Daily Thoughts 3/6/2009

Gustave Courbet, Portrait of Baudelaire 1848-1849.

Daily Thoughts 3/6/2009

Today was another quiet day. I finished writing up the distribution of circulation by dewey decimal call number in an excel spreadsheet and sent it to our director. She was happy with it. It took me a couple of hours to finish it correctly.

I am also considering hosting a "Senior Law Day" which is a day of free programs put together to help seniors with their legal issues put together by our cities Office of the Aging. I would aim for June to do this. I like having plenty of time to plan programs so they get properly advertised.

The new librarian is shadowing me at the reference desk. I have been going over things like interlibrary loan requests, holds requests, in house holds, reference policies and procedures, email reference, and other desk procedures today. Yesterday, we walked around the building and talked about where the different parts of the collection are located; playaway audio, dvds, reference books, mysteries, fiction, urban fiction, nonfiction, cds, computers for internet, computers for typing, job information center, business reference, and all the different functions of the library.

I put the film Slam Nation on hold. It is a film by Paul Devlin mentioned in the book Words In Your Face. I am about half way through the book. It is enjoyable subway reading.

Morning Thoughts, Afternoon Thoughts, Neil Gaiman Oracle

Discworld Librarian (from Terry Pratchett's books) , image attributed to Lokal_Profil . It reminds me of a Monty Python skit.

Morning Thoughts

I find myself starting on ordering the social science books. I guess, I just like ordering books of all kinds. On a positive note, I will be able to order A Safe and Sustainable World: the Promise of Ecological Design by John and Nancy Todd. This is something which I have wanted to read for quite a while.

I also finished reading The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. There are a lot of fabulous ideas in this book.

I have a stack of Publishers Weekly which I am going through to look for social science titles. Next is Kirkus Reviews, followed by Booklist. Unfortunately, most of the books I find in these reviews are not the kind of thing which I want to purchase. Review magazines have a tendency not to review series like Opposing Viewpoints, Current Controversies, or basic overviews of subjects like politics or crime.

Afternoon Thoughts

The young adult librarian gave me a selection of social science titles to check for the advanced placement class. I ordered The Nine Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court for the college bound students. I finished looking at Kirkus Reviews. There is not a whole lot more review material I am going to look at. I think the next step is to look at a few websites for recommendations. Then I will search for books by subject.

I did order a few things which I wanted to read. How to Rule the World : The Coming Battle Over the Global Economy by Mark Engler. I look forward to learning how to be on the supreme committee. It might advance my career a bit in the style of Pinkie and the Brain. I just really liked the title of this book.

The other book which I wanted to read which I ordered is A Universal History of the Destruction of Books From Ancient Sumer to Modern Day Iraq by Fernando Baez. When I get appointed to the supreme committee, I will hold a special festival in honor of this book. The fires will burn high.

Then when I get home, I will read Starstrike Operation Orion by Kevin Dockery and Douglas Niles. It will remind me of my special operatives who protect me and take me to the moon base for vacation.

Looking at too many reviews is getting to me a bit fuzzy. We have twenty cartons of books which just came in from my previous orders. They are in the storage space. Our processing clerk said they will be looked at on Monday. Opening boxes of books is kind of entertaining. I am hoping that everything which I ordered comes in accurately.

Link To Neil Gaiman Oracle:

I found this on Kalafudra's blog. Go on shake it and get an answer. Neil Gaiman is fun.

http://www.neilgaiman.com/oracle/

Morning Thoughts

A Wandering Scholar With A Walking Stick

This morning has been mostly putting inserts in the legal books as well as finishing up the weeding for the reference books. I also am going to weed more of the legal books today. It is doing everyday work.

I did a brief tour for a visiting librarian from the system headquarters of the areas where we have foreign language material, world language, some films, literacy books, and language instruction materials. She also asked questions about programming for Spanish speakers. I gave her the local contacts for SCORE, the Women's Enterprise Development Center, and the African American Chamber of Commerce. I also suggested that some programs get restarted. The school district ran out of money for GED classes and tutoring which they funded at our library.

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I am rereading Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge. There are places where the book gets quite chaotic and complex. It can be hard to figure out what is happening exactly. I am rereading it to figure out what exactly happened at some points.

The chaos is kind of intriguing. There are a lot of little details which can catch you by surprise. For example the library at UCSD is the Theodore Geisel library. The book sometimes describes possible technology in a disorienting way, much like you are experiencing future shock, which the main character is experiencing. I think the second read will be enough for me to review it. The book is fascinating.

