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Nine Stores by J.D. Salinger

June 29th, 2009

J.D. Salinger was in the news lately with his lawsuit over a proposed unauthorized sequel to Catcher in the Rye a book I read and reviewed earlier this year.  The stories about him getting crazier and more isolated in his time in New Hampshire have been most fascinating.  Yup that’s what this frozen place does to you, but still a small price to pay to avoid income and sales taxes.

Nine Stories was one of the many gifts that the big box of classics from Ebay provided.  The headline story is A Perfect Day for Bananafish which I hated.  After reading this trite clunker I was tempted to write off Mr. Salinger’s stories as trite, try too hard literature that was published because of the success of Catcher.  I couldn’t have been more wrong, and not only because banana fish predated Catcher by five years.

I especially liked The Laughing Man and Down at the Dinghy which are great stories about when innocent childhood and the adult world mix.  Teddy is a story that has a mystical kind of sci-fi vibe and De Daumier Smith’s Blue Period is a hilarious growing up story, if part of your growing up period was a little larcenous and liberal like mine was.  For Esme-With Love and Squalor was one of the best WWII short stories I’ve read.  For those alone I would recommend this book.
Some of the real gems however are the ones about upper middle class New York. Salinger seems to know what photographers and F. Scott Fitzgerald know.  Poverty makes us look beautiful even when you expect to find unsightliness, while wealth provides a background of opulence that highlights the ugly and tragic parts of ourselves.

poverty ugly

Relax, You’re Already Home

June 19th, 2009

When I first started this book I must admit that I started to yawn.  I’m a huge fan of Taoism, it’s philosophy and it’s values however this book was sounding more like a lecture than a guidebook.

Fortunately  Dr. Barnett toned it down a bit after the introduction.  Just a bit though, you have to be prepared for a bit of didactic content if you make your way through this book.  Dr. Barnett seems to have a lot of musts but I seem to think that the Tao doesn’t.

So yes I would recommend this book it was a nice education into Taoism and into Chinese life and I’m glad that I read it.
But anyway, this was a good peek into Chinese life and Taoist philosophy/religion for me.  I had always rejected the religious aspects of Taoism,  I’m not really into pantheons of multiple heavenly hosts myself and I’m a long way from shamanism.  Dr. Barnett did a great job explaining the reasons for the traditions and ways to understand them.  I’m not as much of an objector now.  For example “ancestor worship”, it’s not as much worship as it is showing respect for people that have come before you, and the worship part is more about trying to harness the energy of those that have come before you.  We have similar traditions here in the US with for example President’s day.  I don’t see any harm in honoring George Washington and hoping that I can show the same level of humility, restraint, and ability to give up power when it could become corrupting.  I guess I see the wisdom in honoring your ancestors a little more and it actually helped me to want to connect with my ancestry a bit more.

I also liked the chapters on traditions like letting things go in the new year and settling past business.  I think I’ll make that a tradition as well.  I’m within striking distance of being out of debt (except for my mortgage dammit), so it would be nice to get a new start by the time Chinese New Year rolls around in a few months.

Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets

May 24th, 2009

I liked this book.  My job is sales, I’m part of a specialized function where technical knowledge and trading is primary but at the end of the day our evaluations are for how well we do at sales.

I was worried when I started in the sales department.  I was always very good at my service jobs but when it came to sales I was at a loss.  I always associated sales with being able to talk fast and being able to talk people into making decisions they would regret later.

Once I moved over I realized that when you’re selling something reputable and beneficial you don’t need to be “salesy” at all.  Selling it just having a conversation with a person, being genuine and gaining their trust and then pointing them to something that will benefit them.

This book is an excellent primer into the mechanics of good salesmen and how they do things.

Firstly, this book is aimed at selling to corporations and companies.  The information does apply to selling to individuals but the first half is better for general sales while the second half is based around deep price negotiations and how to determine who the decision makers are in a company.  That’s not as useful when you’re selling products to individual people or families.  Secondly this author of the book teaches sales seminars, and as is often the case when the author makes more from doing seminars than from selling books,  the book appears to be a companion manual for the seminar.  Because of these two issues I can’t recommend this as the only book you should read if you want to learn to sell.

