Reviews

Having just read two great articles about book reviewing, it felt appropriate to make this the next, “Hey!” blog entry.

Joanna Young and Joyful Jubilant Learning ask what do you look for in a book review and Lillie Ammann reviews The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing.

Bad Quotes

These quotes tell the story of what not to do in a book review:

Now that this book is here, I can’t imagine not having it. My copy will be worn out before long.

We could easily insert this in almost every book review

A simple (and great) way to show that the choice of being a leader just depend on us.

This is the ENTIRE book review!

I read the book prior to its release. It’s a really interesting and informative read.

We don’t care when you read the book. (Puts on Freud hat) So, tell me why you feel that way?

This book is really badly written.

Tell me why you feel that way? The rest of the review doesn’t back up this statement.

A Book Reviewer’s Template

I agree with Joanna that I like Tim Milburn’s template:

When I read a book review, I want the following:

Ultimately, I read book reviews because I want to make an informed decision about investing in a book or bypassing it. A good review will pique my interest in a book or throw up red flags.

Me, the Book Reviewer

I admit that as a book reviewer, sometimes I feel pressured to produce a “good” review especially when connected with the author or to do a review of a book I don’t want to review. I’ve turned down email requests for book reviews directly from the author or publicists, but some manage to compel me to do it anyway.

When I write reviews, I think of readers first. My words could help them to decide to buy or not to buy. I don’t want to waste their money any more than I don’t want other reviewers wasting mine.

Obviously, I’m not a perfect reviewer as my Amazon reviewer ratings have plenty of “not helpful” votes.

Readers’ tastes and mine won’t be the same. Therefore, I need to give an overview of the book and its style (without rehashing the publisher’s summary), so readers can judge if it meets their tastes. I identify strengths and weaknesses.

An Example

A great example is 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (1,000 Before You Die). Read the reviews and you’ll see comments such as “not enough (genre)” or “how can the author forget (song)?” The better reviews discuss a missing genre and why it needs to be included. One reviewer made an excellent point of how some songs won’t have the impact alone as it’s the reviewer’s experience with another one of a composer’s songs that made a difference to one of the songs listed in the book.

Some reviewers list the table of contents, which is silly because most online book stores provide that. Now, if they provide a summary of the major chapters — that’s a different story. It’ll get boring fast to list every chapter title followed by a brief comment.

Long reviews don’t mean better reviews. I’ve seen one- or two-paragraph reviews blow away eight-paragraph reviews.

Feel free to share your thoughts about good and bad reviews — even if it’s my own.

Knowing how to balance a checkbook provides us with an important life skill. A person who can’t balance a checkbook (or these days, reconcile a credit card as few write checks) will struggle to ensure s/he has enough money to pay bills.

Not everyone needs to understand how a board works, the process for running board meetings, and the rules of order. However, the knowledge comes in handy throughout our lives whether as a volunteer who sits on a board, a parent who belongs to a school PTA, or an employee who attends meetings.

Let’s say a PTA dad joins the PTA and volunteers once a month. He receives the general meeting minutes and the budget. With a fresh eye and an accountant’s background, he catches an error. He cares about the school’s PTA and wants them to operate on sound principles, so he reports the error to the president or treasurer.

In a time where ethics fell by the wayside, we need to educate ourselves on board practices. The Perfect Board helps the reader who has never been on a board, a member of an organization that wants the organization to function effectively, the chair who needs to understand the process, and the freshman politician stepping into the walking on eggshells world of politics.

People become afraid of making change to ensure the board and organization stay on track. Understanding official guidelines will support a person in any efforts to steer things back on course.

The Perfect Board begins with meeting a newly appointed board member, Rebecca Mayfield, who doesn’t know what to expect. She receives a referral to meet with EJ, a man who knows about boards. The start and end of the book uses a fictional story to ease the reader into the book and make it a fast read at about 100 pages. A fast reader could read the book in 20 or 30 minutes.

