Book Thread. I have nothing good to read.

[Nivek]

I'll etch my name into the screen of your Kindles.

[Ruzious]

That's what the industry is coming to. It sure saves on storage space and printing costs. Personally, I want a real book with real pages.

[payitforward]

One of my favorite books from my Jr and High School days is a book called Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I've actually read it multiple times and even read the sequels, which were't as good by still entertaining.

Then you might like 'Little Brother' by Cory Doctorow, or his other book 'For the Win' which have some of the same flavor of Ender's game. I liked some of the Ender sequels even more than Ender's Game, though not at the time. There have subsequently been 'parallel' novels following other characters from the series, but I didn't think they were as successful, leastways the one I read wasn't all that great.

Cory Doctorow... huh! Doc you surprise me over and over!

[Nivek]

That's what the industry is coming to. It sure saves on storage space and printing costs. Personally, I want a real book with real pages.

I agree. I do some reading on ipad. It's convenient and everything, but I like the feel of real books made out of paper.

[doclinkin]

One of my favorite books from my Jr and High School days is a book called Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I've actually read it multiple times and even read the sequels, which were't as good by still entertaining.

Then you might like 'Little Brother' by Cory Doctorow, or his other book 'For the Win' which have some of the same flavor of Ender's game. I liked some of the Ender sequels even more than Ender's Game, though not at the time. There have subsequently been 'parallel' novels following other characters from the series, but I didn't think they were as successful, leastways the one I read wasn't all that great.

Cory Doctorow... huh! Doc you surprise me over and over!

I project an enigma-phase obfuscation matrix. I'm on four second delay within your cortex. I manifest static hiss of recogntion vortex. I lack pattern: encrypted, so deep I self-puzzle. Leash me never: I'll chew through the muzzle, slip collar, climb chainlink, run the concrete free-- truth is motherxxxxer you'll never 'get' me.

Or something like that. I'm still irked this supposed 'writer' (quoted) has dropped nothing in the poetry thread. Too good for us peons I suppose.

[doclinkin]

From Draft thread.

quick shout out to the man on the warpath

just put a Hold at the library on Outliers. Looks like an interesting read.
Thanks for mentioning it.

It's a very good read. I like Gladwell's work. I think he stretches too far into the power that cultures have on individual's behavior. But his work is entertaining and insightful, first rate pop academia.

We've mentioned Outliers before but hey it's the offseason, let's get this thing rolling again. I've been reading everything from erotica to gender sociology to kiddy books, I'm loaded for bear. But give me your recent best reads and why!

[doclinkin]

I'm working on finalizing a mystery that I wrote and getting it to press in June.

I expect everyone on this board to buy 10-20 copies for your own reading pleasure and to give as gifts.

Can we get a teaser?

[pancakes3]

From Draft thread.

quick shout out to the man on the warpath

just put a Hold at the library on Outliers. Looks like an interesting read.
Thanks for mentioning it.

It's a very good read. I like Gladwell's work. I think he stretches too far into the power that cultures have on individual's behavior. But his work is entertaining and insightful, first rate pop academia.

We've mentioned Outliers before but hey it's the offseason, let's get this thing rolling again. I've been reading everything from erotica to gender sociology to kiddy books, I'm loaded for bear. But give me your recent best reads and why!

I think someone else in that thread mentioned that they liked the articles that Gladwell writes and I agree. Gladwell has good premises but sometimes the arguments get a bit tedious when he stretches it out over 2-300 pages.

What the Dog Saw is a compilation of his best articles and is a great "bathroom" read that you can pick up and put down. One of the articles is about why we have so many different kinds of mustard (dijon, honey, yellow, etc) and yet ketchup is just ketchup.

[dobrojim]

Picked up Outliers last night and have gotten a fair one night start on it.
Mostly I now know that countries might get more better hockey
or soccer players if they created tighter age-groups among the
fairly young. A 10 yr one month year old vs a 10 yr 11 month year
old generally and on the whole favors the older kid. If you then
augment that advantage with additional advantages you eventually,
sometimes much sooner than later, get highly skewed results from
what otherwise would be most likely to happen.

Shabazz's accomplishments have to be viewed in the context of
his actual age (advantage), an advantage he will no longer enjoy
when he gets to the NBA.

[Nivek]

I'm working on finalizing a mystery that I wrote and getting it to press in June.

I expect everyone on this board to buy 10-20 copies for your own reading pleasure and to give as gifts.

Can we get a teaser?

