dorinlazar's reviews
539 reviews

Short and fast conclusions: there's no difference between football players and horses - you trade them, you get a bit attached to them, you sell them and so on.

Other than that, it's a book for every Manchester United fan, and probably for every football manager (football being the sport with the round ball, not the crazy american sport that is more like 'hand-egg' than foot-ball).

Poate aș fi un pic prea avîntat dacă aș spune că consider această carte o lectură necesară oricărui adolescent. Țara unui singur gras nu e o lectură elevată din punct de vedere artistic. E un reportaj dintr-o excursie de 7 zile în Coreea de Nord, sărac în informații (pentru un motiv bun, citește mai departe), care te dă peste cap. Grasul, evident, e capul regimului, Kim Jong Un, fiul lui Kim Jong Il, nepotul lui Kim Ir Sen, iar înainte de Kim Ir Sen nu a existat nimic în țara aia (cel puțin din punctul de vedere al regimului).

Cartea e scurtă și se citește repede.Avem constant viziunea lui Adelin Petrișor, din spatele gardurilor puse de către regim între el și restul Coreei de Nord. Dintr-o închisoare pe invers, el rememorează episoade care par desprinse dintr-o Românie a unui Ceaușescu ce nu a murit în 1989, ci care și-a transmis mai departe paranoia, nebunia, închizînd complet țara, ucigînd moral și mental oamenii.

“Țara unui singur gras” e ca o carte de antropologie. Ea relatează contactul între două civilizații, o civilizație care s-a închis în anii ’50 și a regresat, și exteriorul, noi, care avem privilegiul de a vedea povestea din afară. Înconjurați de un gard construit pentru ‘siguranța lui’, reporterul încearcă constant să evadeze. Nu reușește însă să vadă prea multe, și, din păcate, fiecare încercare de a ieși din supravegherea regimului eșuează. Reușește să întrevadă cîteva lucruri: cozi lungi la magazine, oameni care adorm în mijlocul cuvîntărilor tovarășului. Dar per total, din întreaga povestire lipsește informația – nu pentru că reporterul nu e capabil să o transmită, ci pentru că nu are ce. Acoperit de white-noise, el încearcă să extragă informația relevantă, însă multă din ea e scoasă prin analogie cu propriile impresii lăsate de amintirile comunismului român.

E o carte care-ți lasă un gust amar. Într-un fel simți, ca și autorul la finalul cărții, ușurare din faptul că ești născut în Europa, ai mai multă libertate din start.

By no means a bad book, But not an amazing book either. The story is inspired by the real-life debacle that was the Itawamba County School District prom of 2010.

The story is told from two different perspectives; one of a boy and one of the girl that caused the controversy. The style is ok, the book is readable, however, there's little emotion, there's little to empathize with. The story starts with good pacing but becomes convoluted, and the writer(s) go on to describe the only lesbian in the world that thinks mostly about one guy.

The book wants to attract LGBT sympathies, but not being part of that group or its supporters I can't say if it succeeds or not. The story is not compelling, it is somewhat artificial and probably it is built around LGBT sensibilities. I couldn't really empathize with any of the characters, that are some diffuse or clichés.

But it's not bad. It's just... ok.

Amazingly insightful book on disinformation techniques. It gives a lot of food for thought on the things that happen around us...
Basically, the book is a larger explanation for 'repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth'. A must read for anyone that thinks they have the right idea who the bad guy is :)

It was an interesting incursion in the life of a pregnant teen-girl, with the frustratingly limited view of the world. The writing is quite good, a well done first person you can actually empathize with. You don't necessarily agree with her decisions, but it is interesting to see the decision making process and the views on pregnancy as a first world issue.

Interesting read, well written, and even if the book's ending might disappoint, it is really a realistic and honest ending. I loved that.

Atlas Shrugged is far from being a wonderful book. It's difficult, slow and it makes it hard to empathise with the characters. At the same time, it's an amazing book, that you, your son or mother, your sister, your brother, and pretty much everyone you care for and ever cared for MUST read.

The book is important. It will be hell to read, it's slow, it's long, it's tedious. But it will open your mind, it will shape the way you think, and you'll find it impossible not to love the egocentric view of the world that Rand brings.

You don't have to agree with all ideas. I think her view of the problems with socialist societies is more important than her solution, which barely works for the book's plot. Her solution is less credible, while her view on socialism is mild and toned down. I know many people consider her a huge critic of socialism; in this book she brings to the table nothing of the sadism, the methodical destruction of the spirit that socialism brings with it in the world.

In real life, Ayn Rand's Atlantis could not exist. The socialists would find it and destroy it with no remorse. In Rand's book they show remorse; they value intellect and their drive is basically 'honorable in intention and destructive in effect'.

But it's impossible not to collect, like I have, around a hundred or more quotes to revisit when the Atlas Shrugged universe will be a bit farther away from me, in time. Those quotes stand on their own, without support of plot or characters; they show a clarity of thought that one rarely finds in popular culture.

Definitely a book worth reading, and it would've gotten five stars if it wasn't for the disappointing solution of the whole plot. I found the solution of the plot shaky at best, and the magic 'realm' of the geniuses lacking credibility.

Disappointingly, the book has less to do with Prince of Persia, per se, and more to do with Jordan's life around the making of Prince of Persia which is mostly about how he doesn't really want to work on PoP.

And I'm slightly put down by the always complaining author that did one of the coolest things ever. Made me sad, and bored me for a short while. But, after all, it's what his view of things is, that's how he saw them back then, and there are some instructive lessons there, if you can manage to read in negative.

It's ok to read, it's short and it reads fast.

Nice and informative, it handles well both the technical and the non-technical side. Pretty interesting read.