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Today, I am doing the Open Microphone Poetry Program at 4:00 p.m. I think that I may read some of the haiku I wrote earlier. I have been pulling some poetry books to display as well. The room should be set up. We will have the typical water, strawberries, juice, and cookies. The community relations person is out, so I get to go shopping at the local supermarket.

Five people came in and read their original poetry. Three more people came in to read from a few books that I had selected and put aside on a cart. There was a lady with her little baby. The baby was very quiet. A few teenagers came in and out and drank the fruit punch and ate some strawberries.

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They are breaking up the collection development ordering process right now, so I will probably have more coverage of things which I would order. This would include in addition, to the Job Information Center, graphic novels, anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy, and social sciences. I am asking that I get the same coverage in reference as I would in circulating materials, business and law. I am not sure what is happening yet. The new director is shaking things up a bit.

Sometimes when you think you have the least amount to say, you have the most amount once you start sitting down to write things.

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I sometimes think I got my reading habits from my 90 year old grandmother. She reads all the time and likes to visit libraries. Unlike me, she reads lots of mystery books. She worked at Brown University for a while and was also a public schoolteacher.

The Superhero Librarian (A pure and wonderfully silly image), Adbrite

Good morning. I have been thinking of the stereotype of the librarian as superhero. This is a collection of links that explore this idea. The most famous superhero librarian is Batgirl or Barbara Gordon. She is trained by batman to fight crime. ALA -- the American Library Association even has a poster of her at their library store. It is the ultimate stereotype of what a librarian should look like.

http://www.alastore.ala.org/SiteSolution.taf?_sn=catalog&_pn=product_detail&_op=1414

I guess the image has caught on in the mind of the public. New Jersey public libraries have adopted Super Librarian as their mascot. The image is of a woman in a purple suit with glasses carrying a book. I don't know why they choose to put glasses on librarians, not all librarians are myopic. I don't wear glasses. However, many of my colleagues do.
Super librarian is on the front page of the New Jersey Libraries web site.

http://www.njlibraries.org/

This image is not just in the west. Jet Li in the film "Black Mask" works as a librarian during the day and a kung fu super soldier by night. Black Mask even had a sequel, Black Mask 2. It is an interesting juxtaposition. I rather liked the film. It had a lot of action in it. There must be some universal appeal to the idea of scholar by day, hero by night. It is a common motif, the film Iron Monkey has the character as a physician by day, and a kung fu robin hood by night.

Somehow, on some level, you can look at it as an alternative to the reporter by day of Superman. But, even ordinary librarians are being turned into superheros. There must be something in peoples psyches that identifies with the bookish literate person as hero. I have shown the Nancy Pearl action figure earlier. There is even an article on the action figure and Nancy Pearl in the Seattle Times.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2002432642_booklust11.html

There is a certain amount of profound silliness in turning librarians into superheros. While I was wandering around the web I ran into this and decided to use it in this article. This is the librarian dress up doll. It includes not one, but two superhero outfits. It was well worth a good laugh. A lot of people take themselves too seriously.

http://librariandressup.com/

Very few librarians fit this stereotype. However, it is not a particularly new idea. Most images of librarians in comics are of severe woman with buns and glasses. I am going to include a bibliography of librarians in comics which I also found.


http://www.ibiblio.org/librariesfaq/combks/combks.htm

Finally, I found it. I don't know if it as any good. This is Rex Libris, I Librarian a librarian superhero with his own comic book. It is done by Slave Labor Graphics. I don't know if it is any good. The preview looks interesting.



The closest thing I think can be compared to the librarian as superhero is the librarian who is a librarian by day and an artist, writer, or musician at night. This is another crossover thing which often happens. It is fairly common for librarians to be writers. Book reviewing is a common activity for librarians, and there is a certain amount of artistic talent involved in choosing material, planning programs, and creating displays for libraries.

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I am rather disappointed with Adbrite, I managed to earn 5 cents in one day... then they shut off my advertisements. I was looking forward to earning 35 cents in week.

There, I added two ad boxes from Adsense. One is on the very bottom of the page below my posts. The other is a small ad box over my biography. Hopefully, these are not too intrusive.

Amazon affiliates are doing the best so far. Since I started with Amazon, I've earned 58 cents in two days, a profound amount of money. More than even Powell's. I will celebrate with a cup of coffee in three months when I earn enough to get a $100 check from Amazon.

Very late at night I used to see these homeless guys who would stand over the sewer grates in the sidewalks of Manhattan. They would lower a thin cord with a magnet attached to it. Coins and other small objects would attach to the magnet and they would haul the change up to add to their paper cups.

I think if I searched couches, I might find more change than what is being earned from Adbrite.

