Daily Thoughts 8/26/2009

Poul Anderson, Science Fiction Writer

Daily Thoughts 8/26/2009

I took a walk up to my local library. I am sitting here typing away while looking at the computer.

I am still reading both The Management Myth and The Practice of Management. I am beginning to think many management books are more about ethics, philosophy, and the way you treat other people rather than scientific thought. A lot of the material does not come across as being extremely logical. I like reading The Management Myth because some of it is very funny; almost sublimely ridiculous. Some of the nonsense which is being described is rather entertaining.

I also took some time and read the preview on Baen books for Patriots by David Drake which is a science fiction novel coming out in September. The preview consists of the first nine chapters. I also started reading Songs of the Dying Earth Stories In Honor of Jack Vance. The introduction by Dean Koontz is excellent. It tells how Dean Koontz started as a science fiction writer and thought The Dying Earth was a lot of fun to read. The editors of the short stories are also very good, Gardner Dozois and George R.R. Martin. The selection of authors is superb as well; Neil Gaiman, Robert Silverberg, Mike Resnick, Glen Cook, Jeff Vandermeer, Tanith Lee and many other excellent fantasy writers. It is a tome of a book with 670 pages of short stories. I have just started on it and it has already given me a bit of pleasure to read.