Super Volatile

Surrender, on the other hand, is the realization that you do not have time for everything that would be worth the time you invested in it if you had the time, and that this fact doesn't have to threaten your sense that you are well-read. Surrender is the moment when you say, "I bet every single one of those 1,000 books I'm supposed to read before I die is very, very good, but I cannot read them all, and they will have to go on the list of things I didn't get to.

You're NOT going to be well read. Don't worry, that's OK.

Suddenly the entire world of informal and non commercial culture -- from home movies that provide a wonderful lens into the private life of an era, to essays, posters, locally produced teaching materials -- was swept into copyright. And kept there for the life of the author plus 70 years. The effects were culturally catastrophic. Copyright went from covering very little culture, and only covering it for a 28 year period during which it was commercially available, to covering all of culture, regardless of whether it was available -- often for over a century. Unlike Fahrenheit 451, the vast majority of the culture swept into this 20th century black hole was not commercially available and, in most cases, the authors are unknown. The works are locked up -- with no benefit to anyone -- and no one has the key that would unlock them. We have cut ourselves off from our own culture, left it to molder -- and in the case of nitrate film, literally disintegrate -- with no benefit to anyone

A must-read on the consequences of ridiculous copyright law.

Each person needs to find the reading balance that makes them healthy and happy. I tend to read a lot of technical literature in my own discipline. Academics are pone to this imbalance. One of my challenges is to read enough other kinds of things to maintain a balanced intellectual life. It turns out that reading outside my discipline can make me a better computer scientist, because it gives me more kinds of ideas to use. But the real reason to read more broadly is to have a balanced mind and life.

On the importance of having a diversified reading diet. Nothing spectacularly revealing there.

Everything about Mr. Ferriss’s book declares: This is not your auntie’s self-help book. No muffled “I’m OK — You’re OK” tone here. The vibe is: I’m Superbad, bro, and I have dimples. You’re a mole person who, if you become an angel investor in my books, might someday touch the hem of my Speedo.

Hilarious review of recent book by Timothy Ferriss of “4-Day Work Week” fame. The review is as much about the author as about the book itself.

As KUOW reports today, it seems a Native American student who was required to read the book took issue with the its depiction of native people. The girl's mom, Sarah Sense-Wilson, agreed and wrote the school to have it removed from the curriculum, writing:

"(The book has a) high volume of racially offensive derogatory language and misinformation on Native Americans. In addition to the inaccurate imagery, and stereotype views, the text lacks literary value which is relevant to today's contemporary multicultural society."

The woman in question apparently has even read the book. Yet it's beyond me how is it possible to get it wrong so much.

Now, with a terrible sense of foreboding, I slowly turn to look again at my bookshelf. There they all are, “Perjury” and “Kavalier & Clay” and those other books that I have read and of which I remember so little. And I have to ask myself, Would it have made no difference if I had never read any of them? Could I just as well have spent my time watching golf?

But this cannot be. Those books must have reshaped my brain in ways that affect how I think, and they must have left deposits of information with some sort of property — a kind of mental radiation — that continues to affect me even if I can’t detect it. Mustn’t they have?

Is it worth to reading book if we forget most of their content?

Of the 3,015 papers delivered at the 2007 meeting of the American Sociological Association, the authors say, few "needed to be written." As for one of the most prestigious universities in the world, "the mediocrity of Harvard undergraduate teaching is an open secret of the Ivy League." Much of the research for scholarly articles and lectures is "just compost to bulk up résumés.

Review of a book giving harsh critique to American system of higher education. Apparently, a lot of points seem to apply to other countries as well.

Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content.

Richard Dawkins reviews Intellectual Impostures. While the review is hilarious, the fact that this kind of discourse is widely used to create impression of intellectual superiority, is sad. Still remembering some of my college books, I developed an appreciation for showing respect for the reader by writing clearly. Rare skill disregarded by many academic authors.

Suffice it to say for now that a working knowledge of compiler construction is the thing that differentiates good programmers from average ones, and expertise with compilers is something you find in all great programmers. Even if you never plan on writing or working on a compiler yourself, it's still the most important CS subject, and it's a damned shame that most schools don't tell you how and why it's so important.

The list of ten solid books on programming. Worth coming back.