Walking The Stacks or Why a Librarian Appears to Wander

Occassionally, I walk the whole area which I am in charge of. This is to make sure the books are neat, nothing is out of place and everything looks right. Sometimes I get the question why are you wandering through the stacks.

Mainly I pick up books which are left on top of other books, scraps of paper, hidden soda cans, and other minor garbage. Occassionally, I will find a few books tucked in the corners on forbidden subjects like sex or abortion. These get put back in the sorting room.

I take notes in my mind spot checking for which places need to be rearranged, shelf read or neatened by the library aides (it is impolitic to call them "pages" like they did in the old days). Occassionally, I'll find something odd. Maybe, one of the patrons (library customers) has decided the books look better if they are tilted sideways or pushed in four inches, or has decided to stack large amounts of books on the floor. This really is not predictable.

There is a recurring fantasy which I have heard from many people that they would like to run through the library and knock over all the bookshelves so all the books fell on the floor and the shelves tipped over like dominos. I heard that the gangs when they were really bad where I worked used to run through the library throwing books on the floor.

The teenagers sometimes like to hide in the stacks and talk to each other about forbidden things, or chase after each other when we are not looking.

Sometimes little kids like to run their hands along the shelves like they are running their hands along a metal fence pushing the books in. Books have a nice feel to them. But, this has to be discouraged.

Mostly things are in order where I work. I check to make sure all the stuff is put away behind the desk.

Then if time permits, I scan through the new books both fiction and nonfiction to see what has just come in. This often works better than searching on the computer when people come up to ask for new books. Customers are confused and often don't remember the exact title of a book which they are looking for. They remember the title was in Ebony, The New York Times, Military Times, or some magazine or other. Having a vague idea of the new stock is a good idea.

A lot of people think checking to see the order of books, or shelf reading should only be done by the library pages or shelvers. This works only if you check their work on occassion. It is very easy to transpose letters and make slight mistakes in order.

Also occassionally reading sections of books which are not in your assigned areas gives you a better idea of what is inside a large collection of books. I can picture the location of many of the books in my mind because I have seen and read the shelves closeup over the years.

We have two floors below us where I work. These are actually fairly well organized. It is a huge last copy repository for the system. There are a lot of very strange old books some of them dating from the 19th century. Just looking through the old books is very entertaining.

You get to learn about what books people value because we keep books by circulation. There are a lot of really weird things which keep their relevance, old circus books, tattoo books, books on the maritime trade, old railroad books, human freaks, woodcuts and a lot of really odd things.

Many people want to go downstairs to look at the items, but we only allow people to look at things in the stacks if they are accompanied by a librarian. We have a couple people who come in and ask to see the World War II books, many of the books we have were written close to that that time period. We usually go downstairs to get them for people.

If I have time, I will occassionally go look at the old science fiction and fantasy books in the stacks, there are a lot of the less popular titles by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells as well as some of the classic science fiction or fantasy writers like Andre Norton, L. Sprage De Camp, and A.E. Van Vogt. It is interesting looking at these in their library bindings.

I couldn't think of what to write about exactly today, so I chose something a little more free form.

Some Thoughts on Reference Interviews.

Good morning,
I started reading a Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin. It is off to a good start.

Anyways, I am thinking of the concept of the "Reference Interview" which we learned in library school. It is basically, a way of asking people what they want to find. In a similar manner, there is the literature request form which you are supposed to use to find out what people want before you sign in to a database. Databases used to charge by the hour. Luckily, this is no longer true. I think people place too much faith in expensive databases.

The primary feature which is missing from most reference training is the art of elicitation getting people to give you information. This is one of the most important skills in reference work. Quite a bit of the time people don't know what they really want.

Here is a nice definition:

noun
stimulation that calls up (draws forth) a particular class of behaviors; "the elicitation of his testimony was not easy."

Princeton University, Wordnet 3.0, c2006

There any number of missing features. One of the most important thing to do with most reference interviews is to start by clarifying the question presented to you so you have an idea where the question is coming from and what the library patron or customer is after.

After the question is clarified it is important to ask for background material, what they have read, where they got the information from, and if they have the information source with them.

If necessary take the time to rephrase the question. Don't be afraid to find other words for what they are asking for. Keywords are often quite irrational. Breaking up a question into three or four different search terms is generally a good idea. Whatever keywords they are using, when talking to people try not to talk about keywords, rephrase the terms as "natural language."

If they have the information request they are seeking, it could be the last book they read, an assignment sheet, a newspaper clipping, or the remembrance of hearing about a book on the radio, it is important to examine the question to see if it is matching with the information source. Sometimes people misinterpret what they are reading or hearing. Paying attention to things is always difficult.

