction traits. In summary, though, the story told by de Rosnay is one of striking complexity, depth, and development.
In terms of originality, this book really succeeds: the story isn’t a familiar one, and it’s really quite well done. Without being overly ‘preachy’ or reliant upon moralistic upbraiding, ‘Sarah’s Key’ manages to still explore and excavate the depth of humane responsibility for one another. Rarely is the impact of the Nazi rule in Germany explored so frankly and honestly within the realm of French history.
5 Stars compelling
A must read for those who don’t want to forget the Holocaust. Tho fiction based on fact, it was very informative on the French Jews during WWII. You won’t put it down once you start reading, and will make you realize we need to guard against this happening again.
3 Stars only slightly above average execution of a parallel storyline
Anyone but me getting a little weary of this technique? While initially engaging, the story seemed to bog down about 2/3′s way thru.
Found the protagonist’s marital woes completely transparent–I believe anyone could have telegraphed the ending after the initial problem was revealed. Modern characters were barely even sketched out–more like pen drawings than fully-fleshed out participants in the story.
But as much as the modern story disappointed, the story of the round-ups at the Vel d’Hiver was pretty gripping. The drama was intense, the tragedies real (and plentiful). This book also broadened my understanding of that dark period in France’s past.
So a solidly good if not great book.
5 Stars Great, emotional story
Didn’t know much about France’s involvement — it was a history lesson plus a great heart-wrenching story.
5 Stars Sarahs Key
Amazing book. This book brought me to every emotion possible and also gave me further insight into this very tragic time. Written with such depth and knowledge. This is a book I will never forget.
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