Rebecca makes herself comfortable and reads EJ’s The Perfect Board notebook, which starts a new page for every topic presented in a logical order covering the basics from quorum and bylaws to reimbursement and audit committee. Each section contains an overview of the topic without weighing the reader with cumbersome details.

The book follows up with Rebecca after settling in her job and establish new policies based on what she learned in reading EJ’s The Perfect Board notes. This short ‘n sweet lesson teaches the critical action a board member should take to ensure the organization functions well.

The title would serve better as “The New Board Member’s Guide” or something along those lines because the book covers the topic at a high level and doesn’t dive into details to help experienced members build better boards.

The Perfect Board would make a perfect gift for Incoming presidents and board members especially first-timers. Considering many who join a board have other roles and responsibilities (parenting, full-time jobs, etc.), the book’s easy and fast read gives readers what they need to know without feeling bogged down by technical details found in policies and rules of order.

• Title: The Perfect Board, second edition
• Author: Calvin K. Clemons
• Publisher: Ovation Books
• ISBN: 097902756X
• Date: 2008
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 110
• Cover Price: USD: $16.95

The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead contains a mixture of an autobiography and facts about the body’s growing and aging. The stories told and the given facts both humor and depress readers. Rather than linearly cover author David Shields’ life from childhood to adulthood sprinkled with quotes and stories about his and his father’s lives, the chapters jump around with random thoughts and stories.

One chapter might tell a story about Shields’ teen years, or another support facts that his father’s quite the stud, while another does nothing but quote statistics. Whether a reader will like this roundabout tactic probably largely depends on the reader’s life, age, and gender. The description of Shields’ father sowing-oats lifestyle might turn off a woman in her 30s. However, I can relate to some of Shields’ writing as a fellow parent. He discusses living and thinking as a father.

Though Shields explores the father-son relationship, it won’t tap a female reader’s memories much as it would a male’s. I recently lost my own father and had a great relationship with him. This book didn’t compel me to think about our times together. However, men past their 30s might recall their relationships with their fathers or see hope for them as they age.

Sometimes the reader will think, “Who cares?” or “That’s fascinating.” Sometimes readers will laugh and sometimes readers will turn depressed at the thought of aging and dying. No matter the age, readers will go through a range of emotions in reading this stream of thoughts writing.

Readers wanting to understand the aging process without the scientific-speak might appreciate Shields’ approach with its mix of storytelling and giving facts in a flowy way instead of the way a doctor would describe aging. Shields’ writing easily captivates, whether or not readers like the contents.

Shields shares embarrassing and personal things about his teen and adult years that many wouldn’t share with anyone. This provides readers — especially men — with the opportunity to know they aren’t alone in experiencing similar situations. As a woman, I know I would appreciate a female sharing such experiences to confirm I’m not the only one who experienced something or felt a certain way about something.

Truth is – whether you’ll like Shields’ writing depends on your experiences, taste for a non-linear style book, and the flip-flopping between story and statistics. The Thing About Life should please those who’d love to be fly on the wall in a man’s life or read about health and living in the same way as a history book, only without the dull educational writing style that tends to appear in many health and history books.

• Title: The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead
• Author: David Shields
• Publisher: Knopf
• ISBN: 0307268047
• Date: February 2008
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 256
• Cover Price: USD: $23.95 Amazon: 16.29

Despite a way too long subtitle and “salesy” claims, Sell Your Book on Amazon surprises. Its format simplifies finding the sections of interest – couple that with the ratings from five stars indicating “a must do” item to one star meaning “Don’t waste your time.” Authors who publish their books using a print-on-demand (POD) service will benefit most from this book.

However, authors with books published through traditional publishers will find useful tactics. Nowadays, authors must do their own marketing instead of relying on the publisher. Most authors don’t reach the popularity of bestselling authors like the John Grishams, J.K. Rowlings, and Malcome Gladwells. These authors need not worry about marketing.

