“Editor’s note: I don’t know Mandy Brown but her blog is definitely in the top three well-written blogs that I subscribe to. Every post is excellent. Her blog will, more than likely, make my Best of 2009 list.”

Well, I forgot to add Mandy Brown’s A Working Library to this year’s list. For this I deserve to be duly punished.

Her recent Ways of reading piece is more a list of tips about reading and keeping a library. It is absolutely delightful.

A messy pile of brushes.

Inventoried and repaired.

Picked up a copy of Lessons from a Lifetime of Watercolor Painting by Donald Voorhees. I’m going to go through this entire book this winter. First step is to get my brushes inventoried. A few of them were broken so I fixed them (no need to spend money on more).

/via Jason Kottke.

I recently finished reading Prey by Michael Crichton. I’m a big Crichton fan for nearly no other reason than because my first book that I ever read, on my own without the nagging of any teachers or parents, was Jurassic Park. That and he knows how to write a book that makes you want to keep reading until the end.

Prey was disappointing in a few ways. It was a page turner but only because I had the feeling that it was going to end well and make up for the lack of meat in the middle of the book. It was one of those stories where you hoped the ending would make it worth reading. The ending wasn’t horrible but it left you with a sense that Crichton really didn’t know how to end the story. Stories that you want to be over are never good stories.

Crichton seems motived to write by his opinions on matters of economy, technology, or politics. Which is fine – any reason to write is a good reason – but if you can’t wrap a good enough story around an opinion then all you are left with is an opinion – and everyone has those.

At the end of the day Prey is decent book to read but you will never tell anyone else to go pick up the book and read it. Which is why I’m not telling you to do that. I suggest picking up one of Crichton’s classics instead like The Adromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Congo (horrible movie, great book), The Terminal Man, or Sphere.

Tim Ferris, who I had the pleasure of sharing some barbecue with in Austin a few years ago, is preparing his second book – with the working title – From Rapid Fat Loss to Strongmen: A Guide to Becoming Superhuman.

I’ve read Tim’s first book, The Four Hour Work Week, and I really enjoyed it. Pouring over my blog’s archives I can’t believe I never mentioned his book or even did a full review. Short review: Worth the read and chocked full of great advice. Read it.

He’s looking for help with doing some research for this book. So if you’re a Ph.D, MD, or an elite athlete (why are you reading this blog?) – give him a shout.

Photo: Left to right – A nice guy that worked at AT&T whose name escapes me, Tim Ferris, and I.

I may just have to become a fruit hunter. Sometimes I find it difficult to push the limits of my fruit purchases. If I’m ever going to enjoy some of the world’s most exotic fruits I’m going to need to put in some serious effort. Although a short interview, there is a good bit of information packed into it about the global fruit economy and why some fruits are hard to find in our local grocer. I may just have to take a gander at the book.

“In our own time, I wonder if the very slowness of books makes them more valuable in the face of all the quickness around us, if their singular nature will prove to be their saving grace. And if so, can that inspire the design of a reading experience on the web that strives for the same lack of haste? Can we envision a future where leisure has its place?”

You really should consider reading the entire entry. Grab a cup of coffee, or maybe start some dough for bread, and enjoy.

Editor’s note: I don’t know Mandy Brown but her blog is definitely in the top three well-written blogs that I subscribe to. Every post is excellent. Her blog will, more than likely, make my Best of 2009 ((See my Best of 2008 list.)) list.

Random 60: Reading. | Favorite on Viddler.

In this fast paced, Twitter-powered world it seems like all we do is consume shorter, and shorter bits of data. First it was blog posts, now it is micro-blogging with services like Twitter (I’m cdevroe by the way). I believe reading books can really slow us down, disconnect us from the Internet for a little while, and get us back to consumer larger ideas.

What do you think? When was the last time you read a book?

For the past several weeks we’ve been interviewing for various positions at Viddler. We’ve gone through several resumes, conducted a few interviews, probed referrals for information about the interviewees, sent follow-up questions, and generally debated the fate of our would-be potential new team members for what seems like weeks. This is an interesting process on both sides of the table. I’ve been on the other side of the table more times than I care to recount, but it really is an interesting process to pour over one’s career (or lack thereof) to somehow build an opinion of someone.

