Life Is Rich

In my new WoW-clean state, I’ve been slurping up books right and left. Years ago, before the distractions of WoW and babies and such, I tried to read at least one if not a couple technical books a month. This was a fairly expensive (but necessary) proposition at nearly $50 a pop. I also reviewed development books for a couple companies — usually one every other month (which I got paid for – helping to offset the cost of my monthly book purchases). Of course, six months later a new edition would come out or the book would become stale, often earning it a trip to Goodwill. After skipping the technical reading ritual for a couple years, I think I’m getting back into the groove.

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A few months back I started receiving Wired magazine pretty much of out of the blue. I’ve never ordered it. Maybe it’s some wayward gift from one of my many (i.e 0.5) followers. No matter, not to look a gift-horse in the mouth (what in the world does that cliché really mean), I read it. I even enjoyed it. Wired features thick glossy paper that feels good to the finger and features a production value that would seem more appropriate in the Chinese Olympics. Vibrant colors, fancy charts and graphs, beautiful women – I mean, it has it all. The articles are obviously nerd-relevant, making it even an interesting read. What nerd wouldn’t like an article on the latest gadgetry, lifting fingerprints from bullets, or the ultimate poker-playing bot?

I’ve noticed with regularity that I end my Wired reading sessions feeling somewhat dirty – almost like I had been perusing some plastic-wrapped pornographic skin-mag from the top-shelf of the local Kroger (which I would never do of course). Today, while breaking from my winter reading sprint, I decided to catch up on the two Wired magazines gathering dust on my desk.

It was while reading a sardonic reflection of a modern “Great Depression” where futuresque bums roam the streets with their Guitar Hero axes and find rest in trashed Aeron chairs that it hit me. Wired is written by a bunch of smug, arrogant asshats who think they are better than everyone else (no, I’m really *not* talking about myself here) – and cater to those who wish to feel better of themselves by reading said self-professed elitism of thought. I thought maybe this was purely a response to one very snobbish piece, but after reading the pretentious responses to some customer feedback and reading a number of other articles in the same light, my conclusions were confirmed. Even though the topics that Wired covers are (sometimes) relevant, and often portray views that I may (sometimes) agree with,they approach these topics in such a high-browed, arrogant manner that it’s almost impossible to be able to trust or feel good about anything you are reading.

In the end, real nerds don’t need thick paper, fancy graphics, and lots of conceited pomposity to be happy about ourselves. We already know how awesome we are! …and for whomever supplied the subscription – thanks, but next year I’ll take Horticulture. Plants tend not to be terribly haughty…

First book down on my Fortnight of Reading Fun. So which did I pick first? Well, I cheated a bit – I had already started Getting Things Done a couple months back on a trip to Philly and was already nearly halfway through.

I’m not a big fan of the self-help book genre – especially those of the “business executive” variety. Fortunately, I’ve heard so many personal positive accounts of the GTD craze that I figured I should at least take a gander – and I’m glad I did. Where many of these types of books just repackage common sense with a bunch of buzzwords and horribly overused clichés, David Allen seemed to avoid this hackneyed approach (although a few of the sidebars are pretty heavy in the tired-speech department) and presented a pretty excellent approach to personal organizational management.

For those who don’t know me well, I’m a typical OCD-crazed organizational freak. I like lists. I like spreadsheets. I like organization. What I found most interesting is that about 75% of the book are things which I’ve learned on my own accord over the last ten or twenty years through extensive refinement of what I found that worked. In other words, if David Allen had provided me this book when I got out of high school almost twenty years ago, I would have been way ahead of the game. Most importantly, this book has given me the final “pieces” of the puzzle that I believe will finally get me as close as humanly possible to organizational nirvana.

So, first book well recommended. While you will likely read a good bit of this and go “duh”, I think it’s comprehensive approach and the attention to details to “Getting Things Done” can be quite life-changing. Considering the number of web sites, software, classes and everything else emblazoned with the GTD meme, I guess I’m not the only one!

Thinking the Corporation is my next action item…