Category: Books

I found this link about How to Fall Asleep Quickly Every Time – WikiHow that basically says fall asleep to an audio book every night.  Since I listen to audio books in the car all the time, I decided this was bad advice!

12/8/06:  I should also note that while most people seem to find reading before bed pleasant, I find reading before bed dangerous.  I’m very likely to get involved in the book and to just keep reading … On nights Frank isn’t home, I usually read until very late.

I think owning a used bookstore would be awesome as used bookstores are one of my favorite places but I’ve never been able to figure out how you could make much of a living at it.  Used books just don’t cost much.  This article in the New York Times, Reading Between the Lines of Used Book Sales, offers insight into the new versus used book markets.  It turns out that used books don’t affect new book prices much – for every 10% more a new book cost, used book sales only go up by 1%.  So that means people are willing to pay a lot of a new book.

Why do so many people prefer to buy a new book to a used one?  Do they keep them all and so want the best copy possible?  Or do people that would probably buy a used book tend to frequent the library more?

I’ve heard some people refer to the Kite Runner as a book about two boys growing up in Afghanistan.  While it does start out about two boys growing up in Afghanistan, I think the book is much more about Afghanistan, what it was like before the Taliban and what has happened to its people since the Taliban.

Parts of this book were difficult to read because the main character is so likeable and so horrible at the same time, but it was definitely worth reading.  I recommend the Kite Runner.

You have to read this book with the understanding that Ayn Rand never meant for these lectures to be published in print form.  They were recorded, transcribed and edited.  Even knowning that, she still comes across as extremely full of herself.  She is the best fiction writer and she critics some of the masters.  She does give good advise on writing and on recognizing good writing.  I can now explain why some of the books I read are entertaining but I just knew they weren’t “good” books.  In the fiction book I’m reading now I can point out numerous ways that the author could have made it a better book, thanks to what I’ve learned from Ayn Rand.

So, if you want to learn more about writing, this is a great book for you.  If you hate analyzing what you read and have no intentions of ever writing anything, then you better leave this one on the shelf.

Note that I listened to the audio version of this book from Audible.com.

The first half of The Web That Has No Weaver is a good introduction to Chinese medicine.   The author explains the basics of both the practice and philosophy of Chinese medicine.  The second half of the book, which I did not finish, was about the specific ways to examine and diagnose a patient using Chinese medicine.  While I enjoyed the first half of the book, the second half was a bit too much detail if you aren’t planning on practicing Chinese medicine.

For example, they explain logically how the reward and accounting structure was created, yet they still leave you with the full impact of how illogical it was.  Enron booked all the profit from a deal the day the deal was made.  Before they had actually made any money!  And bonuses were paid according to the deals you made, not to the deals that came through.  Nobody was rewarded for actually fullfilling a contract!
A shocking book that gives real insight into the major players at Enron.

As far as I can tell there are no studies or scientific basis for
Fussell’s conclusions. There’s not even a list of sources in the back
of the book, so we can only assume that he knows all about the different
classes from his … personal experience, observations, telephone calls?  Who knows?