It is somewhat disingenious to be sure. We could never really, really get to know this person based on a one-page document that they probably threw together the night before their interview. “Experiences? Why yes, I have those! X, Y, and Z. I’m familiar with them.” Seldom do resumes reveal the extent of that familiarity. Did the person take the time to prioritize the things they are experienced in based on the amount of time they’ve spent with them? Or, did they list them in order of the supposed importance for the job at hand? Or, did they write down anything they thought might be good to know for the job? No one can be sure – really – at least for the first few weeks they are on the job.

Then there is the entire struggle to really get to know who someone is. To peel away the nerves, the front they are showing in order to impress us, the bullet points on the resume, and the clothes they wore to the interview to reveal who the person is after they’ve known us for a few years. Do they like to cook? Have they traveled? Do they want to? What do they think about family? Religion? The state of the economy? Are they really a morning person or are they just saying that they are? Time, it seems, is the only tool that can be used to find out the answers to these questions.

Sorry. I’m ranting. That isn’t what this post was supposed to be about.

I wanted to review Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. I just finished it the other day. The book reminded me of this process. Kitchen Confidential, it could be said, is the resume of Anthony Bourdain – a New York City chef that has 30+ years experience working in what he calls “The under belly”. The book begins with his first experience eating a raw oyster in French waters when he was just 9 years old. That one, raw, delicious oyster changed his entire life. I’m guessing it would be the first bullet point on his resume.

But this book serves as something much better than a resume. Resumes are cold, factual, and do not leave room for too much expression. The “story”, if there is really a story in this book, is revealed to us in a rather haphazard way. He bounces around through his career to slowly describe who he is through what he experienced. Want to know his thoughts on meat? You’ll slowly begin to draw that picture based on several experiences he had at many of his jobs. Tip: Don’t ask for your meat to be well done. Want to know when to order seafood? Learn from the guy who buys the stuff in the hundreds of pounds. Hint: Not on Monday or Tuesday. What about his thoughts about personal work ethic? Immigrant labor? Race? Gender? Or even about who should or should definitely not own a restaurant? You’ll need to read the entire book to find out.

I’m not sure what I find fascinating about Anthony Bourdain other than his style of thought. It is obvious, when he’s given the opportunity, that he chooses his words fairly carefully. I suppose I see an older version of myself somewhere in there. Someone who notices the little things, enjoys the fine things, can only afford the not-so-fine things, and yet has the privilege to once and a while dip my hand into the “fine things cookie jar”. A self-reflective kinda dude. It could be that I would love to have his job (not the chef bit, but the traveling eater raconteur bit). Either way, I’m enjoying my attempt to glean as much experience vicariously through Anthony Bourdain as I can. His show, his books, his blog are all my tools in building my own food, travel, and writing resume without the expense.

Kitchen Confidential, for some one that even remotely enjoys food, the restraunt business, or interesting people, is an essential addition to the book shelf. It has inspired me to continue to do what I love, to be willing to have my mind madeover later in life when my ideals are proven incorrect, to learn as much as I can from every single job that I do in order to make the next one better, to build a list of hard working people that I wouldn’t mind working with again in the future, and to eat weird in hope of epiphany.

I’m no literary scholar by any stretch of the imagination. But I do know that there are only so many ways to tell a story. It is sort of like skinning a cat. There are many ways to do it but there are a few that are the most common. The Lord of the Rings is a “hero’s journey” story arc. It is the story of Frodo and the Ring. It doesn’t hide this, in fact, it states it plainly.

However, I won’t judge the story arc of The Fellowship of the Ring due to it being only the first three parts of a six-part series. In fact, it was never intended to be a book all its own at all. The rather anticlimactic ending shows this to be all too true. Instead I’ll focus on the way that The Fellowship of the Ring slowly unravels itself.

