Ever since learning of the passing of John le Carre, the celebrated British author, and creator of fictional characters like George Smiley, I have been in a shroud of sadness. After tossing and turning last night, I woke up early and went for a walk. It was very cold in San Francisco (by San Francisco … Continue reading Our sadness is really selfishness
Paul Kedrosky’s Charts Newsletter had this wonderful graphic highlighting the increasing woes of traditional media formats, thanks to millennials and GenZ. However, things don’t look bad for one category: books. Kids (and older kids) are still reading books at a decent clip, and perhaps will continue to do so, mostly it is a good antidote … Continue reading Books! Books! Books!
It has been 50 years this month since Alvin and Heidi Toffler published their book, Future Shock. The Tofflers have since passed on to the next plane. However, they have left behind a work, that is amazingly prescient, especially when seen in the context of the current pandemic and its impact on society. “The future … Continue reading Future Shocked
I was counting sheep jumping over a fence, trying hard to get some sleep. After about 40 jumps, I gave up and turned on my iPad to do some reading. I ended up on Dave Winer’s blog. He was talking about Herb Caen columns. I clicked and went to the San Francisco Chronicle website, where … Continue reading Harold Robbins
These are my picks for the year, which admittedly was light on reading on my part. I spent way too much time wandering around with my camera and didn’t pick up the books often enough. I bought about 27 books and I finished sixteen. Rest were pretty average and some were plain rubbish. I was … Continue reading Books I Love: 2017 edition
As an avid reader, I am often amazed how much of our written materials are about the past (or the near past) and the future (and the near future) but never about the present. Is present too boring? Or is too real? Or is it too incomplete to merit a careful and long deliberation. Continue reading “We need more books about the present”
Matt MacInnis is the co-founder and CEO of Inkling Systems. He started the digital publishing company after leaving Apple. The rumors of the iPad might have had something to do with his decision. Introduction Almost every day I wonder why the book hasn’t been reinvented. New technologies have helped us make the publishing process and … Continue reading Matt MacInnis
The new year is almost two weeks old, and frankly I am not doing too well with my to-do list. I have lost my ability to sleep (again) and despite my best efforts, I have been clocking about 3.5 miles a day of walking. I need to get a move on — literally and figuratively. … Continue reading The Cleanup
I stumbled across this video of Kathy Ryan, director of photography at The New York Times Magazine talking about how she found and fell in love with the light and shadow play inside the new New York Times building. The building was designed by Renzo Piano and photos were all taken on her sixth floor office. … Continue reading Office Romance
Nobody on the road Nobody on the beachI feel it in the air The summer’s out of reach — Boys of Summer, Don Henley This song, which is less about summer and more a metaphor about aging and the futility of time, will forever acts as a soundtrack for the end of sunny, bright and … Continue reading The End of Summer
