REVIEW: Manga for Success: Leading Meeting and Teams (nonfiction book) by Masumi Tani, artwork by Enmo Takenawa

Leading Meetings and Teams is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

As is the case with all the "Manga for Success" volumes, this alternates textual sections with manga sections depicting the concepts in the text in action. In this volume, the manga scenario is that Shigeo is a young employee who's been sent from a construction materials manufacturer to one of the local agencies of the manufacturer. He's supposed to get opinions from them about developing new building materials. Unfortunately, no one has much to say - they're focused on their own current projects and concerns.

While on a train, Shigeo meets Mayumi, a facilitation instructor. She gives him advice on how to run more effective meetings. She recommends he use a whiteboard and put the desired topics and outputs down on it. The board allows him to record what people in the meeting are saying, checking his understanding of their comments, and overall help people feel heard. She gives him several general tips on conversation/meeting facilitation, and he starts to make actual progress in his work. 

REVIEW: Woe: A Housecat's Story of Despair (graphic novel) by Lucy Knisley

Woe: A Housecat's Story of Despair is Knisley's collection of humorous (mostly) cartoons about her cat. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This full-color collection focuses on Knisley's fluffy orange cat, Linney. The vast majority of these comics are humorous, but be warned that this does go, a little, into Linney's eventual death. It was pictured as peaceful, and Linney was herself throughout, but it still made my chest tight. My own cat is about 15 years old, so...yeah. I could see myself rereading this at some point in the future (hopefully still several years from now) and sobbing my eyes out.

I loved the way Knisley drew Linney. Linney's facial expressions and the way her overall shape morphed were perfect - she had a ton of personality to her as she interacted with Knisley, her family, and Flora the dog. 

REVIEW: The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design (nonfiction book) by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt

The 99% Invisible City is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book looks at the design of aspects of cities that most people likely never think much about: manhole covers, traffic lights, signage, public drinking fountains, and more. The various essays often focus on specific intriguing examples from cities around the world (although heavily featuring San Francisco and Los Angeles, likely due to Roman Mars' location).

I came across this book while looking for accessible works on cities, architecture, infrastructure, and design. It was steeply discounted, so I figured "why not?" I didn't learn until later that it was based on a podcast, although I've now marked that down as something I need to listen to sometime.

The essay format of this made it easy to read a bit at a time, making it perfect for my evening reading routine. Overall, this was fascinating and enjoyable. If there was one thing I could change, it would be the illustrations. There were times when actual photographs would have been more helpful. At the very least some of the illustrations could have more clearly featured whatever it was the essays were focusing on - sometimes I couldn't tell what part I was supposed to be looking at.