Now you have the information that they are seeking. If it is simple direct them to the source and tell them if they can't find it come back and you will help them locate it. If you do not say this, people often will leave unsatisfied.

If it is complex, it is often best to go with the library patron to the source so you can compare what you have with what they want. This is true for a bookstore as well. Comparing allows you to become more focused on what the patron wants.

If you don't have what they want, you can know what to request because you have compared the material with the question being asked. Clarity is very important in answering peoples questions. Being prepared to refer people to other places is just as important. Also be aware of what you can and can't do in your setting, as well as what you have to offer. If you know the rules you can work within them.

If there is any question about whether they understand what they are looking for, it is best to clarify. This may annoy some people, but it will save a lot of time.

If you are in an information brokerage type situation or just want to show competence, at the point the question is answered offer to expand the format of sources. Would you like to help you find this information in a database, on the internet, in a magazine, in a newspaper, or in a document.

Expanding the format of the answer increases your fee and sometimes improves customer satisfaction. Information is information whatever format it is in.

While you are conducting the "Reference Interview" it is important to remember the primary purpose is to answer the persons question. Remember, the "Reference Interview" is usually very short, this means listen and pay attention. Look at the person being interviewed, and show that you are paying attention in small ways. Don't talk while they are asking a question.

Be aware of the "Observers Paradox", the more you interpret their question, the more you will change what the person is looking for. Try to stay focused on what the person originally asked for. This makes it less likely they will come back dissatisfied. Often a person will not realize they are getting something they didn't originally ask for.

Also be aware that when you are searching for something that makes you uncomfortable, you don't know why they are searching for it. Asking about it can lead to unnecessary friction. There are very legitimate reasons for searching for things on serial killers, abortion, sex, prostitution, censorship and other very touchy subjects...

There are a number of formats for material now, don't just search printed material, there are videos and audio as well. If someone asks for Martin Luther King's speeches, listening to the speech can be far more important than reading a transcript of the speech. Also some language is quite hard, Shakespeare is very hard for teenagers, so is Beowulf. The film or the audiobook can help them understand the material.

You don't know everything. Be prepared to hand off the question to someone who knows more than you do. Putting your ego aside often is hard when you want to help someone. Your position in answering a question is often that of a go between.

Be relaxed, you want people to want to come up and talk to you. Being distracted, angry, or stiff makes it hard for people to talk to you.

Some Methods from Elicitation that may apply to Reference Interviews:

Quid Pro Quo is one of the oldest methods used by spies and social engineers. It involves simply offering something-- a bit of information in return for an answer. It is very easy and natural to do this.

Be considerate, simply letting a customer or patron know they are appreciated will make them more open to talking to you.

If you provide small facts during the Reference Interview, people will think you know something and will be more open to providing the question they need.

Be prepared to offer a hypothetical situation around the question. This sometimes creates better clarity for the customer or library patron.

It is not good to be distracted, ask people not to use cell phones or other electronic devices, don't take notes during a reference interview unless they are asking for something simple like a phone number or address. More complicated information than that should really be printed up or stored to disk.

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On another front, I have been asking people to review my site at various newsgroups and at Fuel My Blog. People have started giving me feedback which makes me happy. If you write feedback, I'll take time to look at your site as well.

A Book And Its Cover, A Trip to A Bookstore

A lot of people think "You cannot judge a book by its cover." This can be a very misleading statement. Many people collect books just for their covers. Most science fiction and pulp art comes from book and magazine covers. Many people collect hardcover and paperback books just for their cover art. Kelly Freas, J. Allen St. John, Donato Giancola, and Michael Whelan are a few of the artists who people buy just for the cover art. Also some people buy old pulp magazines just for the cover art as well, things like The Spider Master of Men, Famous Detective, the Shadow, Astounding and other magazines are often purcheased just to have the cover art.

A books cover is the most valuable part of a book for a collector. This is because it is the most ephemeral part of the book and the hardest part to preserve. Most very old books have long since lost their covers. It follows that people wrap the covers in plastic to protect them. There is an odd corollary. It seems that bookstores and collectible shops can charge a premium for things wrapped in plastic. This is true for both comic books, magazines, and even paperbacks.

If you find a book that is not wrapped in plastic, it is usually much cheaper.

The cover of a book is also the first thing which a person sees when they are going to buy a book. Usually, they have to select the book from a large variety of other books. This makes it very important for the cover to stand out from a bunch of other books. This means if you are attempting to sell a book take a minute and see how your book stands out from five or ten other books at five feet, at ten feet, and at twenty feet. You really want your titles to be visible in the bookstore and display window. If you can see a books cover in the window of a bookstore while you are driving by in a busy city, then you know your cover is visible.

