author: Donald A. Norman
name: Rebecca
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2008/02/29
date added: 2008/02/29
shelves: borrowed, creativity
review:
It really makes you think about what should seem like the basics of design (which resembles common sense- should be obvious, but isn’t). Even if you aren’t a designer, it’s worth reading.
Feb 292008
Feb 292008
As you may have noticed, February hasn’t been a particularly effective month around the blog (or anywhere else in my life). There are a number of reasons for this, but really it all comes down to major upheavals going on in my life. So…I’ll share my books monthly. I might set up del.icio.us to post here while I’m gone. You’re welcome to subscribe to my FriendFeed to follow my activity around the web (because I seem to be active everywhere but this website). When I’m ready, when i have a direction for this blog to resume, I’ll start posting here again.
I spent most of the month suffering from one ailment or another. The joys of working with children in winter. It was great for slogging through my reading list, though.
- Little Green Book of Getting Your Way- I took a few notes out of it, but the layout made it very hard to stare at the book for any length of time.
- The Effective Executive- Mostly, I had already read this information. I found it far more useful to just read the introduction and last chapter.
- On Writing Well- I thought I had read this last year, but I definitely hadn’t. The chapters on humor and voice (my two weakest points) alone made the entire book worth it!
- The Art of Project Management- Had I read it years ago, it would have been a great resource, but as this point it was just an enjoyable read.
- Bit Literacy- It’s a great book for people new to technology, but it was familiar (and a bit out of date) for me.
- Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got- This book also felt out of touch with the Web 2.0 world. It’s far easier and more entertaining to just subscribe to Teaching Sells.
- A Whole New Mind- An interesting look at how those who can work in the right side of their brain will actually lead the way into the future.
- Math Doesn’t Suck- This book is a must-have for every girl you know! It covers math tips for factors, fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, and simple algebra, all the time reminding girls why it’s important to never let anyone convince them to act dumb.
- The Design of Everyday Things- An interesting look at the psychology and usability of design. Some of the things he talks about should seem obvious, but it’s interesting how what’s obvious goes over well with the people who will actually use something, but not with those assigning awards for design.
I’ve given up on reading the Personal MBA books because most of them felt either too familiar or too outdated. We’ll see what books I come up with next!
Feb 252008
author: Peter David
name: Rebecca
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2008/02/24
date added: 2008/02/25
shelves: borrowed, fantasy
review:
Feb 212008
author: Danica McKellar
name: Rebecca
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2008/02/21
date added: 2008/02/21
shelves: borrowed, math-activities
review:
Every girl who has ever struggled with fractions, decimals, percents, or solving for variables should read this book. The explanations and examples are clear, and McKellar frames each lesson in well-written examples most girls can relate to.
Feb 172008
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Rebecca
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2005
rating: 1
read at: 2008/02/15
date added: 2008/02/17
shelves: borrowed, fiction
review:
I actually put this book down after two chapters. It just wasn’t my thing.
author: Daniel H. Pink
name: Rebecca
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2008/02/17
date added: 2008/02/17
shelves: borrowed, creativity
review:
Feb 132008
It’s never ceased to amaze me how many people honestly believe that making something off-limits will protect others. It rarely works that way, mainly because forbidding something just triggers the innate curiosity we’re all born with.
Rather than block access to something you perceive as dangerous, teach the people you’re trying to block out. Teach them what the blocked item is, and then explain why you feel they shouldn’t go near it. It’s far easier to get a toddler to not touch a hot stove if you help them understand why than to just tell them not to do it.
Adults are much the same way. If you tell someone to not do something, and the best reason you can come up with is some variation on either, “Just don’t do it,” or, “Trust me,” you can rest assured the other person will do it. You haven’t given them an actual reason to listen to your advice. School districts are learning this the hard way as they’re slowly coming to realize their students will be far safer with lessons on how to live online safely than if they block MySpace and Facebook from school networks.
People, regardless of their age, respond best to reason. Even those crazy, rebellious teenagers are more likely to actually listen if you can give them actual reasons. If you forbid, regardless of the age, you’ll lost your audience.
Feb 102008
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Rebecca
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at: 2008/02/10
date added: 2008/02/10
shelves: borrowed, fiction
review:
It was a quick enough read, but I can’t honestly say I “read” it. It was gritty, which I like, but it left me wishing the next Dresden Files book was already out.
Feb 102008
Sorry about last week, everybody. I was sick most of the week, and it really kept me from doing a lot. (Before anyone offers their sage advice, it’s all been stress-related. If you can figure out a way to reduce my stress that doesn’t rely on the failed arts of yoga and meditation, I’m all ears.)
Because I was gone last week, you get a mingling of last week’s links and this week’s links. You even get a cool quote!
Let’s get started!
- ColourLovers’ Interview with the Pantone Color of the Year- I loved this. I read it thrice! The writing style here is serious, yet playful, and it makes me think about my own writing and my chronic inability to put down the academic and inject the sarcasm.
- Make Your Own Tiara- Doesn’t look too hard. I’ve been thinking about acquiring a tiara for a while after someone loaned me one because she felt I was going through a rough patch (When am I not?) I could totally make this.
- Dr. Who Producers Won’t Listen to the Fans- I was still watching Smallville when the storylines started reflecting the fan fiction. It was amusing, but ultimately drove me away from the series. Now, I’m reading the fan-inspired Yu-Gi-Oh GX manga, and I almost put down the first volume halfway through. The fandom can come up with good ideas occasionally, but a show/manga should never feel they have to sacrifice their own work to appease the fandom.
- Was Gene Roddenberry an Anti-Robot Bigot?- What? No attacks on JMS? We’re just going to go after someone who created one of the coolest shows in sci-fi? (And why isn’t Romy a part of this conversation?)
And now for what has to be the best quote ever!
- The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool.- Jane Wagner (Source)
Feb 102008
I think I’ve spent the better part of my life trying to tell a story in words. I’m not sure it’s been an entirely successful venture, but I keep trying.
It’s kind of funny, too. I love reading books. There’s a thrill in letting the words play in your mind to create a picture, a movie of the book.
But I’ve realized as I’ve read more and more manga (Japanese graphic novels) over the past couple of years that I enjoy the effect of words and pictures together. I still enjoy exercising my imagination with a textual book, but I’m just as likely to reach for a manga as a novel. My feed aggregator is slowly filling with more and more webcomics for this same reason. And I reach for the manga, the webcomics, and the novels that are able to fully utilize their media to draw me in to a sustained story.
As a child, I studied ballet. I can remember rehearsals as a young adult where the artistic director and the choreographer continually nagged us to tell the story. The story of the ballet, the story of the individual dance we were doing. If our movements weren’t contributing to building the story, then we weren’t doing it correctly. And this applied to dances that weren’t part of a story ballet, too. Our recital pieces were mini-stories, danced by each class.
This comes back to me every time I watch figure skating competitions. I’ve noticed the more successful skaters find the story in their music and bring it out in their choreography. Amazingly, these tend to be the skaters who turn professional and take over my weekend afternoons as their exhibitions are run over and over again on the television.
Even my favorite musicians are the ones who can consistently provide a story in their work. In their lyrics. In the music if there are no lyrics. I love the story. My favorite band at the moment is my favorite band, simply because their lyricist is a fantastic storyteller.
Thinking about it, I’ve come to realize that the medium has little to do with a good story. The story is the story on its own merit, and the medium is the vehicle delivering the story. I don’t know if that will help me at all, but someone else might find it interesting.
