We started our 2-day adventure on Saturday afternoon from the Cougar Snopark located on the south side of Mt St Helens.  After a couple thousand feet of gain and ~4 miles of sweaty snow hiking with full camping packs, we reached the tree line and set up camp for the night.  It was blindingly sunny the whole time and getting roasted by the sun was a real danger.  I was taking a bath of multi-spectrum SPF 50 every hour and still got plenty of sun.  The heat made for interesting conditions.  The warm air temp kept me sweaty hiking in a T-shirt and shorts; while the snow was soft and made for slower going.  We brought snowshoes to keep from post-holing.  But as the sun went down, the temps started dropping fast.  After finding a beautiful spot to camp at the foot of Monitor ridge above the tree-line, we quickly melted snow for water and had dinner then I hit the sack early.  (I am now in love with the MSR Reactor stove - I’m selling my old stove to buy one of these).

After a few hours of sleep, we awoke at 3:45am to get ready for our climb.  We whipped together our gear, got some food in us, and checked conditions.  The temps were cold but after gathering gear I was shedding layers like crazy.  It was warm - still in the upper 30’s lower 40’s by my guess.  I had hoped for freezing temps since that helps freeze the snow and make for safer climbing - but it was not to be.  A little after 4:30am we switched on our headlamps and started up the Monitor ridge route.  I know the warm temps and high avy danger warnings kept me apprehensive all morning as we started up the steep pitches.  We climbed up, through, and around the rocks of Monitor ridge, taking short breaks every hour for a bite and drinking.  The idea being that by staying on the ridge top and out of the snow fields - we would be much safer.

We made steady progress of about a 1,000 ft of elevation every hour; and the route was only moderately steep.  I would certainly say it was easier than Mt Hood.The sun began to glow over the horizon and we feasted on a beautiful sunrise about half the way up.  The snow was fairly well consolidated, and easy to walk on with crampons.  As we reached to summit, however, the sun was full-on shining and the snow quickly softening.  But by then, we had already reached our goal, the summit rim, at around 9:30am.

Upon reaching the summit, we posed for the obligatory summit shots and took a breather.  This became more fun because a great number of people there were sporting all manner of ladies dresses, hats, etc.  We posed for our shot and quickly re-clad.  Even though it was already in the 50’s, the mild wind was enough to keep our jackets on.  We had some lunch, took some photos, enjoyed the scenery and enjoyed the show.  We were some of the first few groups there, and a huge line of people were steadily streaming to the summit. The costumes and goof-balls that showed up were certainly entertaining.

Then the best part - the return trip. About a third of the people coming up skied or snowboarded down.  We did not have such accoutrements (but man - I would have LOVED to had my snowboard judging by the amazing carving folks were doing!), so we opted for glissading.  The snow had softened dramatically by this point under the glaring sun, so we glissaded huge sections back to our campsite.  Honestly, some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time.  Absolutely amazing conditions.  I did see some slab cracks forming at the tops of some ridges - and it certainly made me pause - but our leaders believed them benign and we skirted them.  Still, I was keenly aware of those avy warnings that I’d been reading.  The advantage of the glissading was actually that we spent much less time in the ‘danger zones’ by zipping around them instead of spending extra time hiking them.  We reached camp in a blindingly fast 2 hours.  We packed up then hiked back to our cars.  We were all quite beat by the time we reached the vehicles - but it all went swimmingly.  What a great experience!

I would have wished for far less avy danger and certainly wouldn’t have attempted this without 2 very experienced team leaders.  I also escaped getting sunburned - but did get a really nice sun rash.   Even two days after the trip, the second I get into the sun my skin starts to prickle.  This after taking baths in SPF 50 every hour for two straight days.  A testament to how bright it was.  Good thing I work an inside desk job so I can give my skin a rest.

Synopsis:
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is the story of 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble location, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious 3 star Michelin review. Sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro’s sushi bar.  

