Searching for Direction & Purpose in Life's Sea of Opportunities
My recollections of books are affected by my mental state and life experiences at the time of reading almost as much as they are by the well-crafted words on the page. These added dimensions make rereading an old favorite a risky proposition for me. Despite the risks, there are occasions when the mood hits just… Continue reading Rereading Dangers
I was so excited to receive an Advanced Reader Copy for Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. My requests are normally turned down by the big publishers, but Penguin Random House approved this one, and I did a happy dance. Within the first few pages I read a paragraph describing the scenery (long-time readers know… Continue reading Good Morning, Midnight
In my final interview for my current job, the company president handed me a book. He wanted me to read it and take notes because it fully described my new role. The book is The Machine: A Radical Approach to the Design of the Sales Function by Justin Roff-Marsh. I took that as a good sign… Continue reading Summer Reading
I love the advantages I had being a kid in the 1970s and a teenager in the 1980s. Queue the montage of avocado green and harvest gold appliances and kids flying down the street on their bikes morphing into '80’s haired battles on Atari and DOS programming on Commodore 64s. There is one thing I… Continue reading How I Learned to Love Science Fiction
Early last week on one of the sci-fi book groups I follow on Goodreads, there was an Android/Cyborg discussion. A brief summary for the uninitiated: Androids are completely mechanical, whereas cyborgs are human with bits of hardware. Okay, yes I do realize just how geeky the discussion was and how geeky it is that I'm sharing it.… Continue reading Cyborgs Everywhere
A single encounter in elementary school led me to miss out on a valuable resource for many years. When I was in elementary school, I had a bad experience with a librarian. I know that must sound strange coming from a self-professed teacher’s pet. It was neither of our finest moments, but she was the grown… Continue reading Wasted Resource
Over the weekend I was involved in a fascinating discussion about how our minds process what we read. For years I've been obsessed with the concept of how splotches of ink on the page can transform me into a different world. It turns out that journey is not perceived the same way by everyone. One of… Continue reading How Do You Read?
Since my last post about books dealt with works that didn’t live up to their full potential, I figured I should give equal time to those works that surpassed all my expectations. Last year I read a lot of books for me (64), and I thoroughly enjoyed many of them, but I didn’t give out… Continue reading Five-Star Books
Today is Pi Day. I love my annual reminder to do a space post in honor of this incredibly geeky day. After my love of The Martian, I was super excited when I heard about The Saturn Run by John Sandford and Ctein. I was drawn into the story from the first pages, and I… Continue reading Pi Day Again
Two years ago I wrote a post about books that had great premises but didn’t deliver. I feel it is time for another edition of books that failed to live up to their true potential. Based on descriptions of these books on the inside of their front covers, I had expectations of what I wanted… Continue reading Failed Potential
Grown Up, Now What? 