But that’s not the case for most of us. So we have to research and figure our way around sites like Amazon from a different point of view than a shopper’s. You may already be doing some or most of the recommended activities discussed in the book. Or maybe you could do more to boost sales.

Naturally, Sampson spends most of the book discussing Amazon’s Profile Page (which he often references as Author Profile Page, but that’s not what Amazon calls it) and Book Detail Page. Despite my using Amazon since the early ’90s when it was just an online bookstore, I’ve picked up a few things from the book.

For instance, I didn’t know that authors can set up a “Search Inside” page. I thought that was under the publisher’s control. You may have to deal with your publisher in terms of your contract and Amazon’s contract. These little tidbits may justify the cost of buying the book.

Authors certainly can request reviews. Sampson, however, recommends asking for a five-star review, rationalizing the advice by saying a book will get plenty of reviews that aren’t five stars. It’s just not right for an author to tell me (a reviewer) this.

Yes, a highly rated book will get a boost, but I believe requesting a review is enough. Ironically, in the letters I received for reviewing the book — they make no mention of recommending I provide a five-star review.

In the intro, the author mentions BXGY. What’s that? I look for BXGY in the index and find other pages covering the abbreviation that explain it. Most, if not all, writing style guides say to expand an acronym or abbreviation on first occurrence. Or else you waste the reader’s time in trying to figure out little things like this.

The tactic ratings are imperfect. For example, I disagree with the five-star rating on Amazon’s blog feature. Blogs do have a place — just not in Amazon. I would rather read the author’s blog on the author’s own site. It clutters Amazon with more marketing material. Furthermore, Amazon offers other ways to get your URL listed. Nonetheless, many probably find value in authors’ blogs. The important thing for authors remember is to use their best judgment in prioritizing what features to address. They know their target market and their needs.

Sell Your Book on Amazon works well as a resource. Authors can browse the tactics for what interests them. Then study those tactics and put them to work. The ratings offer a general guideline of a tactic’s importance — but ultimately the author can decide what’s best.

Not all tactics in the book are about things authors can do. A couple — like Amazon sales rank and Latest Activity features — explain what they are and how the processes work.

While the book’s description makes promises of increasing sales by 20 percent at a minimum and thousands of dollars in royalties — don’t expect a quick fix. It takes time to put the tactics to work and build on them. These tactics can increase book sales, if authors follow up and follow through.

Successful authors tend to read a lot. As such, they are also Amazon’s target market for the book section. Writers keeping this in mind will examine at other author’s profiles and book pages. In doing this research, they will discover what they like and don’t like about these pages. Authors who apply what they’ve learned to their own profiles and book pages will improve their Amazon presence.

Amazon lists the number of pages in the book as 184. The book only has 164 pages. Regardless, the book contains less content since the narrow margins stretch out the content. Notes appear on the sides for highlighting points, but there aren’t many to justify putting the contents in a narrower than normal margin.

Content nitpicks aside, the formatting speeds finding tactics you want to work on. Although this review points out issues, Sampson does a nice job of organizing Sell Your Book on Amazon and showing step-by-step how to do each tactic. Overall, the author offers common sense tips and advice for taking advantage of Amazon’s features. Since the book is an easy and light read, it won’t be difficult for overwhelmed authors to “get around” to using the book.

• Title: Sell Your Book on Amazon: The Book Marketing COACH Reveals Top-Secret “How-to” Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers
• Author: Brent Sampson
• Publisher: Outskirts
• ISBN: 1432701967
• Date: March 2007
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 164
• Cover Price: USD: $14.95

The Success Effect takes a different tack to many books with interviews by printing them in question and answer format. Such an approach doesn’t always succeed. However, Eckberg successfully culled great material from past interviews and put them together to create a conversational and educational resource.

A chapter consists of an interview and interviews range from a couple of pages to over ten pages and every bit — no matter the length — is worth reading. Eckberg adds a dash of color to the interview by including the interviewee’s current music and reads. These appear as “Books on the nightstand” and “CDs in the changer” (obviously these interviews occurred before MP3 players became commonplace). Some interviewees share their favorite meal or what’s on their coffee tables.

