Rezensionen und Kommentare

Wie immer ein spannender Silberband aus der "guten alten Zeit" um das Jahr 2400 rum. ;-) Schöne Lektüre vor dem Einschlafen, coole Träume auslösend.

What I liked in this book

A good tutorial book for beginners with OpenSCAD. David Leithauser covers the basic principles of constructiong 3D objects by using a descriptive language. The reader learns how to create simple shapes, text and even 2D objects and extruding them to the Z axis.

There are also good chapters about how to create Joints, Screws, Snap-Ins and Gears. We also learn about the basic math functions.

After the first chapters I was able to create my first spare parts for Ikea shelf carriers and my postbox.

What I was missing

I would have liked to read about a few things more in this book:

First, how to get help online if you have a specific question or problem to solve. Are there any OpenSCAD user groups, facebook groups or whatever to ask for help?

Then I would have liked to get a bit deeper than just scratching the surface. For example, one of my basic questions regarding OpenSCAD is how to get round edges on my 3D objects. I heard that there is a "minkowski()" function that can help to to do this, but I really would have liked to see an example on that as well. Or on other functions that at the moment I don't even know about.

The missing parts led to 4 instead of 5 stars, nevertheless, the book is highly recommended for beginners. I read the printed book which comes from Amazon fulfillment and was printed in black and white (no colors except of the cover), but that wasn't a problem.

Wieder eine sehr spannende und schöne Sammlung an den "Raketenheften" wie mein Freund Martin sagen würde. Klar, die Story kenne ich schon, mehrfach gelesen, aber es ist trotzdem schön. Und ich bin ja jetzt in dem Alter in dem man auch mal was vergisst, also... ;-)

The author Rory Sutherland has a long experience in marketing, so according to common stereotypes of the relationship between engineering and marketing I, a software engineer, shouldn't like this book. Well, I have to say that this book is really extraordinary insightful.

The basic claim of this book is that there is not only a "logical" solution to problems, but also a "psychological" solution. And somtimes behavious is completely irrational which is not bad, as Sutherland explains on the example of a gazelle that flees from a predator and running zig-zag patterns that are completely random and unpredictable. Because if they would be predictable the predator could learn and have an advantage.

Sutherland is also citing great authors like Dan Ariely ("Predictably irrational") or Daniel Kahneman ("Thinking, fast and slow") when it comes to behavioural psychology. One interesting conclusion is the fact that we often value only things that can be measuered with a metric but we don't value things like "architecture".

Sutherland got my sympathy when he condemned the cost saving in economics as bullshit because all those decision makers usually do not consider what damage they do with their "downsize this" mentality. An example is that we invest in high speed trains to save time on travel, but sometimes it would be much easier and cheaper to save the same amount of time when switching trains in stations.

The author also tells you that the alchemists did great work, but since they were so obsessed to turn lead into gold they didn't notice the good things they created.

You get some insightful anectodes from marketing about rebranding stuff which makes things that nobody wanted to buy before suddenly skyrocket. You learn why doorhandles are a better design than door knobs (because you can use it even with your elbow) and that "less is more" on the example of the Sony Walkman that got the recording function removed in the beginning.

Sutherland also explains very well, why brands are important and that this signals to the customer, that you can trust the firm, because a brand has much more reputation to lose than a "no brand" company. I also learned that you have to get a 4 year training before you can become a taxi driver in London, this is why he trusts the London taxi drivers.

You learn about the signals that are there, but not obvious, but still give you messages. An example is a street cafe that puts out valueable seats and tables every day. This signals not only that they are open, but that they care.

One great quote is "a flower is just a weed with a marekting budget". What works with flowers also works with other lifeforms, even humans invest in "marketing" to attract potential sexual partners.

Sutherland also has some parts on Placebos and why they seem to work. An example is Red Bull which people think tastes bad, but besides that sells very good.

