Daily Thoughts 06/25/2012

Ballbüchlein; Gold, Perlmutt, Elfenbein, Edelsteine; Pierre Aldebert Griot, Berlin 1750–1760

Daily Thoughts 06/25/2012

I do what I usually do.  I checked my email, looked at Library Journal online, Publishers Weekly online, and LIS News.  I also am looking through Locus Online and SF Site.

This afternoon, I finished reading The $100 Startup.  The book is mainly focused on the concept of bootstrapping. It is also focused on people who want an independent lifestyle focused around small business.  Chris Guillebeau describes peoples decision to grow businesses to the size they feel comfortable with, choose their own preferred business form, and not be afraid of failure.  I liked reading this book, it is quite inspirational. There is a companion website to the book at http://100startup.com

This afternoon, I had a chance to go to Barnes and Noble and look around at different books.  I bought a copy of The Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove.  I like the mythological theme of the series.  The book just came out in 2012.  It cost $8.99 for a mass market paperback.  Books are getting more expensive.
I stayed up late reading tonight and finished reading The Age of Aztec which had a fantastic ending. It is mix of alternate history and science fiction. There were all sorts of things which were fantastic in this novel which made it even better than the other books, The Age of Ra and The Age of Zeus. This is a far better novel. There are references to the end of an age in 2012 according to the Mayan and Aztec Calendar, the famed Chariots of the Gods by Erik Van Daniken, super science, Mayan and Aztec mythology, and Aztec warrior culture. The mix makes for a potent story filled with constant action.
There is another book which I have not read in the series, The Age of Odin, and a novella which is only available on Kindle which is a trickster story, The Age of Anansi.

Web Bits

Does Pew Study Prove Ebooks in Libraries Are Safe For Publishers?
http://www.idealog.com/blog/does-pew-study-prove-ebooks-in-libraries-are-safe-for-publishers/

As ALA Opens, Pew Issues Report on Libraries and E-books
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/52668-as-ala-opens-pew-issues-report-on-libraries-and-e-books.html

Daily Thoughts 06/24/2012

The shepherdess. Signed with monogram. Watercolour heightened with bodycolour. 15 x 22.5 cm, Myles Birkett Foster, by 1899

Daily Thoughts 06/24/2012

I spent some more time reading The $100 Startup this afternoon.  The author reminds us that a business exists to make money, it is not a hobby.  He also describes the process of pre-launch where you tell people about a project you are working on before it is launched.

I spent a little more time on Codecademy and Lynda.com on learning Javascript.  One of the limits of Codecademy is that it does not work very well in Internet Explorer.  I had to download Google Chrome and  Mozilla Firefox to get it to work properly.



Web Bits

Library of Congress Books That Shaped America
http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/books-that-shaped-america/

Daily Thoughts 06/23/2012

Cover of "Edison's Conquest of Mars", from 1898. Illustration by G. Y. Kauffman.  I like the picture because it combines two things which I find entertaining, science fiction and art nouveau.

Daily Thoughts 06/23/2012

Last night, I stayed up late and read The Age of Zeus by James Lovegrove.  It is an alternate history with super science, genetically engineered gods, and high technology battlesuits.  There is a fight for the control of the planet with echoes of Greek mythology.  The titans are fighting for freedom while the gods seek control of the world.  It was fun to read.  There was an earlier novel with a similar theme, The Age of Ra by James Lovegrove.  I also liked this book as well.  It is nice to have some time off.

I spent a little bit of time updating my bookcalendar twitter account.

I read some more of The $100 Startup this afternoon.  The book is more about how to create a business that fits your lifestyle that will support you than about how to generate a huge amount of money.  Some examples he uses are the 140 word mission statement, the 1 page business plan, and very basic ideas about how to convince people to buy your first product.  The example businesses are things like coffee shops, designer maps, yoga classes, and wedding photography.  There is a several page appendix which lists the businesses he uses as examples  A lot of the ideas are how to generate income from sweat equity more than spending lots money on advertising, marketing, or infrastructure.

I have wanted to go to the NYC Data Business Meetup for a while.  I was hoping to learn a little bit more about it.  The next one is at Bloomberg LP on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. The focus is on big data. http://www.meetup.com/NYC-Data-Business-Meetup/events/69467412/

I spent some more time on Lynda.com and Codecademy learning about Javascript.  Hopefully, with my new computer, I will also get a chance to download Wordpress.org and try it out as well.  I have been planning on this for a while.  I got the printer working this afternoon.

Web Bits

Libraries Patrons and Ebooks
http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/06/22/libraries-patrons-and-e-books/