A Good Read
February 19, 2012
There are all kinds of book reviews. Those that wax poetic about sentence structure and pacing and the finer points of writing, without giving you any indication what a book is about.
Then there are those who tell you the whole story and never tell you if the book is worth buying.
For me, book reviews should be short and to the point.
If you are looking for a good read, pick up a copy of the “The Lost Saints of Tennessee” by Amy Franklin-Willis. - a debut novel in the best Southern literature tradition.
The genre is really beside the point. I don’t really read a lot of fiction and I’m not from the South, but I can honestly say, when I got to the last page, I didn’t want the story to end. To me that’s the mark of fine writing.
It’s good to know Ms Franklin-Willis is already working on the sequel.
Steve Jobs
October 5, 2011
I had just left the Apple store in Berkeley when I got the news bulletin that Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, had died.
I hurried back to the store figuring that as a journalist, that would be ground zero for reaction. I’m not sure what I expected: some sort of dirge, employees in tears, I really didn’t know. I figured a business that was selling 24/7 connectivity would be abuzz.
But, what I found was a store exactly the same as I had left, 10 minutes earlier. The Geniuses were helping people with computer problems, a corporate photographer was still shooting promotional stills, and the sales people were still cheerfully helping people buy iPhones and iPads.
I stood silently for a minute until a blue-shirted sales rep came over and asked if I needed help. I told him I couldn’t believe how normal things were given that Steve Jobs had just died. He stared at me in disbelief and I realized why normalcy reigned.
No-one in the store had an active cellphone or was even casually browsing the internet. Their electronic eyes and ears were focused on the customers, not information.
“Really,” said the sales rep looking at me in disbelief. “Sorry to be the one to tell you but I thought everyone here would know,” I offered apologetically.
We walked over to an Macbook Air and he typed ‘Steve Jobs’ into Google. In seconds his worst fears were realized. He took out his iPhone and called up the headline and began silently moving from employee to employee, just holding up the phone. Their shock was evident.
One, trying to help a customer just a few feet away, started to talk to the bearer of bad news and then realized she she was supposed to be working. “Excuse me,” she told the customer, “I’m sorry.” Then she mumbled and as the customer began to ask a question. Then she just blurted out, “Steve jobs just died,’ which ended her training session. Luckily, the customer understood the significance.
The sales rep playing Paul Revere finally returned to where I was standing. Still in shock I asked if he ever met Mr. Jobs. “I was in his house, several times.” he said, “Before I worked here I was an art conservator and I helped him choose art work -Ansel Adams prints of the Sierra’s.” His voiced trailed off.
Another staffer stopped by and I asked the same question, “No I didn’t know him, but I used to live in Palo Alto and I would see him downtown, from time to time, buying a drink – at Starbucks.”
Suddenly, an alarm went off, piercing the air to alert everyone – incorrectly – that someone was trying to steal something. By the time they could get the key and find the switch to turn off the noise, Steve Jobs seemed to become yesterday’s news.
Dealing with Pain
September 29, 2011
I recently got over a bout of cellulitis and it brought new meaning to a book I finished a few months ago: The Pain Chronicles by Melanie Thernstrom.
Cellulitis is an inflammation or infection that can settle in a joint and cause severe discomfort until you convince it to leave. I had gradually increasing pain for three days, and couldn’t even walk for a few more, before my crack medical team figured out the problem.
The point is not my problem, but the pain. After just a few days of it, I found new insight into the observations made by Ms Thernstrom and while I would have recommended her book anyway, I would now suggest it as required reading.
If you have ever been in pain, have a friend pain, or think you may ever be in pain, I would suggest you read this book. It really focuses on chronic pain, which is anything older than 6 months, according to medical professionals, but it will give you some insight into what’s going on. I have dealt with this kind of issue in past posts, but Ms Thernstrom does a much more thorough job.
It should also give you new empathy for folks, who have chronic back, knee, leg, neck or any other kind of pain but look perfectly healthy otherwise. Medical professionals know that pain is now recognized as it’s own disease and needs to be treated separately.
As Ms Thernstrom can attest, it can cause both physical and physiological changes that are extremely difficult to reverse. Ms Thernstrom’s book is a first hand account of her own chronic pain and her attempts to deal with it. It is also a well-researched history of how society, since the ancient Greeks, have tried to deal with the concept.
Like many books written by journalists, it is easy to read, clear and lays out the issues in a logical progression.
As we all age, and encounter more and more aches and pains, in places we never knew existed, we need to understand what’s happening both physically and psychologically. Ms Thernstrom does not have all the answers and sadly, she cannot say that she found a magic cure, but she tried a number of techniques and she can at least maintain a ‘normal’ life – something that I found hard to consider as I dealt with my short battle with pain.
The book recently became available in paperback or, of course, as an e-book.