Up close you should be able to read the title clearly and the author clearly of the book. There should be some blank space to put a label on the spine for libraries, also there should be a place where you can put a sale sticker on the cover without disrupting the cover art. The spine should have the title of the book and the author easily readable from the side. If the spine title is not very readable people will have trouble finding it in libraries and bookstores.

Something that bothers collectors and booksellers is false aging marks or pictures that include wrinkles and stains on the cover to make the book look old. Collectors want their books to look absolutely clean. Dealers want their books to appear new so they can sell them as new.

Some thoughts on displays. It is good to mix up the size of different books from regular to size to quarto. Putting larger books in the back makes sense. Also laying down some larger books to break up the pattern of the display is a good idea. Colored cloth or felt which is the opposite color of the books being displayed provides an excellent background. Also mixing media, adding in videos and audiobooks can make a dispaly more interesting.

These are just a few thoughts on cover art. People really do judge a book by its cover. They then usually read the inside blurb on the cover flaps which summarizes the book. This is often done as part of the first stage of editing. Sometimes the books blurbs don't exactly match the contents, because they are written too early in the editing process. Also, the photo of the author is usually retouched to make the author look better. I usually take the recommendation sentences with a grain of salt, they are usually marketing statements.

It is not until they have looked at the cover and the inside flaps that they look at the inside of the book. Most people like to read the first chapter of a book before they decide to buy the book. However, some of the more old fashioned bookstores won't let them. You can look, but you can't read. This makes the cover even more important. Also, some people are too rushed, so first impressions count.

Anyways, I am enjoying the Bonehunters by Steven Erickson. I am still reading it. My favorite part so far is when Leoman of the Flails leads the Malazan army into a fire trap with burning oil, collapsing buildings, and berserk warriors. The fire trap turns into a firestorm and some of the heros of the novel have to escape underground through the warrens to get out. Lots of action.

I am going to go to a bookstore today and look at books. Exciting for me, maybe not so exciting for you, but still probably an interesting experience.

I thought about visiting Macy's because they are giving away Shrek dolls with every $35 dollar purchase. Maybe I'll get some underwear and socks... Ah, the appeal of mass media.

Anyways, today, I went to the mall, had a bite to eat, then went to the local Barnes and Noble, like many places we do not have a local independent bookstores. The chains and the giant web merchants have killed most of them. I bought one paperback, A Feast for Crows, book four of the Song of Ice and Fire Series. This series is #1 on the Internet Top 100 SF/Fantasy list. http://gurge.com/amd/top100. The first three books of the series are really excelent. I look forward to reading the fourth.

I also took some notes and placed holds at the library on Heavens Net is Wide by Lian Hearn, Odyssey by Jack McDevitt, the graphic novel, part of Stephen King's Gunslinger series, the Gunslinger Born. Most of the time I don't buy a lot of books when I visit bookstores.

How is this possible?

Glyph of the Galactic Library

I get up very early in the morning and have quite a long commute to work. This gives me plenty of time to read in the morning. The same goes for at night. I enjoy reading on the train much more than driving. Usually I have two or three books in my bag, usually a hardcover and two smaller paperbacks.

Because I work as a librarian in the public setting, it leaves me with almost unlimited access to books. I read several review type magazines, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and the New York Times Book Review whenever they come out. Also, I check locus magazine, science fiction site, and a few other places each day for things to read. Because I am in a library all the time, I can wait for holds to come in to read. The same goes for magazines and videos.

The main problem with being in a public library is the griping about salary. It really is not so bad once you get into a more senior position. There is a saying that librarians and booksellers survive on "books and chicken", in New York, you can add subways. So "trains, books, and chicken."

The internet pulls at me sometimes. There is a lot of technical magic and the promise of a higher salary, but you lose the magic of being constantly able to read and look at books. I have looked and looked to see if there was a magical solution combining the internet and books, but sadly internet bookstores pay just as much as real bookstores, close to nothing, even less than libraries.

Anyways, back to what I have been reading lately. I decided to look for paperbacks laying around the house. These books have some issues with them. The three of them are all extremely violent science fiction to the point where one of them, The Weapon by Michael Z. Williamson probably had trouble getting it reviewed. There is no specific dates for the three paperbacks. I couldn't find these at the library so I bought them from a bookstore. Yes, I wander around bookstores sometimes. I like the Strand in Manhattan a lot both for its mega szie and eclectic variety.

