December 2011
4 posts
2 tags
My Favorite Books from 2011
I read a lot. Have I mentioned that? This year I managed to put back more than a few books, and now that we’re winding up 2011 I want to give a nod to those that really stuck out to me (a list which, in the interest of brevity, only covers books published in 2011) as an informal sequel to my recent post about learning new things.
As I say on my Goodreads profile, I only tend to read books...
2 tags
Outside Context Problem
I rank Iain M. Banks as one of my favorite authors. Banks’ Culture series was one of my first exposures to so-called “literary science fiction”, which uses the backdrop of science and technology but also focuses on interesting characters and quality prose not always associated with “sci-fi”.
The Culture books deal with the eponymous anarchistic super-civilization, run by intelligent machines...
4 tags
Knowing Stuff [How to Learn a New Subject]
A question I’ve been asked a lot, and never really sat down to answer, is how I go about learning new things.
Before going there, I want to tackle the whole “smart” matter. I think that, firstly, “smart” — or “knowing lots of stuff” — has more to do with the amount of time you’re willing to spend grappling with difficult concepts than...
2 tags
Brogram Design 101
The last few months, during my yearly layoff from hard training (I’d rather spend my free time at the pub during New Zealand’s nice summer weather, and “yearly layoff” sounds nicer than “lazy slug”), I’ve been gravitating towards less demanding, more fun kinds of lifting.
Regular readers will know of my love for autoregulated daily training, but I’ve discovered that I really only care for this...