[A Collage Representing the Internet] the Internet (31k jpeg) (492k jpeg) is a collage i did as part of a study at the Harvard Business School (no gifs due to patent problems)

Reading

Under Construction

The Five Clocks by Martin Joos
A book that looks at the differences ib the English language in five different levels of formaility, from little to high. Short & eye opening!
1962. Bloomington: Indiana University Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics. Reprinted in 1967 by Harcourt, Brace & World. ISBN 978-0156313803

The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help. by Amanda Palmer
A book on building a life of cooperation based on asking others for help along the way. One of my favorites.
Grand Central Publishing. 2012. ISBN 1455581089.

Reviewing this list, I find they are all well-written, which helps get you to the guts of what each book is about.

I was a voracious reader in my youth. Saturdays, I would go to the Public Library and check out the limit of five(?) books. They be read before school Monday. Sundays, I also would read the papers Dad got: the NY Times, Newsday, and the Long Island Press. Summers, it was Monday to Saturday, 30 books a week.

I grew up reading encyclopedias, including the Popular Science Encyclopedia. Each year from 2nd to 6th grade, I finished the official lent texts and workbooks in a few weeks. The "solution" in 2nd grade was to send me to the school library. In 4th grade, they brought four full encyclopedias into the classroom, by my desk, so I got to "participate" in class more.

When I was quite young, I found
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
and read it dozens of times. It taught me that you can have incredible adventures, while finding innovative solutions to what might seem impossible problems.

That ended when, in my early teens, I found
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
which I read dozens of times into my twenties, and every few years since then. I enjoy it on many levels, including how to fight bureaucrats.

Floor Sample by Julia Cameron - an artist's, often hard, journey - as well as her The Artist's Way books.

All are full of tips on how to live a good and creative lives. I learned the daily practice of writing meditation from her, which has improved my life alot.

Marketing Without Advertising: Creative Strategies for Small Business Success by Salli Rasberry, Michael Phillips -the best thing on grass roots marketing, I've read.

Honest Business: A Superior Strategy for Starting and Managing Your Own Business by Salli Rasberry, Michael Phillips - full of great examples and fables about doing business in a healthy way. If you like it, hunt up the stuff from the Briar Patch Network (the old printed stuff is better then what's found by web search).

The Evolution of Cooperation by Robert M. Axelrod - basic information on how to get along with humans, and get them to cooperate! One of the most worthwhile books I've ever read.

All of Edward Tufte's books on graphic design and presenting information on the printed page, including:

There are the most beautiful, most well made, and best printed books I have ever held in my hands. What he teaches about communication, applies outside the specific channels he presents about. Fascinating speaker live. Tufte has also done some awesome sculpture (see the bottom of that web page for the real links!).

My favorite book by Alan Watts is Tao: The Watercourse Way, Pantheon, 1977, ISBN 0-394-73311-8

I've enjoyed the writings of Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (aka D. T. Suzuki) one of Alan Watts' early influences.

Shunryu Suzuki, (co-)founder of the San Francisco Zen Center and author of (among others) Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Weatherhill, 1970, ISBN 0-8348-0079-9.
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is the last book I've read on Zen meditation. During it, I realized that reading about meditation was much less important then doing it, so I started meditating.

The Society of Mind and The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind by Marvin Minsky.
Thoughts on how the human mind and heart works by one of the world's foremost experts on their exploration. Thought provoking and soul-searching.

Though I have since found Yoga, these books helped me take care of my body. (Though I can recommend some yoga books and tapes/DVDs, you really need to try different instructors, until you find one who best guides your practice.)

The Time Traveler's Wife (second best time travel story I've read) and Her Fearful Symmetry (a book about the after life, twins, and living) both by Audrey Niffenegger

The Sweet Everlasting by Judson Mitcham
short wunderful novel about the south and a lower class white man intertwines 3 story lines about his youth, young adulthood, and elder years into a story full of life, including sadness and tragedy until the last sentence. Also some insight into why the American South is the way it is. Lyrical smooth prose.

Under Construction

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tower @ art.net
tower @ alum.mit.edu
updated: Mon Oct 19 09:12:42 2020