Rick

Should have called "The Start"

Revisado: 11-06-24

Don't get me wrong, it was an interesting story about the first phase of Van Halen. I guess the whole thing really ended when Eddie recorded Beat It. Sad they all couldn't get over themselves.

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How misguided the author is

Revisado: 01-30-24

Please look elsewhere for help. I’m sure the author has good intentions, but this is just plain bad advice based on faulty logic

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Perhaps multiply his time estimates by 10

Revisado: 11-06-21

I actually really enjoyed this book and find the entire topic and the technologies he's highlighting fascinating. That said, the book came out in 2012 so we're almost 10 years out and one can't ignore that most of the things he claimed we'd have in 5 to 10 years have not come to fruition as of yet.

I still think the overall message of the book is worthwhile and I too am optimistic about the future. I just think it's gonna take a little more time (perhaps multiply his estimates by 10). And with that in mind, I do think we need to look for more solutions NOW to address the many problems in the world (ex mRNA vaccinations).

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Thought provoking, already getting dated

Revisado: 12-03-20

Enjoyed this book and found it thought-provoking. In a sign of just how fast things are moving these days, some of the author's observations are already dated.

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Some great content, too bad the reading was iffy

Revisado: 02-25-19

First off, I've never listened to a book on Audible before that has so many misreadings and studders. I found it quite distracting and this is a very short book in print, it probably would take a lot less than 4 hours to get through it if it was read smoothly.

That said, there is some truly great content in this book. Whether Equity Crowdfunding is really going to catch on and show the same sort of returns that traditional Angel Investing has shown is certainly a matter of debate (I personally feel the vast majority of the best deals are going to stick to the more traditional routes, so finding those truly great companies is going to be a lot tougher for equity crowdfunders). However, the content about how to analyze and value a company is really fantastic, worth the price of the book alone.

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A worthy, if imperfect, addition to the story

Revisado: 06-21-18

Jeez, I'm left wondering what the author really thinks of the Leshs. Jk!

As a fan for the last three and half decades, the majority of my "time" with the Grateful Dead has been during the time frame covered by this book. Having read pretty much every biography, watched every documentary, and spent more time then I should reading rumor and hearsay on the Internet, I appreciate the author's attempt to fill in this part of the story.

I'll first admit my bias, in the years since the passing of Jerry Garcia I've pretty much seen every project that the boys have put out there, and for me, Phil and Friends has consistently been the most interesting musically as well as community wise. Reading this book, that comes as no surprise. For a group of guys that are self-admittedly bad business people in a band and industry with a long history of bad business decisions, it seems that at the turn of the millennium, Phil and Jill really made the most effort to understand what the fans wanted and how to deliver that in a way that was rewarding (both artistically and financially) for themselves.

Based on what I've read and observed over the years, this book seems to basically get the facts correct (and in several cases, they weren't nearly as nefarious as the Internet rumors might have one believe). Where I personally think the author may have gone a little too far is in attributing individual's motivations behind those facts for people who were not interviewed for the book.

Was Phil really looking to "cripple" Dark Star Orchestra (and the "tribute" bands in general) when inviting John Kadlecik to join Furthur? That seems far-fetched. DSO has had many line-up changes over the years, and has done just fine in the years since JK left (in fact, they seem to be doing better than ever today). Not to mention, Furthur spawned Joe Russo's Almost Dead and the ongoing Internet battle over whether JRAD or DSO is the greatest Dead tribute band. Indeed, it seems the projects that all four men have created over the years (but Phil in particular in sheer numbers) have left a long trail of musicians with an even closer connection to the music and an even stronger will to keep it alive.

Was Phil's reconsidering of the Doug Irwin guitar issue really so out of left field and such a bad idea? Yes, Irwin made his "millions" auctioning them off, but I've seen Wolf and Tiger played numerous times over the years and Wolf recently was used to raise over $3M for charity. Personally, that seems a much more fitting use of these guitars than just having them hanging in a museum. Perhaps we should trust the Dead Heads (even the really rich ones).

These are just a couple examples where I believe the author missed the mark. A couple others, sure Phish has largely avoided playing Dead tunes, but Trey hardly was a newbee to the repertoire when asked to play in 2015 (the author seems to forget Phil and Phriends in 1999; Phil, Trey, and Medeski in 2006, and numerous other sit-ins). Of course, that in no way minimizes the effort Trey put in for those shows.

