Dystopian Kitchens

It started ( for me) with Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. The private college grad decides cooking is for him, so he goes to NYC to work in the kitchens and learn the trade.
Of course he also has a degree and he is talented enough to turn this all into a very engaging book. Bourdain describes the hard work that kitchen staffs do. He describes the worksites hot, cramped, and dominated by dictatorial chefs. the chefs are under pressure to control every detail and produce top quality consistent meals as quickly as possible. Needless to say, the priority is not on comfort for the staff.
Frequently kitchen staff are drawn from new immigrants. They are paid minimally. Working exploitive schedules allows restaurants to continue to offer affordable meals to appreciative customers. Bourdain did not reveal a pretty picture of the kitchen work staff.

And since then more writers are taking up the setting in Fiction and non fiction. The theme is that the kitchen is a nasty place to work - but that it part of restaurant culture and restaurant life. Working while everyone else is 'playing' bonds the kitchen staff into a select group. They get off work 2-4 AM. They start either 6AM or maybe - with luck 4PM.  They work closely with a small group of people who share the praise when all goes well, pulls together to save each other from disasters and feel the pain jointly when things go colossally wrong.

Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line by Michael Gibney  is continues the dystopian kitchen story.  Written in the second person this book pulls the reader into the rhythm of the long long day. Starting with supervising prep work in the morning 'we' work through to 2am. Moring shift starts 8am. It hardly seems worth going home.

Chop Chop: A Novel by Simon Wroe  is a new novel set in a London restaurant. Aside form some of the slang and places names- this novel could be set anywhere. It plays the themes of eccentric chefs, outrageous co workers and the bonding into a team that happens in kitchens across the globe.

What I see in this genre of books is that the authors never complain about conditions - they never plot lawsuits or strike against unfair conditions.  The staff seems to develop pride of having survived in tough conditions. they are challenged by the work -- not overwhelmed by it. Staff members are free to be as much themselves as the chef is -- as long as the job gets done on time and with quality. If things are not working out, kitchen staff move along to other restaurants. The turn over is high and the ambitious staff move up from station to station in kitchen. Hard work is appreciated and rewarded.

In sum, the kitchen staff is very similar to 19th C sailors. Crews work hard, play hard and bond together as a unit. I expect this genre will continue as it appeals to a wide band of readers.

3 Books that Influence Amazon

Strategy More: Jeff Bezos Amazon Books

The 3 Books Amazon's Jeff Bezos Asks His Senior Managers To Read

Max Nisen

Sep. 25, 2013, 5:02 PM 56,621 5


Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos holds up the new Kindle Fire at a news conference during the launch of Amazon's new tablets in New York, Sept. 28, 2011.
Jeff Bezos is one of the most successful entrepreneurs out there, able to build a company deeply integrated into people's lives, all but ignoring Wall Street, and constantly looking toward the future.
But that doesn't mean he doesn't value other people's advice. In a post on LinkedIn, CNBC tech correspondent Jon Fortt said the Amazon CEO had three all-day book clubs for his senior managers over the summer.
It's not a surprising management technique from a man who revers the written word. He typically starts meetings of his "S-team" of senior executives with 30 minutes of silence while they read through dense, six-page printed memos, so they're all starting with the same ideas and framework in mind.  
In the recent book clubs, Bezos had those top executives read classics that helped him sketch out the future of his company. They are:
"The Effective Executive" by Peter Drucker
Drucker is one of the principal founders of modern management theory, helping create and broadly popularize ideas that seem commonplace now, like the fact that companies should be decentralized rather than run via command and control, and "management by objectives," where both leaders and employees work toward a set of goals they understand and agree on.
This particular book focuses on how to develop the personal habits of time management and effective decision-making that allow an executive to stay productive and contribute their best to an organization.
"The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen
This book, first published in 1997, can safely be called one of the most influential business books of all time. Even if the term "disruption" has since been co-opted by the startup world and dramatically overused, his core theory of how businesses get disrupted is just as relevant today. New technology allows smaller companies to make cheaper products, which at first appeal only to customers at the margins. But before the largest businesses realize it, they take over entire markets.
"The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement" by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
The last book is very different from the two previous ones. It's not a classical business book based on a series of studies of a real-world company, but is instead a novel about a manager tasked with turning around a failing manufacturing plant. It sounds strange, but it was a best-seller and has helped spawn business theories in its own right.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-favorite-business-books-2013-9#ixzz2rTm1xAbC

