Daily Thoughts 8/13/2009

'Book-Head, 3,297,421', bronze sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky (American), 1979-90, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

Daily Thoughts 8/13/2009

Today has been another steady day. I did a bit of weeding in the 800s and sorted through the gift books putting in slips for material that needed to be added. Enough has been done lately with the new books for everyone to be caught up, so we can do the secondar activities. I also put in some slips with descriptions for repairs that needed to be done for some of our older books. Things have been shaping up steadily.

I read some more of The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. So far, it is the story of a steady rise from being a messenger to being a telegraph operator, to working as a railroad clerk, to being a superintendent of a railroad at an early age. There is a mix of religion, a focus on clean living, and a desire to understand great literature.

The book, The Practice of Management by Peter F. Drucker has come in for me to read. I will probably start reading it when I finish reading about Andrew Carnegie. I took a look at Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. The book is positively enormous. It is the kind of book which would take a couple of weeks to read at the minimum. I am going to ponder when I will read it.

On the way home, I read some more of The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. There are a few things which stand out in this book; an unrelenting focus on excellence and quality, a reminder to do what others have not done yet, and a focus on cleanliness, quality tools, and orderliness.

Tomorrow, I plan on going through all my email communications to look at what I have promised; sometimes, it is good to review what you have said. It is easy to forget your promises or lose track of what you think you are supposed to be doing.