In hindsight, reading these two books in succession was ideal. One might find Atlas Shrugged–Ayn Rand’s 1957 objectivist apologia–to utterly oppose John Steinbeck’s 1939 collectivist masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath. And while the “Rational Selfishness” espoused by Rand may seem to be in utter opposition of the social co-dependency emphasized by Steinbeck, the books are [...]
‘Reads’ Category
Design thinking from BW
Business Week has long been a strong advocate for elevating design thinking within organizations, and I’ve collected up a few recent examples here. I constantly preach to my clients and students that design is more than mere styling, and that it is instead a part of a holistic process that incorporates the expertise of many [...]
One Up On Wall Street
One Up On Wall Street : How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market ~ Peter Lynch If you’re smart with money, you save a lot of it. But since you’re smart, you know that putting money “under the mattress” is a very bad idea, so you invest it. But [...]
Milk: The Surprising Story…
Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages ~ Anne Mendelson Some food books teach you new things about a particular cooking method, or the food from a particular location, or the various uses of a given ingredient. Anne Mendelson’s book does something far more powerful: she redefines a staple food item such that [...]
Animal Vegetable Miracle
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life ~ Barbara Kingsolver A fun, interesting, and touching narrative on a year of home-grown food. For foodies like me, it’s always inspiring to read about others who love great food as much as we do. The author–while sincere and touching at best–can also be a little sappy [...]
The Gardener Heist
The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser My wife is an aspiring art conservator, and as such we are very aware of the world of art, antiquities, and the museums and institutions that house them. Living in Boston for the last two years has afforded us [...]
CADJunkie.com
I’ve just started up CADJunkie.com, my official daily CAD blog. No real content as yet, but it will come over the next few days. Enjoy!
The ‘Ingredients’ Label
When you buy food, do you stop to look at the ingredients? It sounds incredibly “hippy” of me to ask, but think about it: why not just eat the food you want, without all that other stuff? My wife and I love to cook, so we have a pretty good idea of what ingredients aught [...]
Make magazine
Make magazine is the key to lasting happiness. If you don’t subscribe, DO SO IMMEDIATELY.
The Creative Priority
The Creative Priority : Putting Innovation to Work in Your Business by Jerry Hirshberg I found the tone of this book unnecessarily haughty, and felt constantly that Mr. Hirshberg has something to prove in writing it. This is less a book on practical innovation itself than a self-congratulatory career retrospective on the part of the [...]
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful (Hardcover) by Marshall Goldsmith, and Mark Reiter My boss at Bose, Gustavo Fontana, recommended this book to me after delivering a somewhat stinging–but wholly justified–performance review. The title is telling: the strengths that have helped me to succeed thus far [...]
The Wal-Mart Effect
The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World’s Most Powerful Company Really Works–and How It’s Transforming the American Economy by Charles Fishman I grew up shopping at Wal-Mart, and during my time at Black & Decker, I witnessed the copany in action from a whole new perspective. I was hesitant to read this book. I fully expected [...]
