? Books on John PHI⑊PIN

Fri, 29 May 2026 12:24:36 +1200

Read - a long time ago - 📚The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart. I recall it as a great read, but I couldn’t truly commit to that - it was a different time. BUT - I often reference it - so it clearly had impact. Would certainly ‘give it a whirl’.

Wed, 27 May 2026 16:18:15 +1200

The Catch Up continues. Read 🔗📚Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari

Tue, 26 May 2026 22:12:24 +1200

📚Read Pattern Breakers by Mike Maples Jr - and then keep re reading parts of it and finding more quotes for Readwise.

Zingo Zingo - What you going to do-e-o

Wed, 20 May 2026 12:34:24 +1200

Not to say I’m a fan of Uber - 🔗🔎 I have been railing against them for over a decade.

I finished 🔗📚 Pattern Breakers by Mike Maples Jr a while back - and I keep quoting him - but you really should read the book. He uses Lyft and Uber as case studies.

Dear London peeps: remember Zingo? Not Uber or Lyft, but functionally identical. Six to ten years ahead of them. And it failed. Mike’s book partly explains why - without even mentioning them. Too early. But there’s more to it:

Technology wasn’t ready. Location-based services in 2003 were still promises, not reality.
Black cab drivers resisted disruption. No incentive to adopt.
THE Chicken-and-egg problem. Without critical mass of drivers, the app was useless. Without users, drivers wouldn’t join.

All adding up to too early, wrong incentives and by the time Uber/Lyft arrived, smartphones were common, GPS was accurate, driver economics had shifted.

But what ‘common wisdom’ tends to gorget is that Zingo was also fighting the government. Not UK medallion fights. This was about using apps to track people in the physical world. Back then, the government was actively arguing against that play. (My - how times have changed.)

Zingo had the idea. But timing, infrastructure, and aligned incentives matter more than being first. So does getting the government out of the way.

In a parallel universe - we would be Zingoing all over the world - and the taxi business would be very very different.

Tue, 12 May 2026 10:14:51 +1200

🔗 The shared tragedy of Red Queen hiring | Seth’s Blog

Successful fishermen understand that casting an ever-wider net is not always the best way to catch the fish you need.

Hiring is Hard - like everything else. F-O-C-U-S

🔗📚 ‘Small is Beautiful’ - and a big win IMHO.

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:16:06 +1200

Mark Bernstein: The Bullet That Missed

This clever confection is a mystery about murderers who don’t kill people and murders that mysteriously do not occur.

Me? Can’t go wrong with 📚 Richard Osman.

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 08:01:02 +1200

It’s been a while since I read him .. when I did .. absolutely loved .. as did many others .. and certainly not lacking in literary skills and abilities .. sold lots AND great plaudits from his peers - and yet today we hear nothing. Why don’t we see more of 📚 J.P. Donleavy❓

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 12:42:51 +1200

🔗 The Joy of Neo-noir

Just linking because Om calls out the McNally series from Larry Sanders. 📚 Brilliant Books. No idea if I loved them because of the reasons Om provides - or just that they are such good books.

Surprised they never became a movie series.

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 14:14:06 +1200

Another 📚book added to my pile - apparently Karl Weick, argued that when it comes to models, it is more important to be useful than perfect.

Strike me that he’s riffing on George’s quote.

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 10:27:11 +1200

Another From Seth

🔗 The Sorting

But now, particularly with digital output, we’re doing it backwards.

Really great analogy - and IMHO - infinitely superior to the Pluribus analogy - at least my takeaway of same - although that is a different post.

That said - it would be so much easier if Seth not only came checked the story’s author - but maybe added a link?

So you don’t have to dive down the rabbit hole ..

🔗📚 The book (Tunneling To The Center Of The Earth) .. that contains the short story

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 08:27:28 +1200

Just discovered 🔗📚 Linchpin by Seth Godin - and I wonder how I missed it - because I wonder if it is a twist on my ‘Blue Ocean of Org Charts’ - will try to find the post.

