Daily Thoughts 09/11/2012

[Reading room, view toward the delivery room, Carnegie Library and Music Hall, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania] Date Created/Published: [ca. 1890]

Daily Thoughts 09/11/2012

This morning, I updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.  We have a display next to the circulation desk for 9/11 remembrance.  I also checked the other displays and the gift books.

We have the computer classes this Tuesday evening.  There was also a meeting with the new director in the afternoon.  I did a tiny bit more checking the 800s in the mezzanine.

The book, The Rapture of the Nerds A tale of the singularity, posthumanity, and awkward social situations by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross came in for me to read.  Cory Doctorow writes columns for Locus Magazine and Publishers Weekly.  He is one of my favorite authors.

On the way home, I read some more of Margarita Madrigal's Magic Keys to Spanish, I am on Chapter 23 now.  I also read some of Abundance The Future Is Better Than You Think.  It is currently about how people tend to create a much more pessimistic view of the future than is actually occurring.  They are also trying to create a philosophical and material approach to the future which will guarantee food, shelter, education, water, and comfort for all of humanity which is very positive.

Web Bits

Something Old, Something New, Dicing Data at NYPL Labs
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/09/digital-libraries/something-old-something-new-dicing-data-at-nypl-labs-cover-story/

Daily Thoughts 09/01/2012

At the Tomb of Omar Khayyam, in From Constantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam, pre-1911 image.

Daily Thoughts 09/01/2012

I have been reading more of Evolutionaries.  The author is writing about more modern philosophy, Hegel, Voltaire, and Integral philosophy.  This is new territory for me.  I have mostly read the classics and Greek and Roman philosophy. I read another chapter in Madrigal's Magic Keys to Spanish and How to Keep People from Pushing Your Buttons.

One of the keys to succeeding with task oriented books is to read a little bit every day and do some of the exercises every day.  It is the ideal of steady progress which succeeds in the end.

I have been on vacation, relaxing mostly.

We sometimes order inspirational or christian fiction because our patrons ask for it.  Amish fiction is quite popular so is historical fiction set in the holy land.  There is a separate award for Christian fiction called the Christys. http://www.christyawards.com/ca_new/  Beverly Lewis, Kendra Norma-Bellay, and Kimberla Lawson Roby are extremely popular.  There is also an imprint called Urban Christian http://www.urbanbooks.net/Urban-Christian/index.html focused on redemption which is a kind of counter to urban fiction.

Web Bits

The Woman Reader by Belinda Jack was listed on lisnews.com today.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300120451/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0300120451&linkCode=as2&tag=xj9k72-20

Daily Thoughts 08/29/2012

Sidney Paget, Portrait of Sherlock Holmes, 1904

Daily Thoughts 08/29/2012

I have been reading more of Evolutionaries.  The author is writing about Ray Kurzweil who invented a variety of devices including a reading device for the blind.  Kurzweil is also famous for writing the nonfiction book, The Singularity is Near, which is about when artificial intelligence becomes smarter than humans.   Many people believe this may happen very soon with the increasing complexity of the internet and other computer networks. This ties in with the idea that one day humans may be able to transcend their bodies.  Cory Doctorow and Charles Strauss recently wrote a science fiction book called The Rapture of the Nerds which is at least partly about the singularity.

 I read a little bit more tonight.  There is a description of a possible relationship between Carl Jung's collective unconscious and Teilhard De Chardin's noosphere.  It has this wonderful speculative feeling to it.  It also has that feeling of not quite useful knowledge that one day may be used in a philosophical conversation at a book signing, library event, or conference somewhere.

I also read some more of How To Keep People from Pushing Your Buttons.  This book focuses on peoples internal dialogue helping them with "awfulizing, shoulding, and rationalizing" their actions.  It is an interesting book. 

I am on Chapter 10 of Margarita Madrigal's Magic Keys to Spanish.  I am enjoying it.  It is helping me remember the Spanish I took in high school but did not use much.

Web Bits

ABA to Replace Google With Kobo
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/53750-aba-to-replace-google-with-kobo.html

LG Bendable Ebook Display Ready for Mass Production
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/45098/bendable-ebook-display-mass-production