Friday Book Review: Free - The Future Of A Radical Price

I was a fan of Chris Anderson's last book The Long Tail so I was eagerly awaiting his latest effort Free: The Future Of A Radical Price. Luckily my waiting was rewarded by Audible as they offered a free download of the audio book.

Free started as a February 2008 post on Wired. Mr. Anderson spent the better part of a year researching the book which makes the flap about his failed attribution of sections of the book to Wikipedia even more ironic.

Sadly this doesn't seem to be the only place where content has been cribbed from other sources in order to pad out the book. To my count, parts of the following books are discussed in Free:

• Unleashing the Idea Virus by Seth Godin
• Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
• Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky
• The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
• New Rules For The New Economy by Kevin Kelly
• The World Is Flat by Thomas L Friedman
• Freakonomics by Malcolm Gladwell
• The City and the Stars by Arthur C Clarke
• Down and out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
• The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
• Animal Farm by George Orwell

I agree with the basic premise of Free but I really didn't learn anything new by reading this book. Which is funny as I think my demographic would be the target audience for it. I guess it may be a different experience if you haven't already read the above books but if you have you can easily take a pass on Free.

The Ways to Decaffeinate Coffee

Not that you'd ever want to drink decaf but the process used to decaffeinate the coffee bean is quite interesting.

Coffee May Help Reverse Alzheimer's

Researchers in Florida have found that ingesting 500 milligrams of caffeine, equivalent to 5 cups of coffee, per day may help reverse the effects of Alzheimer's disease. All tests were done on mice but researchers hope to begin human trials soon.

Viagra Laced Coffee

Police raided a warehouse in Malaysia where a company was distributing a coffee laced with viagra. I know there is a joke in this news item somewhere. Please add your own punchline in the comments section.

Barista School

A local coffee shop owner is starting a barista school in Sacramento. Best quote from the article in reference to other coffee shops:

Calling those employees baristas, he says, "is like saying they have a chef at McDonald's."

Friday Book Review: Northlanders Vol. 01 - Sven The Returned

The Viking Age seems to be an era that would be rife for storytelling opportunities but other than Last Light Of The Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay I can't think of another book I've read on the subject. That is until I read Northlanders Vol. 01: Sven The Returned written by Brian Wood and art by David Gianfelice.

The plot of the story follows the familiar tale of the prodigal son. In this book Sven returns from his long self imposed exile as a soldier in the Mediterranean to his home village to claim his inheritance. His father was the chief of the clan and now his uncle rules using violence and superstition to keep the villagers in check.

When we first encounter Sven he doesn't care for anything but his money. He just wants to collect on his inheritance and return to his life in the Mediterranean. Of course it would be a pretty boring story if his uncle just handed over the money. Because of his uncle's lust for power he cannot fathom that Sven would renounce his claim on the leadership of the clan and throws many obstacles in his way. These challenges only succeed in having Sven grow up as a person and a leader.

Gianfelice art is spot on for this book. It's grim and dirty when it needs to be but also clean and beautiful as well.

The most common way I've heard this book described is Vikings Done Right! and that is a sentiment I couldn't agree more with.

Starbucks New Menu Launched

While we were busy celebrating Canada Day, Starbucks has launched their new menu at least in the States.