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:42:55 +1200

Finished reading: 📚🔗 A Cold Wind From Moscow by Rory Clements - and yeah - not really - just way too slow for my taste.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:41:17 +1200

Finished reading: 📚🔗 The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman - and every bit as good - better(?) as the first four.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 21:51:14 +1200

💬📚 Written in ‘63 - he died in ‘69 - book finally published in ‘80 .. so arguably he knew nought of our world today …

And yet …

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:18:21 +1200

💬📚Lovely. Captures the mustiness of some of my favourite bookstores over the years.

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:09:53 +1200

💬 This 📚 is seven years old ….

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 11:31:25 +1200

🔗 📚‘On Tyranny’ by Timothy Snyder

The Future Of Work

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 10:49:40 +1200

If you haven’t read 🔗📚 Ollie Henderson’s Future Work/Life you should. Excellent.

This particular quote reminds me of something that Jason Fried wrote in one of his books ..

New technologies tend to imitate the old until people figure out what they’re really meant to do. Early websites were brochures. Early cars looked like horse-drawn carriages. Early TV shows were radio shows with pictures.

💬 Jason Fried

So too work. We ‘broke’ work about 5 years ago - but slowly people (Corporates) are ‘fixing it’ (As in making us all go back to our old ways.) This is because they are still looking at work through the lens of the brochure/horseless carriage. It will be a while before we break it again - BUT - it will be broken but only once we have truly unpacked how the new world of work works.

I’ve got ideas. I’ve got people. I’m excited for the future.

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 03:17:39 +1200

Currently reading: Pattern Breakers by Mike Maples Jr 📚

I don’t usually post about books I am reading, but want to see how the change that @manton made to Micro Blog works.

📚 A Story

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 11:26:05 +1200

Not mine, but it was so lovely I wanted to drop it in here, so that as ’link rot’ continues - I will at least have it here. Who knows, you might already know it, it seems to have been circulating the socials - so of course - I did a little bit of triangulation. It looks legit.

🔗 More Here

The Story

At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, was walking through a park one day in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll. She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully.

Kafka told her to meet him there the next day and they would come back to look for her.

The next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a letter “written” by the doll saying

“please don’t cry. I took a trip to see the world. I will write to you about my adventures.”

Thus began a story which continued until the end of Kafka’s life.

During their meetings, Kafka read the letters of the doll carefully written with adventures and conversations that the girl found adorable.

Finally, Kafka brought back the doll (he bought one) that had returned to Berlin.

“It doesn’t look like my doll at all,” said the girl.

Kafka handed her another letter in which the doll wrote:

“my travels have changed me.”

The little girl hugged the new doll and brought the doll with her to her happy home.

A year later Kafka died.

Many years later, the now-adult girl found a letter inside the doll. In the tiny letter signed by Kafka it was written:

“Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way.”

Embrace change. It’s inevitable for growth. Together we can shift pain into wonder and love, but it is up to us to consciously and intentionally create that connection.

Tue, 21 May 2024 13:24:51 +1200

🔗 📚 Leaving

… now added to my ‘want to’ list (Leaving by Roxana Robinson)

… but separately the piece by Lefsetz is archived into my Readwise … lest I forget.

Gorgeous.

Sat, 18 May 2024 15:17:04 +1200

Thrutopian Futures anyone?

🔗 📚 Any Human Power - Manda Scott talks about her new Thrutopian Mytho-Political thriller - Accidental Gods

Thu, 09 May 2024 23:48:56 +1200

Currently reading: 📚The Loop by Jacob Ward

Thu, 09 May 2024 23:48:16 +1200

Currently reading: 📚 Stoic at Work by Annie Lawson 📚

Tue, 07 May 2024 07:31:08 +1200

I think 📚Victim by Andrew Boryga might be ‘next’ having just read 🔗 Bob’s post

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 09:59:29 +1200

As I wrote in January … The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 📚is a wonderful little book .. so who knows why I am posting on April 30th that I have just finished it. Opinion not changed. Read it.