The chapter titles for the interviews come from the interview’s main theme, which covers risks, persistence, communication, loyalty. Interviewees hail from various careers and industries including doctors, entrepreneurs, professors, and inventors in the industries of high tech, real estate, sports, and more.

Eckberg, a business reporter with The Cincinnati Inquirer, kept his tapes from interviews he conducted as a reporter. He discovered he had a gold mine in his tapes as the interviews together offer unusual tidbits and insight into the minds of these successful, innovative, and intelligent people. The result is a lovely quilt where the patches come from the leaders’ stories.

Neil Rackham of Huthwaite, Inc. discusses how people buy today and how sales personnel must change to remain successful. David Pelz, golf coach, advises that practicing good habits helps players improve. If you repeatedly practice using bad form, you don’t improve — instead you “become a more consistently mediocre player.” It doesn’t take much to see how valuable this advice would be in other aspects of life.

Thanks to Eckberg’s atypical questions, the answers don’t sound like anything you’ve read or heard before in a business magazine, a news interview, or a Web site’s contents. Furthermore, these interviews could be over a few years old, but most of the shared thoughts are timeless.

Whether you’ve heard of the person interviewed doesn’t matter. In fact, the interview with Donald Trump wasn’t insightful. Reading The Success Effect resembles listening to a conversation between two intellects without the big words. This coupled with Eckberg’s conversational style writing makes the interviews with successful people who have become significant an enjoyable read.

• Title: The Success Effect: Uncommon Conversations with America’s Business Trailblazers
• Author: John Eckberg
• Publisher: Sterling and Ross Publishers
• ISBN: 0976637243
• Date: March 2007
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 256
• Cover Price: USD: $22.95; Amazon: $15.61

Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney, returns for this third series with five new cases where players portray Mia Fey, Wright’s mentor from a past case involving Phoenix. Those who haven’t played the first two series can start with this one without any confusion. Of course, some scenes will have more meaning to those playing the first two in the series. Whether new players will like Phoenix Wright depends on how they feel about interactive stories that require lots of reading.

Each story comes into two parts: The investigation and the trial. During the investigation, players examine scenes, interview characters, move to different locations, and present evidence to prove a point. The stories last for a long time giving players a chance to thoroughly learn a case and pick it apart during the trial to help your client.

The game grows tedious with all the dialogue, but players can’t help but want to reach the truth and get an innocent client off the hook especially since it requires thinking to take the right actions. Object at the wrong time or present the incorrect evidence, and lose points with the judge. When the “health” meter runs out, the judge proclaims your client guilty and the game ends.

The screen shakes whenever a character turns flustered, and this gets very old after a few times. It doesn’t matter if the character feels stressed, mad, aggravated or anxious — shake, shake, shake… enough, enough, enough.

Another frustration point is the constant repetition of scenes when you take the wrong step or missed one. Though you can save the game, there are times when saving won’t make a difference or can’t be sure where to save the game. However, what else can the game do or else it becomes too easy? It might help to let players decide if they want to repeat questioning, present different evidence, or replay a specific section.

On the other hand, the game saves you plenty of work as it automatically enters items into evidence once they enter the story. This doesn’t make the game easy at all as some evidence needs presenting at some point to gain more information as a court record before going to trial. A court record reveals more insight into evidence. You might come across an ID badge, but won’t understand its significance until you present it to someone who can offer more details. The game set up makes it possible for players to focus on figuring out the meaning of the evidence and piecing together the story.

When it comes trial time, every witness presents testimony and then you — as Phoenix Wright or Mia Fey — conducts cross-examinations to discover gaps and lies. During the cross-examination, the witness will repeat each line — one-by-one — to give you a chance to object, press for more information, present evidence that contradicts the witness’ statement, or let it go. A standard statement appears with each response, such as “Hold it!” when pressing or “Take that!” when presenting evidence. This also adds to the tediousness of the game. You can also use your voice in objections, but it’s not required — thankfully. A person with imperfect speech — like this writer — might struggle to be heard correctly.

