Worth Reading

Comment

Comment by Mark Pond on March 17, 2010 at 1:04pm

Tonya --

Good news! There is a rumor that Timothy Egan's "The Big Burn" will be the selection for the 2010 "Spokane is Reading..." program. When details emerge I'll post them here.

Comment by Tonya Sherman on March 17, 2010 at 12:26pm

Also, the Space Between Us was good.

Comment by Tonya Sherman on March 17, 2010 at 12:26pm

Anything/EVERYTHING by Timothy Egan is Fantastic. Also, The Art of Racing in the Rain and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan were recent favorites.

Comment by Jurene Mason on March 4, 2010 at 12:36pm

Not to override you Mark, if there are ANY extras, the Launchpad coworker space has book shelves waiting for books to share... smile

Comment by Mark Pond on March 4, 2010 at 10:41am

Susan -- A vacation and the opportunity to read? You must not have had any kids in tow... :)

Thanks for the recommendations! I've heard great things about The Help and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This is the first I've heard of Little Bee, however. It looks like the library has all of the titles if anyone wants to try them out on the cheap.

And as a shamelessly self-promoting plug: Susan, if you are done with your copies of the books and your bookshelves are full, you can donate them to the library as a tax-deductible gift!

Comment by Susan Ashe on March 4, 2010 at 10:08am

I was recently on vacation and had the opportunity to read. Here are three books that I highly recommend: The Help, Little Bee and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Great reads, all.

Comment by Mark Pond on February 18, 2010 at 3:16pm

Aaron and Joy --

Thanks for your comments and insights... finding a balance in a world of few limits is proving to be a really hard thing to do, no? Thanks for the tip about BookTV -- if it is "boring" TV then it is probably worth devoting some time to it :)

Comment by Joy Peltier Jones on February 17, 2010 at 1:59pm

Thank you for your post Mark. I read about the You Are Not a Gadget book. I can relate to Lanier's sentiment. Last spring I found myself tethered to my computer and email, not because of work or anything, I was just addicted to researching and being "involved" with everything. I noticed my personal relationships were suffering, I had gained weight, and I was just plain unsatisfied.

So, I decided to unplug for the summer. I did not use the internet at home and I only emailed as required for my job. I put an "out of office" message on my personal email stating that I was on summer vaction and if they needed to contact me, I was only available by phone.

My little experiment went very well. I had the opportunity to do some reflection and learned a lot about myself. I had been spending so much time learning about things "out there," that I had little time for the important things right around me, like my family and myself.

As you can see, I am back on the computer, but I am better able to balance my virtual life with my real life.

Comment by Aaron M. Rasmussen on February 17, 2010 at 12:48pm

Thanks for the tip on You Are Not a Gadget - looks interesting. I also read your blog, and I agree totally with your description of the segmentation of the media into various ideological camps.

I am not sure what the solution is on a societal scale, but on an individual scale we all effect the media environment by how we choose to interact with it, and what information venues we support. I admire your decision to cancel your cable subscription - I have not gone that far and my wife probably wouldn't let me :-)

For online journalism and commentary, I enjoy Politics Daily. It is pretty middle of the road, with good writing. For magazines and journals, I enjoyHarper's and the New York Review of Books. I imagine both of these publications are considered "lefty" by conservatives, but the fact is that the writing is excellent. I will read just about anything if the writing is good. I have yet to find a conservative magazine or journal with writing that is of that depth and quality. I'm not saying that they don't exist - I just haven't found them.

One place I go to for a conservative perspective is C-Span's BookTV. They interview authors from across the political spectrum. Their interviews are long, allowing authors to contextualize and defend their viewpoints in full-length answers, not just soundbites. I find BookTV very valuable, because I don't get to read as many books as I would like. Listening to an author discuss their views in a long-form interview is almost as good as reading the book. (Authors probably hate to hear that, but I have also gone out and purchased a book after hearing about it on C-Span, that I probably would not have purchased otherwise.)

Jim Lehrer, on the Colbert Report, told Stephen Colbert that "It takes courage to go on the air every night and be boring." (Not an exact quote - but that was the gist of what he said.) The 24-hour news cycle has created an environment where the news has to be part of a narrative in order to attract viewers. News that is even-handed and doesn't take sides is perceived as "boring" and unfortunately doesn't attract the largest audience. Viewers want to feel like they are part of an unfolding drama, almost like a football game, in which their "team" will ultimately prevail. Perhaps someday someone will invent a way to present the news in a way that is even-handed and without bias that is also exciting enough to draw in viewers. Until then, let's all have the courage to be thoughtful, even if it means being boring!

Comment by Mark Pond on February 17, 2010 at 9:30am

A great review of a pretty darn important book: Jaron Lanier's You Are Not a Gadget.

Along the same lines, I posted a personal rant about the current state of the internet here: http://www.launchpadinw.com/profiles/blogs/is-the-internet-working-as Thoughts? Comments? Differences of opinion?

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