Been Writing …
Been Writing …
For the past few days I’ve been hammering out a screenplay treatment with my co-author from the Serious Games book. It was slow going for a while, but last night I created a 3-act, scene-by-scene outline that seems at least workable. 4800 words in 23 “scenes”, making it one of my most productive writing days in a while. We’ll see how much of it still looks “workable” in the light of day.
-David
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Stopped Reading …
Stopped Reading …
Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques (2nd Edition) by Steve Nison. Evidently, this book first came out in the early 1990′s when the West (meaning, the USA) quavered at the thought of Japanese takeover of everything. And, therefore, anything that purported to be “how the Japanese do it” would garner lots of attention. Because this book is a complete waste of time. Full of colorful names for so-called patterns and lots of purportedly Japanese “wisdom”–and lots of self-promotion by the author–the book falls far short of its reputation. If you learn anything about technical analysis from this book, it’s your own fault, not the author’s.
So I’ve moved to the next book on my stack from the library: Dark Star by Alan Furst.
-David
Now Reading…
Now Reading…
Take on the Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don’t Want You to Know by Arthur Levitt. Part of my continuing financial education.
I liked The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. In fact, I’m planning to buy my own copy to keep around. I suspect I’ll want to re-read it. Though I suppose if I wanted to re-read it, I could just check it out again… (frugal thinking kicks in, thwarting my plans to help the US economy)
I don’t agree with everything in the book. In fact, the author sometimes gives examples that his own tendency would be to reject, based on what he’s said prior to the example. Sometimes the book comes across like a rant against a narrow segment of the finance/economic system, especially “experts”.
Overall, though, I think The Black Swan has a collection of good points. First, that we shouldn’t trust forecasts and predictions. Second, that the world is a much more random place than we appreciate. And, third, because we can scarcely understand the impact of randomness on our current lives, that we should resist the urge to see simplistic “causes” for past history and events.
-David
Now Reading …
Now Reading …
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
-David
Now Reading …
Now Reading …
Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett.
Because The Painted Veil was recommended by a friend who wanted to discuss the ending, I’ve put more thought than usual into this book. Here’s what I wrote to my friend:
Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t read the book, and plan to, stop reading.
I think I liked the last half of the book much better than the first half. In fact, I think much of the first half of the book could be edited down by a significant percentage without adversely affecting the overall story.
It’s a very modern story. I agree with you about the author’s frank assessments of his characters. But aren’t those Kitty’s assessments, rather? That is, that’s how she saw those people. She saw them as they were, but (mostly) pretended not to. And she tried to present to those people what they expected to see, instead of who she really was. That’s the nature of the “painted veil”, neh?
The ending seems (to borrow a word from someone else) “appropriate to the story”.
She had tried to remove the veil for Townsend, but found that he refused to see her except as he wanted to see her. And he certainly didn’t see himself the way she tried to make him see himself. And she found that she was still veiling a part of herself to herself…the part that was still attracted to Townsend.
Fane was dead–also refusing to really see her, and absolutely refusing to allow anyone to really see him. Her mother died. Her sister had a life totally separate now.
That left her father. Her last connection with her past. And they had almost no connection at all. So she decided to try to build one.
That’s my impression of the story.
On further discussion, I added:
I think the first half is harder to read because it’s not written as well.
As for liberated by exposure…meh. She was liberated by deprivation. What she had was taken away. What she saw after that, she wasn’t a part of. Not even part of her family.
I thought her plans for the baby were interesting. Very forward thinking. And probably doomed. But it didn’t seem out of place.
-David
Now Reading…
Now Reading…
The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham. A friend recommend it.
Trading for a Living by Dr. Alexander Elder proved … informative. It was very dry in parts, but the book did open up the world of trading for me. I have requested some other trading-related books from the library. I’m slowly forming an idea of what kind of investing/trading I’m interested in.
-David