I would suggest it though, it’s great for learning the process for making a sale and how to investigate needs.

Discover Your Inner Economist

May 18th, 2009

Yes it’s time to get in touch with the inside you, but this inside you is an economist.  This book is subtitled Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting and Motivate Your Dentist.

Now I’m a big fan of Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen’s blog.  See it’s right over there on the blogroll.  He’s probably one of my favorite libertarians and a great modern thinker.
I desperately wanted to love this book and I did make it all the way through but it wasn’t the experience I wanted it to be.  I can’t even think of a funny metaphor to describe how dissapointed I was.

Firstly, the questions in the subtitle weren’t even answered.  How do you use incentives to fall in love?  Well this topic was addressed by stating that it’s completely obvious that you use incentives in love and relationships, money isn’t the only means of exchange.  Uh yeah, most of us know that already Tyler.  The dentist?  Well you can’t motivate a dentist because a person visiting a dentist would evaluate a dentist on how pain free the experience is, not on the long term health benefits that a good dentist will give.  Mr. Cowen states the problem and then throws up his hands and states that you can’t solve the problem.  How do you survive meetings?  Have less of them of course, they’re all just a big waste of time according to Tyler.

So now why did I make it through?  Because when Tyler isn’t lazily asking questions he won’t answer and isn’t thumping his podium too hard he has some good bits of wisdom.

Things like eat healthily at home and junk when you go out.  Why?  Because you can’t make unhealthy food as well as a restaurant can so if you’re going to have a good balance between good food and bad you may as well make the bad food as good as it can possibly be.

So Tyler.  Maybe you are a great macro economist and maybe you are a great guy.  Next time though how about you stick to one or the other.

The 5 Temptations of a CEO

May 17th, 2009

Yay, it’s story time in the workplace.  I believe this horrible trend was started with the One Minute Manager.  It’s reached the pabulum covered goodness with The 5 Temptations of a CEO.

Let me tell you the plot, don’t worry I’m not ruining anything for you, a CEO falls asleep on the train, an old man wakes him up and drags him to another car.  Yes the head honcho is traveling around on a train and follows an old man around, how realistic.

Anyway the old man tells the CEO how to run his business, the CEO listens and his business improves and then when the company puts up pictures of the former CEOs the CEO in the story recognized the old man as a former CEO!

If your CEO is taking business advice from old men on the train please for the love Mary hold a shareholder revolt.

Maybe the advice in the book is tolerable but it’s overshadowed by the worlds worst attempt to pry $10 out of a businessman’s hands that I’ve ever witnessed.  Pass on this one.

Scream Free Parenting (it’s not just for women anymore).

May 13th, 2009

Yes a Psychology book.  Bleeeeech.  Shivers run down the spine of any man contemplating reading any kind of psychology book.  Psychology is for women.  We’re going to get in touch with our feelings, learn to accept things the way they are and it’s all magically get better, whatever.
Well it often works just that way.  Scream free parenting takes you through a process of seeing parenting different from the stressful way that many of us see it and helps you to relax a bit and enjoy it.

It starts out with the premise that you aren’t responsible for everything your children do.  They actually have their own personalities and preferences and not all of them are your fault.  I guess in a metaphysical way they are but I guess you can blame your parents for the awful genes they passed on to you.

So that was very helpful, immediately after seeing things that way I calmed down quite a bit.  No I’m still not perfect, the kids still have to touch everything in Home Goods which makes me panic about what I’m going to do if they break the $200 lamp but when they’re not around anything breakable I’m much more tolerant than I was.

Secondly the book talks to you about how everyone needs space starting with your children.  They need privacy and a place to keep their things and they tend to function much better if you’re not breathing down their neck making sure they behave all day.  I’ve been trying this and they’re actually behaving much better at home.

Lastly the book tells you that you need to take care of yourself because your kids depend on you.  Would you let them stay up all night drinking coffee and playing video games when they have to be up at 6 AM?  No you wouldn’t because it’s bad for you and it’s stupid.   So maybe you should love yourself enough to treat yourself right because a tired, unhealthy, irritable parent is as useless at work and home as a tired unhealthy irritable child would be in school.