Forty Years of Parachutes
September 20, 2011
At 84, you might think that Richard Bolles was ready to slow down. But the author of the seminal career coaching guide, “What Color is Your Parachute,” says that after 40 years of updating his work he has no intention of stopping.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the East Bay Coaches Chapter, Bolles left no doubt he has plenty of new ideas and that his books are still relevant as United States suffers through the worst recession in 60 years.
In an hour-long presentation that ranged from the humble beginnings of his book and career, to comments on modern politics he offered lessons on attitude, re-framing and relevance. Proving that he deserves the honor of the nation’s career coach.
He urged members to understand their own needs and experiences as a way to empathize with their clients. “What else do we live for? he asked, “than to use our experiences to help others?”
He suggested that coaches need to point out to their clients, depressed about lengthening unemployment, that despite the monthly numbers, there are still 6 million people who change jobs every month. “It’s all about attitude,” he told the group. Pointing out that if you think you won’t get the job you probably won’t. “Your job is to help your client be one of those 6 million.”
“Looking for a new job is now a survival skill, and we have to look at it that way,” he says. “just like food, clothing, or shelter.”
He says that while times have changed the basic dichotomy of how people look for jobs and how employers look for employees has stayed the same. “Employers just want to avoid mistakes, but potential employees still think that sending out millions of resumes will get them noticed. It won’t.”
Bolles has updated his “Parachute” books every year, except 1975, since it was first published in 1970. He includes a coaches appendix in the back but insists that, “people need to keep up. they have to have read my current edition, if they want to be included.”
Bolles, who lives in Danville, California, also had some pointed words for politicians, who he sees as short sighted as they cut back on the support system that US job seekers need, but more importantly he bemoans the lack of empathy he sees in Washington.
“I can’t believe that politicians and their supporters are cheering at the thought of people without health care, or the number of executions in a state.” he notes. Bolles says he has voted for both democrats and republicans, but adds, “this GOP is not mine, their only goal is to make sure Obama is a one-term President, so they can get his job.”
Bolles has been proclaimed “America’s Top Career Expert” and his books have been called among the most important of the last 80 years. But he says he plans to continue writing, holding workshops, and lecturing. “I’ll be updating my books,” he says “until I’m forced to say goodbye to my lovely wife.”
Local, World Politics
August 24, 2011
You never know when international news will make its way into your life.
I just got back from my local bank. It’s the only branch, in what qualifies as ‘downtown,’ in my little community of 5,000.
I had a bunch of checks to deposit and since there was no one else in the building, I listed them on the deposit slip and asked the teller to do the addition. While he was adding, I noticed his name looked Middle Eastern, and when he counted the checks in French I asked if he came from Northern Africa.
I guessed Morocco, but to my surprise he said, “Libya,” then added ,”It’s a good day to be Libyan.”
I couldn’t help but ask how felt about what was going on and it was clear that he was both proud of his native country and a bit worried. “I am very happy, not just for me, but for my father. He never thought he’d see the day…” His father is here with him but he admitted they were already thinking about when they could go back, at least to visit.
I asked what he thought would happen next and he offered,”It depends who takes control. If it’s a Muslim country – meaning the majority is of the Muslim faith, then it will not be a problem. But if the Islamists get a foothold and take over, it will be as if, a certain dictator never left.”
I asked about tribal conflict, which the Western press has been harping on, and he said, ‘The tribes are not a problem, It’s not like Iraq. The tribes are families, but they are all Libyan.” I wished him well and he offered his hand and a heartfelt,”thank you.”
You may think that international politics is far away, but to paraphrase Tip O’Neill “it’s all local.”
BFF
August 4, 2011
Public Speaking 101
August 3, 2011
I recently attended a professional meeting to hear an expert on a topic I find interesting.
The actual topic is irrelevant, as is the speaker’s name.
When I arrived the registration table there were a number of brochures from the speaker, none of which seemed to focus on the advertised topic. I mentioned this to another attendee and she agreed, noting she was a bit surprised, but thought maybe the marketing materials were intended for a wider audience.
Fair point, I thought, since it was s pretty small group and she probably wouldn’t have created something just for this event.
I happened to meet the speaker before the event started and mentioned my concern and she explained what she had been told to address, which was, again, different from the original advertised topic.
When the lecture started she apparently switched gears again, asking the audience, what they wanted to hear. A noble idea, but what followed was a rambling, disjointed series of answers to audience questions. Some authoritative and others, she admitted, were not her area of expertise.
I’m not sure how the evening evolved into it’s final form, but I felt was a waste of two hours of my time. Maybe it was my fault, for expecting too much, but maybe, she should have just lectured on a topic that matched her expertise.
That’s all I really expected and would be a minimal goal for any presentation. My advice, next time you are asked to speak, just talk about what you know, in an entertaining and engaging style, and don’t worry about the preconceptions of the audience.
