Finishing a lot of books lately. This one was finished late at night in bed when I should’ve been sleeping. When I realized how close to the end I was though, I had to just keep going through the last 10% of the book. The whole thing reads like a dream. Not the “it was all […]
My favorite thing about Seth Godin is he knows how to play the changes. The melodies are always a little different, but the harmonies, structure, and tone we expect of his work find the realm where he does best. Make a ruckus, do the real work, and if you’re scared that’s a great compass for where you should […]
One of my favorite literary devices is an unreliable narrator. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time turns that notion on its head by providing a most truthful narrator: a teenage boy with an autism spectrum condition. The narrator, Christopher, is mentally incapable of lying (though he has a talent for noting loopholes) and therefore presents […]
Foolish I was, to believe that I would read this book super quickly. Zoe’s Tale is a parallel story to Scalzi’s previous novel in the Old Man’s War universe, The Last Colony. We go through the experience of the Roanoke colony, but this time from Zoe’s perspective. I thought this meant I could shoot through the story and […]
After reading Getting Things Done by David Allen, I was excited to get to work. With clarity about my system and tools, I made better Next Steps and forced myself to confront the things I could do and what I needed to defer or delegate. But on some items, I found myself running in circles. Things big enough […]
Renewed interest in reading is a recent success in my attempt to be a less horrible person. It would shock many of my friends to learn just how few books I’ve actually read. Dune is one of the several books that come up in conversation as, “how have you not read that yet?” along with 4 out of […]
Some books just grab you and don’t let go. I wasn’t even expecting to read this book last weekend. On Friday I got an email saying my library’s ebook version of The Martian was now available and was automatically checked out for my account. All I had to do was open up my Kindle and let […]
When my mother got word that I was getting into drawing, she supported it whole-heartedly. For my birthday, she got me a sketchpad, art pencils, and Art Before Breakfast by Danny Gregory. Not only does the book exude a can-do attitude that everyone is capable of making art, but it excites the reader into doing […]
My team lead, Simon, and I have a one-on-one chat every week. It’s typically casual in tone but big picture in topic. At some point in an August chat, we hit the topic of managing people. Recently this book has been read by several Automatticians and Simon is one of them. He recommended I read […]
Most people that don’t work in technology probably know the name Peter Thiel from watching The Social Network. Or maybe from when the Thiel Fellowship started, asking talented young technologists to put off college for a couple years and build startups instead. But if you work in tech you probably know that he’s a vocal […]
Alex Gustafson