Daily Thoughts 3/16/2010

Stamp of USSR, 13th Definitive Issue. Symbols of art and literature, 1988-1989

Today has been a relatively quiet day. I checked the displays and did some weeding this morning. I am going to finish weeding the storage fiction this week. Try and do are two different concepts. When you try to finish something, it puts in mind that you might not finish it. I am almost done. I also spent some time reading Publishers Weekly this morning.

Brandon Sanderson has a new book coming out called The Way of Kings. I like the cover art. It is done by Michael Whelan. Hopefully it should be a very enjoyable fantasy title. I also just put Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley on hold. It is the sequel to The Quiet War which I enjoyed a lot.

I was reading the Oxford University Press blog which had interesting book suggestion; A Better Pencil Readers Writers and the Digital Revolution by Dennis Baron. It makes the argument that people are already becoming writers because of computers, so it is almost a moot point on whether or not it is particularly wonderful writing.

I spent some time talking to people about a poetry program I am working on for April 10, 2010. I am going to try a Saturday afternoon this time. I also think that I will have more local people interested in this kind of program now.

On the way home, I read some more of The New How. It is describing how there is more than enough information out there for strategy, it is easy to get information. Now, it is more important to get people to act on ideas than create new ones. Basically to collaborate and work together. Nilofer Merchant describes something called an "Air Sandwich" where there is a giant fluffy disconnect between people who manage and people who work. The management is on top, air is in the middle, and the line workers are on the bottom. In the middle is a lot of hot air.