My take:
A fascinating tale.  A few interesting tidbits that come out:

• Jiro left (an apparently unhappy home) at age 9 and started working in a sushi restaurant.  He was told by his parents that he could not come back if he left.  He never went back and has made sushi ever since.  He is now 85.
• You must book at least a month in advance for a seat (either lunch or dinner).  Some book up to a year in advance.
• There are only 10 seats in Sukiyabashi Jiro, and the bathroom is actually outside the restaurant.
• It was the first sushi restaurant ever to get a 3-star Michelin award.
• A seat with the standard course sushi set starts at 30,000 yen (~$370 USD by Apr 2012 rates)
• You get ~15 pieces of sushi in 20 minutes for that price.  That breaks down to $26/piece, or $18.50/minute.
• Apprentices work at least 10 years in training before he’ll let them make actually make sushi.
• He found experts in each type of fish and rice he uses and only buys the best from them.
• He worked long hours so much that he rarely saw his children awake.  When he had actually had a day off and slept in, his own children came running to their mother in the morning exclaiming there was a strange man sleeping on the couch.  They didn’t recognize him.

Jiro is a great living example of the Japanese style of striving for perfection, or Shokunin.  The best definition for Shokunin I could find was:

“The Japanese word shokunin is defined by both Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries as ‘craftsman’ or ‘artisan,’ but such a literal description does not fully express the deeper meaning. The Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means not only having technical skills, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness. … The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people. This obligation is both spiritual and material, in that no matter what it is, the shokunin’s responsibility is to fulfill the requirement.” – Tasio Odate

You can see the delight in his eyes and peace of heart he has achieved.  Here’s a great quote from Jiro that sums him up:

“All I want to do is make sushi.  I do the same thing over and over, improving bit by bit.  There is always a yearning to achieve more.  I’ll continue to climb, trying to reach the top…but no one knows where the top is.  Even at my age, after decades of work, I don’t think I’ve achieved perfection.  But I feel ecstatic all day.  I love making sushi.  That is the spirit of Shokunin.  When to quit?  The job you’ve worked so hard for?  I’ve never once hated this job.  I fell in love with my work and gave my life to it.  Even though I’m 85, I don’t feel like retiring.  That’s how I feel.”

It’s the story of a life seeking perfection.  A giving of your life to a higher purpose than yourself. It’s success, not as we do it today using flashy-showy marketing and constant shifting to chase after the latest/greatest new thing, but by real technical accomplishment and finely honed skill in your craft earned from a lifetime of practice and experimentation.  His philosophy consists of several key elements:

• A life-long desire to always improve.
• Repetition that strives to get a little bit more perfect each time.
• Dedication of long hours and years to your practice

This reminds me of a talk given by a fellow at the Game Developer’s Conference.  He said that success was not found when you strive for recognition, publication, awards, etc.  Those things do not actually make your company/game successful in the marketplace.  What makes you successful is long, grueling hours in your seat working again and again on your game/code.  It’s a very counter-cultural message as we live in times which seek instant success, fame, and wealth.  Jiro harkens to a different philosophy where you dedicated your life to your craft and seek to find yourself in it; not the other way around.  It is a very Zen approach; and resounds with many similar beliefs found in monastic Christianity; but this philosophy could be applied to any walk of life.  In fact, it made me want to sit down and do some coding!  His striving for perfection was infectious.

There is also an side theme in this movie about his relationship with his sons that is very interesting - and very Japanese.

The only fault I see is that the film makers get a little bit wrapped up in the craft of telling the tale (i.e. I would have loved it if the film makers actually talked with him about how he went about getting better with each step.  How he experimented, what went wrong, how he came up with other ideas to try, etc.)  but this flaw doesn’t detract too much from the story.  Still, you can see them fall into their own trap by using lots of long shots of Jiro serving his sushi - while Jiro himself admitting that all the real work happens in the kitchen.  The actual serving part is just show.

So, the movie was good and worth a watch to see such an artisan at work.  Recommend.

A final note.  One of my favorite quotes from Jiro was about raising kids:
“Kids now want lots of free time and pleasure.  Many parents stupidly tell their kids they can come home if it doesn’t work out for them.  That’s idiocy.  How do you expect them to really get great like that?  I told my kids they could not come back when they left.  But I knew they would succeed because I trained them well.  I just gave them the push out the door.”

LPCTSTR iconPathName= L"../MyIcon.ico";
UINT icon_flags = LR_LOADFROMFILE | LR_DEFAULTSIZE;
HANDLE hIcon = LoadImage(hInstance, iconPathName, IMAGE_ICON, 0, 0, icon_flags);

// set up RegisterClass struct
wcex.style            = CS_OWNDC | CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;
wcex.lpfnWndProc    = WndProc;
wcex.cbClsExtra        = 0;
wcex.cbWndExtra        = 0;
wcex.hInstance        = hInstance;
wcex.hIcon            = (HICON) hIcon;
wcex.hCursor        = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);
wcex.hbrBackground    = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW+1);
wcex.lpszMenuName    = NULL;
wcex.lpszClassName    = m_AppTitle.c_str();

This one is “The Spy Who Loved Me”.  It was another short read at 6 discs, or about 5 days of commuting.  If you’ve never had the honor, you should really read one of Ian Flemming’s Bond books.  The first thing you’ll note is that the movies have just about nothing to do with the stories they are named after.  Sure, there is a character named James Bond who is a spy; a damsel in distress, some evil characters, but that’s where things depart.

