Archive for the 'Books' Category
Posted January 20, 2008 at 10:33 PM | Tagged as: Books | Comments Off
Lately I’ve been on a steady diet of technical books and management/leadership books, but my required reading for an upcoming meeting at Bryn Mawr has gotten me back in the swing of reading other subject matter. This is a good thing, since I’ve got some very interesting reads coming up…
First up is a book by my friend, Chris Connelly. He’s written Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried: My Life As a Revolting Cock, about his life in the music industry. His career has spanned nearly three decades and has included stints with industrial groups such as Fini Tribe, Ministry, Pigface, and the Revolting Cocks (duh!), just to name a few (seriously). I’m hoping that some of the stories that I’ve heard over the years — like the time he disassembled every piece of furniture in a Four Seasons hotel room with William Tucker — appear in this book… and I’m sure there will be plenty of other crazy anecdotes, too. Chris is still making music, though of a much calmer, more esoteric variety. He has a new album titled Forgiveness and Exile coming out this spring that I’m also looking forward to.
Today I pre-ordered Hubert’s Freaks: The Rare-Book Dealer, the Times Square Talker, and the Lost Photos of Diane Arbus by Gregory Gibson. The book tells the true story of Bob Langmuir, a rare books dealer in Philadelphia who discovered a treasure trove of never-before-seen prints by the legendary Diane Arbus. The photographs were taken in the 1950’s at Hubert’s Dime Museum and Flea Circus, a Times Square basement phantasmagoria — an odd piece of Americana deserving of such documentation. The New York Times has an interesting article which piqued my interest… though I’ll be honest and disclose that my mom went to high school with Bob, which is how I learned about all of this in the first place.
The next thing I need to work on re-integrating to my reading queue is some fiction… any suggestions?
Posted December 19, 2007 at 12:26 PM | Tagged as: Books, Web Standards, Work | Comments Off
Not having mentioned it here before, you may not be aware of the fact that I contributed a chapter to the new book Adapting to Web Standards. But I did, along with Rob Cherny, Meryl K. Evans, Kevin Lawver, and Mark Trammell — all coordinated and organized by lead author Christopher Schmitt.
My chapter (chapter 5) relates to the five years I’ve spent as a standards evangelist and standards consultant in the enterprise. I write about the Circle of Standards: the process I invented to make standards adoption and ongoing practice an easier task. There aren’t too many “professional” standards evangelists, so I hope this chapter encourages more people to step up to such a role. Of course, I hope that it helps all standards enthusiasts through the process of establishing standards in the work environment.
If you’re interested in checking out the book, you can try to win a copy in this contest! Of course, you can also buy a copy.
Posted August 3, 2007 at 7:03 AM | Tagged as: Books, Geekout, Math, Women! | 2 Comments
Wow, I’m impressed. Danica McKellar (from The Wonder Years) is all grown up (duh, we’re the same age) and is a mathematician! And she’s written a math book for middle-school-age girls.
My first thought was, how many parents will actually buy this for their daughters if they’re already wrapped up in the “math is hard (if you’re a girl)” culture? But then I remembered how many things (books, music, whatever) made it into my hands at that age… and I realized that there’s a good chance many girls could end up finding this book. And given Danica’s defense of looking at the big picture (talking about math and making cookies and fashion) there’s a good chance that more of those girls could learn that loving math doesn’t make you a freak or a geek or ugly… it’s just part of who you are. (Maybe this book could teach those anti-math parents a thing or two.)
The page two questions are great — and so are Danica’s smart and snappy responses. Questions like “What’s your favorite part of math to learn?” and “What helped you study in college?” aren’t your everyday questions, but they’re great ones for young adults to see adults answer in a serious manner.
The book, titled Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail, is out now. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. I know a few girls for whom middle school isn’t all that far away…
…oh, and my favorite topic in math was algebra. I love algebra.
Posted December 29, 2006 at 1:48 AM | Tagged as: Books, GHC, People I Admire, Technology, Women! | Just 1 Comment
I’m only a third of the way through She’s Such a Geek but I’m loving and finding something to appreciate in every story. This book is a required read for any woman in (or interested in) science and technology… as well as for any educator or mentor that works with women. Hell, it should just be required for everyone, period.
One thing that has me almost giddy as I’m reading are the stories of how these women got interested in math, science, and technology. So far only one has mentioned a man as their primary mentor; the rest have cited mostly women (sometimes specifically their mothers) as theirs. Woo hoo!
I’m thrilled because this is in stark contrast to what I heard at GHC back in October. There, women repeatedly cited their fathers as their key mentors. Granted, most of the women saying this were of a slightly older generation than those writing in this book… so perhaps this means that the feminist movement did succeed in creating a generation of women that was able to empower their daughters and other women! Still, at GHC, I felt that the speakers should have taken greater care in who they cited as key in their development and achievement; they were addressing a younger audience and the impression I got from some of their statements was that a man is necessary in guiding a woman to success in math, science, and engineering.
I’m sure this is not what these women intended to communicate, but it’s how the message was received on this end. I may be beyond the point where I’m looking for advice on finding mentors and inspiration, but I’m not beyond caring about the messages being sent to young women today! So again I say to all, go read She’s Such a Geek (the book and the blog) and give a copy of the book to young woman or mother of a girl!
Posted December 16, 2006 at 1:50 AM | Tagged as: Books, Geekout, Robots, Technology, Things I Love, Westinghouse | Comments Off
Hey! I just noticed that the Mansfield Memorial Museum Web site is up and running. Remember, that’s where you can go see the original Elektro (until April 2007).
And, great news! Scott Schaut’s book, Robots of Westinghouse will also be out soon. You can get it direct from the museum or you can pre-order from Amazon.
I can’t wait to read it and learn all about my favorite robot!
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