Customer Reviews:
Try to never need this book - but when you need it, buy it!.......2007-05-17
The very first page of this book defines what the author means by a "Death March"; any project whose project parameters exceeds the norm by more than fifty percent. In essence, this book is meant to help you in those unpleasant circumstances when you've got half the amount of time, half the amount of staff, or half the amount of money that you would rationally need to finish a project.
Unsurprisingly, Yourdon advises anyone reading the book to avoid these projects as much as possible, even counseling that it is sometimes better to resign early rather than sacrifice your health and professional reputation trying to do the impossible. But if you feel compelled to embark on a Death March, this book is an invaluable guide to the pain that lays ahead.
One of the reasons the book is so valuable is that it articulates many of the things we would like to think are common sense. These are items that, when you read them for the first time, make you think "of course that's true". But if you ask yourself whether or not you would have instinctively and firmly followed the advice, the answer is often no. I found the chapters on politics and negotiation (2 & 3 respectively) to be particularly helpful in this way. OF COURSE I should negotiate the scope and the specific team members needed at the start of a death march project, but reading Yourdon's words I came to the realization that my first reaction is instinctively "we'll make it happen" rather than the sometimes appropriate "we've only got a chance if I can have..." It's important to get gut checks like this before you find yourself in the middle of a tense situation so that you can anticipate your own feelings and counter them when necessary.
Another very interesting concept is the Triage system described in chapter 5. This is based on the idea that, no matter what else happens in a death march, the team will not be able to deliver 100% of the features that are initially asked for. I actually see a very strong argument here for using some of the newer Agile project management methods, where the items that deliver the most value are implemented first and evaluated by the end users. Combining such a system with a triage effort on behalf of the project manager and management could, on occasion, allow a death march project to produce nearly 100% of the value required without completing 100% of the features.
There is much else in here that is useful, especially on the subjects of why people participate in these sorts of projects and what they expect to get out of them. If it's impossible for you to avoid a Death March, make sure you've read this book before you plunge in.
Average.......2007-03-30
It is mostly a synopsis of ideas from several better books (e.g. Peopleware). I'd suggest reading them instead. Of course, the bibliography from this book is very useful. It is a decent guide to what resources are available for dealing with Death March projects.
I've survived several death marches..........2006-08-14
Many organizations cannot survive Death Marches. Exceptions are the federal government and university hospitals. It's a pity that those most in need of this information are highly resistant to learning about the problem until it's too late. The innocent seldom go unpunished. The perpetrators are promoted. Example's of Putt's Law at work.
mv
Great Book.......2005-04-21
Reading this book you will realize that it all relates to your experiences. I personally appreciate books that I can relate to and that are not just theoretical.
This is a must read for all developers and their managers.
Learn from experience - we (software engineers & managers) do not always re-invent the wheel.
Software development is a defective industry.......2005-01-25
Death March does a great job of explaining what is wrong with the software development industry--and the problems are pervasive and horrible. I have been involved in plenty of disasters myself (everybody has), and I got a crick in my neck from wagging my head up and down as I read. Perhaps the most therapeutic part of the book is finding out that you are not the only one, and the grass is probably brown across the fence at the next company, too.
I loved the Napoleon quote: "It follows that any commander in chief that undertakes to carry out a plan which he considers defective is at fault; he must put forth his reason, insist on the plan being changed, and finally tender his resignation rather than be the instrument of his army's downfall." Great advice unless there are no alternatives and the Barbarians are storming the gates.
Yourdon does review the options for a team lead faced with no-win situations, and the book is useful for helping you think clearly and cast a wide net for solutions when you feel despondent and desperate. The oft-reiterated advice to quit is something I have done in the most egregious situations, and there is nothing like the feeling of relief when you walk out of a pressure-cooker for the last time. But realistically, you have to pay your bills.
What I can advise is to read this book to understand the sickness, and then do the best you can to change the industry. The problems are endemic, but plenty of other professions have reached a point where they can realiably estimate projects and complete them successfully (e.g. construction and building trades, manufacturing, even military planning).
Of course, you may want to move up in management, but then you might become part of the problem. This book could help you gain some vision for leading a successful IT organization. Arm yourself with knowledge and start a crusade as an enlightened IT leader!
Average customer rating:
- A Competent Job
- Anyone for a quick airport book?
- Good book!
- Another fabulous Silva book!
- Silva explores Europe's still-lingering denial/amnesia about the Holocaust
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A Death in Vienna
Daniel Silva
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ASIN: 0399151435
Release Date: 2004-02-23 |
Amazon.com
Gabriel Allon hasn't been back to Vienna since his wife and child died there in a terrorist bombing. But when his mentor in the Israeli intelligence agency dispatches him to the Austrian capitol to investigate a murderous explosion at the Wartime Claims and Inquiry Office, his presence alerts the attention of police officials who have reasons to stand in the way of his investigation. When a concentration camp survivor is killed who could link the father of Austria's next chancellor to Nazi atrocities and an ongoing coverup by the Catholic Church, Allon discovers another connection to the conspiracy, this one closer to his own past than he could ever have imagined. This is the third of Silva's thrillers featuring Allon, the art restorer who's also a spy (The Confessor and The English Assassin are the first two). In an endnote, the author calls them a "completed cycle dealing with the unfinished business of the Holocaust." Allon is such a compelling hero that one hopes Silva, a skilled craftsman and a terrific story-teller, will bring him back in another series. --Jane Adams
Book Description
The sins of the past reverberate into the present, in an extraordinary novel by the new master of international suspense.
