Sunday, April 30, 2006

Thanks, Professor Way way back when I first took an interest in things economic, I picked up a few of John Kenneth Galbraith's books (such as Money: Whence it Came, Where it Went). His writing was readable, enjoyable, erudite; I even learned a few things. John Kenneth Galbraith, 97, Dies; Economist Held a Mirror to Society. Mr. Galbraith, an iconoclastic economist, teacher and diplomat, was one of the most widely read authors in the history of economics. By HOLCOMB B. NOBLE and DOUGLAS MARTIN. [NYT > Books] So, thanks for the enlightening words, Professor. 4:52:32 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

More CHI More linkage from CHI session reports, courtesy LukeW: Conversations from CHI 2006. CHI (an international conference for human-computer interaction) took place in Montreal, Canada this past week and a few reports of what was discussed are coming online. [Functioning Form: Interface Design] 4:47:38 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

Sensible reading lists Sound advice from Kathy Sierra on how to get off the "keeping up" treadmill: The myth of "keeping up". Do you have a stack of books, journals, manuals, articles, API docs, and blog printouts that you think you'll get to? That you think you need to read? Now, based on past experience, what are the odds you'll get... [Creating Passionate Users] First off, I'm finding more and more useful advice in blogs like Creating Passionate Users. So I pay attention to people who are thinking and saying useful things. Then, I had already come to the conclusion that I don't have to be the world's archivist for back issues of the magazines that I read. In most cases, I browse the current issue, dog-ear the articles I intend to read completely, and when I'm done, recycle it. If I haven't recycled one issue by the time the next one shows up, then I probably won't get to it. Next, I've dropped a few subscriptions. Two news magazines are too many. I read enough news online, I don't need more weekly wrap-ups. And some magazines just aren't worth the subscription price. Business 2.0 wants $25 for a one-year renewal. Fast Company wants $12. Biz 2.0 had a good thing going there for awhile, but FC wins out on the cost/benefit calculation. Over the next months, I'll be thinning out the piles of books that I always meant to read. Now that I've had the first warning stroke, I'm going to get much more realistic about what I plan to do in the years I have left. Forcing myself to read something just because I think maybe I should makes less and less sense. 3:47:15 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

© Copyright 2002-2006 Fred Sampson. Last update: 5/3/06; 12:00:42 PM.