Losing the Signal

This book chronicles the story of Research in Motion (RIMM). That is the company that invented the BlackBerry communication device. Mike was the tech guy. He was interested in physics. He figured out how to send small text messages in the low bandwidth communications spectrum of yesteryear. Jim was the business guy who negotiated with tech giants.

Initially the BlackBerry was marked to business folks. It was a fast and reliable way to send messages. The company made money by charging fees to the communication companies that carried its traffic. It also made money selling the BlackBerry devices.

The most interesting and tragic part of the book is the fall of RIMM. The Apple iPhone came in with its capabilities and marketing blitz. This made RIMM falter on whether to continue using a physical keyboard or go like Apple with an on scree one. The final nail on the coffin was the release of the iPad. RIMM could not execute on its similar PlayBook tablet.

Eventually Mike and Jim, who were co-CEOs and co-chairmen of the board, had to step down from the top positions. They unanimously appointed a successor. But that guy then went in different directions and limited what these past CEOs could do in the company. Jim quit immediately. Mike quit a while later. This new CEO was fired in two years.

10 PRINT

The actual title of this book is 10 PRINT CHR$(205, 5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10

This book revolves around a one line BASIC program written to run on the Commodore 64 computer. It produces a maze on the screen. The book is highly academic. A lot of tangent ideas are covered in the book.

There are variants of the program. There are implementations on other computers. And there are related mazes coded. There is even code for the computer to traverse the maze. And then there is a game where the user tries to move through the maze.

The book itself is too academic for me. But it takes me back to the 1980s, where I programmed in BASIC on the TRS-80 Color Computer from Tandy/Radio Shack.

Parker : Apocalyse Survivor

I downloaded an eBook from 10 years ago to my Kindle. Read one third the way though before I realized I had read this book before. Parker is a survivor of a zombie apocalypse. He was a school janitor. Somehow he left his female companion behind.

Parker knew the gun store owner. He got a pistol and boxes of bullets from him for free. Parker went into a clothing store. He killed the zombie clerk. But the zombie manager bit him. Parker stumbled to a hospital for drugs. He had to shoot one zombie there. He barricaded himself into a room to hide from a horde of zombies.

Parker previously followed a woman into a grocery store. The woman lured him in there. She was going to shoot him. Parker talked his way out of it. The woman led Parker to her home. She had two kids and a husband who were zombies. They were chained to chair around the table. Parker had to punch the woman to get free.

A gang spotted Parker. He tried to get to the roof top. He shot the lock off a shed door. Pulled out the ladder and climbed to a ceiling hatch. The gang climbed an adjacent building. They also followed up through the hatch. Parker made a run for it, shooting a couple gang members.

The gang wanted to burn the building that Parker jumped onto. He went down the stairs and discovered an apartment with weaponry. He tossed two grenades to disorient the gang. Then he used a machine gun to destroy their fleeing motorcycles and cars. He finished the job at the crashed cars site with his final grenade.

Parker was lured into a fenced building by a security guard. The guard cooked Parker a steak dinner. But the guard had three zombie sex salves. Parker tricked the guard to let his guard down. The zombie slaves got the guard. Then Parker fled. This is where I realized I definitely read this book before.

The Night Country

This book is by one of my new favorite authors. Apparently a bunch of kids are in a car crash. There is a police officer somehow involved. I am not sure who these teens are, even though they talk a lot in the first couple chapters. I am not sure if they are already dead and are now ghosts. Not sure if the cop died too. I gave up reading this after a few chapters.

I think the author took a chance with something different here and failed. Surprised that a lot of people rated this highly on Amazon. Just must not be my cup of tea. I hope Stewart O'Nan does better next time.

A Navy SEAL's Bug-In Guide

This book tries to teach you how to prep for disaster. It tells you what type of food you should stockpile like popcorn and soup. It gives you a run down on seeds you should buy. It covers how to prepare for water needs. Also covered it how to prevent looting.

The book reviews alarms and traps. It covers mistakes newbies make regarding security. The book recommends guns you should own. It teaches you to keep a low profile. 

It also goes over how you can use solar generators for power. The book outlines how to deal with an EMP storm. It covers heating, insulation, and radio communications. You will find a list of medical supplies to stockpile.

You will learn basics to survive a nuclear blast. It helps you lay low when FEMA comes knocking. You will learn how to hide your supplies. Finally there are instructions to build a rainwater collections system.

Henry, Himself

Henry is an old man. He lives with his wife Emily and their dog Rufus. He was an engineer by trade. But he is long retired now. He tries to keep active, working in the yard. He makes frequent visits to Home Depot. His wife worries about him and has prohibited him from shoveling snow on the driveway any more.

Their kids are grown up with their own kids now. They come and visit now and then. Henry is worried about money. But they are not broke. There is a family vacation house that they visit regularly. The whole family comes and everybody pitches in for some house maintenance.

Henry is worrying about his death. His doctor took a leave of absence and died on him. He thinks he has set up life insurance so that his wife can life after he dies. He feels his body getting older. He does take his dog for walks all the time.

This book is by an author I discovered that I absolutely love. I think Henry is part of a family that I have or will read more books about. I look forward to it. There is no big ending. Henry just sees some deer as he is walking his dog, and wants to rush home to tell his wife about it.

Raw Dog

I received this book as a gift. Somebody saw a Tiktok video that said the story behind Auntie Anne's pretzels was told in it. Turns out this book is actually "The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs". Yes it does have a blurb about hos Auntie Anne's was started on page 25. But the book is definitely not the story of Auntie Anne's.

After getting past page 25, I decided to quit reading this thing. Yeah the author may have done some research on the history of hot dogs. And they seemed to have traveled the USA to eat the famous hot dogs. However the style was just not my cup of tea. 2 out of 10.