Recently in Books Category

This year for my birthday, Harper hit a home run when he purchased one of the coolest pop-up books I have ever laid my eyes on. The thickness of the book as a ratio to the number of pages I think says it all:

2 pages per inch

The book though is unique in that it isn't just 3D, it is practically 4D with layers upon layers of hidden details. Some obvious, and some not so obvious. Take for example the last page of the book in which Darth Vader's mask emerges from the pages in a spectacular display of paper architecture and engineering.

But what is most interesting about this particular page is not the mask, but what is inside the mask.

And that is just one page. A page in fact that has four other pages that can fold out and pop-up in addition. Like this mini-page:

By the way, if you are wondering if that lightsaber is glowing... yes it is.

If you are interested in buying the book for yourself or a Star Wars obsessed loved one like me, you can buy it from Amazon.

You know your company is getting big when it is fun to surf your own website because you know you will find something new and interesting. There was a time when every employee knew what every other employee at Six Apart was doing. Not any more.

Just check out my latest discovery: the TypePad Bookstore which hosts a collection of books you can purchase from authors who all have blogs on TypePad. I can think of few other endorsements that are more compelling then the fact that authors like Seth Godin, Malcom Gladwell and Steven Johnson all use TypePad.

And if you expanded your search you would find other amazing authors, like Maggie Mason and Julie Powell, blog on Movable Type.

I started reading Blink wondering how it might influence my role as a project manager at work as a project manager is often in the position of having to make quick decisions. of course, none of the decisions I make are the kind that are made literally in the blink of an eye, but nonetheless there are things in this book I could definately apply to job.

However, what I kept coming back to in my mind was poker. I think every athelete who is genuinely good at a given sport must in some way possessmany of the skills discussed in this book. In fact, Malcom Gladwell often makes references to the split decisions atheletes make. But what struck me the most, and perhaps this is my own bias, but poker is a rare sport where virtually the entire purpose of the game hinges upon ones ability to conceal as much information as they can, and one's ability to detect what people are trying to hide or mislead you about.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been reading Dear America - Letters Home from Vietnam, and it has been an incredibly moving experience. I knew early on that I would want to select a passage from the book to share on this blog, but I must admit, it is difficult to select just one exerpt from the book, because there are so many powerful, insightful, touching, tragic, and otherwise compelling quotes to choose from. But the following is one that resonated with me especially.

"I've learned only one lesson from this [Vietnam] and that is if man has been fighting his fellow man since the beginning of time, he will continue to do so, and the United States, as powerful as it may be, cannot play the role of God and solve all the problems of the world, and sometimes I wonder if there really is a God."

- Sgt. Hector Ramos

Founding Brothers is one of those books that makes you wonder why more people don't enjoy history. Considering how long I have wanted to read this book, the time I actually got around to it couldn't have been better.