A couple of notes to go with "Drive" --
www.danpink.com/drive.html
Despair Inc - http://diy.despair.com/motivator.php (tried it; pretty cool)
Big Huge Labs - http://bighugelabs.com/motivator.php (not yet)
Automotivator - http://wigflip.com/automotivator/ (not yet)
Also, that Steinbeck book got more scary the closer I got to the end. Yikes!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Summer Reading
It has been a good summer for reading. Actually, though, it started back in the spring with War & Peace. Which, of course, managed to last almost until summer. Ironically it's the book I took with me to Ireland and which gave a little something to do when the Icelandic volcano kept me (and a bunch of others) in Dublin for an extra week.
Tolstoy's writing was great, but I must admit a few of the latter chapters were hard to get through. Much philosophizing. But worth the effort. It was made all the better by comparing it to the graphic from the mid-1800s showing Napoleon's advance to, and retreat from, Moscow, an information-laden visual aid that Edward Tufte says is perhaps the best ever. (It's on his website and in his books.)
After that I read The Fourth Turning, which gives some hope to our present situation. The authors' explanation, now a decade old, of how society moves in saecula with roughly four 20-year subdivisions was calmly reassuring. It's not necessarily the end of the world.
Remembering that some novels are classics for a reason, I picked up Catcher in the Rye. I can see why there was an uproar over its use in schools, but that guy really can write. Great balance of excellent dialogue - and what a voice he developed! - with stream of consciousness narrative that fills in gaps in the past and future. And whereas Tolstoy covered a couple of generations, and the 4th covered almost five centuries, Salinger covered about a week in the life of Holden Caulfield.
One notable quote came out of this one. His old teacher, Mr. Antolini, on page 188 shares this quote, which he attributes to Wilhelm Stekel: "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." Good reminder.
Just this last week I finished Drive by Daniel Pink. Another "aha!" type of book. Again, his commentary about what motivates rings true to what I've observed and felt. Check out the ideas at www.danpink.com. Let's hear it for the Motivation 3.0 operating system!
Now I'm half way through The Winter of Our Discontent. Didn't realize Steinbeck won a Pulitzer prize for that until I read the introduction, but reading the text I can see why he did. What a masterful writer of both dialogue and plot. Looks like there will be more of both his and Salinger's writing in my upcoming selections.
Tolstoy's writing was great, but I must admit a few of the latter chapters were hard to get through. Much philosophizing. But worth the effort. It was made all the better by comparing it to the graphic from the mid-1800s showing Napoleon's advance to, and retreat from, Moscow, an information-laden visual aid that Edward Tufte says is perhaps the best ever. (It's on his website and in his books.)
After that I read The Fourth Turning, which gives some hope to our present situation. The authors' explanation, now a decade old, of how society moves in saecula with roughly four 20-year subdivisions was calmly reassuring. It's not necessarily the end of the world.
Remembering that some novels are classics for a reason, I picked up Catcher in the Rye. I can see why there was an uproar over its use in schools, but that guy really can write. Great balance of excellent dialogue - and what a voice he developed! - with stream of consciousness narrative that fills in gaps in the past and future. And whereas Tolstoy covered a couple of generations, and the 4th covered almost five centuries, Salinger covered about a week in the life of Holden Caulfield.
One notable quote came out of this one. His old teacher, Mr. Antolini, on page 188 shares this quote, which he attributes to Wilhelm Stekel: "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." Good reminder.
Just this last week I finished Drive by Daniel Pink. Another "aha!" type of book. Again, his commentary about what motivates rings true to what I've observed and felt. Check out the ideas at www.danpink.com. Let's hear it for the Motivation 3.0 operating system!
Now I'm half way through The Winter of Our Discontent. Didn't realize Steinbeck won a Pulitzer prize for that until I read the introduction, but reading the text I can see why he did. What a masterful writer of both dialogue and plot. Looks like there will be more of both his and Salinger's writing in my upcoming selections.
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