The first is Man Kzin Wars XI created by Larry Niven. This is part of the endless battles between the Kzin, giant cats, and humans. This book has several stories about the Protectors, alien super beings created by a root called tree of life. I liked the story set in the swamps of Wunderland, Catspaw. I am surprised at how long the series has gone on.

The second is Shadow Kingdoms, The Weird Works Robert E. Howard, Volume 1. This compiles many of Howard's tales from Weird Tales. It has several Solomon Kane stories in it, a kind of grim puritan warrior in it. I think of Solomon Kane as being the character that Robert E. Howard most wrote about. Howard didn't write that many stories with Conan in them. L. Sprague De Camp wrote most of the Conan stories.

The third is The Weapon by Michael Z. Williamson. It is the story of a special forces covert warrior from a planet called Freehold. Freehold is a kind of libertarian paradise. It sends the main character, Kenneth Chinran through several military adventures, and finally to earth where he ends up destroying large swaths of cities on earth as part of a war between Earth and Freehold. Some of the philosophy is quite far right with a strong libertarian independent streak. It is not something you would see reviewed in Locus Magazine or Science Fiction Site, and most public libraries don't carry it.

Book Calendar

This is an attempt to log everything which I have read from this point forward.

November 7, 2007
I just started reading Schulz and Peanuts by David Michaelis. It is a biography of the Charles Schulz. There are peanuts strips throughout the book which correspond with his personal life which is kind of interesting. It is interesting even if it is a very normal quiet seeming life. There are some interesting insights into the comic strip throughout. So far, it is worth reading.

October 25, 2007
I finished reading Our American King by David Lozell Martin, oil has run out, and the country has collapsed, the super rich have formed themselves into armed gated communities. The story begins with a starving university professor and a woman convincing a man he should be king. They succeed and it turns into a left leaning political farce, where if you have joined the king you wear string on your left hand. There are a lot of moments thrown in. The most dangerous marauders wear shower hats and wedding gowns and are called Patagonians. The Canadians are America's worst enemies. It gets more ridiculous from there. A light read that is at moments too serious.

October 16, 2007
I finished reading A Taste of Magic which Andre Norton wrote the outline for and Jean Rabe finished. It is a classic revenge story with the blood oath, village gets destroyed, heroine swears oath to get the killer. The difference is that this has a slight twist, instead of a brother against brother, it is brother against sister in the end and the evil ruler is the empress not the emperor. It makes the story kind of interesting. The magic in the story is the magic of taste and tracking.

October 3, 2007
I started reading Halted States by Charles Stross, this is a near future book about 5-10 years down the road. Some people playing orcs and a dragon have robbed the central bank of a giant MMORPG repository, they have stolen all the golds and loot which costs a fortune through ebay, paypal and other sources. The company which owns the virtual repository call the cops to solve the virtual crime, they are going IPO soon and the crime will cost them a lot of money. It is quite amusing and often on point about this group of people...


September 17, 2007
I am reading Tony Dungan, Quiet Strength, an autobiography about the first African American professional head football coach. It runs, football, god, family, more football, a quote from the bible, travel with family to a new football team location, inspirational statement, statement about leadership. In a way it is actual kind of very calm reading and very relaxing.


August 16, 2007
On that thought, I finished reading Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, a wonderful and funny read on a con man being forced to revive a dead postal service, who must compete with a fantasy semaphore service. It was quite entertaining. I am looking forward to the sequel Making Money, about a con artist reviving a mint.


August 11, 2007
I just finished reading another bestseller, The Black Swan, the Impact of the Highly Improbable, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. This book divides the world into two camps Mediocristan where most things are very predictable, and Extremistan where very highly improbable events occur like winning lottery tickets, writing a bestseller, or having your house hit by a hurricane in Brooklyn, New York last weekend. It is light nonfiction reading. It was a solid book, nothing exceptional.I also read a posthumous book of poetry by Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers At Last, New Poems. I really enjoyed this poems about drinking, smoking, race tracks, sex, and remorse about sex. Not for the prudish.


July 26, 2007
I finished reading Slan Hunter by A.E. Van Vogt and Kevin J. Anderson. It is an attempt to complete a novel which A.E. Van Vogt partially finished. Unfortunately Kevin J. Anderson is nowhere near the level of writer that A.E. Van Vogt was. The book is still an entertaining light read, but cannot create the clarity or directness in writing style which A.E. Van Vogt had.