Theres a part about how we make decisions and how we build trust. Lessons I take away from that is that its better to be mostly right than perfectly wrong and that when you make decisions you should always think on about the worst case scenario. A impressive example is the flight that ended in the Hudson river after a bird strike that killed both engines. There was a slight chance to save the plane from getting wet and trying a landing at Teteboro airport, but if things would go wrong and the plane crashes people would die. So the better decision was landing in the river, even it this means losing the plane.

You learn a lot about decision making processes and also about perception, sometimes with some funny examples. You learn how you can influence people or deliver "bad news" in a way that they seem to be "good news". Sutherland is quoting Shakespeare here: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

At the end, this book is telling you to act a little bit less logical and be eager to try out even "crazy ideas". The reward could be a wonderland of miracles that you wouldn't have discovered by just acting "logical".

A really great and insightful book, highly recommended to read, even for engineers. ;-)

The only part I disagree with Sutherland is about the idea that you can postpone buying a new car for a while when you get your old car professinally cleaned because then the old car looks like a new car for a little price. Wouldn't have worked for me when I bought my last car, because the previous car had engine problems beyond repair.

An interesting book to read, even after Joe Biden was elected to be the next president of the United States. Sarah writes about a nation in despair, a country with lots of inner conflicts. She tells the history of the Trump clan and how they are connected to crimes, money laundering, Russian oligarchs and so on. Its a shame that with all this criminal record Donald Trump faced no legal consequences so far and was able to damage the democracy and international affairs during his presidency.

A remarkable advice for me is the following qoute from the book: "This is why I wrote that open letter encouraging people to write down who they were before autocratic consolidation took hold. I wanted Americans to have a way to remember what we thought of as normal and acceptable and track how far we have deviated."

A very wise advice, especially in the time of a global pandemic where you find out that lots of weird people are around that only care for themselves.

Now if you ask, why not 5 stars, then I need to explain that I got the impression that even while diagnosing more or less the critical condition of the US the author is still looking at some events like the whistleblowing of Eric Snowden with the eyes of an american patriot. Living in a country where the leaders were spied on by the NSA I see this a bit different than her.

Nevertheless, a book to recommend for reading. Hopefully the American nation has learned the lesson in 4 years of Trump's presidency.

Ein durchaus interessantes Buch für Leute die in der Lebenssituation "Paar mit Kind(ern)" stecken und bei denen sich einer der Erwachsenen von den Aufgaben des Familienmanagements überfordert fühlt. Hier bietet das Buch ein ein paar gute Ansätze zum gerechten Aufteilen der Aufgaben in der Familie. Zum Beispiel den sehr hilfreichen Tipp, dass man wenn man Aufgaben delegiert auch dazu sagen muss wie der Sollzustand bei Erledigung (Definition of Done) aussehen soll.

Für andere Lebenssituationen wie "alleinerziehend" oder "Partner ist behindert und braucht Pflege" bietet das Buch leider nicht viel an. Es liest sich wie ein Erfahrungsbericht der Autorin mit Hinweisen, was in ihrer ersten Beziehung schlecht lief und jetzt mit einem neuen Partner deutlich besser funktioniert.

Für mich als "Productivity Nerd" ist es auch interessant zu lesen, dass die Autorin immer wieder den "Mental Load" als die Überforderung definiert, sich als alleinig Verantwortliche(r) alles merken zu müssen. Hier kann ich nur auf David Allen "Getting Things Done" verweisen und den Spruch "Your brain is for having ideas, not for holding them". Viel von dem Stress der aus der Idee wächst, sich alles merken zu müssen kann man nämlich auch vermeiden, indem man die Dinge die man tun muss und will in einem externen System aufschreibt.

Insgesamt durchaus interessant abhängig von der Lebensituation des Lesers, aber nicht unbedingt so fesselnd dass man es nicht mehr aus der Hand legen will.

Da ich die epub-Version auf meinem Kobo-Reader gelesen habe hier noch als Anmerkung, dass in manchen Abschnitten die Umlaute sehr "merkwu"rdig" gesetzt sind, also genauso wie ich das geschrieben habe, die Punkte nicht über dem Buchstaben sondern im Leerzeichen daneben. Das scheint besonders of bei Zitaten zwischen ">>" und "<<" vorzukommen.