A secondhand bookshop in Foix, southwest France Writing about what I read in the past twelve months has become an annual ritual, part of the seasonal no-man’s-land between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve when we relax and reflect and get confused about what day of the week it is. This year I read 59…… Continue reading My best reads of 2019
Tag: reading
HBR exec summaries
I love this executive summaries section at the end of the paper version of the Harvard Business Review. I don’t know if it has been running for years or just started, but it’s very useful in helping decide — do I want to give these X,000 words my attention? They should put it up front…… Continue reading HBR exec summaries
One of Microsoft’s new CEO’s strengths? He doesn’t finish business books…
When Microsoft’s new CEO was announced last week, there was a great deal of commentary about his – doubtless very carefully crafted – introductory email to the company. Part of Satya Nadella’s description of himself made me immediately empathetic: Many who know me say I am also defined by my curiosity and thirst for learning.…… Continue reading One of Microsoft’s new CEO’s strengths? He doesn’t finish business books…
New technology boosts the old
As cheerleaders for incumbent media often point out, the old is rarely replaced by the new. Newspapers weren’t killed by radio, radio wasn’t killed by TV, TV wasn’t killed by online video – etc., etc. Sometimes new technology boosts the old. Dipping in again to the excellent Writing on the Wall: Social Media, the First…… Continue reading New technology boosts the old
We don’t just read novels, we live them
A neuroscience research project suggests that when we read novels we create a connection with the protagonist, a change that is visible in fMRI brain scans and that persists for five days. “The neural changes that we found associated with physical sensation and movement systems suggest that reading a novel can transport you into the…… Continue reading We don’t just read novels, we live them
Tools and distraction
Despite having at least four other devices with Kindle apps on them at any given moment at home or work, my reading weapon of choice is the Kindle Paperwhite. I rip through books on it, lose myself in them fast and deeply. Two reasons: first, there is less pull from the web and apps; second,…… Continue reading Tools and distraction
Maria Popova and life as “a reader who writes”
When I look at Maria Popova and her work on Brainpickings, I feel admiration, inspiration and a little jealousy. She takes something that is important to me – blogging, writing and the collecting of fascinating things – to a logical extreme, making a profession of it. She’s made a life and living out of sharing…… Continue reading Maria Popova and life as “a reader who writes”
Why I finish books
Living with ebooks, as I have been since I bought my first iPad a few years back, has changed my reading. It’s also given me more ways of understanding how I read and how I want to read. Let’s get the nostalgia out of the way first. I miss paper books. I still read paper…… Continue reading Why I finish books
Hi-fidelity reading
The paperback book I am reading right now is The Big Sleep and Other Novels, by Raymond Chandler. It’s a lovely Penguin Classics imprint, thick and light and good to hold. I bought it a month ago in paper version because I want to read it slowly, closely (as Francine Prose recommends). I first read Chandler when I was…… Continue reading Hi-fidelity reading
Holiday reading
In case you are looking for some ideas about what to read in the remainder of the summer, here are the books that have tickled my fancy over the summer months. How I Escaped My Certain Fate, by Stewart Lee Autobiographical story – interspersed with transcripts of some his shows – by my favourite stand-up…… Continue reading Holiday reading
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