RLASKEY: words

I’m not sure where I first heard about Drive, though I imagine it was on some best sellers list and I kept it in mind.  I’m not normally a fan of anything touching any periphery of the self-help genre, though the concept seemed interesting enough for me to check it out.

Having read the book in rather short order, there is admittedly not all that much to the science: it’s generally better to want to do things internally rather than to be forced or tricked into getting the particular task done.  Rewards can sometimes cheapen the goal, and thereby be a de-motivational tool.

What’s great about the book is that the author, Daniel Pink, keeps everything very simple and very organized, and never goes off the deep end.  Drive clocks in around 250 pages in the hardcover edition, though a good portion of that are in references and a variety of different summaries, re-caps, and applications of the book’s theories.  It all reads very easily and goes by rather quickly.

I’m not going to divulge any of the secrets within, though I’m sure you can get the gist easily enough from reviews online or by other sources.  Indeed, Pink doesn’t offer too much in the way of his own personal theories, rather his art is more in accessibly refactoring the science which has been available for decades from some otherwise more obscure sources.  Even so, Drive is well worth a look, and I suggest you get into it when you get a chance. It’s personally given me some hope, and some great thoughts on how to keep on pushing forward in the best ways possible.

Fuck.  I’d never read “Ender’s Game” before, though I’ve had it on a to-do list for a long while.  After finishing it recently, I thought it was a pretty good book.

It was a bit odd that the author described little boys being naked reasonably often throughout the narrative, though I didn’t think all that much about it; maybe he was just against future clothes, or global warming in the future took off to change our societal habits.

Then, after consulting the wisdom of Wikipedia, I found out that Orson Scott Card is just a fucking asshole. I’m not going to repeat what he believes, since you can click that link or look around for more evidence of it on the Internet.  It’s really his thoughts on homosexuality that get me really upset.

I’m writing this here so that people may read it; but, more importantly, that they won’t buy any of his works or support his writing.  I feel rather cheated, personally, and I wish I had known before I started.

I’m really not sure how I went to the age of 27 before reading George Orwell’s 1984. In high school, we did read Brave New World by Huxley; though Orwell was until now out of my education.

What I find most surprising about reading this book is how little I gave a shit about Big Brother.  Most of the time I’ve heard the book referenced, it has to do largely with Big Brother watching over every aspect of our lives.  Since we don’t see the cameras or telescreens around us; and since we aren’t corralled and tortured for thought-crime, it seems that people look on the novel mostly as pure fantasy, some awful prediction about a future which thankfully never has been realized.

I’m sure there are countless lists of analysis of this particular text on the Internet as well as just about anywhere else.  Even so, I feel it important to re-inforce that Orwell, while drawing lines to a society which is certainly the epitome of totalitarian control, he much more importantly depicts the structure of politics and power which has played out and continues to thrive in our current society.  We do have the right to think freely; though the efforts of double-think and news-speak as it has constrained our culture and discourse is all very real.

I urge anyone who has not yet turned these pages to please do so; and that for those who may have missed the meanings the first time, to try again with closer eye to the theory and to the text.

After giving The Hitchhiker’s Guide good marks, my friend Pat told me to check out Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.  I’ve never read anything by either author before.  I picked it up from the library, and have really enjoyed the first couple chapters.  Lately, I’ve been going through electronic format books a lot faster than those in print; largely because it’s easier for me to read.  Ergo, from the library I got a hold of a digital copy of The Graveyard Book by one of the authors, Neil Gaiman.  Aside from the title, I wasn’t sure what to expect; though it seemed popular and I figured I’d give it a shot.

Now that I’m finished with the book, I see that it’s listed under “juvenile fiction” sections; I hadn’t a clue about that, previously, and even after finishing it I was a bit confused by the listing.  In many ways, it makes sense: there’s nothing in the pages that are all that offensive, and the main character is a boy who is at all times less than 16 years old.  With that said, I found it to be a great read, very well written with a solid story that was strictly entertaining.

Without giving too much away, the chapters are rather self contained, almost to the effect that they are a series of short stories that are loosely coupled.  In many ways, though, the variety adds to the depth of the story, and also makes for a quick read.  I’ve heard that there are strong followings to Gaiman’s novels, and I can certainly see why.

I live close to a very large cemetery, which I’d heard was beautiful from a variety of sources.  Since I’ve never been that much of a goth, nor have I had that much interest in graveyards in general, I didn’t give it much thought.  Reading this book, though, made me a bit curious, and this past weekend I spent an hour or two walking through the cemetery paths.  It really was pretty incredible, and got my mind going a bit about burial and legacy; which for me was an unexpected twist. Respect to that, and to the book.