July 21, 2007
I just read A Spy's Journey, A CIA Memoir by Floyd L. Paseman. It was kind of interesting, it gave a basic outline of what it was like to rise through the ranks of the CIA. The book was very general with not a huge amount of specifics, but there were some interesting tidbits here and there. It covered a lot of Asia, China and North Korea more specifically with a bit of commentary on the different directors. It was kind of interesting. A lot of it was cold war brinksmanship. Tennis matches, restaurants, places with private baths and hot tubs seemed to be places of espioage, even a couple visits to nude beaches to meet his contacts.

July 14, 2007
I just finished reading a truly giant book, Radicals for Capitalism, A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement by Brian Doherty. It is a very interesting book covering a huge amount of ground, everything from solid right wing stuff like Ron Paul to crazy libertarian technobabblish stuff like some of my favorites, Robert Anton Wilson, The Erisians, and Rossetto the founder of Wired Magazine. It confirms my blatant hatred of Ayn Rand and my desire to read Milton Friedman and say that Alan Greenspan did a good job. Any ways it is well worth reading if you want to learn the history of this particular mode of thought.

June 23, 2007
I just finished reading Michael Chabon's, The Yiddish Policemen's Union which was kind of interesting, it is an alternate history story where Israel didn't succeed and there is an alternate homeland for the Jews in Alaska. It is a mystery. It was kind of interesting.I have just reading Sherri S. Tepper's The Margarets, another new book, about a woman who splits into six different versions of herself, each following a separate archetype, thief, slave, leader, soldier, healer, etc. The settings are very cool earth has become excessively crowded and used up all its resources, the only way to keep things going is to sell people into terms of alien bondage. There are some interesting ideas throughout, the evil alien ghyrm, the dancing cats, and a few other things make it very entertaining.

June 15, 2007
I am reading the Dragon Quintet, Five Original Short Novels, Edited by Marvin Kaye, It is a nice collection of stories by five decent authors, Orson Scott Card, Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee, Elizabeth Moon, and Michael Swanwick. The Tanith Lee story is the best so far.

May 19, 2007
I just finished the final volume in a series, The Last Colony by John Scalzi-- in it there are hundreds of different species trying to colonize space, it is hard to find good real estate, you have to fight for it most of the time. The first two books were Old Man's War and the Ghost Brigades.

May 5, 2007
I just finished reading an older nonfiction title on military strategy called, The Strategy of Technology, one of the authors is Jerry Pournelle, who is famed for creating the Codominium science fiction setting.

April 27, 2007
Just finished reading an anthology of short stories called Overclocked by Cory Doctorow. I espcially liked the story I Row-Boat.


April 14, 2007
I just took a look at the Internet 100 Top Science Fiction Novels. http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/6113/t100256.txt I've read most of them. Just tried out Earth Abides by George R. Stewart about rebuilding after a mysterious plague that wipes out most of human. I especially like the descriptions of how nature comes back after civilization collapses. An interesting little tidbit is that the main character Ish is named after the famous Native American, Ishi who was the last of his tribe.


April 3, 2007
Just finished The Hero by John Ringo and Michael Z. Williamson. Far future covert operations. I liked it a lot. The hero in this story is an alien pursued by a psychotic human. It makes it interesting. Good story. John Ringo and Michael Z. Williamson write war stories, they also follow in the libertarian right philosophy of Heinlein. It was pretty interesting.

March 29, 2007
I have started China Mieville's new book Un Lun Dun. It is illustrated by China so it is a bit better than the other books. The illustrations are wonderful and strange so it is worth looking at even if you find his writing a bit off putting. This book is written for young adults, but the style can be read by anyone.


March 28, 2007
A truly excellent read is Every Inch A King by Harry Turtledove. It is a nice humorous fantasy about a circus acrobat and his friend who is a sword swallower passing themselves off as a king and his aide de camp, for several days then absconding with a large portion of the royal treasury. Lots of memorable moments, a sea serpent swalling a vampires coffin, a werewolf putting on gloves to pick up silver coin, and many other memorable pieces.

March 13, 2007
I just finished reading A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by ishmael beah. It is a rather interesting story about survival in Sierra Leone, first boy gets his family killed by rebel soldiers, he wanders trying to stay alive then gets recruited at 12 to join the army, then wanders through the forest fighting rebel groups, then he gets sent to United Nations rehab, and eventually escapes Sierra Leone when civil war restarts.

March 3, 2007
I am currently reading the Space Opera Renaissance, Edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. It is a collection of short stories and novellas. It is 940 pages long and contains a lot of classic and good quality space opera. Among my favorite stories so far are The Remoras, Enchantress of Venus by Leigh Brackett, The Game of Rat and Dragon by Cordwainer Smith, Empire Star by Samuel R. Delany, Donald Kingsbury-- The Survivor, and Recording Angel by Paul J Mcauley. This book has a lot of really good space opera in it.

