Elvis Montero

Drought and reading

The blogging drought will likely continue, as I’m very, very pressed for time (I’m supposed to defend my thesis in early August!). Before I go completely MIA, I thought it’d be cool to share a few of the interesting books and articles I’ve read recently. Let your mind dwell freely on the following list:

• The Fountainhead: I came to know about Ayn Ryand’s work after I read Mark Cuban saying that every hopeful entrepreneur should scrutinize The Fountainhead. I shared the following comments with a friend of mine upon finishing the book (slightly edited):

“The book is amazing! Ayn’s cogent ideas blew me away. At first, I thought Roark was nothing but a rebel, an antagonist, as I made clear to you in my previous remarks. Even as I found Roak’s ways charming, I still couldn’t really understand why he was so adamant, so unyielding and borderline stubborn in his views. ‘What’s up with this guy?’, I thought more often than not. But it all eventually made sense. Howard is not a second hander. Howard was, as you so adequately put it, true to himself. He wasn’t looking for recognition. He wasn’t looking for money. He just wanted to create. He aspired to create, and create, and create some more for the sheer sake of creating, as any other earnest creator in any field would naturally do. His devotion was not to other men or their approval, but to his true passion. This is one of the most important messages I’ve received from any book, fictional and non fictional alike, in a long time. I now understand why this book is a recommended reading to any aspiring entrepreneur. I’m glad I read it.”

• Sustainable Energy — without the hot air: The debunking of many misconceptions about sustainable energy ensues. From the free book’s section “Can we live on renewables?”:

“You can’t power  a TV with cat food, nor can you feed a cat from a wind turbine. Energy exists in different forms — chemical, electrical, kinetic, and heat, for example. For a sustainable energy plan to add up, we need both the forms and amounts of energy consumption and production to match up. Converting energy from one form to another — from chemical to electrical, as at a fossil-fuel power station, or from electrical to chemical, as in a factory making hydrogen from water — usually involves substantial losses of useful energy.”

• Silas Marner: I found Silas Marner at a Barnes & Noble bookstore when I was looking for a short novel to keep me busy during class breaks. George Elliot’s story was first published in 1861. The moral of this story is far from outdated though. I highly recommend it.

• When I’m dead, how will my loved ones break my password? I think this is a question many of us should entertain at least once to some extent. Doctorow’s overly sardonic tone is just a plus.

• Why do the rich keep working? Yet another interesting question. From the article:

“Some of the men craved the chance to keep proving themselves, perhaps to a doubting authority figure from their past. Others saw work as a getaway from a stale marriage. Still others said they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves if they weren’t working. More time with friends? Many of them had no close friends. Hobbies? You can only play so many rounds of golf. Travel? “They probably want to burn their passports,” says Mintz.”

• How much of live are you actually living? The existentialist element of this list that’ll undoubtedly make you go “Huh?”. Forget about the author’s metaphorical twists and rethorical gymnastics for a second. Focus on the crux of the matter. And? You’re welcome.    ;-)

There you have it. Suit yourselves. Now, if you’ll excuse me, yours truly needs to log off and focus on some heavy-duty coding. Ciao.

Oh, hai! Wana codez too?

Source: ju.ju.bees’ photostream via Flickr.