Exploring Zenhabits Blog

I found Zenhabits in Time magazine online as one of the Best Blogs for 2010. I have not finished browsing but I thought this list of 10 Books that Shaped My Life, and 40 Others I Love was worth passing on.

Stieg Larsson's Second novel

This novel, The Girl who Played with Fire, is not holding my interest as much as the first one did. It's still a good novel now; it's not bad. What I can tell so far is that it is more sexual than the first and the violence is not as brutal as the first. I am still reading. I have just reached page 217.

I see real irony as I read this book. One of Stieg's characters is a journalist who is writing a controversial novel but he dies before the novel has been published. This is exactly what happened to Stieg who was a journalist in real life and died before his trilogy of successful books were published. How coincidental is that?

Tips From a Frugal Librarian

I am compiling a list of frugal library tips to put on bookmarks and distribute to students. I intend to put some or all of these tips in Crossties and The Bay Leaf, a student newspaper and a library newsletter to which I contribute.

This list is likely to be helpful to Georgia academic library patrons. Galileo, which is mentioned on the list a few times, is a collection of databases for Georgia library patrons. Also, note that a list of frugal tips for public library users would probably be longer than this since it would include more diverse services such as free story telling events for children.

1) Borrow from the library; don’t overspend on novels, DVDs, magazines and newspapers.
2) Read Newspapers for free on Galileo databases.
3) Borrow books not available in your library (Interlibrary Loan, Gil Express).
4) Borrow Children’s books for storytelling at home.
5) Renew books online and return books on time; don’t incur library fines.
6) Trace your family tree for free on Galileo. Select Ancestry Library Edition Database.
7) Save paper; print more than 1 PowerPoint slide on a page.
· Go to File
· Print
· Properties
· Finishing tab
· Select a number under “Pages per sheet”, OK.
8) Remember to conserve on paper. Use paper wisely.
9) Use Computers for free. All computers have Microsoft Office Applications. Some have Sonic Digital Media software. (This applies to the specific library that I am targetting).
10) Scan pictures and documents for free at the library. (Print for a fee).
11) Create online flashcards at http://www.studystack.com/.
12) Get free research assistance. Ask a reference librarian.

Calculate the value of your library use.

Free Ebooks

Look what I found! More free books for your reading pleasure under the heading "Forgotten Books". You can purchase any from the list on amazon.com.

Chick Lit video

Came across this recently; a book chat on the relevance of chick lit during a period of recession. Chick Lit not as popular anymore? I really can't imagine that is true.

Stieg Larsson's Trilogy: Book 2

I am reading The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second book in Stieg Larsson's trilogy. I just read that the writer had plans to write 10 books but only submitted three to his publisher before his untimely dead.

I am on page 61 of the novel and just like the first book, I feel like I am reading three stories in one. There is the Story of the Kidnapped Teenager at an unknown location, Bjurman's Revenge set in Sweden, and The Case of the Faux Businessman/Presbyterian Minister/wife beater set in Grenada in the Caribbean. These are not titles used in the novel, of course, they are my own invention. I can't wait to see how the stories develop and mesh together.

Success Tips

Read about the Success Type Personality in the really interesting New Psycho-cybernetics:

Sense of Direction
Understanding
Courage
Charity (Compassion)
Esteem
Self-confidence
Self-acceptance

This book makes you think about your personal values and attitudes.

Success Secrets

I was reading The New Psycho-cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz; edited and updated by Dan S. Kennedy and The Psycho-cybernetic Foundation. However, I put it aside because it was not an easy read. I have to read it slowly. I borrowed the book from the library so I can not highlight some of the interesting concepts. Since I have been reading Outliers: the Story of Success, I picked up Maltz's book again today to see what he said about success.

Maltz said we all have a powerful built-in computer-like success machine or goal-striving mechanism. The brain and the nervous system make up this goal-striving mechanism that operates like a guidance system to steer us in the right direction, help us achieve our goals, give us answers, and provide us with ideas and inspiration. We have to use self-image to program the success mechanism. The book is supposed to help us communicate confidently with and through the self-image to control the success/goal-striving mechanism. One example given is about writers and speakers who give their subconscious instructions about a writing or speech task. They nap and awake with useful material that they may not have received through conscious thought or worry. Another example given is Thomas Edison who believed he got some of his ideas from a source outside of himself.

I liked the exercise on page 41 that suggests that success comes by making a detailed mental image of our target, consistently, for ten - 15 minutes. I am willing to give it a try.

Book Club Selection

We met today to discuss our book, Sarah's Key, set in 1942 and 2002. Everyone loved it; not everyone had enjoyed our last book, the dystopic fiction, The Year of the Flood. I personally would have rated both books 41/2 stars. I loved them both.

Our book next month will be a light read, Thin Woman , a humorous mystery by Dorothy Cannell. I hope everyone enjoys the light mystery because I will be proposing The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo for August which is so not light.

Story of Success

I am reading Outliers: the Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. He says he wants to convince us that successful people are beneficiaries of hidden advantages and cultural legacies that allow them to make sense of the world. The best and the brightest do not simply rise t the top. He thinks there is a pattern for success.

I also read the writer's previous book, Tipping Point. This was all about how little things can lead to big changes. I remembered that book when I came across this quote by Chip and Dan Heath in Switch, "Small targets lead to small victories, and small victories can often trigger a positive spiral of behavior".

I think Malcom has encountered a pattern to successfully writing bestsellers. Interestingly, his cultural legacy is Jamaican and I am looking forward to reading that part of his legacy in the last chapter. Just by chance, I read a fascinating article yesterday about the very successful Paula Madison from NBC Universal in the July issue of Ebony magazine. Her cultural legacy is Jamaican Chinese.

Book 1: Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Wow! This was a great psychological thriller with a message about sexual assault of women in Sweden and sexual abuse of charges in the care of the state through legal guardianship. There is also a message about journalistic ethics. Search for reviews of this book on epinions.com; I have my own comments there.



I have a few criticisms but these did not detract from the main story. I did not mention them all in epinions.com. The rape scene was too brutal but clearly well written since it evoked horror from readers. Some of the translation into English was a little unnatural. Who says they are going to the toilet in English? We would use the euphemistic "bathroom". Some words were not translated at all Advokat instead of lawyer but maybe the translator did not think lawyer was an adequate translation. The language was clearly British English and I noticed at least one amazon book reviewer had issues with the use of the word gaol; a variant of jail.



I am looking forward to the other two books and I wonder what the fourth book by Stieg Larsson is like. The fourth book is still on his laptop held by his long time love, Eva Gabrielssson, after his death.