Saturday was for doing items on my list. I filed, did laundry, cleaned house and organized my Christmas card materials. Due to my computer crash back in April, I lost all the data for the address labels. I'll be putting that in over the next couple of weeks if I can spare the time from NaNoWriMo.
In a comment some time back, Frenzied Feline asked what non-fiction books could I recommend. Here are two. Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz and The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman.
I just finished Sync, and I recommend it highly. Strogatz, an expert mathematician in the fields of chaos and complexity theory, writes a lively book about the math behind the synchrony of fireflies, fads, the orbits of the planets, traffic jams and more. Don't be scared off because the book is about math. You won't find a single equation in the whole book. Instead he uses plenty of examples drawn from our lives. It's well worth reading. (I must mention that he gives the strangest explanations of how lasers work that I've ever read. His explantion involves watermelons ...)
The World is Flat is also worth reading, but you will find it disturbing as Friedman explains how globalization will change -- and is already changing -- America. He discusses the explosion in corporations out-sourcing to India and China and how this out-sourcing will continue to grow due to advances in digital communications. The book paints a bleak picture of the future for many low-income and middle-income jobs in the United States. Friedman argues that we should embrace this globalization and plan for it. He sees it as a good thing, but does discuss some of the problems. The main thing I came away with was that this was going to happen whether we liked it or not. Read the book, and we'll discuss.
I spent most of today working on my family newsletter and helping my roommate install a new garage door motor. And now I'm heading for bed. Night all. Have a great week.
5 comments:
"The World Is Flat," sounds just a bit depressing, Tech. I think everyone would be wise to update their current skills and maybe pick up a few others.
I thought it was depressing, too, because I know a lot of people who have jobs threatening by outsourcing. Many of them barely get by, work two jobs and have no time or resources to gain other skills.
MATH?! SCARY! :)
I've not read the book, but I know several people who have been out-sourced out of a job. They worked in a call center in Dallas. They didn't have many job skills and are having a bad time of it in this economy.
Exactly, Gloria. I also know a lot of people who depend on the jobs that are going overseas.
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