Sun, 04 Feb 2024 19:24:20 +1200

Want to read: Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang 📚

Sun, 04 Feb 2024 19:23:40 +1200

Want to read: Stories of Your Life and Others: Stories by Ted Chiang 📚

Sun, 04 Feb 2024 19:20:22 +1200

Finished reading: (a long time ago) Playing in the Unified Field: Raising and Becoming Conscious, Creative Human Beings by Carla Hannaford 📚 .. Just adding for posterity and so I can share it with someone.

Sun, 04 Feb 2024 19:18:41 +1200

Just added 🔗 Limitarianism by Ingrid Robeyns to my ‘To Read’ 📚 list.

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 16:06:59 +1200

📚 Just started reading this - his first two were just GREAT.

Can’t help wondering if ‘Lynne’ is trying to ride the wave of his sales?

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 14:45:26 +1200

📚 Well - the series might have come to an end - but there is clearly more to read, like this Christmas present.

Sat, 25 Nov 2023 13:48:16 +1200

🔗 Listening Brands by Jr Little 📚 was published in 2015 - did we not already have this then?

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 01:41:51 +1200

Just added 🔗 📚 The Exponential Age by Azeem Azhar to my book lists.

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 13:45:14 +1200

🎵 Back in the day, a gentleman by name of Pete Frame produced two stunning 📚books … Rock Family Trees. Hand drawn ‘family trees’ of Rock Giants at the time.

I know of Theo Travis because of his work over the years with Steven Wilson, but also as a performer in his own right and then most recently with Soft Machine, which is how he came to write 🖇️ John Marshall’s obit’.

Family Trees tend to be very hierarchical, so I plugged the two threads together and then added 50 years of humanity.

‘Hierarchy’ is old school. ‘Networked’ is new school’.

How cool would it be to choose (say) 50 musicians like Theo and build networks of

the people he has played with (studio and live) as
one offs or over a prolonged period of time and
inside bands and as a solo artist

It needs to be someone like Theo … a wide enough eclectic career to be interesting but not so overwhelming it becomes meaningless. For example someone like Bowie would just be a page of lines.

Just #SpitBallingHere

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 13:11:16 +1200

Perusing - as you do - and came across this compilation :

📚 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Four Parts by Douglas Adams (sorry - Amazon link - couldn’t find this edition on MicroBlog)

It reminded me of a much older ‘trilogy’, penned by one Spike Milligan - who around book 5 wrote something like

Number 5 in the increasingly misnamed ‘War Trilogy’.

Wed, 31 May 2023 06:31:22 +1200

I read Molly Jong-Fast and had never really thought about it - but - TIL she is the daughter of 🔗 Erica Jong (📚 Fear of Flying) … of course she is … the clue

Wed, 24 May 2023 08:59:26 +1200

I just found out about 🔗 Connie Converse

🎵 Her Album

🎙️ Mike Pesca talking to Howard Fishman who wrote 📚 To Anyone Who Ever Asks

Talk about a hole in history.

Wed, 17 May 2023 02:33:32 +1200

📚 Well that just through a wrench into my book queue … presents from a friend … and its not even Christmas!

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 15:09:39 +1200

🔗 Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism and the World is a new book by Malcolm Harris.

He talks about it on this podcast 🎙️The Dark History Of Silicon Valley with Sean Illing.

Oh my!

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 08:36:46 +1200

📚Just bought Work/Life Flywheel by Ollie Henderson for 99 cents on the Kindle store … launch promotion.

Sat, 07 Jan 2023 07:39:19 +1200

📚Just added The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa to my ‘want to read’ list - recommended by a long time friend from my Uni days.

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 16:18:21 +1200

Finished reading: Good Pop, Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker 📚

Superb!

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 11:28:46 +1200

Dear Abby

🎶🎵 Recently heard a superb conversation with Chris Spedding. Current📚 is by Jarvis Cocker. Just finished listening to Guy Pratt & Gary Kemp talk with Richard Hawley and now Zane Lowe talking with Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys.

Am I a closet ‘Sheffy’?

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 15:40:17 +1200

I was given Good Pop, Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker 📚for my birthday - which was months ago. I can finally start it, now that Strike is struck off.