In this case, we have the story of a young French Canadian who is working her way across country doing odd jobs as she goes to pay the way.  As our story starts, she is working at a vacation motel at the end of it’s season.  On the last night, some unsavory gentlemen appear as does James Bond (by pure chance).  Bond’s debonair manner and gunplay ensue as he and our night clerk try to figure out and foil our villains’ evil plot without getting killed.  Being a short book, all the adventure really takes place at this one motel  There’s no evil mastermind plotting to destroy the world or counterespionage intrigue.  Just a great little compact story of an adventuresome night spent at a motel.

And for that, it’s a great little story.  Sure, it’s a bit dated with the girls being called dolls and whatnot, but it’s still a pretty good story overall.  Unlike a number of other Bond books, this one doesn’t have as much blatant bigotry you’ll find in some of Fleming’s other novels.  Instead, you get a good little story with some tight action sequences and a good finish.  I enjoyed it.

While nothing earth-shattering will happen here, but it’s still an enjoyable little pulpy adventure. I give it a B.

First off, some interesting tidbits about Edgar Rice Burroughs.   Burroughs had a very difficult early go in life despite his promising start.  He was born to a prosperous family in 1875. He served in the 7th Calvary in WW I but never saw action due to a heart problem.  After his discharge, however, he worked at all sorts of odd and very low-paying jobs such as railroad policeman, office manager, and even pencil sharpener wholesaler.  None of these endeavors were  successful and he and his small family lived in near poverty for many years.  At 35, he wrote the Mars series for All-Stories magazine.  This started his writing career and lead to a great number of works including the most famous, the Tarzan series.

But back to the book.  This was a quick audiobook ‘read’ coming in at only 6 discs, or 6 hours, of listening.  The first thing that will strike you is the tone.  You can tell this was written in turn of the 1900’s language and style.  The men speak more like English gentlemen and the ’science’ part of the sci-fi is problematic and dated to say the least. Still, he does get a number of things partly right - which is pretty good considering what was known of other planets at the time.

Our hero, John Carter, is transported to Mars via an encounter in a mystical cave.  Once there, he has the strength of 20 men and can leap great distances with little effort due to the low gravity of Mars.  He encounters the warlike green men of Mars and earns a place with them through combat.  During his adventures with the green men, he meets the captured humanoid princess Dejah Thoris.  His attempts to win her hand and save both her and her city Helium from various armies leads to epic battles and adventures.

The battles and fights certainly portray the signs of Burroughs’ times.  There are clear echos of white man vs Indian/’savage tribe’ attitudes, battles that themselves would be considered brutal and morally questionable by today’s standards.  But that does not terribly detract from the story.  In fact, if anything, it add something Burroughs never expected: historical insight.  In many ways, Burroughs’ writing echos the prevailing attitudes towards indigenous peoples and what was considered the height of culture and understanding of his days.  It’s a good reminder to always have a healthy dose of skepticism as to our own perceived ‘we know much better and are so much more sophisticated’ attitudes and political/social agendas.  In some ways, his world is much more civilized such as in the case of the duel-like rules of personal combat.  In others, such as reasons for battle and killing every last man of your enemy, appear barbaric.

Still, with so much story to tell in such a short time - the writing is anything but eloquent.  One person has (mostly correctly) said it reads a lot like an adventure written towards teenage boys.  Sure, you can get some dialog exchanges that are simplistic to a point of being almost comical.  The sci-fi part is clearly dated and wrong in many ways.  This isn’t intellectual reading.  But is it a good story and worth the read?  Yep!

It’s a ride at a carnival.  The set pieces and characters are mostly painted walls, and the dangers only as real as you imagine them to be; but that doesn’t make it any less fun.  It’s an escape from the mundane into the somewhat ridiculous and far-flung.   It’s just good fun when you can see beyond the shortcomings and enjoy it for what it is.  A crazy romp to another planet where a southern gentleman meets and falls in love with the most beautiful woman he’s ever met with a pet monster as a bosom friend while swash-buckling his way through epic battles.

