pootling

Interesting, well-written book that often explains complex economic details in very simple language (indeed, it includes one of the best explanations for the credit crunch that I’ve read anywhere). The premise, that setting up systems so that there is room for failure, is persuasive and Harford is the first to point out areas in which the simplest version of his theory is likely to fail, and therefore hones it as he goes. A really excellent read.

Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure on Amazon

Off the back of The Talk Show’s 5byBond series, I’ve been both reading my way through the James Bond books (you’ll have seen some reviews here, I’m just past From Russia With Love) and at the same time, I’ve been watching the films (with those, I’m well into the Moore era, having just watched The Man With The Golden Gun - terrible song, and mostly terrible movie too). But in the process, and mainly through The Talk Show, I’ve come across some good Bond resources, so I thought I’d share.

• Firstly, if you want to listen along with the 5byBond series, and you should, Dan Benjamin and John Gruber are an entertaining pair, check out The Talk Show podcast. The series starts in episode 24.
• The Bond Mixology iPhone app covers every drink that Bond consumes in the films. There’s a lot more than just vodka martinis. The information the app is based on, also including statistics for the books, is on The Internet Wayback Machine.
• The makers of the official films, EON, made some commentaries for the DVD versions of the films, but didn’t release them because they were overly critical. They commentaries have surfaced though, and you can listen along with the films
• This blog looks at all of the suits, good and bad, that the various people playing Bond wear during the films. The author clearly knows his stuff.
• Wikipedia, of course, has information on the character of Bond, the film series, the novels and Ian Fleming.
• The Commander Bond site has the latest news on the film series.
• The James Bond books are all available on the Kindle Store

  

  but the short stories aren’t yet, so you’ll have to buy them in the old dead-tree format

  

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• The films are also available on Amazon, in a mixture of Blu Ray and DVD fomats

  

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There are, of course, a lot more resources out there, but these are pretty good for starters.

Being a Fleming book, there are a few opportunities he takes to insult broad groups of people (in this one he concentrates on patronising women and treating everyone in Eastern Europe like some sort of terrible sub-species) but that aside, this is an excellent book. The story is engrossing (featuring relatively little of Bond), exciting, expertly told and with an intriguing ending. It’s no wonder that this made one of the better films too.

From Russia with Love on Amazon