What I mean by that is that, I think, J. R. R. Tolkien does an incredible job at slowly, but not too slowly, revealing the backgrounds of the various characters that appear in the story line. The story progresses while at the same time it goes back and forth through time, mostly through the characters telling stories, so that the reader gets all of the information they need.

There are a number of ways to do this in story telling. Usually this is done by keeping the protagonist, or one of the main character’s in the story, ignorant of all the facts. This gives the other characters in the story many opportunities to fill in the details through dialogue. Many stories have a cast each with their own areas of expertise. An action hero paired with a scientist or scholar so that the “brain” can inform the “muscle” of the facts for the benefit of the audience. Or, this can be done with a narrator. The narrator, whether it be a character in the story or just someone telling the story, usually has all of the information because they are telling a story of times past. The Lord of the Rings has both of these really. Two of the main characters are, in fact, the narrators (and writer’s) of the books while their own characters, in this case the protagonist, is learning all of the details along the way. This leaves ample opportunity for explanation. Frodo is learning the story and telling the story at the same time.

I rather enjoy the way the back stories unfold in The Fellowship of the Ring. The deep history of the lands, characters, peoples, trees, and even mountains in The Lord of the Rings really shows the context of the current story. It shows that this particular story is only a small part, albeit an important part, of the history of the world in which this story is set. Small details are intertwined in dialogue, descriptions, and events that – unless the reader is paying attention – they may altogether miss. A few examples of this come to mind; Aragorn’s approximate age, the lineage of Arwen, and the history of Sauron. These stories are never told flatly but are rather pieced together through bits of information you get along the way. The only history not told in this way is the history of the hobbits which is told in the prologue. The history of Men, Elves, Dwarves, and many of the main characters are all unraveled from within the story itself.

By itself The Fellowship of the Ring is a great opening to a fantastic story. I was going to watch the movie version of this book in between finishing it and starting the next. But I fear that will ruin my mind’s impression of the book’s version of the story (since the movie version is a lot different). I’m looking forward to The Two Towers.

“Like the omelet, which many believe to be the true test of a chef, the humble chocolate chip cookie is the baker’s crucible. So few ingredients, so many possibilities for disaster.”

If you ask me, all you need to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie is own The New Best Recipe Book. Of course, owning this book will allow you to make pretty much anything you want perfectly. (Thanks to Larry Halff for recommending this book to me.)

Source: Perfection? Hint: It’s Warm and Has a Secret.

Then you have the health conscious individuals that focus on eating smaller meals much more often.  Proven to keep your metabolism raging throughout the day. Coupled with a good routine of exercise this is the sure-fire way to keep healthy and energetic.

But this post has nothing to do with food.  It has to do with reading habits.

I love words. Reading them, writing them, seeing them crafted in ways that I can only aspire to.  Because of this I read a lot.  But I don’t read books (as often as I’d like).  I read blogs, link lists, and tidbits of information strewn throughout the World Wide Web.

The link lists that I subscribe to are like little bits.  Snacks, if you will.  The really good ones will sum up entire articles in only a few sentences so that I’m not forced to read the entire linked-to-resource to find out why that person found it interesting.  Really bad ones do the opposite.

The blogs that I subscribe to, in general, are well-written, hand-crafted, and consistently of high-quality, interesting information.  The others are generally related to my work or things I’m interested in learning about.  There are, also, the few that seem to fill in the cracks to make my subscription list more human and fun like photo blogs, blogs written by friends or family, and Web comics.

Lately I’ve been questioning my information in-take.  What is better; reading these little bits of information rather than chewing on the whole meal, or maybe the other way around?

The more I think about it, the more I realize how new this dilemma is.  Before the advent of the Internet the only way to get this much information at one time was to have a stack of books or magazines sitting in front of you, rifling through them as fast as your thumbs would allow, and reading a single paragraph from each page as you did it.  You’d probably think someone doing that was crazy but that is exactly what it feels like I’m doing.

Have you ever spoken to someone who knows 20% about a topic?  Sure they can hold their own in passing conversation about the topic so long as the conversation doesn’t last longer than 30 seconds.  Once the conversation gets specific, the “20 percenter” is left standing there trying to catch up to the conversation and realizing they don’t know anything at all about the topic.

