Recently, I bought a copy of
Wil Wheaton's book
Just A Geek.
I've read one chapter so far. And I have to say:
great book.
This has to be one of the most insightful, brutally honest books I've ever seen.
It's also funny. Here's a little snippet, recalling his first-ever book signing:
... a guy walked over to me, and extended his hand.
"Hi, Wil," he said, "I'm Tim O'Reilly."
HOLY MO-- WIL! IT'S TIM O'REILLY!! HE CAME OUT TO SEE YOU!
Before I could scream out, "I KNOW! I KNOW! I KNOW! GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY!" my brain said, "Stay cool, Wil. Don't geek out."
I heeded my brain's advice . . . "It's really nice to meet you," I said. . .
Check me out. I totally behaved myself.
"Nicely done," said my brain. "Have some serotonin."
Wil talks a lot about his two inner voices: his totally-honest self, and the voice he calls
Prove To Everyone Quitting Star Trek Wasn't A Bad Idea, or just Prove To Everyone for short.
I think we all have some of Prove To Everyone in us. Especially Americans, and free software hackers, where competition and, well, proving onesself are expected.
It's time to loosen up a bit.
I'm going to enjoy the rest of this book.
Have you ever wondered why so many Arabs hate Americans? Why they view us as occupiers? Why they want to be rid of both Saddam Hussein and us?
We watched
Control Room tonight. What a fascinating documentary. There was no narration. Just journalists talking. Arab journalists, American journalists, Pentagon spokesmen. Lots of different viewpoints. Lots of insight.
It was hard to watch at times -- they showed footage of how events were covered in different countries, and it was graphic sometimes. They also showed the journalists talking about why they covered things in a certain way.
It was very moving, and thought-provoking.
Sometimes it is useful to have a view from an outsider (to America) or an insider (to the Middle East).
Comments
Sat, 06.09.2008 01:00
Anything is fixable in the sam e sense that any turing compli ant programming language can d o what any other TC lang [...]
Fri, 05.09.2008 22:14
Sarah has her doctor, the doct or is in Wasilla, AK, which is 810 miles away from Junuea, w here she lives in the Go [...]
Fri, 05.09.2008 16:22
Anything is fixable. It might be hard, but it is doable. Every country has its problem s, too. There is no pan [...]
Fri, 05.09.2008 14:38
I always find it funny reading or hearing people talk about how one side (e.g. Republicans ) are all talk but don't [...]
Fri, 05.09.2008 02:07
Republicans give lip service t o freedom and liberty but usua lly deliver a fascist form of socialism. Democrats tal [...]
Fri, 05.09.2008 00:43
First off, you mentioned "the Republicans know that their po licies aren't working" which i sn't actually true. The [...]
Fri, 05.09.2008 00:00
Though I ride to work in nothi ng like hurricane winds, I hav e been using an electric bike and it really helps figh [...]
Thu, 04.09.2008 21:23
Except that the Democrats aren 't talking about ending war, t hey are just looking to shift focus from Iraq to Afgha [...]