Two spirit healers accompany Phoenix. One is Maya, Mia Fey’s younger sister, and the other is Pearl Fey, their cousin. Pearl easily gets on your nerves like a kid sister while Maya’s immaturity can grate at times. Nevertheless, the girls have good moments when they come shining through. This says a lot about the game’s characters and their uniqueness. It would help to have another likeable character or two — like Mia Fey — that don’t annoy players in the next edition.

Since Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations involves logical thinking and a good eye, it should attract players who prefer Nintendo’s Touch! Generation games such as Big Brain Academy, Picross DS, and Touchmaster. Like those, this one is easy to learn and use especially since a tutorial helps players get familiar with the interface.

Using sharp anime-style images and animation, the game presents everything with a first person perspective making players feel part of the action. After successfully winning all five cases, there may be little motivation to play the cases again. Thankfully, they last a long time making the game worth its value. Though Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations receives a few objections over its annoyances, it’s guilty of being entertaining, humorous, and getting players to use their brains. Those who want to be lawyers someday or watch TV shows like Perry Mason, Matlock, Boston Legal, or Law and Order will enjoy the playing the role without cracking open a law book.

The ESRB rating for this game is T (Teen) for Mild Blood, Mild Violence.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Series

• Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
• Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All
• Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

Bullying today looks nothing like bullying 15 years ago. While many of the things we know about bullying from our childhood years remain true, bullies can now follow their victims 24/7 using the Internet and cell phones. Bullyproof Your Child for Life quotes the National Girl Scouts Research Institute and Harris Interactive report, which states the number one fear of girls ages 8 through 17 is teasing. This topped war, terrorism, and natural disasters.

The media and parents also contribute to the increasing occurrences of bullying. We see more violence on TV, commercials, video games, song lyrics. Furthermore, many parents don’t realize they’re setting a poor example for their children. For example, Haber shares an experience in talking with a mother who approaches him in a coffee shop. She asks for help with her child’s reputation as a gossip. Haber advises her only to hear that he meets her friends at their table where she proceeds to gossip about a neighbor. Bewildering, isn’t it?

The book begins with details about bullying and why it happens. Chapter two offers tactics for dealing with a bullying situation. The rest of the book explores situations, what works, and what doesn’t work.

The rest of the book’s contents follow the coffee shop example in telling stories and offering clear and understandable advice without the jargon. Accompanying every chapter are stories related to its topic, which cover bullying in school, camp, sports, and online.

Books in this category of non-fiction where the topic is painful and not fun can easily turn into books for helping people fall asleep at night. Haber and Glatzer do a first-rate job of using the tone needed for this sensitive topic. It doesn’t get emotionally heavy nor does it scare the reader. There are a couple of grim stories in the book — rightfully so — and the authors follow up with details and support.

I also appreciate the chapter on special needs and disability harassment especially as a person who is deaf. The chapter gives greater focus on educating others to prevent them from bullying special needs children. It briefly goes into how to help a special needs child who is the subject of bullying. However, much of the advice throughout the book can help special needs children and work in most situations no matter where they occur.

Stopping a bully doesn’t happen overnight, but Bullyproof Your Child for Life avoids overwhelming the reader with its doable suggestions. While the book doesn’t require reading from cover to cover, it’s beneficial to read the whole thing once — it’s surprisingly a fast and easy read. Parents, educators, and adults working with children can refer back to find what they need and take action based on the advice.