WIth Dead and Co rolling strong, it's hard for me to understand why Weir would have done the Phil and Bobby Duo shows in 2018 if the author's interpretation tells the whole story.

In his final dig at the Leshs, the author chooses to take Phil to task for his singing during the Fare Thee Well shows. I'm one of the many who chanted "Let Phil Sing" in the late 80s and early 90s, and as I fan I long ago came to terms with Phil's singing. I have no problem with Phil and Bobby wanting to sing some of their old friend's songs on stage (and let me say, while Weir truly is one of the great rock singers of all time, I don't find him singing Garcia's songs anymore "authentic" then Lesh singing them, in fact since the Weir/Garcia tradeoff was a staple of GD shows, I sometimes find Weir insisting on singing so many of the songs even more out of place). But, as Bobby's shirt said, "Let Trey Sing." I would point out that in many of Lesh's more established lineups, like The Q and the Jackie Greene lineup, Phil did, in fact, take much more of a back seat as a lead singer.

The one thing that this (and no) book will ever change is that the Grateful Dead, and it's members, are true American treasures. I'm sorry it hasn't been easier, but what an amazing trip it's been and continues to be. Many thanks to Phil, Bobby, Billy, and Mickey (Pigpen, Keith, Brent, Vince, Bruce, & Donna), as well as the continually expanding group of musicians keeping this music alive, for the joy you have brought to the world. I didn't agree with everything in the book but enjoyed reading it, especially all the happy memories it brought back as I recalled living through these events.

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Falls far short of potential

Revisado: 07-19-15

What disappointed you about The Misfit Economy?

I'm really fascinated by the subject matter of this book and was very excited for its release. Unfortunately, the book fell far short of its promise. Rather than making a coherent case or argument as to why "misfits" lead on innovation and creativity, it was really just a random collection of stories. It felt like the authors started with the conclusion they wanted to make, then took a bunch of random stories and tried to fit them to their thesis. They failed.

Would you ever listen to anything by Alexa Clay and Kyra Maya Phillips again?

If I read great reviews of a future work I would consider it, but based on this book I wouldn't.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The book is engaging, the stories are short and digestible. The problem was, they didn't tie together in any meaningful way.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Misfit Economy?

I just would have insisted on a better flow that build a case as each story was told.

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Read if you are brand new to this & need an intro

Revisado: 11-26-14

Would you try another book from Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares and/or Drew Cuthbertson?

Probably not

Who do you think would benefit most from listening to Traction?

Someone brand new to the topic.

Any additional comments?

There are so many blogs and articles about this topic and you can find all this info on the Internet for free. Not a bad job of compiling it all in one place, but nothing really new here.

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An important FACT based book on entrepeneurship

Revisado: 04-29-14

Would you listen to The Founder’s Dilemmas again? Why?

Yes, I will refer to the book often as it is full of interesting facts and figures

What did you like best about this story?

I appreciated the research based findings.

What does Mark Mosely bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Honestly, this might be a better book to read in print and refer back too, but it was an entertaining, easy listen in the car too

Any additional comments?

So many entrepreneurship books are just stories and anecdotes, this one is actually based on the findings of research. It's really fascinating!

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Oddly (i.e. poorly) organized book

Revisado: 04-22-14

What disappointed you about The Lean Entrepreneur?

I'm sure the authors are excellent lean startup consultants, but this book is very poorly organized and never really seems to get to the point. It just sort of rambles on, using all the lean startup buzzwords, and never builds any sort of case. Overall, I was ready to turn it off after an hour, but powered through.

Would you ever listen to anything by Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits again?

Probably, may they could get another author to help them organize their next book...

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I liked the idea of having cases mixed in, but they were so short and basic that they didn't really add anything (I can read more in depth about this sort of stuff online).

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Lean Entrepreneur?

I would have cut it up and reorganized it. At times, they use terms (like vanity metrics) freely as if we already know them (and that's probably a safe assumption), then much farther into the book they go into detail defining the term. It just wasn't well organized.

Any additional comments?

Honestly, while I love the whole Lean Startup thing, it's really nothing new that successful entrepreneurs haven't been doing implicitly and explicitly for many years. Eric Reis did an excellent job of laying out the principals eloquently in his book, that's why he's now the "father" of Lean Startup. Sadly, far too many of the other authors that write on this subject lack the eloquence and cohesiveness that Eric has in writing about and explaining these ideas.

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