It was an ordinary-looking photograph. Just the portrait of a man. But the very sight of it chilled Allon to the bone.
Art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Vienna to authenticate a painting, but the real object of his search becomes something else entirely: to find out the truth about the photograph that has turned his world upside down. It is the face of the unnamed man who brutalized his mother in the last days of World War II, during the Death March from Auschwitz. But is it really the same one? If so, who is he? How did he escape punishment? Where is he now?
Fueled by an intensity he has not felt in years, Allon cautiously begins to investigate; but with each layer that is stripped away, the greater the evil that is revealed, a web stretching across sixty years and thousands of lives. Soon, the quest for one monster becomes the quest for many. And the monsters are stirring...
Rich with sharply etched characters and prose, and a plot of astonishing intricacy, this is an uncommonly intelligent thriller by one of our very best writers.
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"The sins of the past reverberate into the present, in an extraordinary novel by the new master of international suspense. Art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Vienna to authenticate a painting, but the real object of his search becomes something else entirely: to find out the truth about the photograph that has turned his world upside down. It is the face of the unnamed man who brutalized his mother in the last days of World War II, during the Death March from Auschwitz. But is it really the same one? If so, who is he? How did he escape punishment? Where is he now? Fueled by an intensity he has not felt in years, Allon cautiously begins to investigate; but with each layer that is stripped away, the greater the evil that is revealed, a web stretching across sixty years and thousands of lives. Soon, the quest for one monster becomes the quest for many. And the monsters are stirring... Rich with sharply etched characters and prose, and a plot of astonishing intricacy, this is an uncommonly intelligent thriller by one of our very best writers."
Customer Reviews:
A Competent Job.......2007-03-28
"A Death in Vienna," its author Daniel Silva has written,"completes a cycle of three novels dealing with the unfinished business of the holocaust." In doing so, Silva has crafted a tight, fast-moving, well-grounded spy novel. In knowledgeable circles,this author's work is reputed to be accurate on the spycraft, and to be informed on the procedures of Israel's spy agency, Mossad; and America's, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
This novel centers on Gabriel Allon, Israeli son of a holocaust survivor, raised on a kibbutz, widely considered an excellent art restorer, secretly an Israeli spy/hitman. There's been a fatal bombing in Vienna, at an office similar to that of famed holocaust survivor/Nazi investigator Elie Wiesel. Allon speaks a native Berliner's German, learned at the knee of his mother, a holocaust survivor, and he knows Vienna, from previous operations there, so the Israeli secret service sends him back. He's not welcome back, as a result of those previous operations -- despite the fact that spies have traditionally been thick on the ground in that city for most of the 20th century. But there he is, looking into the office's last case. This brings him to Rome, where he investigates the Vatican's checkered role in the holocaust, and the aftermath of World War II; and to Latin America, where many fugitive Nazis settled. He soon realizes this case will reach out to touch him personally, through his late mother.
The author's characters are individuated and well-drawn, and his writing is resonant. He's witty and terse, too. At one point he writes, discussing a CIA safe house:" the safe house is located in a corner of the Virginia horse country where wealth and privilege meet the hard reality of rural southern life." It's no wonder he's considered one of the more competent spy novelists working today.
Anyone for a quick airport book?.......2007-02-11
Let me start and say this is the only Silva book I've read. I've been seeing Silva put out a Gabriel Allon book every year or so and decided that if the character has warranted so many books, it must be worth something. How wrong was I!
Let me start with the good. The book has a good flow and pace and is, in general, a quick fun read (hence an airport book). The Holocaust research is also interesting and well adapted into the story. Unfortunately, my praise ends about there. The plot is simplistic (zero twists), the characters are very shallow (one was involved in kidnapping Eichmann and the other in hunting the '72 Olympics murderers - WOW!!!) and underdeveloped and the story leaves much to be desired.
I said this was my first Silva book and I must say (unless I'm at the airport again) it will probably be my last. Whoever in the Chicago Sun-Times rated Silva as the new John Le Carre, should reread any Le Carre.
Good book!.......2007-01-04
I have just started reading Daniel Silva and this book was good, but sometimes the characters names were hard to remember and I had to go back and find out who was who. Other than that, the storyline was good!
Another fabulous Silva book!.......2007-01-03
I have read all of Silva's books so far - and I love each one. He is an excellent writer. He makes it difficult to read other authors after reading one of his books!
Silva explores Europe's still-lingering denial/amnesia about the Holocaust.......2006-12-05
Daniel Silva may not be welcome in certain circles of the European elite, thanks to his series of novels featuring Israeli assassin/world-class art restorer Gabriel Allon. Using Allon as a very capable protagonist, Silva has explored the unsavory present-day connections with the Holocaust that Switzerland and the Vatican would prefer the rest of us forget. With "A Death in Vienna," Silva turns his remorseless pen to the birthplace of Adolph Hitler, Austria.
As one character remarks, only the Austrians could convince the world that Beethoven was an Austrian and Hitler a German. While most of us think of Austria in terms of alpine vistas and Mozart, Silva reminds us that Austria has largely avoided the condemnation that history foisted on its deserving neighbor, Germany. "A Death in Vienna" is not set in a specific year, but it's clear that in the latter half of the twentieth century, Austria still had some unresolved issues.
