Grammar Girl (?!)

Posted by Jack on 09.23.2008 at 3:05 pm

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing is my current read.  Normally I’m more of a classicist, preferring my MLA and Chicago Manual of Style or the wonderful Elements of Style.  Meanwhile, Grammar Girl is the opposite end of the spectrum, appealing to youth or business people who aren’t as interested necessarily in the rote, represented by an avatar, and having made her name via podcasts.  Didn’t sound like necessarily my cup of tea.

However, after she answered a question I had for her on twitter (in regards to the capitalization of the word “minister” in a strange context), I thought I owed her text a chance.

It arrived a few days ago, looking very orange and not overly imposing.  I delved right in and within some 15 minutes I had already found a number of intuitive rules that I knew previously as well as fleshing out those I was definitely confused about.  She even sometimes supports splitting infinitives (Ah! The horror!  Meh, whatever… I’m OK with it).

In any event, for the casual writer or anyone who wants to improve their written communication (especially those Wall St. suits that are busy making resumes?  Man am I glad I got out of there when I did…) this is a solid addition to your bookshelf.

1 Comment » | Tagged Book Reviews, Book Reviews, editing, grammar girl, manuals of style

Randy Pausch – Lux Perpetuam

Posted by admin on 07.25.2008 at 9:56 am

Randy Pausch, notable computer science teacher at Carnegie Mellon died today, finally succumbing to the pancreatic cancer that he knew would take his life eventually.  Pausch, perhaps more known for his inspirational Last Lecture, given on September 18th 2007 (and subsequently published), was 47 years old.

From the AP –

The talk was videotaped and subsequently criss-crossed the world via the Internet. More than 3.2 million people had viewed the “Last Lecture” on YouTube alone as of Friday, and according to Carnegie Mellon, tens of millions have watched Pausch’s inspirational talk.

“If I don’t seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you,” said Pausch, the married father of three young children, at the start of the lecture.

He focused in his talk not on his illness but on “my childhood dreams; how I believe I have been able to enable the dreams of others; and, to some degree, lessons learned… how you can use the stuff you hear today to pursue your dreams or enable the dreams of others.”

Pausch outlined his own childhood dreams, which included writing a World Book Encyclopedia entry, experiencing zero gravity and creating Disney attractions — all dreams that were fulfilled…

“If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself,” Pausch said. “The dreams will come to you.”

The talk spawned a book, called “The Last Lecture,” which was translated into 30 languages and topped best-seller lists around the world.

The book was an attempt by Pausch “to put myself in a bottle that will one day wash up on the beach for my children,” he was quoted as saying by Carnegie Mellon.

Here we have the hardcover (and large print) + audio CD.

Have your say » | Tagged Book & Author News, Book Reviews, audio book, Book & Author News, Book Reviews, last lecture, lux perpetuam, randy pausch

San Francisco, Get Ready!

Posted by admin on 06.27.2008 at 2:39 pm

Many people will be coming to San Francisco this weekend, on the small scale for the uber-fun (or uber-hated depending on how you feel about bikes vs. cars respectively) Critical Mass and of course, Pride 2008 (which should be particularly colorful considering the recent victory for gay marriage in the state of California).

If you plan on navigating the streets, as they will be full of bikers and floats, I suggest you peer through some literature first, so you don’t try to cross Market St. too many times…

You could start here but to get deeper in, may I suggest:

You’re going to want to take notes and file your pictures away.  If you want to access the city and do that the Moleskine Notebook series is amazing (the notebook of Hemingway and Picasso, notably).  They have one for most major US cities.

SF, what is it known for more than restaurants?  The food here is awesome, but you’ll need help figuring out where on earth to go.  Zagat‘s is still the standard on this front.  I would definitely Yelp when you get a little more clear on what you’re looking for, but the long thing maroon book is still the starting point, no question.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, Lonely Planet is amazing.  Get the SF one here.

Oh, and if you wanna stop by, the ultracool betterworld.com team is here in the Bay, leave a comment with your email, maybe we can go get a drink.

Have your say » | Tagged Book Reviews, ayanna grady, Book Reviews, tananarive due