Books I'm Reading

One of my pet peeves is reading more than two books at once. They end up laying around everywhere. That said, I am currently in the middle of at least five:

1) Deception Point by Dan Brown. Like his other non-Robert Langdon thriller Digital Fortress, this one is fast-paced and fairly intelligent, but not nearly as engaging as the ones with the driving character of Langdon. Brown's bookshelf contains only 5 selections; this finishes out my DB reading list, with Angels & Demons being my favorite of his.

2) Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz. Okay, I haven't really started it yet, just read the first few chapters to see what it is like. I recently burned through Odd Thomas, my first foray into Koontz, and it instantly became one of my favorite novels. I have always had a sneaking suspicion that I would enjoy Koontz's work, but have never read any until now. (Well, except for the Christmas book he wrote with his dog!)

3) The Complete Hitchhikers Guide [To The Galaxy] by Douglas Adams. I thought this was hilarious when I was younger. I hope it is not a sign that I am getting too old, but this time around I find the humor to be mildly amusing at best, and very contrived. Oh, well, "Don't Panic."

4) Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard. Proof that the American Dream is very much alive and well, if you know what the dream is. It is a positive rebuttal to the expose Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, which I read previously. While Ehrenreich takes the negative view that the little guy just can't get ahead, Shepard goes out and proves otherwise. I do think that both novels are entertaining and each serves a purpose. Nickel and Dimed does a great job revealing the psychology of low wage workers and employers. It is very interesting to read the two sequentially.

5) The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell. I had never heard of this guy, but I recently read Pirate Latitudes by the late, great Michael Chrichton, possibly the most purely entertaining book I have ever read. I was in the mood for some more historical fiction, and Costco had the 5th book in this series for sale. Since I wanted to start at the beginning, I headed for my local public library. (Also the same way I discovered Odd Thomas. Book #4 in that series is currently out.)

Now I just have to tell myself not to start any more books until I finish these!

The Coolest Video On YouTube

If you haven't seen it yet, you owe it to yourself to watch the video for This Too Shall Pass by the band OK Go. The group that produced the treadmill choreography" video has outdone themselves with this warehouse-sized Rube Goldberg Machine. The machine is timed to the music and the action becomes larger and more chaotic as the video progresses. The cinematography is great, and the video was done entirely in one take. To top it off, it's not a bad song either!

Giving Up on Twitter

I have had the sneaking suspicion for a while now that twitter is completely, totally, utterly useless. Yes, that is probably overly redundant, but I think it gets the point across. As I review my twitter usage, I find that I mostly use it for updating my statuses on other sites: Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. Well, I rarely use MySpace (last time I logged in was circa 1987) and I don't want my Facebook status to be the same as my LinkedIn (supposed to be more professional, you know...)

I am following a few friends, who apparently do the same thing with their statuses, so I can just check them on Facebook. I am following some retail sites (NewEgg and Woot) but I realized that I don't want to buy anything; when I do, I can just go to their websites.

I think that as the technology evolves, twitter or something like it could become useful, but it is currently just one more distraction. So, I am pulling the plug. After I post this, I am deleting my twitter account. I don't think I will miss it.