February 23, 2007
I am starting The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke. The best part of this collection of short stories is the illustrator, Charles Vess, who does fantastic fairy tale style illustrations in the victorian tradition.

February 22, 2007
I just read the Iraq Study Group Report. It was a very disappointing watered down document. A lot of it was rhetoric-- which didn't say much at all. Because it is bipartisan, many of the things in the document would be only implemented by Republicans, and many of the things would only be implemented by Democrats. The document read like it was split down the middle. I can't imagine that it will actually make a huge amount of impact, no matter who is in office. Too much of it is unimplementable.


February 18, 2007
Worldchanging: A Users Guide to the 21st Century. A huge book with the latest in clean technology, and environmental politics. This contains a lot of material from the website http://www.worldchanging.com , which is chock full of stuff on clean tech.Big & Green-- a book about green skyscrapers and very large green buildings. Diagrams and photographs of green buildings abound.

Christopher Moore-- You Suck. This is a humorous vampire novel. It is set in San Francisco. The locales are both accurate and funny. He is a bestselling fantasy humor writer.


February 3, 2007
David Weber has a new book, Off Armageddon Reef. This book is published by Tor so it has a different style than the earlier Baen Honor Harrington series. I think the writing is better with more thought in it. Earth has been destroyed by the Gbaba, a secret colony world has been established with low technology and a medieval religious mind set so they can avoid Gbaba detection. A hero arises from the first colonists, an android who is there to bring back technology. A good read so far. I think the writing has improved considerably.


February 1, 2007
I am reading a cross between a hard boiled crime novel and a vampire novel. Charlie Huston, No Dominion. I read his earlier novel Already Dead. Nothing like a really solid mix of crime and detective novel where the main character is a hard boiled vampire named Joe Pitt. This novel is set in New York city with fairly accurate descriptions of the locales. Also it has different vampire territories the Hood, the Enclave, The Society, the Coalition, and some No Man's land territory. The writing style is clean, and the dialogue style is different but very well done. Lots of one liners and plenty of action.


January 26, 2007
I am reading The Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o. The literary quality and readability of this book is excellent. It is on par with Borges or Italo Calvino, entertaining and extremely well written. It is set in the mythical African dictatorship of Aburiria, a mythical place controlled by the crazed Ruler, who has different ministers, I rather like that one of the ministers has giant ears, and the other has giant eyes and they hate each other. The book is full of absurdist and often comical ideas about politics. For example people stand in huge lines to give bribes to get contracts for Marching to Heaven a national program sponsored by the Ruler and the Global Bank. Most people can't get a job unless they pay huge bribes, even the educated wander around begging. Some of the action occurs in the Mars Cafe where the propietor is completely obsessed with space travel. The book is huge 768 pages long, but so far it is enjoyable.


January 23, 2007
I just finished a novel by Tyler Knox called Kockroach. It is about a cockroach that turns into a man then through a combination of greed, violence, fear, and lust rises first through the criminal underworld, then through business, and finally becomes a US senator in the end. It starts out in Times Square of the 1950s I think. I rather liked it, in a sort of grim way. The other novel I am just starting is Ines of My Soul by Elizabeth Allende, a writer who I like very much. It is a novel set in the world of Pizarro. So far it has been quite interesting. I finished it, it covers the conquest of Chile, especially the fight between the Mapoche and the Conquistadors.

January 12, 2007
I read the God Delusion and found it rather disappointing. He successfully attacks the bible and other written works but has no real answer or challenge to deism or scientific rationalizations for god. He mainly is arguing against theism, but once again fails by only focusing on western theism. He calls buddhism and eastern religions a personal philosophy which is not quite accurate and pontificates a lot. It was an interesting but lukewarm book.

January 5, 2007
I just started reading Pulse-- The Coming Age of Systems And Machines Inspired by Living Things by Robert Frenay. It is a doorstopper book.I started Naturalism capitalism on January 5, 2007 and finished it on January 20, 2007. This is an excellent work.
Natural Capitalism: Creating The Next Industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins.This was a very substantive book with a lot in it. It took a long time to read because there was literally no filler. It covered a wide area from the Rocky Mountain Institute to smart cars, green architecture, industrial ecology, natural water treatment (it talked about living machines-- John Todd's work), science and biomimicry, advanced organic farming, green economics, remanufacturing, molecular disassembly of products so they can be reused. A lot of very green technology. It is worth reading if you are interested in green industrialism.Other than science fiction, I really enjoy popular science type titles.