The Dreaming Void / Peter F. Hamilton

The Dreaming Void

category: science fiction, author:

Peter F. Hamilton

book 1 of Void
original copyright 2007,
read in October 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 4 out of 10

When I say, above, "read in October 2010" I mean, I attempted to read this book. Years ago I would read and finish each and every (fiction) book that I started. Now, if a book makes no sense -- I give up.

The Dreaming Void makes no sense.

To confirm my guess -- as to why this book makes no sense -- I searched for some reviews. And found this: "this is one of the later books in a series which keeps referring to events and people that are alluded to in earlier volumes." Yes, that's what I thought... the book makes no sense if read by itself. From that same review: "buy every book this man writes and read them in order. Rather than write a 10,000 page book, Peter Hamilton has broken it up into many volumes..."

Alternatively: don't bother trying to read The Dreaming Void. It makes no sense.

This does introduce a difficulty with my rating scale.

I rate The Dreaming Void as "4: bad but could be read." But the book is not really "bad", it's just not worth reading -- by itself. Perhaps this book would improve if you have, in fact, read all of Hamilton's books in order... But -- somewhere back in the past -- I do seem to remember reading another Hamilton book. With the same result: complex, boring, unreadable.

Oh well. I read 'em, I rate 'em, I review 'em. And I recommend that you don't bother reading this one.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Fix It and Flip It / Katie Hamilton & Gene Hamilton

Fix It and Flip It:

how to make money rehabbing real estate for profit

category: self-help, author:

Katie Hamilton & Gene Hamilton

published by McGraw-Hill,
original copyright 2004, read in August 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

This is an American book, which limits is relevance to Australian real estate. Nevertheless -- there are some useful chapters.

First up I was struck by the pricing examples...

Buy a house for $100,000 then sell it for $115,000... Where will you get a house that cheap? Not in my market, certainly! Still... it's easy to multiply by five or ten, to get good information. My advice would be: read the figures to get ideas but don't get over-excited by the actual figures quoted!

(I wonder if those are actual prices from America? Or if they are several years out of date? Or if there is -- or was -- a solid real estate market in the very low end of the US market?! Anyway...)

(Interesting... I see that the 2008 edition of this book has an even longer title: Fix It & Flip It: How to Make Money Rehabbing Real Estate for Profit Even in a Down Market. Good to see that "even in a down market" there is money to be made. Even if the money is mainly for authors of how-to books. Anyway again...)

A highlight of the book -- for someone considering entering this market... Hmmm... "This market" being, buy a house, clean it and fix it, sell it for a profit. That said, a highlight is the list of suggestions for fixing up an old house.

A fresh coat of paint is obvious. I once checked over an old house where a fresh coat of paint was its main feature: The painter had sprayed everything, including various weeds which were now glued to the house by fresh paint.

Fix It and Flip It also advises a lot more fixes which are -- really -- in the cosmetic category: Make sure that all doors open and close, oil all hinges, clean the kitchen and bathroom, remove all rubbish... Minor items, largely cosmetic, perhaps, but all help to give a good first impression to the potential home-buyer. Many pages of good advice.

There is similar advice for buying the property. A room-by-room list of items to check. Plus the advice to record what you find -- against the checklist -- for future reference. Nothing worse that trying to remember which house had the water stains below the hot water tank!

Some of the advice is not so important in Australia. Some would need to be adjusted, for our style of houses, our legal requirements and our building standards. That's easy enough, with experience and some research.

This book provides several chapters of good advice on buying, fixing and reselling houses. It's not the ultimate answer -- no book is. But it's a worthwhile read.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.