So now I’m in touch with my feelings and things are working better and I’m much less stressed out.  Thanks a lot psychology, I guess I’ll turn in my man card at the door.

36 Things I love about Joanna

April 8th, 2009

Joanna turns 36 today, well in America her birthday is tomorrow but since she was born across the dateline it’s today.  She’s hoping her family gets to call so she can quote the Conchords and tell her mum it’s not her birthday.  But since I haven’t forgotten here’s a list of one thing I love about her for each year she’s been alive:

1. Her accent.  How can you beat it?

2. How kind she is to live so far from friends and family just to be with me.

3. How the kids fight over who gets to jump in bed with her in the morning.  It’s annoying while it’s happening but nice to think about during the day.

4. How she does EVERYTHING around the house and does not complain a bit.

5. That she drives everywhere on my days off.  Well as long as we’re not going to a city bigger than Nashua.  Fortunately we rarely do.

6. When she’s driving she lets me pick the music.  How can you beat that?

7. She lets me leave the light on to read at night.  Even though she doesn’t sleep nearly as well.

8. Whenever I ask if I should buy something her answer is yes you should, you know if we can afford it or not.

9. She lets me watch whatever I want on TV.  Some of this is because we now have a DVR but either way I get the remote whenever I want.

10. The kids are always writing her love notes and drawing pictures for her.  This means she’s treating them as well when no one is looking.

11. She lets Sofia steal her perfume.

12. I love how Coleman says he’s going to marry her when he grows up.

13. I love her quilts.  She made a very beautiful hand dyed house quilt that is on the wall right by my computer right now.

14. She lets me nap whenever I want.

15. She makes sure Sofia does her homework every night.  If you knew Sofia right now you would know this is a time consuming job.

16. She loves the rain.  Most people here complain about it because they’re so used to it but even though she’s grew up next to palm trees she still loves it.

17. Other people love her accent.  I’ve met so many people that wouldn’t have a thing to say to me if it weren’t for her accent.

18. I love to hear her laugh.

19. I love when Joaquin begs her to read to him.

20. She’s so good with money.  I had to force her to spend $300 on clothes last week for herself.  I don’t even think she spent it all.  Most wives would not be like that.

21. She doesn’t dismiss my half cracked plans without actually weighing the options.

22. She always forgives me.

23. She leaves me alone when I need time by myself, even when she really wants attention.

24. I love how the boys beg to have her tuck them in at night.

25.  She didn’t mind marrying me in the county office.

26.  She was so sure I’d get the job I was applying for that she got pregnant before we found out I got it.

27.  She’s never complained about a present that I got her.

28. She loves her garden.

29.  I get to sleep in every Saturday.

30.  She absolutely cannot roll her Rs.

31.  Right before we were married she gave me the best birthday I’ve had with only $5.

32.  She’s a very competitive Uno player.  It drives the kids crazy when she wins.

33.  She fixes everything around the house.

34.  She laughs at my constant jokes.

35. Whenever I go on a trip I miss her after a day or two.  I’m even bored when I have free reign in Las Vegas.

36. She’s my best friend.

More Sex is Safer Sex

April 5th, 2009

Surprisingly even with that title, this is a book about economics.  This was probably one of the best books I have read in a long time.

The book title comes from the theory that if people who are not infected with an STD were to have more sex everyone would be safer.  Note that it’s not them that would be safer but the population in general.  Therefore since the individual risk is all borne by the person who decides whether or not to have sex, people have less sex and partners than would be “good” for society.

Interesting stuff and just the tip of the iceberg.  I’ve read Steven Landsberg’s columns for years on Slate and some of the chapters in the book are expanded versions of his Slate articles.   Go and read them but do NOT feel like you are getting ripped off.  While many of the ideas were explored in Slate they were not as fleshed out, the math wasn’t included and there was not as much exploration of related ideas.

This book was completely mindbending and was so good that I stayed up until 5:30 to finish it.  I didn’t quite make it and stopped three pages short but the point is I haven’t had a pageturner like this in my lap in months.  Go and read it now you won’t be sorry.