In a gripping opening chapter, an Israeli who makes his living tracking down Nazi war criminals is nearly killed when a bomb destroys his office. The Viennese police are only too willing to blame Islamic extremists, but Ari Shamron, former head of Israeli intelligence, knows better. He enlists Allon to do some investigating, intuiting that Allon's lethal skills will be required in this endeavor.
What follows is a pell-mell investigation that tracks from Europe to Israel to Argentina and back, as Allon discovers connections between the Holocaust and the current right-wing candidate for Austrian Prime Minister. Naturally, these are the kind of secrets that get people bumped off, and Silva keeps the pulse pounding as Allon digs deeper and deeper into the mysteries.
Allon is also forced to confront his own past as he learns of the connection between the Austrian PM candidate and his own mother, a survivor of Auschwitz. Indeed, the most riveting section of the book is the narrative history of his own mother Allon uncovers in the Israeli Holocaust archives. While perhaps the contents of this memoir aren't completely original for those of us who have seen "Schindler's List" or done even a modicum of research into the topic, but Silva writes with such a moving sense of place and person that the pages tear by.
Ultimately, "A Death in Vienna" is a thriller - complete with short chapters, action-packed scenes, and lethal and exotic characters all around. But it succeeds as both a thriller and as an exploration of one of Austria's dirty little secrets. By virtue of being "about something," "A Death in Vienna" gets a higher ranking than your standard airplane-thriller fare.
Book Description
An account of the extraordinary strength and courage exhibited by americans under the extreme and seemingly unending stress of three and a half years of captivity under the Japanese on Bataan. Photographs and maps.
Customer Reviews:
Gripping AND Complete!.......2007-08-25
This book is both Gripping AND Complete. It may not be conventional in the way it is written, but it certainly carries you every step of the way. It will grip your soul and force you to see the depths of humanity. Both the good and bad. This is a must read for anyone who is even slightly contemplating reading it. My heart goes out to all servicemen and servicewomen past, present, and future. As well as thier families. Thank you for your sacrifices!
Death March.......2005-09-14
Have not read the book as yet but pleased with prompt delivery.
Such a great book........2004-12-14
I am a college student and I originally picked this book up to due research for a project of the Japanese atrocities of WWII. While I specifically picked up for the accounts on the Death March, I ended up reading it cover to cover. The more I read more it became useful for information on the Hell Ships and the conditions of the labor camps. It's a shame that while the stories of the concentration camps of Nazi Germany are told and retold the horrors in the Pacific Theater are barely talked about. The stories that the soldiers tell of struggle and hardship show the true heroism. I often find myself with them hoping them on. I completely recommend this book for anyway with any interest.
A First-Hand Account of the Atrocities of War.......2003-06-05
Author Donald Knox has taken personal narratives from over sixty survivors of the Bataan death march and combined them into this gripping story of the struggle to survive. On April 9, 1942, the penninsula of Bataan fell into Japanese hands. The surrendering Americans were then subjected to a ninety mile march without adequate food or water. Men were shot and bayonetted for sport by the Japanese. Once the Americans reached their prison camp, they were herded into a tiny area with only two water spigots. Hundreds of men died each day from dysentery, malaria, and starvation. Many healthy men were soon reduced to skeletons. Others simply refused to go on any further. Still others found that the only way they could survive was to find a friend to help them get through.
After two to three years of living in this nightmare, the American forces returned to liberate the Philippines. Fearing that the prisoners would be liberated by the returning Americans, the Japanese loaded the surviving POWs into "Hell Ships"; massively overcrowded freighters to be transferred to the Japanese home islands. Some of the men went mad, while others drowned when their ships were sunk by American submarines. Once in Japan, the men were forced to work long hours in Japanese factories and mines while still receiving little in the way of food or medical care. The conditions in the Japanese labor camps were as unimaginable as they were in the Philippines; little food and water and constant beatings by the Japanese guards.
I've read several oral history books about World War II, and this book is one of the best. Knox lets the survivors' stories create this book. I was in awe of the horrible conditions that these men were forced to survive under. It is a true testament to the human spirit that these men were able to overcome the merciless beatings and the extermely meager food and water rations they received to survive and return home. Anyone who questions why the Americans used the atomic bomb should read about the Bataan prisoners and what they were forced to endure. I highly recommend this fine piece of oral history. Read it and understand what some of the true heroes of World War II did for their country.
GRIPPING ... COULDN'T PUT THE BOOK DOWN!!!!.......2003-03-15
As a descendant of soldiers who were in the Philippine Scouts (they survived the March by escaping into the jungle), I found the first hand accounts of Americans who were there fascinating. It gave me a feeling of being there. It's a story about survival and the indomitable spirit of man.It's amazing what men will do to survive in stressful conditions and adversity. It separates the men from the boys, the strong from the weak.
I'm not accustomed to reading books in the first hand account style, but I found it more interesting to read the text as opposed to the typical factual style that a history book would have.
This a great read for you military history buffs out there! It's almost as good as sitting down with the vets and hearing them telling you their experiences.
Amazon.com
Crime fiction seems lately to have regained its fascination with investigators born into affluent circumstances, an archetype that was popular during the genre's "golden age" (between World Wars I and II) but was later eclipsed by more cynical and less solvent sleuths. Ethan Black, for instance, has won a following with his multimillionaire Manhattan police detective, Conrad Voort (At Hell's Gate). David Cray's Dead Is Forever introduced Philip Beckett, the black sheep progeny of a wealthy New York clan, who supplements his trust-fund allotments with whatever he can earn as private eye. And Peter Spiegelman's Black Maps (2004) gave us John March, a county sheriff's deputy-turned-gumshoe, whose history as the rebellious offspring of a New York banking dynasty positions him well to probe nefarious doings among Wall Street habitués.
