This is a site that JK Rowling put together to further experience the Harry Potter story.
http://www.pottermore.com
If you like the books you may find being a Hogwarts student very interesting.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
I'm Back
It has been a long time since I have posted. I have actually been feeling under the weather for some time now and didn't get to the doctor until this week. The diagnosis was sinus infection and a regimen of antibiotics. I likely should have asked in December, but I didn't. Either way I have some catching up to do.
First we met in January and discussed Peter Pan, my reading caused me to select the next book, but more on that later. Some had gone above and beyond in the discussion reading much deeper into the works of Barrie and adding detail to Peter and Wendy that one couldn't get just by reading he one book. The collection of Barrie's surrounding Peter Pan can be found here Adventures of Peter Pan. In addition through a little digging in Wikipedia, watching a movie with my wife and general meandering I found much interesting about Barrie and a tie back to another famous children's author.
Wikipedia has information on Barrie here (J. M. Barrie in wikipedia) and you can find out about the children he took care of and the one that Peter was patterned after, how the statue of Peter Pan appeared in Kensington Gardens, and why Barrie didn't really like it.
For the tie to another children's author you would need to dig a little bit but here is the author that was published by one of Barrie's step sons (Peter) (Peter publishes someone now famous). In addition you could find out more about her in the movie (Saving Mr. Banks).
Because the book was considerably more violent and dark then I had expected I thought it might be interesting to read something contemporary in the same type of genre. I chose Harry Potter and picked the first book (Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone). I hope everyone will enjoy the book and bring some interesting insights in March.
I will be updating the book list, you can find it here. Please let me know if I missed one or if you have a suggestion for the next book, and especially if you would like to host a book club.
First we met in January and discussed Peter Pan, my reading caused me to select the next book, but more on that later. Some had gone above and beyond in the discussion reading much deeper into the works of Barrie and adding detail to Peter and Wendy that one couldn't get just by reading he one book. The collection of Barrie's surrounding Peter Pan can be found here Adventures of Peter Pan. In addition through a little digging in Wikipedia, watching a movie with my wife and general meandering I found much interesting about Barrie and a tie back to another famous children's author.
Wikipedia has information on Barrie here (J. M. Barrie in wikipedia) and you can find out about the children he took care of and the one that Peter was patterned after, how the statue of Peter Pan appeared in Kensington Gardens, and why Barrie didn't really like it.
For the tie to another children's author you would need to dig a little bit but here is the author that was published by one of Barrie's step sons (Peter) (Peter publishes someone now famous). In addition you could find out more about her in the movie (Saving Mr. Banks).
Because the book was considerably more violent and dark then I had expected I thought it might be interesting to read something contemporary in the same type of genre. I chose Harry Potter and picked the first book (Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone). I hope everyone will enjoy the book and bring some interesting insights in March.
I will be updating the book list, you can find it here. Please let me know if I missed one or if you have a suggestion for the next book, and especially if you would like to host a book club.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (My Take)
This was a wonderful read. I will caveat that there may be some points that will be offensive to some readers- they were to me. This might be expected given the range of writers involved in the creation of the book. I still think overall that Behance/99u put together a great book of tips and tricks for not just creative folks but for just about anyone who has to live, work, and play. The tips do range from simple to somewhat esoteric and as much profound advice is, sometimes obvious- at least after you read it. You will find yourself noticing the fallbacks that the authors mention and will likely agree with most of their recommendations. You will undoubtedly disagree with some of the recommendations maybe even the metaphors used to make the points, but please don't throw out the baby with the bath water, this really is a very helpful book and in a great piece by piece format to allow you to read at once or even go through an article at a time and try to implement some changes to your work and life habits. I have included each of the authors and the links the book provided related to them. In addition I threw in some quotes that stuck out in my mind. Please let me know what you think of the book and throw in some quotes you liked, hated, agreed with, identified with, opposed, or didn't have a clue about. My favorite section was by Elizabeth Grace Saunders. Did you have a favorite? I already recommended this one to my wife and I will likely walk through some of the book with my 10 and 12 year olds.