Overall, I give it a solid B and I’m looking forward to the movie version as there should be some great opportunities for crazy creatures and epic battles.

Just finished the third and final book of the Hunger Games trilogy.  In this final installment, Katniss is with the rebels and they are in a war to defeat the Capitol.  The stakes are high as she fights along with the other rebels in a winner-take-all war.  There’s not much I can say beyond that without giving out some serious spoilers.  So here they come.  Skip if you don’t want to know anything.

<Spoilers>
I have a lot of criticism for this book.

First off, people drop like flies.  Previous victors are killed off in rapid-fire succession like red-shirts on a Star Trek episode and very little is given to these losses other than passing sentiment.  Peeta is brutally brainwashed by Snow into wanting to kill Katniss.  This powerful story element was mostly flubbed by Collins and it quickly reverts to the tired love triangle theme that just continues to go nowhere for 90% of even this book.  Finally, the killing of her sister Prim has to be one of the most pointless, even sadistic, story elements from a writer I’ve run across in years.   The very fact Prim was where she was *ahead* of the front lines, and that the whole point of the death was to take Gale out of the love-triangle equation by means of some of the most feeble logic I’ve ever heard made me throw my hands up in frustration at Collins.

As a core theme, the love triangle, just gets completely flubbed with cheap moves.  I’d hoped something good would come of it and see our characters bloom into something rich and heartwarming despite the surrounding destruction.  Mostly I just wanted to smack the three of them and Collins’ poor handling.  Despite each of their flaws, I wanted to hear Peeta or Gale have an epiphany and confess their love for her in some heartfelt and real expression of their inner self.  Katniss could have done likewise or actually *chose* one of them.  But instead of this, Collins merely makes Gale out to be a monster (on trumped up charges none-the-less) and Katniss ends up with Peeta kind of by default even though Peeta sees clearly that Katniss never really loved him.   Even this ‘resolution’ you don’t find out until the tacked-on epilogue.  And the reason she’s with Peeta?  The best answer you get is because she ‘owes’ him more as he did more for her earlier.  Really?  That’s why you marry someone? And that’s what you do with a story element going on for 3 books?

For those that at least enjoyed Haymitch’s presence: this staple, interesting and ever-working in the background character in the first books is barely even present in this one.  Felt he was completely under-utilized.

Turning the Capitol into deathtraps, and having custom-bred dogs that whisper Katniss name felt like overdone and feeble attempts to recapture the interesting Hunger Games theme - but mostly didn’t work and it was too little, too late.

The storytelling itself was disjointed and spotty.  Big gaps of time with hard landings left some of the story hard to follow and further exaserbated the feelings of disconnectedness with the characters.

Finally, Katniss.  She suffers badly from PTSD effects through most of the book, several times getting drugged into oblivion so she can just hang on.  She does take on the role of the Mockingjay - but that role never really goes anywhere and Collins absolutely blows a great opportunity to make that a much more powerful symbol.  Instead, all it turns into is a propaganda piece that Katniss herself isn’t very interested in.   But the big failing in my opinion is that Katniss doesn’t seem to grow as a person.  There are a few attempts to protest morally questionable activities like the bombing of the nut in district 2, but that doesn’t go anywhere. In fact, she shows quite the opposite of character and growth when she votes to throw the children of the Capitol’s leaders into one last Hunger Games (run by the rebels of all things) with no real discussion of the morality given.  It gets like 3 pages - bang - she votes to throw these innocent kids into the arena and nothing more is said.  Then, about 10 pages later, she coolly assassinates Coin without much of a second thought.  Overall, we’re left with a burned-out, war-scarred character that hasn’t shown any particular growth or hope.  I was left caring very little for her when I could have been there with her all along if she’d shown even one tenth the character, struggle, or growth you’d see with Frodo or other person in a titanic struggle like this.  It could maybe have been made a bit better with her at least started to find some sort of healing or hope at the end - but even that we don’t get.  I don’t need a fairytale ending - but there should be some sign of hope, change, or healing.

I don’t know if I would qualify this book as a teen book.  It’s got some pretty rough story lines and themes: PTSD, mental and physical abuse, drugged states to get through personal crises, many morally questionable activities (that don’t get questioned) and plenty of death and destruction. While these topics can be appropriate for teens if consequences and characters struggle to make right choices, but you get little of that. I didn’t find the way they were handled to be very productive or geared towards helping teen readers understand these topics.