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 15:37:19 +1200

Finished: Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike, #5) by Robert Galbraith 📚

‘FINALLY’ … It might seem like one book - in fact it is bound like one - but when you hit quad pages - someone should call an editor.

Sun, 30 Oct 2022 09:49:39 +1200

Adding Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender 📚 to my reading list. An unofficial biography lauded by the Apple leadership … comp to the Isaacson story is needed.

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 14:49:38 +1200

📚 Email Marketing Rules by Chad White features in my next newsletter, the link takes you to where you can buy it. I have used the cover from the original book. It is now on the third edition.

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 10:33:15 +1200

Just added Internet for the People by Ben Tarnoff 📚to my reading list.

Right up my street.

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 11:26:33 +1200

I subscribe to lots of 🎙podcasts knowing there is not enough time to listen to them all (even at ‘warp speed’) because I find interesting guests that aren’t doing the usual ‘publicity rounds’.

Just this morning;

📚William Gallagher on Scrivener

🎶Adrian Belew on Marc Maron

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 21:33:56 +1200

Cannot wait to get my hands on Fairness and Freedom by David Hackett Fischer 📚… I had never thought of that distinction before.

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 17:36:58 +1200

In the last 📚Reader’s Republic, I said England (not the UK) suffers from many things, not least of which is an identity crisis.

I just stumbled across this.

Tolkien’s Writings Were a Mythology for the History of England

(Yes I need to get the RR notes published, sorry!)

Sat, 23 Jul 2022 14:01:18 +1200

📚Ten.

Is that too many books to be reading ‘at once’?

Saving grace:

I am well aware that I haven’t even opened at least four of them since I first put this list up!

And another four got added today and I haven’t opened them either. They are just ‘looking at me’.

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 11:35:18 +1200

Just added Stakeholder Capitalism by Klaus Schwab 📚 to my reading list. It has been in my head for a while - but now it is on the list!

Sun, 17 Jul 2022 20:28:46 +1200

I am thoroughly enjoying Severance, even though they spell ‘Keir’ ‘Kier’.

I’m at the part in the series where I am sensing the channeling of aspects of Peter Currell Brown‘s 📚Smallcreep’s Day.

Anyone else get the connection?

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 08:26:41 +1200

📚If you like books - you might enjoy

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 15:06:04 +1200

Just been recommended Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It by Al Ries 📚- so of course have added it to my ‘Want to Read’ list …

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 07:39:14 +1200

5th Session of 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic starts in 25 minutes … live conversation with a few of us across 3 continents who like to read books … let me know if you’d like to join us .. I’ll send you the zoom link.

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 13:47:50 +1200

Thankyou @gpittman for the recommendation … You’re It: Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When It Matters Most by Leonard J. Marcus 📚

Thu, 26 May 2022 14:44:01 +1200

📚 Art Garfunkel has read and rated a lot of books since 1968 - so he provided a list, in case you were looking for inspiration.

Who knew he was one of ‘us’?

Wed, 25 May 2022 14:20:58 +1200

📚 If you are in The Reader’s Republic - keep a look out for the invite to the next meeting and a short email taking you to the notes from the day - with links to the recording and the list of books - with links - we talked about.

Tue, 24 May 2022 22:07:27 +1200

I promise that I didn’t plan it this way but the last three meetings of 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic differ in length by only 14 seconds.

Mon, 23 May 2022 14:37:12 +1200

📚 Coming to the end of my Rebus … so got another ‘tome’ lined up. It is nearly 1,000 pages long - which I think is a great reason for reading it digitally - but I won’t.

Mon, 16 May 2022 12:04:47 +1200

📚Great Meeting Of 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic today - wonderful book recommendations that I am documenting. Notes to follow.

Mon, 16 May 2022 11:49:58 +1200

‘Time Flies’

🎶 a track on ‘The Innocent'

and

📚 the title of the bio of Porcupine Tree.

16th in the series of #MBMay

Photo; Book Cover. Illustration by Lasse Holle?

Caveat: NONE of the photos in this series are mine, but when I know who to credit, I do.

Fri, 29 Apr 2022 17:05:05 +1200

📚 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic Invite was just sent out for May 15th/16th - let me know if you didn’t receive it.