• Title: Bullyproof Your Child for Life: Protect Your Child from Teasing, Taunting, and Bullying for Good
• Author: Joel Haber, Ph.D. with Jenna Glatzer
• Publisher: Perigee
• ISBN: 0399533184
• Date: August 2007
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 304
• Cover Price: USD: $14.95; Amazon: $10.17

Don’t expect “how to” type of advice from Dov Seidman’s How. The “how to” doesn’t help you get ahead of competitors. You could lower prices, do things faster, and customize the product to the customer’s exact specifications. The competition can easily turn around and lower prices, do things faster, and customize more. It turns into a cycle that focuses on time and cost. The real value comes in building relationships with people.

GE’s CEO Jack Welch response to a question about why GE would disclose its secrets for competitors to copy — the “whats” — best sums the book. Welch said, “There’s no secret to the what; the secret is in how. They can know our model, but they cannot do it. They can’t copy our hows.” Businesses that stand out pay great attention to the “way” to reach their business goals. The journey is how a business can differentiate itself from the competition.

High quality still matters even with a great “how” in place. Companies who succeed in the “how” already know that must produce or provide high quality products and services. That’s a given. Seidman explains “how” vs. “what” with the following questions:

How

• How can I best delight my client?
• How can I bring the company greater repute?
• How can I make the meeting more successful?

What

• What does the manual say to do?
• What is my job description?
• What is on the agenda?

Notice the difference? “How” focuses on values and taking a proactive stance in building relationships with others. “What” is more about compliance and passive interactions. This means changing the thinking from “can” to “should.” Sure, you “can” work to make a meeting more successful, but you don’t have to as no rule says you must. But someone with high values and interest in building relationships thinks this “should” happen.

For example, a customer asks an employee in bakery that sells sandwiches to cut a roll in half and butter it. A knife sits on the counter near the rolls. The employee’s reply? They can’t do that and hands the customer a plastic knife and butter. This example of dissonance shows how a bakery takes action that doesn’t support its goal to provide high quality customer service.

Many companies have a disconnect between their business goals and how they run their businesses. Seidman explains dissonance and how to move toward consonance. This example is what the book is about — covering the problems and how to address them for different facets divided into three parts: HOW we think, HOW we behave, and HOW we govern.

The book isn’t a fast and easy read. But it isn’t as complicated as a college textbook. Thankfully, it contains many examples to help readers comprehend the HOW concepts and apply them.

Unlike other business books, How isn’t a manual with step-by-step instructions, rules, processes or anything to study. Rather, it changes the way you think and that affects how you approach anything in business and even in life. Instead of being like the bakery that won’t cut bread, become the bakery that goes the extra mile to cut bread AND add a surprise cookie.

• Title: How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything…in Business (and in Life)
• Author: Dov Seidman
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISBN: 0471751227
• Date: June 2007
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Cover Price: USD: $27.95; Amazon: $18.45

Renegades usually don’t follow rules because that is what makes them renegades. Rules for Renegades aims to share Christine Comaford-Lynch’s experiences. She states that she started with no special advantages and that 10 life lessons — the rules — she shares will help readers gain confidence and self-esteem, build strong relationships, and become financially independent.

The book oozes Comaford-Lynch’s fiery style and rivets. This is a woman whose history consists of running away to New York to try modeling, becoming a Buddhist monk, inventing several products earning millions of dollars, and making a mistake that cost $8 million. She tells fascinating stories while interweaving advice on funding and starting a company. Reading the book is akin to reading People Magazine and getting the inside scoop on celebrities from a business perspective. Instead of reading about actors, read about an executive who meets celebrities and attempts to motivate.

What are the chances any of us will experience such meetings? Very little. The celebs with the biggest parts are Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, and an anonymous billionaire. She drops plenty of names of people she meet along the way including Connie Chung, Maury Povich, Jane Fonda, and Barbara Walters. This book qualifies more the autobiography section than for the self-help section.

The author’s writing feels loud and she sounds like she bounces off the walls. Few successful people have a personality resembling Comaford-Lynch’s maniacal and hyperactive style. Thus, her experiences aren’t something many of us can do or make happen even if we tried. Her advice seems more kitschy than insightful.

