Five Books

When I was in college I read a lot of books.  Oh sure, there were the books that I HAD to read for college classes but I also read a lot of other books.  I worked as a mechanic at a bowling alley from around 3 PM to 11 PM (or whenever the alley closed).  For the last 5 hours of my shift pretty much all the lanes were being used so there was not a lot of proactive work that could be done (maintenance on the machines).  During those last 5 hours you pretty much waited for something to break down and then you would (run to) fix it.  Between these breakdowns there was not much to do.  Every few months or so we would switch out all the bowling pins (we had 2 sets) and then the massive “cleaning of the pins” took place.  This went on for a week or two and resulted in cramps from the repetitive action used during the process (we had a make shift lathe that we connected the pins to and then proceeded to scuff / clean and then polish the pins).  Other than that though, you killed time during your shift.

There was a TV in the back room but (as you might imagine) the back of the bowling was quite loud.  The TV was hooked up to the cable signal from the bar up front (some 120’ away).  Some mechanic before my time had taken the initiative and ran the wire hooking us up.  The TV we had was in very poor shape.  The CRT screen was sort of sitting in the TV cabinet and mounted about 10’ off the ground in the upper corner of our little mechanics room.  There was no remote for it so channel changing and volume control (as well as on/off) involved a ladder.  That is until another mechanic took a reset button (spares we had from parts for the front ball return) and ran a very long wire along the wall and down to the one chair we had in the room (a very broken down recliner).  We did not have any wire except for the 15” wires we used for the front ball returns.  So, this mechanic, in an attempt not to have to get up and climb a ladder to change the channel had spliced together 40 or so of these wires and we could flip through the channels (going up only as we did not run a wire to the channel down button - there were only 13 channels so this was not a big deal).  Anyway, even with all these creature comforts (did I mention that as an employee we got free cokes and popcorn?) I still got bored with TV.

This was a very good job for me in that I could take those 5 hours and do my studying and homework.  I typically did not have 5 hours of work though so on a good night (where there were few ball return or pin jam issues) so I read books that I got from the local library.  I read both fiction and non fiction with no particular preference (I do remember a great book called something like “How Nintendo Broke Into Our Homes And Enslaved Our Children” – did you know that Nintendo was originally a playing card company and that the first NES had hidden phone jacks {this was pre-internet]?).  I would often have multiple books going at a time.  Some people thought it was odd that I would be reading a half dozen books simultaneously and wondered how I kept track of what was going on in each book.  This is not really that odd I think as people keep track of more TV show plotlines than that (even back then).  I did have to give up reading Stephen King books as the back of a bowling alley at night (when all the lanes are shut off and quiet is a very freaky place without all those scary things going on in your head).

This brings me to the point of this blog, namely the 5 books that I am reading right now.

1. Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind (Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival): I am reading this for work actually.  I have a project where I am studying outsourcing and culture and how it affects my particular area at my company (procurement).  I am about 25% of the way through this one and (though I started fast) I am slowing down.  I do have a deadline for this project (to write a white paper) coming up so I need to make some more progress.  This book was actually recommended to my by my pastor (after I explained the gist of my project).  I bought this book (something I rarely do).
2. David Livingstone: Africa’s Trailblazer: I am reading this out loud to the wife and kids.  We have a series of books about missionaries and this is the 2nd one we are reading.  You can tell they took some liberty with the story but for the most part it is a biography.  It is amazing the courage that some people have, whether driven on by religious faith or other forces.
3. I’ll Mature When I’m Dead: This is the latest book by Dave Barry.  Every so often the wife and I will check out a book by Mr. Barry and take turns reading sections to each other.  We take turns as parts are so funny, it is impossible to breathe, let alone read, due to the insane amount of laughing out loud that we are doing.  This book is no different.  The essay on dogs had us in tears.
4. The Guinea Pig Diaries:  This is the 3rd book I have read by A.J. Jacobs.  I have read “The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World” and “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible”.  This book is a series of smaller experiments (including Project Wimp where he is at the beck and call of his wife for 30 days).  Through all his experiments, he has some great insights on the human condition.
5. The Obamas: The Untold Story of an African Family: I saw a pamphlet at the library where you can check out books on your iPad (among other devices).  We bought the son an iPad (used off of Craig’s List) for his 13th birthday and I have been trying to justify getting another pad device (the HP TouchPad maybe) for myself.  I am trying to use his iPad to do things other than games (like say, my wife, who has a serious addiction to Angry Birds).  I take it to church and use it to look up information for the pastor during Sunday School along with using it as my Bible (iBooks).  I tried to use the maps and GPS during our vacation last week with mixed results.  Anyway, reading a book on the iPad seemed like another way to see if this whole pad thing is for me.  Once I had the app installed, I noticed that almost every book available (there are not that many) were checked out.  This book on the Obamas of Kenya was the first one I found that was available to check out.  I have read one chapter and it is a good book but the iPad is a tad too heavy to use as a book substitute (maybe the TouchPad will be lighter).

I just noticed that I have no fiction in my list.  I am not surprised.  I get on a kick where I read strictly fiction for a while (like say if I discover a new author that I like) and then swing to all non fiction.  Evidently I must be in a non fiction phase at this point in my life.  I do have another book or two that I am in the middle of using the Books 24x7 service that I can access through my company.  These are mostly technical books (Windows 7 Unleashed, SharePoint Designer Step by Step, etc) and I mainly refer to them when I have questions about a feature of some piece of software I am using at the time.

Anyway, there you have it, my current reading list.  I am almost done with books 3 and 4 above so a trip to the library is imminent.  Book 5 is “due” (I have not figured out how to return it just yet) in about a week so I likely will not finish it.  I think I will head to the fiction section though for some balance.

Jon