Death's Little Helpers, the second March outing, finds this conscientious and compassionate PI working for Nina Sachs, a prickly Brooklyn artist whose ex-hubby, onetime celebrity stock-market analyst Gregory Danes, has abruptly dropped out of sight, leaving her short of both alimony and child-support payments for their peevish teenage son, Billy. The egomaniacal Danes, who'd helped clients make their fortunes during the booming 1990s, only to then go "from hero to goat overnight" because of a bad call regarding an over-inflated software enterprise, has more than his fair share of enemies. Among them: investors who had trusted his advice; a mistress, Linda Sovitch--"the blond glossy host" of a must-see cable-TV business show--who loved him as long as he could make her look good on the tube; the head legal counsel at Danes's investment firm, who's nervous about a federal investigation and had argued with the analyst just before he vanished; and a smart but pathologically private hedge-fund manager. As March digs deeper into Danes's history and habits, he strikes up a mutually beneficial alliance with a Ukrainian mobster, who already has his hooks deep into Danes's ne'er-do-well brother, and draws unwanted attention from Jeremy Pflug, the unscrupulous owner of a private intelligence service, who thinks nothing about intimidating March's family or his girlfriend, "CEO-for-hire" Jane Lu, in order to earn a buck.
Spiegelman knows this territory well (he's a financial-services vet himself), and twists together a hurtling plot that makes clear how short the distance can be between boardroom and gutter. He occasionally over-describes his scenes, sends his protagonist on far too many head-clearing runs around town, and could have done more to make March's fraying relationship with Lu interesting, or at least unusual. However, the author compensates nicely with a textured and emotion-laden portrayal of Billy Danes, a confused boy for whom "the closest thing he has to a grown-up in his life" is Ines Icasa, Nina Sachs's Spanish lover and business associate. Black Maps won a Shamus Award. Death's Little Helpers should win Spiegelman a still wider following. --J. Kingston Pierce
Book Description
From Peter Spiegelman, author of the award-winning Black Maps (“A stunner, a great debut roaring out of the gate”—Newsday), a relentlessly exciting, masterfully written new thriller featuring New York City private investigator John March.
This time March has been hired to find missing Wall Street analyst Gregory Danes. Once ubiquitous on television, Danes’s star went into steep decline along with the stock market: now he’s best known for his volatile temper and his obsession with restoring his tattered reputation.
His ex-wife, a fashionable painter, wants to know why the alimony checks have stopped arriving. But what appears to be a straightforward missing persons case quickly becomes something much more deadly. March unearths a rat’s nest of family strife, business betrayals, and deceptions, and finds that Danes left a long line of enemies in his troubled wake—some of whom are also hunting for the missing man.
March’s investigation now takes on a terrifying urgency as it leads him through the corrupt corridors of white-collar crime and the underworld of the Russian mob, and into the more intricate maze of the human heart.
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"As a husband, he was a lying, selfish prick," Nina Sachs said, and lit yet another cigarette. Her silver lighter caught the late-April sun as it came through the big windows. She flicked a strand of auburn hair away from her face and blew a plume of smoke at the high ceiling. "And as a father, he's no better. But he's our meal ticket, Billy's and mine, and if something's happened to him--if the cash is going to stop--I want to know about it sooner, not later."
Nina Sachs was a few inches over five feet tall, and wiry. Her short straight hair was pulled into a blunt ponytail, away from a pale elfin face that was full of motion. Grins and frowns and ironic twists flickered by, and I saw a lot of her teeth, which were uneven but not unattractive. Her hands were quick and so were her hazel eyes. Nina Sachs was close to forty, but despite the chain-smoking she looked ten years younger.
"What makes you think something's happened to him?" I asked.
She crossed her legs and uncrossed them and regarded her small bare feet and her toenails, which were painted apple green. She crossed her legs once more and finally tucked them beneath her. She fiddled with one of her silver earrings and picked with a thumbnail at a fleck of paint on her black yoga pants. She took another hit off the Benson & Hedges.
"I've got a picture of him somewhere," she said, and uncurled herself from the green leather sofa. She crossed the loft with quick steps, opened the center drawer of an ebony desk, and began rummaging.
I didn't need a photograph to recognize her ex-husband. Though he hadn't been on television much lately, anyone who watched the cable business channels over the past few years had seen plenty of Gregory Danes. Still, I let her go on searching. I was happy for the distance. Between the smoking and the fidgeting, she was making me edgy.
"What makes you think something's happened?" I asked again. She pulled the desk drawer out and dumped its contents on the desktop. She sifted through the pile, her back to me as she spoke.
"Five weeks ago--right before he was supposed to pick up Billy for the weekend--he called to say he couldn't make it. He was all pissy about something and said he was taking time off--going away someplace--and had to postpone." A box of paper clips slid off the heap and scattered on the floor. Nina cursed and kept searching.
