Yearly Archives: 2005

Book Reviews: The Know-It All, Two Dollar Bill, Freakonomics

Posted inBooksLeave a comment on Book Reviews: The Know-It All, Two Dollar Bill, Freakonomics

Three very different books that lasted me a 10 hour flight and some subsequent lazy mornings when I’m up at 3 AM due to jet lag.

The Know-It All: One Man’s Quest to Become the Smartest Man in the World I purchased awhile ago but only now got around to it even after reading a negative review. It seemed to be right up my alley – random entries from the Encyclopedia with fun facts, clarifications of myths, and so forth. The author A.J. Jacobs decided to read Britannica and this book is a compilation of some of the more interesting entries he read. I made it 150 pages through and then had enough. It was entertaining at times and of course made me smarter, but I started getting restless halfway through and his ceaseless and weird self-bashing got to me.

Next was Freakonomics, if you haven’t heard of it already, you are officially sleeping. I don’t like reading bestsellers because everyone reads them, so you’re not gaining anything new/different. But reading the Freakonomics blog for a month or two pushed me over the edge, and all I will say is this: there’s a reason books are on the bestseller list.

Finally, on the plane and in the car I listened to the audiobook version of Stuart Woods’ Two Dollar Bill, your classic trashy mystery novel that was loaded with good stuff like lawyers, CIA agents, and internet sex scandals. A nice break from the some of the thicker, academic stuff I’ve been reading. Thanks Brad for the rec.

Comment

Further Thoughts on Faith

Posted inReligion / SpiritualityLeave a comment on Further Thoughts on Faith

Amy Batchelor has a good post on her blog today with an excerpt from Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott. Amy says that she doesn’t like talking about spirituality over dinner with overtly spiritual people; I’m just the opposite. I love talking about spirituality, especially with spiritual people! During conversations like these, I start with this premise: “[Even though] I remain in the dark about our purpose here, and the meaning of eternity, I have nevertheless arrived at an understanding of a few more modest truths: Most of us fear death. Most of us yearn to comprehend how we got here, and why – which is to say, most of us ache to know the love of our creator. And we will no doubt feel that ache, most of us, for as long as we happen to be alive” (Jon Krakauer).

The excerpt from Plan B is:

I asked a friend of mine who practices a spiritual path called Diamond Heart to explain the name, because I instinctively know that both Sam [her son] and I have, or are, diamond hearts. My friend said our hearts are like diamonds because they have the capacity to express divine light, which is love; we not only are portals for this love, but are made of it. She said we are made of light, our hearts faceted and shining, and I believe this, to a point: I disagree with her saying we are beings of light wrapped in bodies that merely seem dense and ponderous, yet actually are made of atoms and molecules, with infinite space and light between them. It must be easy for her to believe this, as she is thin, and does not have children. But I can meet her halfway: I think we are diamond hearts, wrapped in meatballs.

I would call my path Diamond Meatball: people would comfort and uplift one another by saying, “There’s a diamond in there somewhere.”

Still, on better days, I see us as light in containers, like those pierced tin lanterns that always rust, that let the candlelight shine out in beautiful snowflake patterns. (p. 160)

Comment

Narcissisism Continued – Blunt Embracement, Says Yeh

Posted inRandomLeave a comment on Narcissisism Continued – Blunt Embracement, Says Yeh

My funny friend Chris Yeh posted a deadly blunt comment on my post about narcissism. He says:

I’ve learned to embrace being a selfish, self-centered bastard. By admitting that I’m an arrogant narcissist, I’m able to disarm critics, and then work from there to overcome my own self-reported deficiencies. It seems to be working, since many people actually seem to have a good opinion of me, but that may just be my narcissism talking! The point is that if you think big and dream big, the answer is not to rein yourself in. Rather, it is to embrace your natural tendencies and figure out how to make them work for you.

So true. Reminds me of my earlier post about self-deprecation – when you concede the obvious, you concede nothing and then can work to overcome the deficiency.

Comment

A Slight Modification to My Information Diet

Posted inRandom2 Comments on A Slight Modification to My Information Diet

I pay close attention to my information diet which consists of a lot of daily, weekly, and monthly intake. Some electronic, some print. I still need a lot of print since I can’t read long articles on my computer screen without hurting my eyes.

For the past few weeks I’ve been debating whether to add The Economist to my weekly subscription list. So far I’ve read the Economist from time to time when I see it around. Recently they have covered some of the biggest stories far better than other outlets. Plus, as I try to get up to speed on international happenings and stay on top of the jaw-dropping effects of globalization, The Economist does international news as good as anyone.

The $129 annual subscription cost is nominal, for me it’s a question of time. I take each new “information committment” seriously. Let’s say I spend 30 minutes each week reading the Economist. This means I will spend 28 hours a year, not insignificant. As part of my tried and true philosophy – “for every new committment you take on, drop one of equal committment” – I need to think about what I will drop to make those 28 hours become available. First, I have unsubscribed from 20 RSS feeds that simply weren’t getting the job done. Even if I only spend seconds skimming through those posts, that adds up over time. Second, I have stopped reading Fortune. Third, I have more or less stopped reading the San Francisco Chronicle (except local sports scores). Finally, I expect that while I will be a returning captain for the basketball team this winter I will have less administrative work than I did last year thus freeing up add’l time.

So with that, I welcome the Economist to my information diet, whose inspirational mission is “to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstrucing our progress.”

Comment

Monterey County Herald Article

Posted inEntrepreneurship1 Comment on Monterey County Herald Article

After participating in a 1.45 hour interview today that’s going to be a front page story tomorrow in a Zurich newspaper about the cultural differences between San Francisco and Zurich (enough already!), I was pinged by Google News informing me that the Monterey County Herald (in California) published an article highlighting the City of Pacific Grove’s new e-government system delivered by Comcate. We’re excited about our work in Pacific Grove and I wish that would have gotten more ink. Instead the author of the article seems to have spent some good time on this blog (and mis-writes the URL):

The software behind Access Pacific Grove was created by 12-year-old whiz Ben Casnocha when he was assigned to create a community service Web site for a sixth-grade technology class. He came up with a program to handle citizen complaints about local government.

Now a 17-year-old high school junior in San Francisco, Casnocha owns Comcate Inc., a company that once operated out of Ben’s bedroom and now sells the software to the cities of Fairfield, Atascadero, Cupertino, Menlo Park, Orinda, Vallejo, Pleasant Hill and others.

Comcate also markets a “code enforcement” program that Rojanasathira said the city would like to acquire, “but there are always budget problems.”

Casnocha, also a writer, publishes a blog about school, entrepreneurship, books and current affairs: bigben.blogspot.com. On Wednesday, the site featured essays on narcissism and solitude.

His Web site says he’s working on a book titled “And a Teen Shall Lead Them: A Young CEO’s Journey Through High School, Silicon Valley and Life.” He has established a charity called the Comcate Foundation for Teen Entrepreneurship.

Rojanasathira said he was unaware the city’s new citizen feedback system had been invented by a 12-year-old.

“That’s pretty cool, though,” he said.

Comment