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 10:21:32 +1200

📚 I just added 🔗 A Good Hard Kick in the Ass by Rob Adams to my ‘want to read list’ … anybody else tried it?

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 21:44:34 +1200

📚 Just looking out ahead and realized that I still need to come up with my two books for the next meeting of 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic.

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 11:43:00 +1200

Just discovered 🔗 Future Wealth by Stanley M. Davis 📚 and added it to my ‘want to read’ bookshelf. The summaries I have read put it right in the middle of my 🔗 People First thinking

📚The Cellist by Daniel Silva

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 15:46:13 +1200

Just finished reading: 🔗 The Cellist by Daniel Silva 📚

Definitely a good read … kept me turning the pages … though I take issue with him being described as ‘the new LeCarre … or am I just being overly defensive of one of my ‘4 Johns’.

That all said, the most amazing thing about this book is that following Jan 6th 2021 he revised the book top to bottom in 6 weeks. Not that this should cause you to read it … but absolutely testament to his desire for realism in his books.

This was my first Silva … but it won’t be my last.

The Four Natural Forces Applied To Business

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 14:30:00 +1200

I used the 4 natural forces model in my 📚recent book as an analogy for the 4 forces of humanity.

And then I read that 🔗 Fermilab has found a discrepancy with the mass of the W boson.

“The current 'standard model' of particle physics describes four fundamental forces. Three of those — electromagnetism, gravity and the strong nuclear force — push or pull things, broadly speaking. The fourth force — the weak nuclear force — doesn't really push or pull anything. Instead it makes one type of particle transform into another type of particle. In doing so we get the force responsible for radiation, and it's the force that drives nuclear fusion in the sun. So it's quite important.”

I’ll say it’s important. Now I will have to revisit some of the thinking in the book!

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 07:41:26 +1200

📚My Goodness Time Flies …

🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic is upon us again!

Watch out for the deets in your email and calendars ….

Notes Reminding Us About Notes

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 16:47:56 +1200

Two short posts that arrived almost back to back in the multivarious reading apps that seem to be multiplying on my iPad.

The first came from Derek Silvers about why we should write plain text files.

The ‘shouldness’of that instruction cant be more emphasised. All that he says I do know, but it’s good to be reminded. But, even then it still doesn’t stop me from writing a lot of stuff in a couple of the most proprietary formats out there .. Apple’s ‘Pages’ and ‘Keynote’.

YES Keynote … it isn’t just for presentations, I use it to create simple graphics and structured workbooks.

The second was Note-taking became a full-time job, so I stopped

Last year out of nowhere, I became aware and interested in Obsidian. I learnt about Zeitelkasten. I discovered that Obsidian was just the latest application that promised to be my salvation.

I haven’t stopped using it - but boy did that post resonate!

Important to 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 17:30:15 +1200

Finished reading: The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl 📚🎶🎼🎵

A proper review needed, but I tend not to do those … but someone definitely at the intersection of two personal passions - People First and M U S I C

Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:44:51 +1200

📚Three Interesting ‘Writer’ Links

Brandon Sanderson

Steve Yegge

William Gallagher

By the way - Gallagher’s YouTube Channel - 58Keys is worth checking out. Nice to see that I subscribed when his count was in the hundreds - and now it is over 2 1/2 thousand.

Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:00:46 +1200

🧶 📚The second session of 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic is coming up - delighted that @artkavanagh will be hosting. Sadly @ton will not be able to make it, so his session will need to run at a future event.

Otherwise, looks like we are all in for a good session on the 6th/7th March.

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 15:29:44 +1200

📚Publishing shenanigans - he was caught - but why did he do it?

… enquiring minds need to know - and the article doesn’t really answer the question.

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 10:17:32 +1200

Just started another Christmas present …

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl 📚

Of course, the 🎶🎵🎼 tags are also relevant!

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 07:29:26 +1200

If you are part of 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic - check your inbox.

Sun, 30 Jan 2022 20:56:05 +1200

Just finished reading: The Man Who Died Twice: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery by Richard Osman 📚

… and what a delight it was.