"He's canceled last-minute plenty of times, so I wasn't shocked. I said Fine, whatever, and we rescheduled for three weeks later. So three weeks comes, and we're here waiting for him to get Billy, and he's a no-show. No call, no message--no word at all. I tried his place, but there was no answer. I left messages on his machine and got nothing back." She turned to look at me and took another long drag on her cigarette. "That was nearly two weeks ago. Since then, I've tried his cell phone, his office, left more messages . . . and heard nothing." She ran her fingers across the base of her throat. "Maybe he just doesn't want to come back, or maybe . . . I don't know what. That's why I'm talking to you."
"What did they say at his office?" I asked.
Nina snorted. "At Pace-Loyette? They didn't say shit. All they gave me was a runaround and a weird vibe." Some envelopes and matchbooks joined the paper clips on the floor. She stared at them.
"Weird how?"
Nina turned back to the desk and started picking through the heap again. "My lawyer told me you were a cop before this PI thing," she said.
"I was a sheriff's deputy--an investigator--upstate. What kind of weird vibe did you get from Pace-Loyette?"
Nina Sachs laughed. "Deputy John March, huh? Get out of Dodge by sundown and all that?"
"Just like that. Weird how, Nina?"
"It w
Customer Reviews:
barely passable.......2007-08-09
It was not a complete loss, but it is slow moving, boring and some parts are annoyingly unbelievable.
Mystery suspense at its best.......2006-10-11
This review is for the First Vintage Crime/Black Lizard softcover edition, June 2006, 337 pages. DEATH'S LITTLE HELPERS is the second book in the John March detective series following Mr. Spiegelman's debut novel, BLACK MAPS.
John March has a trust fund from Klein & Sons, the financial institution in New York City that is owned and managed by his uncles and siblings. John is the family disappointment. Instead of being a banker, he went upstate to be a deputy sheriff for several years and then returned to the city to be a one-man PI agency.
John's only client in this story is Nina Sachs, who lives in a NYC loft with her twelve year old son ann Ines, her lesbian partner of Spanish origin. Ines owns three art galleries and Nina is a rather successful painter. Nevertheless, Nina depends on alimony and child support payments from her ex, Gregory Danes, and Greg has gone missing.
Danes is a wealthy security analyst who was a hot shot in the nineties before his ego got him in trouble. Although he is struggling to recoup his reputation, he suddenly takes a three week vacation from which he has not returned. Nina hires John to find him.
John soon learns that Danes, with his abrasive personality, has few friends, not even a current girlfriend, but there are many disgruntled investors and associates. Some are anxious to contact Danes while others hope he never returns. After a couple days on the case, John discovers someone else is intently looking for Danes and they seem to be several steps ahead of him.
Before becoming an author, Peter Spiegelman worked for over twenty years in financial services in New York City. He deftly sketches the changing dynamics of the dot.com securities boom and bust and then draws recognizable character types in a clear and reasonable plot. John March's rational and methodical sleuthing, and his reliance on subcontracted investigators, also helps to make the story believable.
The Amazon.com review mentions that the author "occasionally over-describes his scenes." I'd say he ALWAYS over-describes them. I learned to speed read through settings until the story resumed. Otherwise, it is well written. There is not much blood and violence or abrupt plot twists and turns, even at the end. This is not a thriller. DEATH'S LITTLE HELPERS is mystery suspense at its best.
Excellent mystery.......2006-09-28
I enjoyed the author's "Black Maps" a lot, and found his newest book just as good. John March is a sympathetic hero, whose alienation from his family and occasional penchant for violence hint at a difficult past. The plot of this novel is a good one; it moved along well, though sometimes I wished the author would not so thoroughly describe every room that March enters. I also felt that girlfriend Jane's ambivalence about March's profession was not as well presented as it might have been. First she's with him, then she isn't, then she returns at the end more as a plot device to get March out of trouble than anything else, and then she is gone again. I'd like to understand her better, and see the two of them in a real discussion about his work. However, I cared about her and about March: that is tribute to the author's skill.
Finally, I hope the author will at some point go more into March's past, and show us how he became the man he is. Highly recommended.
Glad I Read TIME Magazine.......2006-07-02
I recently picked up a copy TIME Magazine and read the article on 5 mystery books/authors that you shouldn't miss. Usually I'm skeptical of professional reviews, but I'm happy to say that this one was spot on as far as Death's Little Helpers, by Peter Spiegelman, is concerned. The story and writing are of the highest quality and the characters are so compelling. I urge all fans of mystery and fiction in general, to give it a chance. You won't be sorry. I'm hooked and am curently reading Black Maps, the first book in the series.
Slow boat to nowhere.......2006-06-28
This book appears to be a description of how independently wealthy people live in New York, and, oh, there's a "mystery" or something going on. Predictable plot, inflatable characters, silly premises and a sudden but boring "twist" at the end -- this book is resoundingly mediocre and a chore to make it through. I recommend it only if you're having trouble getting wet logs to catch on fire but make sure you remove the plastic-coated jacket.
Book Description
Captured by the Japanese after the fall of Bataan, Lester Tenney was one of the very few who would survive the legendary Death March and three and a half years in Japanese prison camps. With an understanding of human nature, a sense of humor, sharp thinking, and fierce determination, Tenney endured the rest of the war as a slave laborer in Japanese prison camps. My Hitch in Hell is an inspiring survivor’s epic about the triumph of human will despite unimaginable human suffering.
Customer Reviews:
Tenney does justice to an event all too often forgetten...........2007-08-10
I just finished this book, and I must say I am inspired. Lester Tenney deserves an enormous amount of respect and admiration for what he endured and acomplished during his time as an american POW.