Strategy More: Jeff Bezos Amazon Books

The 3 Books Amazon's Jeff Bezos Asks His Senior Managers To Read

Max Nisen

Sep. 25, 2013, 5:02 PM 56,621 5

• inShare374

Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos holds up the new Kindle Fire at a news conference during the launch of Amazon's new tablets in New York, Sept. 28, 2011.
Jeff Bezos is one of the most successful entrepreneurs out there, able to build a company deeply integrated into people's lives, all but ignoring Wall Street, and constantly looking toward the future.
But that doesn't mean he doesn't value other people's advice. In a post on LinkedIn, CNBC tech correspondent Jon Fortt said the Amazon CEO had three all-day book clubs for his senior managers over the summer.
It's not a surprising management technique from a man who revers the written word. He typically starts meetings of his "S-team" of senior executives with 30 minutes of silence while they read through dense, six-page printed memos, so they're all starting with the same ideas and framework in mind.  
In the recent book clubs, Bezos had those top executives read classics that helped him sketch out the future of his company. They are:
"The Effective Executive" by Peter Drucker
Drucker is one of the principal founders of modern management theory, helping create and broadly popularize ideas that seem commonplace now, like the fact that companies should be decentralized rather than run via command and control, and "management by objectives," where both leaders and employees work toward a set of goals they understand and agree on.
This particular book focuses on how to develop the personal habits of time management and effective decision-making that allow an executive to stay productive and contribute their best to an organization.
"The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen
This book, first published in 1997, can safely be called one of the most influential business books of all time. Even if the term "disruption" has since been co-opted by the startup world and dramatically overused, his core theory of how businesses get disrupted is just as relevant today. New technology allows smaller companies to make cheaper products, which at first appeal only to customers at the margins. But before the largest businesses realize it, they take over entire markets.
"The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement" by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
The last book is very different from the two previous ones. It's not a classical business book based on a series of studies of a real-world company, but is instead a novel about a manager tasked with turning around a failing manufacturing plant. It sounds strange, but it was a best-seller and has helped spawn business theories in its own right.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-favorite-business-books-2013-9#ixzz2rTm1xAbC

Amazon Puts Cart Before Horse

Amazon Puts Cart Before Horse

The Goldfinch (Tartt)

Despite the awards and critical acclaim, I don't see the merits others see in this book. Tartt writes in a detailed readable prose. Her scenes are vivid. There are descriptions which show the author's talent to best advantage.

But her characters are unattractive. The book has allusions to Harry Potter. Potter is even the main character's nickname. Is it possible that the suthor wants to show us what might be a more realistic result of a taking a child survivor of a terrorist attack, putting him in an abusive home, then leaving him to the influence of his peer group?

Theo is an anti-Harry. He becomes a drug abusing emotionally immature unethical young man who stumbles along hoping (when he can hope at all) for a rescue. His fellow traveler and BFF Boris is equally high and equally unethical, but he seems more appealing than Theo, if only because he is an honest gangster, not a stumbling fool.

Hurray! I made it through this book, and there may be another ten years before I need to watch for another by the same author.

Rules for Becoming a Legend (Timothy S Lane)

Jimmy Kirkus is a celebrity. In kindergarten,  the entire small Oregon town is abuzz. 5yr old Jimmy Kirkus sank  11 baskets on the schoolyard basketball court! He's a hero! He's a natural. Everyone is impressed -- except-- his father?

In Rules for Becoming a Legend, Jimmy's story is revealed in a series of chapters. Each chapter title is a rule for living. There are 26 rules. Rule one: Value those who keep your secrets. Rule 26: First time is rarely the charm. Each chapter has a subtitle placing the chapter's events on a time line. The center event of the time line is simply called "The Wall".

At the opening of the novel, Jimmy is 16 yrs old. He is in the gym, after practice. Jimmy repeatedly races into the gym wall at top speed. Over and over despite the injuries and pain, Jimmy runs into the wall.  All the events in the book are dated from this event. Hurting himself, beating himself, punishing himself. To understand "The Wall" the novel fills in key events on the timeline leading up to this event. The book interweaves events on the time line, without losing the thread of the story.  The sub-titles keep the reader aware "nine days after the wall" , "two year's before the wall".

I enjoyed this debut novel. The characters are well drawn and believable. Basketball is a major part of Jimmy's story, but this book is not a sports story. It is a story about youthful expectations and hopes and disappointment and tragedy. And most importantly it is about living despite it all.

Doctorow is great : This book not so much

Andrew's Brain is about 200 pages. There is one voice - Andrew - talking probably to a mental health professional. The narration is fast flowing , hard to follow and at times it seems pointless. Andrew recounts the death of his first wife, but was that for real?
Once I started mistrusting Andrew's narration, it becomes boring. At least it short! It has some good passages. The master has not lost his touch.

Gossip as Weapon -- bring it on

Sure, why wouldn’t there be a Jane Austen RPG that uses gossip as a weapon?

by Kirsten Reach

Today we introduce you to Ever Jane, an RPG from Developer 3 Turn Productions which stars characters from Jane Austen’s novels who are out to destroy one another. Or at least the other’s reputation. We could just provide weird Jane Austen news for you every day, but then you’d be callous when the really good stuff comes up.

“We want to bring women’s fantasies into video games,” said the game’s creator, Judy L. Tyrer, in an interview with Co.Create. “And I can’t think of a more commonly held fantasy than Mr. Darcy. We want to bring you Colin Firth in a wet shirt.”

Characters have varying levels of traits like kindness, happiness, or duty. In a promotional video, Tyrer explains, “Instead of kill or be killed, it’s invite or be invited.” The game will eventually introduce locations like Brighton and Bath.

In other Austen game news, No Crusts Interactive has recently released a Canabalt-like running game featuring Lizzie Bennet. She runs in heels over the full text of Pride & Prejudice in — what else would you call it? — Stride & Prejudice.

Readers can customize the background color on their iPhones or iPads. The developer says it’s “the first endless runner game to include an entire novel,” and it holds your place in the book each time you die.

I suppose it’s a good solution if you need to reread all of Pride & Prejudice really, really fast.

Kirsten Reach is an editor at Melville House.