J鈥檚 Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2024

6,394

pages read

books read

J Lippe

Shortest Book

263

pages

Longest Book

688

pages

Average book length in 2024

426

pages

Most Shelved

975,992

people also shelved

Ireland's Unfinished Revolution by Kenneth Griffith

Least Shelved

116

people also shelved

J鈥檚 average rating for 2024

4.4

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

4.56 average

The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel by Douglas Brunt

J鈥檚 first review of the year

really liked it

Entertaining read about one of the least well-known but most impactful inventors of our day.

With over 90% of sea transport still using diesel engines today, it鈥檚 hard to deny Rudolph鈥檚 impact on our world!

This book compared the main protagonist with Wilhem the German Kaiser who attempted to change the world order and nearly succeeded. It was an interesting juxtaposition to compare these two and their impact on the world with their God given gift ...more

闯鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

it was amazing

Investing in U.S. Financial History by Mark J. Higgins

Fall of Civilizations by Paul M.M. Cooper

it was amazing

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends by Nicole Perlroth

J鈥檚 last review of the year

it was amazing

Epic story of the genesis of Rock & Roll and how the resulting fame, celebrity, drugs, underage groupies鈥� led to Led Zeppelin鈥檚 demise.

Interesting how culture drove music scene: post war British youth were attracted to Blues and made it their own. Disenchanted and wanting more from life. 鈥淲ith the Blues, you could actually express yourself, rather than just copy鈥� 鈥� Robert Plant

Jimmy Page (founder of LZ) was a Visionary. His obsession with 鈥渟ound鈥� Epic story of the genesis of Rock & Roll and how the resulting fame, celebrity, drugs, underage groupies鈥� led to Led Zeppelin鈥檚 demise.

Interesting how culture drove music scene: post war British youth were attracted to Blues and made it their own. Disenchanted and wanting more from life. 鈥淲ith the Blues, you could actually express yourself, rather than just copy鈥� 鈥� Robert Plant

Jimmy Page (founder of LZ) was a Visionary. His obsession with 鈥渟ound鈥� combined with his flawless technique and raw talent resulted in groundbreaking band that altered history of music. Jimmy loved layering sound and creating new ones.
Jimmy was also a team builder 鈥� he picked out the best bass, drummer and singer that fit his Vision for the future of Rock & Roll.

Jimmy鈥檚 drive and their top notch talent / team fit resulted in some of the fastest albums ever made. Their entire first album was completed in 36hrs! 4 albums in 2 years. Credit their lack of egos (with one another) and Jimmy鈥檚 leadership.

Jimmy was also able to partner with solid management (at the time), Peter Grant, who steered their career in the right direction and ensured they weren鈥檛 taken advantage of!
This rockstar team and Visionary outlook attracted money before they ever sold a record. They found a solid partnership with a top notch label, Atlantic.
Peter and Atlantic were marketing wizards. They realized music sold through FM stations, not common at the time so they focused their efforts there. In addition, they didn鈥檛 release singles in UK because that wasn鈥檛 how music sold there. They changed how money was split with promoters because their shows would sell out without any effort!

Unfortunately, all of this fame got to their heads and a sense of 鈥渦ntouchableness鈥� hit the band. This was their downfall. Without checks & balances they went off the deep end with drugs (cocaine, heroine鈥�), alcohol, underage women (鈥渟ick again鈥� song)鈥� it got dark and destructive quickly. Somehow LZ continued cranking out groundbreaking records in their short, somewhat lucid moments. Jimmy also went down a rabbit hole with Crowley and his 鈥渄o what thou wilt鈥� attitude鈥� rules didn鈥檛 apply to him or LZ.

Their manager Peter Grant also ended up losing it to a cocaine habit and sold their royalties and ownership of masters to Atlantic for $25k/yr for five years鈥� yikes! When mgmt. and talent are falling apart from drugs鈥� just a matter of time things fall apart.

LZ had a weird / insecure obsession with the press. They always felt they were out to get them鈥� I think this came from Jimmy but not sure why he was so insecure about it all?

LZ took their eye off the ball and missed the nascent punk scene chomping at their heels. By the time their drummer OD鈥檇, they were on the downfall and unable to turn it around.

One thing: Mud shark. Drugs are bad. The power of generational talent surrounded by harmonious team (4 groundbreaking albums in 2 yrs!) ...more

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