Highlight, Export - Poor Man's CliffsNotes

I like this idea:

Highly efficient way to internalize a complex non-fiction book:

-Read on Kindle.
-Highlight heavily.
-Export highlights.
-Edit down to core insights.
-5-10 minutes of reading.
-Keep that in cloud.

Can pull this up on any device and quickly recall my core takeaways.

— The Stoic Emperor (@TheStoicEmperor) April 11, 2018

Seveneves

Neal Stephenson has a new book: Seveneves: A Novel. I obviously like his stuff as he made the cut when I purged books a while back. I've only started reading the sample of this one, but I came across this in the first little bit:

"Rufus, a die-hard ham radio enthusiast who still communicated in Morse code with a dwindling circle of old friends all over the world, had pointed out that radio transmission between the ground and Izzy was actually rather easy, given that it was line-of-sight (at least when Izzy happened to be passing overhead) and that the distance was nothing by ham radio standards. Since Dinah lived and worked in a robot workshop, surrounded by soldering gear and electronics workbenches, it had been a simple matter for her to assemble a small transceiver following specifications provided by her dad."

Izzy = The International Space Station. Guess I'll be forking over the money for the full book soon.

Books - Archive Mode On!

I mentioned the books I was purging, but I want to reiterate that I liked most of those authors. Some of them were fun reads, some had a little more substance, etc.

The books by the following authors I will keep - at least until I decide I should get rid of them all! Then it will be library books or e-books here on out!

Actually, some of these probably won't ever go away as they have my notes from high school or college in the margins. I've re-read some of them and it's interesting to see what I thought was important 20+ years ago. For some of the "fun" books,  I remember, during my youth, I would stay up until the wee hours of the morning to read just a few more pages.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
J.R.R. Tolkien
Robert Asprin
R.A. Salvatore
William Gibson
Neal Stephenson
Gene Wolfe
Tom Robbins
Issac Asimov
William Faulkner
Richard Wright
Orson Scott Card
Robert Jordan
Terry Goodkind
Huston Smith
William James
Richard Matheson
Ernest Hemingway
J.D. Salinger
C.S. Lewis
Robert Heinlein
William Golding
Eugene O'Neill

Books - Purge Mode On!

If it's not nailed down, it's at risk for getting tossed, sold, recycled, etc.

Books from these authors didn't make the cut:

David Baldacci
Gene Kranz
Ken Follett
Larry Correia
Matthew Pearl
Nelson DeMille
Stephen Hunter
Tom Clancy
Tom Wolfe
W.E.B. Griffin

I'm not saying I don't like the books, but I'm still keeping a ton and I don't see me re-reading these anytime soon. For a lot of these, I've got stacks by each author.

I'll do another list of the authors I did keep.

Reading by Street Light

This is one of the most vivid examples of life without electricity at home: http://t.co/s88OQpRDbL pic.twitter.com/eAIDTnf9sH
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) June 27, 2014

How Tech Affects Reading Habits and Patterns

So mobile devices not only change where we read, but when we read. According to the analysis, we prefer iPads to computer monitors and our Lazy Boys to desk chairs.

And now the bad news... the nice, neat fonts and pretty display of the iPads are negatively impacting our reading comprehension. Messy handwriting makes our brains work harder and that translates into better learning and retention.

Via Slashdot.