Amazon link I’ve liked Swain’s previous books, so when I saw this one in paperback at the used book store, I picked it up. Not as entertaining as the previous entries in the series, partially because Swain doesn’t spend as much time explaining various casino swindles. The centerpiece scam isn’t as interesting or intricate either. […]
Generalist
Beemer put up a thoughtful comment in response to my last post. To quote one part: Smart kids, especially the ones who go places like MIT, often get this idea that they need to be Einstein or Newton, which is frankly silly. Because that’s not how the world works — it’s the total contribution of […]
Management by conversation
I’ve been going in circles on my current assignment at work for close to a week. Somebody else was assigned to the project today, and we sat down and I started talking through what I thought needed to get done. And it all just flowed right out. It always kills me when that happens; I […]
Productivity and existentialism
I’ve been tossing this post around in my head for close to a month now, and it’s not coming together, so I’m just going to get down what I have and invite feedback to see what others think. Be warned, it’s a long one, with lots of whining. It starts with my tendency to procrastinate. […]
Links of the day
A few quick links that I thought were interesting. After thinking about it, I did sign up to go to the Accelerating Change conference. If you’re interested, the Early Bird rate has apparently been extended to this Sunday, with a $50 discount thrown in if you read this post. At some point, I’m planning on […]
Why do we write?
I’ve spent some time over the past couple days thinking about why Infinite Jest annoyed me so much. I went and read several gushing reviews of the book, as well as interviews with Wallace where he explains what he was trying to do. Part of what Wallace was apparently trying to convey was that life […]
Home from Nowhere, by James Howard Kunstler
Amazon link I quite liked The Geography of Nowhere, Kunstler’s previous book about civic planning, so when I happened to see this in the library while picking up Infinite Jest, I grabbed it. Unfortunately, because Infinite Jest took so long to read, I had to slam through this book because they’re all due today. Fortunately, […]
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace
Amazon link As previously noted, I picked this up after reading a book of Wallace essays and enjoying them quite a lot. It’s an enormous book, 980 pages with a further 100 pages of end notes. I’ve been slogging through it for the past six weeks after borrowing it from the library, and finished it […]
Lawrence Lessig at SDForum
I mentioned this talk last week, and I did go to it. Lessig is a fantastic public speaker. Organized and cogent. While watching his talk, I was reminded that I’d read somewhere that if you want to see Powerpoint used appropriately, go to a Lessig talk. And it’s so, so true. He takes what Tufte […]
Accelerating Change Conference
Official conference site I think I’m going to sign up to go to this conference on Accelerating Change at Stanford in early November. It’s only $350 if I sign up before September 30, and $300 if I take advantage of the discount listed here. Looks like it could be pretty interesting – some potentially interesting […]