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 15:43:39 +1200

🚧

Just Finished Reading: Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci 📚

I don’t write many book reviews but for this one I will make an exception - with a good reason - but not yet.

I will be back. (If you will pardon a spot of ‘Arny Channeling’ !!!)

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 07:16:05 +1200

📚Promoted on Substack this morning

Struck me as an interesting read for a number of Micro Bloggers including 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic

What To Read

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 08:59:11 +1200

True Dat

In fact coincidentally just about to put out three different offers over the next two weeks.

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 17:23:34 +1200

📚 🪦 🔗12 Authors Who Died In 2021

Of interest to *🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 10:53:15 +1200

🧶 📚[This is what 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic is all about - so far!](https://www.craft.do/s/q4t5GKyMPcWXCp)

If you click through - and are interested … there is a link to register at the top of the page.

// @artkavanagh @pimoore

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 09:45:26 +1200

📚 🚧 Funny how you come across stuff that is so cool - and then it disappears again … such as the Literature Map

I used it to create a 🔗 series of 7 posts last year and then it got lost.

Maybe something to use in the 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic?

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 09:21:47 +1200

🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic Signal Group Is Now 13 Strong

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 16:06:30 +1200

📚Book Reviews

Adding another place to review stuff. This time from Birchtree

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 18:14:13 +1200

Just started to read:

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 📚

never heard of book or author - but when Ian Rankin writes;

“So smart and funny. Deplorably good.'

How could I resist?

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 17:23:17 +1200

Just finished reading:

The Old Enemy: A Novel (Paul Samson Book 3) by Henry Porter 📚

I posted my review over on Literal.

Sat, 25 Dec 2021 13:07:45 +1200

Currently reading:

📚 Taste by Stanley Tucci.

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 21:19:49 +1200

📚 Silverview …

Just started today … so far, so very good. But it is LeCarre.

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 10:44:21 +1200

📚 The Best Books of 2021

According to Kottke via @alans

A flying start for the nascent micro blog reading club - have you flagged your interest yet?

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 15:22:27 +1200

It just occurred to me that people who check on ‘reading’ in the Micro Blog timeline using 📚 might have missed the call for people interested in a Reading Club … so ‘belt and braces’ it is!

It will take just a minute to register your interest.

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 08:00:03 +1200

📚 Thinking out loud here. had a couple of back and forth with the literal people and we now have a club there specifically for micro blog people.

join us here

Most of their clubs seem to be around genres ours is around who we are.

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 16:32:42 +1200

📚 literal.club

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 14:46:22 +1200

I think Neil must have just read Flatland

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott 📚

Sun, 05 Sep 2021 14:54:08 +1200

📚Want to read: Four Laws That Drive the Universe (Very Short Introductions) by Peter Atkins.

Sun, 16 May 2021 13:22:25 +1200

Currently reading:
Sapiens - Graphic Novel 01
by Yuval Noah Harari
📚

**Notes:** I mean - *don’t not* read the original book, but this is a fun way to engage with Harari’s thinking.

Sun, 16 May 2021 12:06:04 +1200

Finished reading:
Working Class Boy
by Jimmy Barnes

📚 🎵

**Notes:**

Bookshelf now enabled on Microblog.
Some clean up and updating in front of me - meanwhile - a test post.

Mon, 25 May 2020 11:21:58 +1200

A Confederacy of Dunces … John Kennedy Toole

How could I resist adding a never to be repeated bolt of excellence that came from ’nowhere’. Smallcreep’s Day was the other choice.

On The Map

7 of 7 for 📚#mbmay The Series

How It All Started

Sun, 24 May 2020 12:39:25 +1200

Waterland … Graham Swift

It’s hard to choose which Swift. But I did it.

On The Map

6 of 7 for 📚#mbmay The Series

How It All Started

Sat, 23 May 2020 15:57:30 +1200

I have just gone back and added On The Map to all my past week’s 📚#mbmay entries.

At a stroke provides a cool visual reference for any author - and the similar authors that might be in that same orbit.