In talking about what it takes to be success, she believes a person’s GSD (Gets Stuff Done) is more important than an MBA. She doesn’t mean to slam education, but tells readers that the real world experience is what matters instead of the pile of degrees. A GSD means you know how to get your foot in the door, set goals, listening to the voice in your head, and avoiding pushiness. If you want to earn a GSD-style degree, David Allen’s GTD (Getting Things Done) is better.

The most interesting thing in the “Work Your Money Mojo” chapter is its title. The advice on raising money from outside the company doesn’t offer anything new: Prove you have a viable product, set measurable goals to track progress, and report to management. However, she does a valuable service in providing resources for getting funding. This information, though, feels out of place in the disjointed book.

Comaford-Lynch deserves congratulations for making millions, working as a CEO for multiple companies, and learning from her mistakes. Her path to all of money, career, and happiness isn’t one most people would want to take to grow and prosper. In sum, Rules for Renegades proves an entertaining read with too much emphasis on things that are bigger than they really are.

• Title: Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality
• Author: Christine Comaford-Lynch
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• ISBN: 0071489754
• Date: August 2007
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 256
• Cover Price: USD: $24.95 – Amazon: $16.47

I bought my first portable mouse when it was on sale for very cheap. At first, I thought it was a bad investment because I didn’t use it for a long time. However, I started using my laptop for all work for a specific client and needed to use a regular mouse instead of the touchpad. The mouse has a lot of mileage.

I had the opportunity to try out the Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse pricey (69.99 list price / $49.99 Amazon price) ultra-portable mouse with a tiny receiver. Instantly, I liked the package when I saw the small size of the receiver — it looked like a USB plug. But then I realized, it would be easy to lose in a house full of kids.

Two AAA batteries powered the mouse and the package came with batteries (hope it didn’t drive up the price). When I opened the battery compartment, I saw the “Nano Receiver” label. When not using the receiver, you put it in the battery compartment next to the label to store it and close the battery compartment keeping it safe while on the move or not using the mouse. Innovative.

Although, it was no problem to keep the receiver plugged in even on the go since it barely protruded. It was a nice change not having to duck doorways to avoid hitting the two-inch long receiver from the old portable mouse. It had a few run-ins in its lifetime.

Plugged in the USB receiver, put batteries in mouse and the mouse went to work right away. It worked without the installing the included CD. However, the CD contained more features for taking advantage of side-to-side scrolling, Internet search, and button customization.

Have you noticed some mice have scroll wheels that click as you scroll and others don’t click (frictionless for long scrolling)? This one did both. Push the scroll wheel to toggle between the two modes. Click scrolling (friction) worked well for precise scrolling and frictionless scrolling performed best with long documents.

The box also included a carrying case and a USB extension stand for using the mouse with a desktop. These can stay tucked in one of the laptop’s smaller pockets out of the way.

My old portable mouse shut itself off unreasonably fast when idle. Moving the mouse wouldn’t wake it up — it called for either moving the scroll wheel or pushing the buttons on both the receiver and mouse to wake it up. This one required neither. It woke up every time I moved it. The receiver didn’t even have a button, so I only had to push the one on the mouse to make the first connection.

This high quality portable mouse wasn’t without a flaw — the size. My medium-sized hand missed the older and slightly larger sized portable mouse. But with time, it will adapt. The mouse felt snug and comfortable to the top part of my hand and fingers (the bottom of my palm dragged on the table more than usual). Oh, and it felt wonderfully light. I weighed it with the batteries and the scale showed 3.5 ounces.

Some might find the scroll wheel “too loose” — in other words, you can easily spin it. This feature is a matter of personal preference rather than a good or bad thing. Overall, Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse is a great portable and cordless mouse if you’re willing to spend the money. The receiver alone can make it a worthy buy.

Pros: Tiny receiver, precise movements, lightweight, complete package (USB for desktop, receiver, mouse, carry case and batteries)

Cons: Price, mouse size is a little small for some