An Era Ends Here
August 2, 2011
After 62 years, a daily newspaper will no longer be delivered to my house. This is a big deal for me and for the newspaper industry.
As someone who grew up with the Haverhill Gazette and The Boston Globe and then spent 30 years in the business, giving in to digital dominance was like saying good-bye to an old friend.
My dad, who will be 91 in a few weeks, beat me to the punch. When his poor eyesight forced him to give up reading a few years ago the newspaper was a casualty as well. For him the iPad was a savior and he now reads four papers a day because he can make the print as large as he wants.
For the newspaper industry, losing a reader like me is a sure sign that they have lost a major battle. If someone from a generation like mine gives up, I guess it’s a foregone conclusion that the newspaper printing business is pretty much over.
I guess I’m the last to admit it.
My wife asked what it will mean. I’m hopeful that reporting and publishing news online will remain strong. In an age of Twitter, Facebook and Google+, legitimate news sites where editors actually make judgements about what is news, are needed. These sites will, hopefully, continue to set the agenda that reasoned consumers need.
Our political climate, including the soon-to-be concluded debt ceiling debate, is largely a product of the unedited, extremist debate that takes over when no-one is in charge.
I could go on about the reason this has happened. The newspaper publishers have no-one to blame but themselves. Their unwillingness to change on a wide range of issues has led to their own demise.
Thankfully, news is still alive. Weekly and small daily publications seem to be thriving. The kind of information that has always been important – the stuff that makes the front of the refrigerator – is still in demand.
I will continue to consume news online, so I guess the final chapter is a long way off, but my small step is still painful.
How Steve Jobs Saved My Dad
April 10, 2011
By now, the blogosphere is filled with stories about senior citizens who are using iPads or iPhones to keep up with their grandchildren.
But I can say truthfully that they saved my Dad’s life. No, he didn’t fall and use his iPhone to call for help and he wasn’t rescued from the bottom of some deep ravine while completing his ‘Bucket list.’
My Dad will be 91 later this year. He’s survived the death of his father on the eve of the Great Depression, and three shrapnel wounds in the War to End All Wars, to send three children through college during 62 years of marriage to a woman he met on a blind date.
Maybe the depression he entered three years ago when my mother died was predictable but when it didn’t seem to dissipate and his eyesight deteriorated every phone call seemed to involve something about death and how he wanted to be with his wife.
But in 2010, Steve Jobs, introduced the iPad and several months later the iPhone 3.
My brother, who does technical support for living, is always an early adopter of technology, especially anything Apple related. So, when the new products came out, it allowed him to get a spiffy new phone and the ‘magical and revolutionary’ iPad.
He recycled his old phone to dad – who already had a cell-phone which he never used - and on more than one occasion he brought his iPad to Dad’s house.
As you might expect, technology is a bit of a challenge to a 90 year old and in most cases when my brother brings over a new gadget, Dad gets frustrated and just gives up.
This time, he never gave either of them back. He pointedly refused to give the iPad back.
For the first time in years, since his eyesight began to fail, he could read the Boston Globe every day. Better yet, he’s learned how to download e-books and, as he notes, “I’ve read more books in one month than I did in the previous 89 years including school.” Both of them are better than large print books since he can make the type as large as he wants.
It’s not unusual to get a text from him when he’s visiting family in New York or Florida and one particularly memorable trip with me, and my sister we were all sitting a lunch, deeply engrossed in texting messages to my brother rather than enjoying each other’s company. I’m not proud of my actions but the fact that Dad had joined right in, brought a smile to my face.
Now he can keep up with what’s happening with his my sister in San Jose by reading the Mercury News, and with the latest catastrophe in San Francisco, by looking up SFGate. He’s a regular on the New York Times website and reads the latest financial news at the Wall Street Journal.
He devoured all the Robert Parker, Spenser mysteries (mainly because Parker was from my home town and the books are all set in New England) and today he informed me that he’s on to Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes.
We no longer have discussions about how his misses my mom, although he surely does, and he’s never bored or depressed as long as his iPad and iPhone are fully charged.
Thanks, Steve, Dad will text you when he has a minute.
Arianna and Patch.com
February 7, 2011
I’m a big fan of Patch.com and their local news gathering operation – even if they are owned by AOL. It was interesting to hear Arianna Huffington being interviewed today about the puchase of her Huffington Post site by the AOL content empire (at least in their own eyes).
The only AOL division she chose to name while answering question on The PBS Newshour was Patch.com. I’m not sure if it was a random thought, or if I should be nervous that Ms Huffington will start monkeying around with what has become a pretty successful formula for local news gathering.
AOL and Arianna had conference calls with all the AOL properties which will be under her control but singling out Patch.com would make me a bit nervous if I was one of their local editors. I’m not the only one expressing concern.
Only time will tell, but I really hope I don’t wind up reading local news as dictated by the folks in Washintgton D.C.