There are some good points.  There is an interesting and clever bit about the power struggle between President Coin, President Snow and Katniss, but it just doesn’t make up for the other problems.

</Spoilers>

So, I had a lot more criticism of this book than good things to say and would even hesitate to call it teen-appropriate.  While it was a decent attempt to bring the elements to a close - the writing and story just fell apart in too many ways.  I was hoping for a lot out of this book - but it left me disappointed.  If you saw the story cracks in book 2, then those cracks are absolute canyons in this book.  You should probably read it to finish the trilogy since it’s only 10 audio discs (600 minutes); but don’t go into it expecting a very good story.  You just aren’t left feeling very connected or concerned about Katniss or most of the other characters (that manage to still be alive) by the end.  I was just glad this train-ride was over.  Sadly, the journey started so well in book 1 has turned into a destination to which I never want to go back.  Even as I sit here writing this I am thinking of ways in which this book could have been better.  Sigh.

I give this book a D+ rating.  It finished everything up; but left numerous problems with the morality of their choices, the plot, and the largely unsatisfying ending to the characters.

Finished book 2 of the Hunger Games trilogy over the holidays.  I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum; but some details will come out.

<short plot summary with spoilers - so don’t read if you don’t want any idea of what happens>
So, this book takes off right after the end of the first book.  Katniss and Peeta are taking their victory tours around the different districts and then return home.  All throughout the districts, unrest is beginning to grow and they see Katniss as something of a touchstone or symbol for this rebellion despite the fact that she’s not trying to appear or play into these ideas.  She returns home to her district and begins life in the victors village.  Meanwhile, every 25 years, the Capitol unveils another Hunger games called the ‘quarter quell’.  This being the 75th year since the rebellion, so it’s a quell year and quell years have special rules.  This year, the combatants in the arena don’t come from tributes - but from the roster of previous victors.  This means that Katniss has to come back to the arena.  She does so, and the ending sees a dramatic end to the games that results in disruption of them and the survivors being yanked from them either by the capitol or the rebel forces.
<summary end>

I found this book an organic continuation of the previous book.  Style and voice were nearly identical.  So, if you liked the first one, you’ll like this one too - maybe more so.  I did find that the Hunger games that occurs in this episode to be unique in its challenges and style.  Very creative and imaginative - and maybe even better than the first one really. But don’t expect any differences in how it’s told or develops from a story reading or style of character point of view.  It will feel just like reading the first one.

If I had any gripes at this point - it would be about Katniss character development.  I had hope we’d get more answers after the first book and become more emotionally attached to her as she struggles with this adult-making decisions.  Instead, I found myself becoming increasingly bored/frustrated/irritated with her at times.  She waffles continually between her feelings for Peeta and Gale, between obeying the Capitol to joining the rebellion, about what she was even doing with the berries in the arena, about ….every major plot point.  In the end, she doesn’t even choose/make decisive or clear decisions on most of these really important points in this book.  In the ones she does choose, it feels more like a decision between what externally looks better to downright ‘flip of the coin’ type of deciding than anything else.  I just wasn’t convinced by the logic behind the choices she made or believed the inner dialog as she worked it out.  She questions her own motivations so much at times that it doesn’t sound like any choice is made at all.  There were times that it seemed kind of obvious why she had made certain decisions - but she just wouldn’t admit them to herself.  And the author didn’t either.  Maybe this is what being a teenage girl is about; but it makes for some tedious reading and makes her appear to be a much less ‘likeable’ character who is making a real stand for something or growing markedly to adulthood by having to mature through them.  Maybe someone could enlighten me, but maybe this is just because the book is suffering from ‘middle-trilogy book’ syndrome in which you want to keep things going, but make sure you have enough for the last book.

Overall, I’d give the book a solid C+/B- for being a good, quick read and having good arena scenes.  At 9 discs, it made for about a week and a half of commute-time listening.

I’ve already started on the final book, Mockingjay - and we’ll see where that goes.

https://servicesales.sel.sony.com/ecom/accessories/web/productSearch.do
Once you’re there, please choose any of the items below (remote, adapter, etc). Then it will lead you to a new page and on the upper right hand there is a search box in which you can enter a search by part number.  Enter the part number and on the drop down menu, please choose “part number”.