While this is not exactly a full account of the Death March and the surrounding events filled with statistics and data, it is Tenney's first hand account that makes this horrendous event so palpable that the reader feels as though they are enduring the very same hardships.
Do not expect this to be a simple or comfortable read. While the book has some wonderful and very happy moments, namely Tenney's own postive attitude and inner strength, these moments are doubled by nearly unbearable situations that will make you cringe, as any story about one of the most horrifying events of the war should. Tenney describes in extreme detail the atrocities of the Japanese military. While this story is anything but rosy, it is indescribably important, as it tells a story which seems to be forgetten in our society. What these men suffered through was every bit as terrifying as those on the battlefield, and those who suffered during the Holocaust. Tenney does their story justice, and shows us that these harrowing men deserve every bit of respect and admiration as any other serving in an American uniform.
Unbelievable and Infuriating.......2006-09-13
The story of the Bataan survivors is at the same time unbelievable and infuriating. It blows my mind the cruelty these heros were subjected to on an hourly basis and at the same time I'm ashamed to say that part of me feels like Japan got off easy with two nukes dropped on them. That anybody lived at all is in itself no small feat.
The book itself is a great read. It was obviously written by a survivor, so consequently it has that 1st person feel that I like.
Great personal account of the horrors of a POW in WWII.......2006-01-30
I really enjoyed this book. It was a very quick read and one that I could not put down. The book has the Bataan Death March in the title but there is so much more in this book. After the march he goes into his time in the POW camps in the Filapeens, his escape, his recapture, his boat trip to Japan and his work in the Japanese coal mines. He then talks in detail about his trip home after the war and what life was like after he got home. Just writing this review brings back memories of how much I enjoyed this book.
I have to admit that the things that the sadistic Japanese soldiers did is not for those with a weak stomach.
I recommend this book to anyone that wants to read history from a personal account. The only thing I wish would have been different in the book is I would have liked for God to get more credit for the unexplained instances that spared his life on several occasions.
Still 5 stars.
Lester Tenney is an amazing man.......2006-01-28
I have known Les Tenney for many, many years. I was previledged to read this book before it was published. Les is a man of courage, insight, grace, forgiveness and amazingly positive about life given what he endured. My best recommendation for this book is that I cried during the reading. I had many kin folk that fought in the Pacific theatre during WWII and I have not the slightest doubt that every word of Les' book is true. To read the book is to know the man and that is a very fine thing indeed.
The Horrors of WWII suffered by American POw's.......2005-12-17
As the son of former POW I understand more fully what hell and torture my father experienced after reading "My Hitch In Hell" As a young boy, I was often awakened as my father screamed for help, still imprisoned in his nightmares. Although spared the indignity of the Bataan Death March, my father was captured on the island of Corregidor, shipped to Japan and incarcerated for 3 1/2 years at a camp in Fukuoka. Lester Tenney's description of his experience reminds the reader in graphic detail that war is hell, and makes me more thankful for my freedom at the cost of so many!
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A Death March and Nightmares
Donald Donner
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Death Be My Theme
Hannah March
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Death march projects are becoming increasingly common in the software industry. The symptoms are obvious: The project schedule, budget, and staff are about half of what is necessary for completion. The planned feature set is unrealistic. People are working 14 hours a day, six or seven days a week, and stress is taking its toll. The project has a high risk of failure, yet management is either blind to the situation or has no alternative. Why do these irrational projects happen, and what, other than pure idiocy, leads people to get involved in them?
Edward Yourdon has produced a wise and highly readable book on the entire death march phenomenon and the best way to steer through one. He takes a close look at the types of projects that often become death marches and the corporate politics and culture that typically produce them; Yourdon helps you examine your own motivations and those of corporate managers who enable death marches to take shape.
Much of Death March is about the human element of highly stressful projects. The author's plain-spoken observations on the dysfunctional organization--the Machiavellian politics, naive optimism, lust for power, fear, and sheer managerial stupidity that guide so many death marches--make for a refreshing change from other project management books. You'll also find much practical advice to help you survive, everything from negotiating with upper management to breathing life into faltering projects. He'll even help you determine if you should look for another job.
If you've ever worked in a death march situation or been a client of a company addicted to death march management, this book will help you understand what happened. More importantly, it will help you prepare for future encounters with death marches. Death March is highly recommended for anyone involved in software development.
Customer Reviews:
Old but still relevant and useful.......2006-06-29
You can consider yourself a very lucky software professional if you have not been involved in a 'death march' project (as a tester/developer/manager/architect/etc). Luck runs out -- so consider buying this book or hearing similar advice from others who have felt like their lives would end on that "phony deadline", before ending up there.
The first brownie point for the book goes for recognizing that the software industry is immature - which is the main reason behind such projects. It then describes what to look out for, and other points of caution that one needs to have in mind.
It was refreshing to see my personal experience match the author's, in terms of what generally works and what does not. Other than that, as with most books of its kind, in the end it seems as if it was elaborating on the most natural pieces of advice; still, noone is surprised to see 'death march' projects fail.
In particular, Yourdon describes how teams and team member dynamics play out in such scenarios, as well as the HR functions necessary to complete the picture. He talks about the Politics, and how the stakeholders manage their negotiations in such projects. He also brings up processes ("triage"!) and project management practices that could help (but only if they are not based on bureaucratic concepts). Furthermore, although he devotes a few pages on risk management, there is not enough coverage on that topic - although one could claim that most of the book is exactly that.