I Robot

April 2nd, 2009

I wanted to read this book before I saw the Will Smith movie.  According to reviews I read about the movie it was totally butchered and had the opposite moral message that the book did.  I haven’t seen it and I’m happy that I read the book first.
I’ve always loved Asimov books.  Since we’re past the dates that many are set in it’s interesting to see how much the push into space was overrated as the direction technology would take.  In the book there are space stations and mining colonies on far away asteroids, people have developed hyperspace engines with the help of robots but they still wait for the paperboy to get the news.

The book is broken into chapters of the history of robots told by a robot psychologist.  Each chapter is a short story in the world all it’s own with the common theme being how robots interact with their pre-programmed laws.  The first law of robotics is that a robot cannot harm a human being or through inaction allow a human being to be harmed.  The theme of the book is exploration of how a physically superior being, who also is intellectually superior, robots are supercomputers after all, would interact with humans if they had to follow this law.

Robots become ever more sophisticated through the book, it’s told over a 60 year period of technology. Eventually everything in the world is run by robots as they become superior but benevolent creations.  At it’s root it’s a story of how we interact with technology and how as technology becomes more advanced it interacts with us.

Looking over the past 60 years and all the marvels and miracles and looking forward at the next 60 years this book is still relevant and thought provoking.

Goodbye Gall Bladder

March 17th, 2009

Three years ago I started having pain in the upper right portion of my stomach.  It was very sore but I didn’t think much of it the first couple of times I had it.

Let me take a step back and give some history.  When I was in 6th grade I had some pain in my upper right abdominal area.  It hurt to eat or drink and I was out of school for probably about 6 weeks or so.  I had test after test in the hospital but the doctors never found anything wrong.  Eventually it was chalked up to stress or poor digestion or something.  I grew out of it and didn’t have any pain for years until about three years ago.

This pain was different from what I remember from when I was 11.  The first couple of times I had it I thought it was indigestion.  I used some online symptom checkers and the pain was consistant with gall bladder pain, or cancer, or gas.  That’s the problem with the Internet as a diagnostic tool, it doesn’t really narrow down your disease it just gives you a range of best and worst case scenarios.

Since I assumed it was either minor gall bladder attacks or indigestion or potentially a whole lot of nothing like the pain from years before I ignored it.  I probably had about one attack per month from then on out.  Eliminating significant amounts of fat from my diet pretty much controlled it so I wasn’t too worried about it.  About six months ago the attacks started happening more regularly and were much more severe in duration and severity.  I finally decided to seek medical attention when I was in bed all day on Christmas.  I did want to wait until after the first of the year though because I was out of sick and vacation time, I could of course get FMLA time but it’s unpaid so waiting a week made sense.

I went through January with no attacks and had one around Valentine’s day.  I finally decided to call the doctor and get whatever it was taken care of.  My physician just suggested that I go into the emergency room because they would do testing right away so I did that.  The sonogram showed stones and my blood tests were normal but my gall bladder wasn’t inflamed so they didn’t operate right away and suggested I see a surgeon ASAP.

I went to see the surgeon the next week, he reviewed the charts and said that my pain was “consistent” with gall bladder symptoms and suggested I get it removed sometime.  He suggested I lose some weight and come back in 2 to three months but that it could be done sooner if I needed it.  The day after I saw him I had my worst attack ever, it lasted for three days.  It was time to get it out.

Thursday I went into the hospital to get it taken out.  I was super worried as to whether or not I’d be able to have it taken out with open surgery or with the laproscopic method .  I felt good when I woke up from surgery.  Better than I’d felt in months.  My blood pressure had been super high whenever I’d had it checked in the months before the surgery but when I came to it was normal.  I felt a whole good sense of well being and I’m sure I made the right choice.

So now I’m at home recovering.  I’m still on pain pills and from time to time I feel crazily high.  I went off them last night for a few hours and the pain got pretty severe.  However I’m up and walking, I even did a shopping trip with the family to Wal Mart today so I’m feeling much better than I feared I would and even somewhat better than I expected I would.