Some names with links to their sites:
Mark McGuiness: www.LateralAction.com
Gretchen Rubin: www.happiness-project.com
Seth Godin: www.sethgodin.com
Tony Schwartz: www.theenergyproject.com
“It’s not the load
that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” Lena Horne
Leo Babauta: www.zenhabits.net
“What information
consumes is obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a
wealth of information creates a poverty of attention” Herbert Simon
Cal Newport: calnewport.com/blog
Dr. Christian Jarrett: www.psychologywriter.org.uk
Dan Ariely: www.danariely.com
Erin Rooney Doland: www.unclutterer.com
“Tell me what you pay
attention to and I will tell you who you are.” José Ortega Y Gasset
Scott Belsky: www.scottbelsky.com
Aaron Dignan: www.undercurrent.com
“The difference
between successful people and very successful people is that very successful
people say ‘no’ to almost everything.” Warren Buffett
Lori Deschene: www.tinybuddha.com
Tiffany Schlain: www.tiffanyschlain.com
“Our intention is to
affirm this life, not to bring order out of chaos, not to suggest improvements
in creation… but simply to wake up to the very life we’re living.” John Cage
Linda Stone: www.lindastone.net
James Victore: www.jamesvictore.com
“Why cheat yourself
of the effort? The work, the process, is
the goal. It builds character. It makes us better.” James Victore
Todd Henry: www.accidentalcreative.com
Scott McDowell: www.chm-partners.com
Stefan Sagmeister: www.sagmeister.com
Elizabeth Grace Saunders: www.ScheduleMakeover.com
“Creativity is not a
talent it is a way of operating.” John Cleese
Steven Pressfield: www.stevenpressfield.com
99u links:
Monday, September 16, 2013
Ready to Discuss
Its heeeerrrrrreeeeeee!
The Book Club is meeting tonight to discuss Thinking: Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. This looks to be very interesting discussing whether decisions that don't conform to the Rational Agent Model mean that they are irrational. Also whether we have any idea what is going on in our brains. Also the mirage of control when compared to chance, randomness and probability. While the reading of the book was a bit of a struggle at times the points it brings up are not just interesting but tremendously relevant to society and the individual. Gut decisions are good, bad, ugly, indifferent, and maybe even right.
Hope to see you at the Church tonight at 7 PM.
The Book Club is meeting tonight to discuss Thinking: Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. This looks to be very interesting discussing whether decisions that don't conform to the Rational Agent Model mean that they are irrational. Also whether we have any idea what is going on in our brains. Also the mirage of control when compared to chance, randomness and probability. While the reading of the book was a bit of a struggle at times the points it brings up are not just interesting but tremendously relevant to society and the individual. Gut decisions are good, bad, ugly, indifferent, and maybe even right.
Hope to see you at the Church tonight at 7 PM.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Bayesian Probability
On the off chance that I am not the only one that doesn't have a degree in probability I thought I would post some tutorials about Bayesian Probability to give some background in some of the examples that the author gives in the book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBn-eGrRHJU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj8DJyr9dNc
These 2 are similar. I elected not to post the Bayes made simple link to the 2.5 hr video. These 2 give a good idea of how it works in a simple example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBn-eGrRHJU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj8DJyr9dNc
These 2 are similar. I elected not to post the Bayes made simple link to the 2.5 hr video. These 2 give a good idea of how it works in a simple example.
Monday, July 29, 2013
I was wondering why I hadn't heard anything about the new book: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Apr 2, 2013) and then I checked the post to see if anyone had commented...
I hadn't posted it yet...... Well that is the new book and it is written by a Nobel Prize recipient in economics. It is about how we think, the mistakes we make in thinking, and how we can identify them.
I hadn't posted it yet...... Well that is the new book and it is written by a Nobel Prize recipient in economics. It is about how we think, the mistakes we make in thinking, and how we can identify them.
Monday, July 15, 2013
A Hole in Our Gospel
Book club is here. We meet tonight. This will be an interesting conversation and I know the Pastor Mike is ready to get it going. The book has a web site A Hole in Our Gospel web site and I will be posting some more links today and tomorrow that are related to the book and ministries similar to World Vision. I am really looking forward to tonight's discussion.
God Bless
God Bless
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