December 2007
15 posts
“Firefox is …” →
photo credit: Channy Yun
Gen’s already picked this up on his blog, but it’s worth writing about again — the Mozilla community in Korea had a dinner together — 50 people who care about Mozilla and Firefox and open source got together to break bread and talk. One of the fun exercises they did was to have these signs that say “For me, Firefox is <blank>” — then everyone filled in the blanks....
How Doctors Think, by Jerome Groopman →
I’ve been interested in the ways that doctors model their thinking for a while — super-interesting, and I think harder than software-style thinking, as you’re trying to work with subjects who are notoriously unreliable, changing all the time, and, you know, basically walking sacks of meat. So this was an interesting book, but I didn’t like it as much at Gawande’s Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes...
QuickPost Wordpress Plugin →
Just testing out the QuickPost Wordpress Plugin for Wordpress — seeing if I like using it for simple blogging. Sorta like the quick post stuff for tumblr.
The End of Faith, by Sam Harris →
I got this book from a friend of mine who I’ve talked with religion about on and off for the past 15 years or so — while not super religious himself, he’s the son of a Baptist minister, and a very thoughtful guy (and one of my best friends), so I’ve been looking forward to reading this. This book is not for the faint of heart — it’s a scathing critique of religion’s basis in faith, and in...
Giving Notice, by Freada Klein →
I’ve known Freada for a long time, and her thoughts and writings and advice and insights into issues of equitability in the workplace and the inherently unlevel playing field we complete on have had a strong influence in my own development as an entrepreneur and manager (and human being, really). I’m glad that she wrote this book, pulling together much of her experience in corporate...
The Abstinence Teacher, by Tom Perrotta →
Perrotta, author of Little Children and Election (basis of the great Matthew Broderick and Reese WItherspoon movie), is an excellent novelist who’s written several novels about the various dysfunctions of suburbia. I liked this one okay, but not as well as his others. Feels a little bit too much like ground he’s already covered before. Worth it if you like his work, but not the book I’d start...
w00t! →
Hooray for w00t!! Suck it, facebook.
The Dream Manager, by Matthew Kelly →
I don’t read a lot of management books, although there will be a few this month on my list — I read this one because a friend of mine gave it to me. The prose wasn’t fantastic, and I think the ideas are pretty simple, but it did remind me of a few important things, and has helped my thinking lately. Okay book overall.
Dreaming in Code, by Scott Rosenberg →
I actually read this book nearly a year ago, when it came out in January, but wasn’t sure how to do a review of it, since I’m so involved with the subject matter (I’m on the Board of Directors at OSAF, and helped Mitch start it several years ago, while I was at Reactivity and he was an investor there). I have too many personal reactions and feelings about the book to write a very useful review,...
Carpe Diem, by Harry Mount →
I love Latin. What can I say. I took a bunch of it in high school, went to a bunch of Latin contests in Texas and for nationals. (They’re like Jeopardy games, with buzzers and all. Seriously. I was in band, too. Big nerd. see also this (3rd from left in back) and this. Fish gotta swim.)
Anyhoo, this was a fun book for me to read. Not too heavy, but reminded me about my Roman history and...
Mister B. Gone, by Clive Barker →
An okay book, as Clive Barker books go. From the point of view of a demon trapped in the book in the 15th century. This one reminded me a little of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, but, you know, without any of the redeeming value.
i love wikipedia →
I needed to look up something about EU membership today, and went to the Wikipedia artile on it. — and I’m reminded yet again what a wondrous thing it is. I could spend hours looking at pages like this — learning things I’d forgotten, and many I’d never known. Even the disclaimers at the top of the page are wonderful — indicating contested parts of the content, that there could be/is bias in the...
I am American (and So Can You!), by Stephen... →
Eh, okay. Funny in spots. Not in others. Don’t think I’d recommend purchasing it. I’m also finding that I don’t really miss the Colbert Report on TV, with the writers’ strike going on. I like his character, I’m glad he exists, but I think it’s off my nightly list of television to watch.
Kindle: my analysis of title availability and... →
I was curious to see how having a Kindle might make a real difference in my life, so spent an hour this weekend looking at my 2007 Amazon purchase history, checking out which titles were available on the Kindle and which weren’t, pricing differences, etc. Doesn’t count the books I bought in airports or, you know, in real life instead of on the web.
Anyway, here’s what I found: of the 58 books I...
Hybrid organizations: Wikipedia paying for... →
Noam Cohen has an article in today’s New York Times about a new Wikipedia initiative to pay $40 per illustration for some number of needed images for the online encyclopedia. (I haven’t checked into the story enough to confirm with the Wikipedia principals though. In the meantime, they’ve got an interesting blog about what they’re up to, fundraising-wise in particular.)
This marks the first time...
