My Most Recent Reads - December 2014

As with the last few months, December wasn't as active when it came to reading as past months have been.  But I did get a few in and finished three physical books.  As I've mentioned in my goals for 2015, I am aiming to read more physical books and less graphic novels in the next year, which likely means my numbers will continue to fall overall but hopefully I'll still find myself making progress (and more importantly, shrinking my "to read" pile to some degree).  

As for my recommendations for the month, well the ones that I want to recommend I will need to hold off as I am reviewing them elsewhere.  But I will talk about one in particular:  

Image: Book Cover - Art of Explanation by Lee LeFever.  Source: http://artofexplanation.com/

The Art of Explanation - Making Your Ideas, Products and Services Easier to Understand by Lee LeFever

Many are familiar with LeFever even if they may not think they are.  He is the leader of CommonCraft which produces those great videos about technology "in plain English."  This book provides a breakdown of exactly how they manage to create such accessible and easy-to-understand explanations of complicated and interesting topics.  It's highly useful in that he provides a good set of tools to help the reader reconsider how one would properly explain things.  He shows that we often think we are great at explain but very rarely are we as successful as we like to think we are.  I found that it would be quite useful not just for "idea, products and services" but also for teaching.
For other best picks over the last year, check out previous monthly reviews:

Audiobooks

  • Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle by Douglas Emlen
  • The Art of Explanation - Making Your Ideas, Products and Services Easier to Understand by Lee LeFever
  • Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
  • The Author at Work: The Art of Writing Fiction by Jenna Blum
  • The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz

Books

  • The Complete Short Stories by Ambrose Bierce
  • Dungeons and Dreamers: A Story of how Computer Games Created a Global Community by Brad King
  • The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin by Kate Chopin

Graphic Novels

  • All-New X-Factor, Vol. 1: Not Brand X by Peter David
  • Loki: Agent of Asgard, Vol. 1: Trust Me by Al Ewing
  • Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by Willow Wilson
  • Fantastic Four, Vol. 1: The Fall of the Fantastic Four by James Robinson
  • Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 3: The Good, The Bad, The Inhuman by Brian Michael Bendis



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