I’m beginning to think that unwittingly I’m going to end up being that person.  A topic will arise at a gathering that I’ve read only four sentences about and I’ll answer the inevitable question of “Have you heard about (insert topic here)?” with a resounding “Yes!”.  Then I’m caught.  I’ve just stepped through the door of saying that I know something when I truly don’t.  Well, yes, I’ve read four sentences about how the Mars-lander was able to take a solid, ice-like material, and turn it into water (H2O), but I know absolutely nothing more about the topic.

So what do I do?  Stop reading link lists?  Perhaps.

But then what about blogs?  More often than not blog posts by friends, family, or even those related to the industry I work in do little more than entertain, catch me up on “the news”, or completely distract me from what I should be doing.  Very, very rarely have I found a blog post to be wholly beneficial to have in my brain.

Think about it.  When was the last time you remembered a blog post, in its entirety, to solve a problem you encountered.  Right away you’re probably thinking about a problem you had with your iPhone, or some sort of electronic device, that you fixed because you read a blog post about it.  That may be true.  But couldn’t you have found that information by doing a quick Google search?

Since the Egyptians began beating up papyrus plants some 5,000+ years ago humans have used “books” ((Paper based products like scrolls, books, and loose-leaf paper included.)) so why should I be any different?  I really enjoy reading books.  The tangibleness of a book is much better than reading on-screen, which is part of it, but the other part is the wholeness of books.  It is an entire work in one spot.  Blog posts, for the most part, are just pieces of ideas and opinions about a given topic rather than an explanation about an entire topic.  More often than not they take for granted the fact that the reader understands the topic being discussed (perhaps due to context or just because it is something that is considered general knowledge by the audience).

So do I unsubscribe from every-single-blog, shutdown my computer, and just go to a library every time I need to learn something? I’d say absolutely not.  But I do think there is a balance and I’m going to work at striking it.

The World’s Cities: Moscow.

To help quench my perpetual thirst for knowledge about things I know nothing about (the very definition of learning, I’d guess) I read a book (pictured) about Moscow.

This book is not very long, is filled with illustrations, and was written prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, but I still found the book incredibly informative. I learned a few subtle things about Moscow that, I feel, even a trip to the city wouldn’t have awarded.

If you’re following me on Twitter, you may have already read some of these little tidbits, but here are some of the more interesting things I picked up from the book:

• There are no commercial advertisements, billboards, in Moscow.
• Ice cream stalls are as busy in winter as they are in the summer.
• To make streets wider, they literally moved historic buildings backwards 15 yards
• On their very first day of school, children bring flowers for their teachers while those in the final grade, tenth, bring useful gifts for each of the children starting their first day.
• “Red Square” is actually a mistranslation of Beautiful Square.
• The Lenin Central Stadium can seat over 113,000 people.
• Dining out usually consists of eating leisurely, dancing between courses, and occupying a table for the entire night.  So go out early, or book reservations by phone.

Please note this book was published in 1978.  Some of the above notes are to have most likely changed slightly over the last 30 years.

This book is part of a series of books called “The World’s Cities” and I’m keen on picking up another edition, about a different city, in the near future.

My friend Gary Vaynerchuk, who you may know as the host of WineLibrary TV, is now a published author and you can pre-order his book Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World on Amazon.

Gary’s book is currently hovering at number 101, which will probably change before I even publish this post, on Amazon’s rankings list.

Wondering what wines to choose this year?  Gary’s book should help, in a unique way.

“Every wine identified in the book represents a lesson in a glass, complete with the technical notes, availability, and the story behind the vintage and flavors… all brought to life as only Gary knows how!”

I’m looking forward to getting my pre-ordered copy so that I can have the man himself sign it for me.

Source: About Gary’s first book.
Buy: Buy now from Amazon! 

Mirco-review: Excellent story but a very tough read. So tough, for me at least, that I didn’t finish it.

(Source: Star Wars: Community | The Complete Making of Indiana Jones Cover Revealed)