Overall, a good and worthwhile read if you are in the software business - but since each situation is unique, your mileage may vary.
ADVICE FOR ED: RETIRE!.......2003-11-15
A few years back, Ed was so hard up for cash that he wrote a book called "Time Bomb 2000!" in which he predicted the end of civilization. This silly prophecy only served to expose Yourdon for the fly-by-night, fast-talking, hourly-rate, con artist that he is. In other words, Ed completely undermined his reputation with every CIO in the industry.
My guess is that, on 1/1/2000, Ed was hunkering down in his survival retreat, drinking his bottled water, and wondering where in god's name his credibility went.
Given that his career as an oracle was cut short, Ed decided that he'd stop predicting the future and start cashing out on the 9/11 mania. Just like any talk show host or stand up comedian, Ed found ample material to make a few bucks off of the hysteria. He demonstrated the kind of initiative that would make Jeraldo Rivera proud.
The goal of this book is to keep Ed's name in circulation, so that he can charge a few more dollars for his worthless consulting services. Perhaps he'll use the royalties to refinish his deck or replace the transmission in his aging sports car. Ed's not going to tell you anything you don't already know, he's just going to make you think he will (which is the trick he uses to get you to buy it).
This leads me to think that I need to write Ed a letter...
Dear Ed,
Hello there little trooper. Isn't time for someone to pack it up and call it a career? Wouldn't the whole industry benefit if you took your fat, wrinkled, mug out of the public eye.
You pretty much admitted, in DeathMarch, that structured analysis was a crock. Face it, old man, you're over the hill. You've got no good ideas left. You're so desperate for ideas that you're reprinting Deathmarch. What are you going to do next time, reprint Time Bomb 2000!
I think you've fooled enough people out of their money. You've had your fun, Ed, now retire to Boca Raton and give us all a well deserved rest.
Please, Ed, pretty please.
Your Pal,
LLNL Engineer
Perfect in a good economy. Waiting for new advice in 2 Ed........2003-10-12
This book by best-selling author Edward Yourdon is aimed at giving advice to everyone on a software development team on how to survive "Mission Impossible" projects. The underlying assumption behind this book is that in the worse case scenario, you can quit your job and move to another company. This strategy worked during the boom economy of 1997 through mid 2000.
But since 2001, it has become increasing difficult to take this stance. I am hoping the author will address these issues as applicable to the current environment where you can be out of a job for a year or two if you don't toe the line drawn by the powers that be.
Anyway, keeping this dangerous assumption in mind, this book provides a good insight into why these 'death march' projects happen and what you can do about it. These difficult projects are defined as "a forced march imposed upon relatively innocent victims, the outcome of which is a high casualty rate". The conditions usually involve one of more of the following - highly compressed schedule, reduced staff, minimal budget, and excessive features.
This short book starts off with an introduction to why these bad projects happen in the first place. The topics of politics, negotiations, people in death march projects, processes, tools and technology, and death march as a way of life. These are the various chapters in the book. As you can tell by the title of the last chapter, the author believes that death march projects are really the norm and not the exception so we all need to learn how to handle them.
If you don't have much time, the author recommends reading the concept of 'triage' discussed in Chapter 5: Processes and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this chapter before going back to the preface and the rest of the book. There are some very interesting personal notes by the author at the end of each chapter that are really worth reading. Even though the author claims that he is being serious, the book is very humorous throughout. Of course, it is easy to laugh if you are reading this book at a time when you are NOT on a death march project.
In chapter 2, five typical political players of a death march project are identified - owner, customer, shareholder, stakeholder, and champion. There is then a discussion of each type. If pressed for time, read pages 52-59. In chapter 3, a few of the familiar games are discussed - doubling and add some, reverse doubling, guess the number I'm thinking of, double dummy spit, spanish inquisition, low bid, gotcha, chinese water torture, smoke and mirrors, and finally hidden variables of maintainability/quality. If pressed for time, read pages 80-85.
In chapter 4 about people, on the topic of team building issues, 8 project roles are talked about - chairman, shaper, plant, monitor-evaluator, company worker, team worker, resource investigator, and completer. The 7 practices that lead to 'teamicide' are also addressed - defensive management, bureaucracy, physical separation of team members, fragmentation of people's time, quality reduction of the product, phony deadlines, and clique control. The four stages of team gelling are pointed out - forming, storming, norming, and performing. These four stages are discussed in various other books also.
My favorite chapter is on Processes (chapter 5) where the concept of 'triage' is discussed as applied to software development projects. Don't miss this chapter. Chapter 6 is a very short chapter on tools and techniques that most of us may already be familiar and if not, read this chapter as it is a good discussion on how right tools can affect your success positively. I felt the last chapter was more of a philosophical discussion of death march projects being a way of life and what to do about it.
Overall, this book is a must-have even if you are a veteran to the software development field. Don't forget to check out 'Rapid Development' by Steve McConnell that is a much heavier treatise on software development and the various success techniques.
The author of 'Death March' - Edward Yourdon has a website with his last name as the URL with the latest information on this subject. As I mentioned in the subject line and at the beginning of this review, there is a risk in following this book in this weak economy that could prove especially dangerous for IT professionals ultimately resulting in a spot in the unemployment line. Since it is so close to the publication of the second edition, the author has removed the manuscript chapters on this new release. So I am not really sure if he has a new philosophy for this type of an economy in the upcoming second edition. I would recommend waiting for this second edition. Good luck!
