weblog of "technology and the book". Seth Morabito's weblog of "technology and the book" covers a diversity of ideas, including the role of the book in "The Name of the Rose". Actually the topic is discussed fully in Umberto Eco's other book, "Reflections on The Name of the Rose", [future of the book news]

7:58:25 AM    

Here's an article that should make you mad. Real mad. This Maran woman has written a book on teenage drug addiction. She also has a recovering addict for a son. Was this son the inspiration for the book? Apparently not. He got clean by himself, through fundamentalist Christianity (Baptist flavor), but Mom doesn't list that as a healing influence in her book. He also blames her parenting for his problem - apparently she is or was a significant drug user and otherwise irresponsible - but she refuses to address, even for a minute, the possibility that she might have had something to do with his addiction. Now I'm no Jesus freak - more of a freelance Buddhist Christian - I usually subscribe to the liberal side of just about anything, and I agree that the addict needs to first take responsibility no matter how badly he's been treated, but manipulative crap like this disguised as progressive "research" just burns me up. The article's author is very sly about not directly criticizing the book's author, but the phoniness of the book comes through loud and clear.

These are your kids on drugs. Journalist Meredith Maran spent two years searching for answers to America's epidemic of teenage addiction, while her son Jesse found his own answers -- and got clean -- through the Bible and the Baptist Church. [Salon.com]

7:56:57 AM    

Questions and Ignorance. Questions and Ignorance -- From the archives of John Lienhard's Engines of Our Ingenuity radio show...

"I'm pretty sure that the only real function of a teacher is to guide students in asking and pursuing questions. Once a student develops the rare talent for seeking his or her own ignorance, teachers become irrelevant. But it's hard to look at your own ignorance. And it's not easy to ask a true question. It feels like humiliation."

But a little humiliation is worth it to find the bliss within your ignorance. Since "Knowledge...flows to the point of greatest ignorance.", it's the real questions that break the dams impeding that flow. As a result, it behooves teams and organizations to both solicit and embrace them. [Frank Patrick's Focused Performance Blog]

7:46:22 AM