Eg : John Fowles

Sat, 23 May 2020 09:41:37 +1200

The Gormenghast Trilogy … Mervyn Peake

If you are one of those people that enjoy the sagas of Tolkien/Lewis/Davies … look no further for your next one.

On The Map

5 of 7 for 📚#mbmay The Series

How It All Started

Fri, 22 May 2020 19:16:45 +1200

📚 I’ve mentioned a couple of times before how 4 of my favorite writers are called John.

That explains my first 4 choices for the @macgenie book week.

The remaining three leave ‘The Johns’ behind but continue to focus on lesser known books either by the author or in their genre.

Fri, 22 May 2020 18:56:20 +1200

The Constant Gardener … John le Carré

So much more than the cold war spy stories that he is known for. Explore this one - the attention to detail and story telling just as exciting, but a radically different backdrop.

On The Map

4 of 7 for 📚#mbmay The Series

How It All Started

Fri, 22 May 2020 18:55:28 +1200

Until I Find You … John Irving

Yes - it’s a John Irving novel, so bears and wrestling feature in this sprawling narrative that spans the globe and of course, a lifetime.

On The Map

3 of 7 for 📚#mbmay The Series

How It All Started

Wed, 20 May 2020 13:40:14 +1200

This week’s newsletter just went live.

Coincidentally in the week of Micro Blog Book Recommendations - the sub title plays on Ken Kesey’s greatest book - Sometimes A Great Notion. 📚

It’s not about Ken, or his books - its about a musician and good friend of mine.

Wed, 20 May 2020 11:43:00 +1200

Grapes of Wrath … John Steinbeck

… or should I have chosen East of Eden? Probably - but Grapes of Wrath is a perfect choice for these times.

On The Map

2 of 7 for 📚#mbmay The Series

How It All Started

Tue, 19 May 2020 16:23:00 +1200

Daniel Martin … John Fowles

Top of any book list in my book(sic), Fowles has been my number one ‘go to’ author since I discovered The Magus.

On The Map

1 of 7 for 📚#mbmay The Whole Series

How It All Started

Fri, 08 May 2020 08:13:24 +1200

Thinking aloud … emojis like … 🎶 or 📚 as categories …

// @manton @simonwoods @burk ??

Three Stories

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +1200

These three stories provide context to the People First Newsletter that was published on Tuesday April 21st

Mining Coin Through Your Bodies Activity

🔗 Microsoft Files Patent For New Cryptocurrency and Mining System

Body activity data may be generated based on the sensed body activity of the user. A cryptocurrency system communicatively coupled to the device of the user may verify whether or not the body activity data satisfies one or more conditions set by the cryptocurrency system, and award cryptocurrency to the user whose body activity data is verified.

And

a brain wave or body heat emitted from the user when the user performs the task provided by an information or service provider, such as viewing an advertisement or using certain internet services, can be used in the mining process."

What could possibly go wrong? The answer - as always - it depends.

Investing In The Student Body

Back in 2015 Purdue announced that it was going to invest in its students. I mean really invest.

Through its research foundation, the school plans to create ISA funds that its students can tap to pay for tuition, room and board. In return, students would pay a percentage of their earnings after graduation for a set number of years, replenishing the fund for future investments.

💬 WaPo

Reference - WaPo

There was a lot of huh hah in the media at the time about people selling themselves into servitude. Education is a right and and and …

and yet 5 years later …

One Man Voluntarily Enters Indentured Servitude

It’s just that this isn’t how he sees it. (The story of the man who sold fractional shares in himself.)

It’s not the same, but it reminded me a little of this idea from 2005 - essentially fractional advertising on a single page to fund Alex Tew’s education. (I am going to say it worked. Ever heard of Calm? Alex co-founded the company and he is now co-CEO. Calm is rocking!

Anyway - back to Alex (the other one) - and isn’t it odd that they are both called Alex?

‘$ALEX’ holders are promised a share of ‘any money’ he makes in the next three years! (He’ll pay out up to a total of $100,000 over three years—the rest is (his) to keep). $ALEX holders can vote on some of his life decisions!

