Daily Thoughts 10/10/2011

Bookcase, Robert Adam (1728-1792), 1776, exhibited in the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

Daily Thoughts 10/10/2011


This morning, I read a little bit more of The Orphan Master's Son.  The main character is interacting with a variety of leaders in North Korea including Kim Il Sung.  It is very different. I finished reading the book at the laundromat.  The ending is quite surprising.  I cannot say that I have read anything like this before.  The book is due out on January 10, 2012.


I also spent some time on Lynda.com learning a bit about HTML 5.

Web Bits

With a Little Help Now At Your Library
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/cory-doctorow/article/49010-with-a-little-help-now-at-your-library.html%20

I am a big fan of Cory Doctorow.

Daily Thoughts 10/9/2011

Christine de Pisan instructs her son, Jean de Castel, France Paris 1410-1411

Daily Thoughts 10/9/2011

I read some more of The Orphan Master's Son. The book is becoming increasingly dark. The character is in a prison camp followed by being captured and being prepared for torture.  Although, it is gruesome, there is something deeply fascinating about the writing.

I finished taking another course, Analyzing Your Website to Improve SEO on Lynda.com.  I learned a few things about header tags, geo tags, and creating an XML site map.  This is all very useful in terms of building and promoting a website.

 Web Bits

Ereader Boom II Is Your Library Ready
http://libraryrenewal.org/2011/10/07/ereader-boom-ii-is-your-library-ready/

Daily Thoughts 10/8/2011

Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Bust) Lithograph by Armstrong & Co., 1883.

Daily Thoughts 10/8/2011 


This morning, I checked the Twitter and Facebook accounts.  I also finished taking the Drupal 7 online course from Lynda.com and started taking Web Design Fundamentals.  It has been a steady learning process.

I also started reading The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson.  It is an Advanced Reading Copy provided by Library Journal.  The book is coming out on January 10, 2012.  The setting is absolutely unique and the story is very different.  It is told from the perspective of a North Korean who is raised in an orphanage.  Every few chapters, the main characters circumstances change from being a kidnapper to being on a boat to being in a prison camp.  There is a surreal harsh quality to the quality which reminds me of The Gulag Archipelago.

I finished taking Web Design Fundamentals from Lynda.com this evening.  The teacher recommended a book Designing With Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman.  I put the second edition on hold.  He also recommended the book, Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug which is excellent.


The Lynda.com course set out a set of skills that would be useful to learn, HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Photoshop.  I also probably should take some time to review my Microsoft Office skills as well.