I’m always reading something: blogs, magazines in the bathroom, books. The frequency of each ebbs and flows. Right now I’m amid a dearth of books half read:
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The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker – This book is an argument against the theory that humans are born without any innate knowledge or skills. He already convinced me in How the Mind Works, so it’s been slow going. |
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Data Binding with Windows Forms 2.0 by Brian Noyes – This book is about exactly what you’d think it is. This is a fantastic technology that will save tons of lines of code. It’s part of the always excellent Addison-Wesley .NET Development Series. I’d recommend any book from the series; this one is no exception. I’m about half-way through it. |
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The New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove – This is the first training book I’ve bought in a long time. It emphasizes just six movements that we use in daily lift as the basis of a strength conditioning program. It’s a great book for anyone who’s just starting or has been doing the same, damn thing for years and ain’t gettin’ no results. Great pictures of all the movements. I just started this one. |
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Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel – This book is about – surprise! – blogging. It’s for businesspeople, trying to convince them that blogging is a good thing for their business. Duh! I’m reading it to bone up for some plans I have. Muhahahaha! |
What’s curious to note is the approach and the language in each of the books. They are written to very different audiences and by authors with very different backgrounds. Pinker’s book is definitely from academia; I used to read books like that frequently, but I haven’t in a while. The text is small and dense, the words are big. And this is from a very readable author. It’s a what a journal article would be like if there weren’t so many rules that academics must follow for journal articles.
The computer book is what you would expect; the language is very plain and boring. There tables and diagrams, the font is big. It’s an extended MSDN article.
The lifting book is written in a conversational tone, the author’s joke around often. The language is light and it’s very readable. There are frequent pictures. It gives the impression that this guy is talking to a group of guys in the middle of the gym.
Scoble’s book is written for businesspeople, as I said above. I’m not half way and I’ve already noticed a pattern: blogging is great for business, here are some examples: yadda, yadda, yadda. Every chapter. Like the only way these suits are going to get it is if it’s repeated ad nauseum. Businesspeople are idiots.
Now playing: Headstones – Coffee Cup