Daily Thoughts 6/1/2009

Portrait of Walter Scott (1771 - 1832), novelist and poet, oil on canvas, author of Ivanhoe.

Daily Thoughts 6/1/2009

Today is another day like most others. I spent much of this morning catching up on my reading in Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist. I also placed some orders for fiction in my cart for Baker and Taylor. There were a few books which I had seen at Book Expo America which I thought we should get, so I suggested they be ordered. One of them is Abraham Obama from Last Gasp. I thought that there might be readership for this. It is fairly controversial. http://www.lastgasp.com/d/34587/

I am waiting for my box from the convention to come in. It should be interesting when it gets here. The shifting of the 700s went pretty well. Things are starting to come into place a little better. I still have to do more weeding there.

There were a few books which I plan on reading waiting for me, The Beats A Graphic History Edited by Paul Buhle and WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer. Robert J. Sawyer has won the Hugo and Nebula Awards for his previous work.

I read some more of The Toyota Way on the way home. It is very meticulous and detailed. The book is focused on improving processes in a company as well as eliminating waste. The author is describing a very hands on approach where the managers are constantly on the shop floor and looking at ways to improve things. At times it seems a little bit overbearing. The book does not have a lot of complex diagrams in it. There is a real focus on trying to explain things clearly. I rather like the idea of trying to condense reports onto a single piece of paper. My boss insists we keep our monthly reports to a single page.