Essential reading for all involved in software development.......2003-04-30
I recommend this book for anyone involved in the software development process - although this book is essential reading for software developers, it is also important that project managers read this book. A team consisting of software developers reading this book, and a naive project manager, is similar to a "death march" marriage where one spouse goes to a counselor, and one does not. I stumbled upon this book while working on my third major software project, and reading it greatly increased my understanding of the people issues which existed on that project. The "notes" section at the end of each chapter is especially good, each of which contains very pragmatic information. As a current computer science/software engineering graduate student who was encouraged to read "The Mythical Man Month" by Brooks upon entering the field during the last decade, I believe "Death March" is an essential accompanying text to Brooks.
Little new information..........2003-03-29
Chances are, anyone who's reading this book is on or has been on the very "Death March" projects it describes; I know I have.
As such, the book reads not so much like new information, but rather like a conversation around the watercooler. "Should have bailed on that project," "Try to get all the 'must have' functions complete," etc.
The upshot: While this book is affirming of the ad hoc insights all developers make as we go along, nothing's particularly revolutionary here. If you've survived one "Death March", you have these lessons hardwired into your brain:
1) Understand the politics of your organization
2) Don't use risky, not-ready-for-primetime technologies
3) Prioritize your function and drop fluff as necessary to meet your targets.
4) If all else fails, quit. That'll teach 'em.
Overall, there are some valuable insights, but I wouldn't waste my money.
Book Description
Manny Lawton was a twenty-three-year-old Army captain on April 8, 1942, when orders came to surrender to the Japanese forces invading the Philippine Islands. The next day, he and his fellow American and Filipino prisoners set out on the infamous Bataan Death March--a forced six-day, sixty-mile trek under a broiling tropical sun during which approximately eleven thousand men died or were bayoneted, clubbed, or shot to death by the Japanese. Yet terrible as the Death March was, for Manny Lawton and his comrades it was only the beginning. When the war ended in August 1945, it is estimated that some 57 percent of the American troops who had surrendered on Bataan had perished.
But this is not a chronicle of despair. It is, instead, the story of how men can suffer even the most desperate conditions and, in their will to retain their humanity, triumph over appalling adversity. An epic of quiet heroism, Some Survived is a harrowing, poignant, and inspiring tale that lifts the heart.
Customer Reviews:
Courage and the American spirit at its' best.......2006-11-26
I am reviewing the 1984 hardback edition of this book which was entitled "Some Survived. An Epic Account of Japanese Captivity During WWII."
Although this is not the first book on The Death March I have read, it is probably the best. It is well written and easy to read. The thing I liked best was the fact that not only did it give, in great detail, an eye witness account of the atrocities committed by the Japanese on American POW's in the Phillipines, it went on to describe life in the camps after the march, then on to a very detailed description of their treatment on the 'Hell Ships' that took the prisoners to prison camps in Japan.
This is not a book of despair only. It is also of faith, guts, determination, and final victory by Manny Lawton and a few others that survived this horrible period of time. It also prompts us to remember those that didn't. God Bless them.
Incredible Story of Strength of the Human Spirit.......2005-10-28
This is one of those books that just makes you churn inside. The abuses and suffering are never ending during the length of the book. The detail provided could only have come from someone that was there. Mr. Lawton explains in vivid detail the degree of torment these guys endured. YOU NEED TO READ THIS!
An important historical documentation .......2004-08-09
On April 8, 1942, Manny Lawton was a 23 year old army captain stationed on Bataan when orders came down to surrender to the Japanese who had invaded and captured the Philippine Islands in the opening months of World War II in the Pacific Theatre. Lawton and his fellow U.S. troops and their Filipino allies were compelled to endure a six-day, sixty-mile trek forever after known as the Bataan Death March, during which approximately eleven thousand men died of exhaustion or were murdered by the Japanese by bayoneting, clubbing, or simply shooting their prisoners outright. By the time the war ended in August 1945, about 57 percent of the American troops who surrendered to the Japanese on Bataan had died in confinement at the hands of the enemy. Some Survived: An Eyewitness Account Of The Bataan Death March And The Men Who Lived Through It is an important historical documentation and seminal contribution to World War II Pacific Theatre reference collections.
Japanese Atrocities at Their Worst.......2002-05-29
This is an amazing report of an American soldier held captive by the Japaese in the Phippines and the island of Japan itself for three and one-half years after his capture in World War II.
How he could remember the details of brutal beatings, starvation and resulting illnesses is almost beyond belief. His experiences with fellow prisoners runs the gamut from the highest heroism to utter selfishness. Every day he looked forward to freedom, only to be repeatedly disappointed until that memorable day when he met the invading U.S. forces and he knew that he was free ,atlast! The dscription of his home coming is heart wrenching as it was for all of us on our return. This book's contents are enough to make almost anyone swear to never buy another Japanese produced article.
met h
excellent, tears you to the heart.......1998-01-22
This account is the best I've read of many books on the POWs of the Japanese. It puts the reader in the gruesome reality of the Bataan Death March and all that followed in Camp O'Donnell and the hellships. The lesson learned is one of survival through almost unsurmountable horrors. Anyone who reads this account will have nothing to complain about. Judy Garofano (garofano@mail.idt.net), Queens, NY
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