Sony part number: 211566803
MDR-V6 headphone replacement ear pads - 211566803

They’ll show up as super-generic: PAD, EAR, but should be what you need.  Or at least I hope, since I just ordered them.

So, I just finished book 2 of Rothfuss’ trilogy - A Wise Man’s Fear (3rd has not yet been released).  It’s 30% bigger than the first at 993 pages (vs 672); and at 43 hours and 18 minutes of listening, it took better than a month to ‘read’ on my commute.  So, was it worth it?  Well…sort of.  I’ll quote the best description I saw of it on Amazon. “It’s kind of a mess.  An engrossing, brilliant, hot and swanky mess, but a mess just the same.”

Book 2 continues the story of Kvothe - a young man enrolled in an university dedicated to arcane arts such as sympathy (magic), crafting of magical items, etc.  However, in this installment, he ventures out into the world.  He journeys to the court of the uber-rich Maer Alveron (line of Vintish kings), he journeys to the Fea world, visits the Adem and has many other adventures. It’s quite a ride.

The good:
Well written and has engrossing and really imaginative bits.  The battle Kvothe has with the bandits has to be one of the most fantastic tellings of how a D&D style magician would do battle.  Honestly, it’s worth the read alone despite being bloody and dark.  Some of the court adventures in Severen are quite entertaining and original.  You’ll read the whole thing, and should well enjoy it.

The bad :
It is simply not the best storytelling at times.  While Rothfuss is a good writer, the story takes some jarring jumps and is beginning to put pants on Kvothe I’m not sure he could/should be wearing.  He spends too much time on some boring parts and far too little on the really important parts.  For example, after a drudgery of pages about a search for bandits, there is an amazing battle scene. In like 2 more pages they then run into a mythical fae creature and he quite literally runs off to 50 pages of sex-romp in the fairy world only to return and immediately go to Adem for a very different story line.  Yet there is very little ‘internal’ growth of Kvothe.  The jumps are jarring and it feels almost like Rothfuss is just trying to hit everything on a shopping list as opposed to a really flowing story that shows how Kvothe is evolving.  There is also an over-abundance of sex.
Sex by itself doesn’t bother me so much if it’s handled well, but it’s becoming part of a pattern of distasteful….smugness to the writing of our adventurer Kvothe.  He is an amazing lover with knowledge of fae lovemaking techniques.  He’s a minstrel who’s songs woo queenly maidens.  He learns swordplay from the best fighters in the world.  The list goes on as Rothfuss tries to take the street kid and make him into the best…everything.  It’s honestly getting a bit unbelievable because we never hear Kvothe’s internal workings when he goes from killing a dozen men right into a month-long fae orgy.
At times, I almost hear the author being a nerdy kid imagining what ‘the best’ looks like.  Problem is, the ‘best’ in reality doesn’t look like this.  True greatness looks more like a Frodo or Aragorn from Lord of the Rings.  People with greatness of character often discover that greatness through trial and tribulation by doing the good, beautiful, and right despite challenges to do otherwise.  They touch upon great truths via these struggles.  Kvothe’s is more like greatness externally draped on a character as a cloak and feels as sterile as a list of things on a resume.  It doesn’t really fit when we see nothing of inner growth or struggle in Kvothe to suggest he has the character of greatness or the heroic.

So, would I recommend the book - yes - with conditions.  I give it a C+.  It’s still got some great storytelling in it, and very imaginative parts.  But you’ll have jarring jumps, an author who is kind of throwing in the kitchen sink to build up the resume of a somewhat unbelievable uber-character.  I’m honestly not sure what the third book will bring - but I sense it will not end well.  I think Rothfuss over-promised a character that is a ‘legend’ and he’s fighting to get that character from the streets to the stuff of legends in too short a time.  Unfortunately, he’s doing it by throwing everything in at once instead of a the more believable/organic growth. We want to see the core struggles and relate/learn about becoming ‘great’, but Kvothe has little of this subtlety and what there is of it is a little stilted. So, enjoy the story but expect plenty of flaws.

ctrl+shift+alt+~

However, since CS4, that hasn’t worked. I have had a dickens of a time finding the new key as this selection operation isn’t available via the menus - so I didn’t even know what the operation was called so I could Google it.  Then I found this link that told me what the new combination is:

ctrl-alt-2

This is a super-handy shortcut for some of the operations I do when balancing the brightness in a photo without losing the shadows.  Now you know - and knowing is half the battle!