That second one smacks a little of 🖇️📚 Luke Rheinhart’s Diceman

… but essentially what Alex is doing is convincing people with money to give it to him - and in return, he will give them more back within 3 years. Why is that any different to those same people buying stock in a company?

The world has been dallying with these ideas for a long time. There is push back from some quarters that caution needs to be applied because this could return us to millions of people working in ‘indentured servitude’ - and certainly by Investopedia’s definition that is exactly what Alex has just signed up for.

I think they are wrong. Sure, we need to tread carefully and not blindly sell all our rights (Lessons learned from musicians of the 60s?) - but surely none of it can be worse than the alternative?

📚 Advertising Shits in Your Head

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 11:09:27 +1200

Strategies for Resistance. A visual documentary of subvertising, an essay against the ad-man.

Excuse the language - but that is the name of the book. The link takes you to their kick-starter.

Funny. Been thinking of doing a kick starter for my book, but I am too busy writing to spend another chunk of time thinking about what the campaign would look like.

Needless to say I have done my pledge - it is such a People First topic that I couldn't resist and as an extra message, the campaign deadline is my birthday. The ether was in alignment!

My thanks to John Wunderlich for the heads up.

Thinking Allowed

This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. It’s a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 09:57:34 +1200

📚 Currently reading: The Phantom Atlas by Edward Brooke-Hitching

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 09:54:08 +1200

📚 Currently reading: The Girl In The Spiders Web by David Lagercrantz

Sun, 03 Feb 2019 13:38:05 +1200

📚 Finished reading: Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward.

Sun, 03 Feb 2019 10:52:54 +1200

📚 📸 Looking forward to tucking in - but as I said to my friend Graham, looks as if a snack approach is going to be more appropriate.

Sun, 03 Feb 2019 09:42:41 +1200

📚 Currently reading: The People Centered Economy by David Norfors and Vint Cerf

Tue, 27 Nov 2018 07:30:09 +1200

📚 The Channel Island of Sark has no cars or streetlights - and by the end of the week might have no electricity either.

Anyone else a Mervyn Peake fan?

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 04:08:56 +1200

There’s something about bookshops … like when you find 4 books you want to read all arranged for you … but traveling light .. so another day.

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 09:03:46 +1200

📚 🎵 My Book of Genesis looks like a good one if you want a different spin on the band

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 02:49:41 +1200

James Patterson has a new book out : The President Is Missing Apparently

”weaving a suspenseful and gripping technothriller that will leave readers wondering, ‘Could this really happen?”

“Oh I hope so” … I thought aloud.

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 17:49:10 +1200

📚 Exit West is suddenly on my reading list …. anyone read it?

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 08:15:48 +1200

🖋️📚 Question for the writing cognoscenti … specifically Ulysses users … what is the best way to write in Ulysses and then publish to micro.blog ?

Best I have found so far is to copy and paste - but links don’t seem to come over … what am I missing?

Shop Class as Soulcraft

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 04:34:20 +1200

I captured the following information on this 📚 somewhere ( maybe even here ). I haven’t read it - but it is on my list. I like the look of it. It seems to have a Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance feel to it and right in line with the work I am doing here. Has anyone read it? Recommend it?

A book that I loved reading that provides insights here is “Shop Class as Soulcraft.” It’s an inquiry into the nature and depth of cognition and levels of expertise and experience at play in work that society under values (for example, motorcycle mechanic).

Shop Class as Soulcraft

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 07:15:08 +1200

It’s Micro Monday - thanks for the reminder @magenie … when I read Along The Ray … I think about Travels With Charley - one of my favorite 📚 from one of my favorite authors

Thankyou @solari

Fri, 26 Jan 2018 03:13:05 +1200

Are we adding 🎬 to the 📚 and 🎵 search capability any time soon?

Mon, 22 Jan 2018 04:59:06 +1200

For those of you that follow 📚 and read with a device rather than paper …. you might find BookBub both interesting and useful.

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 15:57:59 +1200

Just bring me ~~~ 📚

John Fowles
John Irving
John Steinbeck
John LeCarre