Opening line:

"As best I can remember, it was the first time I'd awakened naked and face down in a pool of my own blood."









Wanna read more?

[Nivek]

I'd strongly recommend "The Talent Code" to parents.

[montestewart]

"As best I can remember, it was the first time I'd awakened naked and face down in a pool of my own blood."

Man, those were the days.

[dobrojim]

Read the Talent Code a while back.

Finished Outliers on Sunday. Liked it better than Talent Code
but wouldn't tell anyone, especially parents not to read Talent Code.
I just found Outliers to be a compelling read which kept me engaged
throughout the book. Gladwell's honesty in the epilogue was an
excellent conclusion to the book.

interesting aside - our family watched a movie last night, something
we don't often do together as a family. I don't watch lot of movies.
Too many of them are garbage and brain poison. But the consensus
was to watch the Blind Side which in case anyone doesn't know is
about the pre-college experiences of Michael Oher who is now one
of the top OT in the NFL (plays for Ravens). I thought Outliers
meshed perfectly with the story in The Blind Side. I really liked
the Blind Side.

[pancakes3]

Did you read the Blind Side? It's written by the same guy who wrote Moneyball.

[Ruzious]

Did you read the Blind Side? It's written by the same guy who wrote Moneyball.

Speaking of which, I'll repeat what I've said before - with all the talented writers here, one of you should think hard about writing a bio on Kenneth Faried. His family is more interesting and certainly more unusual than Michael Oher's, and his basketball climb is just as impressive if not moreso, imo. Eventually, someone's going to do it - and probably not as well.

[dobrojim]

I have not read Blind Side. Only became aware of it as a movie last night.
Maybe I'll check it out. I really enjoyed the movie but I'm sure the fact
that Sandra Bullock is a lot hotter than the real Mrs T had something to
do with that. Love the scene where Mrs T is at practice and interrupts
to give Michael a translation he'll understand as to what he needs to do.

[w dumseld]

Do your selves a favor and get Take the Risk by Ben Carson. Actually all of the books by Ben Carson are great. A poor, single mother kid from Detroit that became a global leading brain surgeon. Amazing man.

If you are around 20 and have never read it, The Razor's Edge is great.

[dobrojim]

recently finished Tipping Points by Gladwell after really enjoying Outliers.

so I have this story that really is a major compliment (I hope) to the Man on the Warpath.

I teach guitar 1 hour a week to 'at-risk' kids in Herndon for an organization called
GuitarsNotGuns. How could I not like a group with a name like that?
So yesterday during the hour one of the kids (mostly 8-12 yos) asked me
how much I got paid to do this. I gave him the honest answer which is nothing.
I volunteer. So the followup was to ask wasn't I just wasting my time. I tried
not to wax too philosophic at that point but later I did repeatedly tell these kids
the quote in Kev's sig, A lot of what we call talent is actually the willingness to practice.
I repeated it several times for emphasis and also pointed out it it applied to
things other than musical instruments. I intend to keep pounding it into them.
I think it got through to 1-2 kids, maybe more.

My delayed reaction was to be upset that any of these kids would automatically
assume that for anyone to take interest in something with them without being
paid for it was a waste of time. Really sad.

I think that quote has helped me become a better teacher and mentor.
One kid is really lacking in self esteem and has (probably) ADHD. He constantly says
I can't or it's too hard. It has now become my mission during this one hour to not let
any of these kids have that attitude. So they get homework now too. Gotta raise my
expectations for them.

related topic - http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-capitalism%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98sacrifice-zones%E2%80%99/

Anyway, I'm moving on to Plutocrats as my next read

[Nivek]

Great stuff, Jim. That "aren't you just wasting your time" reaction is kinda saddening. But, that "practice a lot" message is really important.

As an aside, went and saw the Bobby McFerrin concert at the Kennedy Center last night. Great show. There's a guy who spent a load of time practicing his craft. We got to meet him afterwards. My son chatted him up about multiphonics and other music-related stuff. Very cool.

Funniest moment was when my son said he was doing some multiphonics in his playing and then started explaining what it is. This grin starts growing across McFerrin's face. He said, "I understand what it is."

For those who aren't familiar with the concept, it's basically playing one note while singing another.

[dobrojim]

multiphonics sounds hard - playing single note runs in
syncopation and/or harmony to what you're singing.

one thing I try to incorporate into my playing is what on the
fiddle (and elsewhere perhaps) is called double stops which
seems like a weird way of saying you play 2 notes at one time.

most musicians with real talent are examples of 10000 hours