Category Archives: books

automotive, books, Entrepreneurship, Literature, Software Development, Technology

Current Reading List – Feb 2012

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It has been a good many years since I have posted about my current reading list, so I thought it was about time to fire off another one. These are the books started, completed, being read or on my short-list to start (or in one case re-read) in the month of February.


The 4-Hour Workweek (completed)

I found this book amazingly insightful. Regardless of how much you implement in your own career, it’s a fantastic tome. Those I’ve gifted the book too have all said they really found it useful, interesting and a true paradigm shift in how they view life, career, family and finding a new balance between them that suits you!.

Tim laid out his own struggles in great candor, failures in life time management and how he found a way to over-come all of them. The book is also filled with testimonials from readers of his first edition. If you’re finding that you want more out of your life, struggling with the concept of retirement and wondering what you’ll do when you retire, this book may upset your world, but hopefully in do some will show you some options you might not have considered. Give this a read!


Design of Design (finishing up)
Over the many years in the role of software designer (originally trained in the 80’s, which is my biggest challenge to overcome), there has always been a nagging sense that some part of the process was not working for me. I adjusted, tried other methods, made adaptions, but the old Rational Model (aka Waterfall) of design always seemed to fail me. Now, I understand why! It’s a BAD MODEL. Dr. Frederick Brooks (father of the IBM 360) and now professor at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, rips open the old concepts in this book of his essays on design.

Covering a variety of other design methodologies, this book is not only a theoretical read, but an empirical one. Many real-world examples of design program successes and failures are laid out, almost in a case study format. This is been a very educational read. Lessons learned from this book have been put into place in current projects, and the results are already starting to be seen. Now I just need to start educating my staff and colleagues on these findings. Recommended.


The Creative Priority
I originally read this book in the last 90’s and found it very useful in understanding the creative process. What drives creatives and how to foster a creative culture. Sadly, over the hears of the Dot-Bomb meat-grinder cultural immersion, these concepts and skills have been lost. So, I’m pulling this one back off the shelf for a re-read. I plan to report on it soon.


Cassandra High Performance Cookbook
This is the latest addition to the list, having just arrived this weekend. I’m currently running a project to investigate the suitability of Cassandra to solve problems in a client’s current relational database solution (see my previous post about Cassandra for background).

This book was recommended by the primary authors and maintainers of Cassandra. I look forward to cracking this open and going head-first into this technology.

books, Literature, Politics

Requiem for a Radical – the Left Life of Fey Stender

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Sleep did not come easy last night, so I decided to crack open my new book “Destruction Generation – Second thoughts about the 60’s“.

Having grown up in the Bay Area (California, for those few East coasters that think they matter) during the 60’s and 70’s the topic of the first books chapter was incredibly interesting.

It talks about attorney Fey Stender, who infamously defended Huey Newton and George Jackson, members of the Oakland based Black Panthers. I remember those times well. When the Panthers were able to march the streets of Oakland, in roving bands of armed pseudo-militia. Monitoring the police. Since my grand parents lived just a little north of Oakland, I vividly recall my young imagination running a little wild with fear encountering them in our travels around some of the less desirable parts of the East Bay.

The more I read, the more learned about how this woman even directly affected my life! She was responsible for the landmark decision during this time to abolish the California law banning husbands in the delivery room. Gee.. THANKS lady.

The chapter was full of names I knew, like Betty Ann Bruno, and Angela Davis. Talk about taking me back to my childhood.

It’s full of information from people there at that time, living, breathing, fighting and dying for the Revolution. She ran with some of the most radical communist groups and personalities of the times. What I didn’t know, was how many of these groups splintered and re-formed over and over again trying to attain some sort of relevance. Once such group was “Revolutionary Union“ (now known as the Revolutionary Communist Party USA), which after a botched attempt by George Jackson’s son to hijack a plane to Cuba, which resulted in the death of a Judge, his son and two other prisoners, splintered part into the “Venceremos Brigade” which eventually splintered again and re-formed as the infamous “Symbionese Liberation Army“ which kidnapped Patty Hurst.

But there were other shocking revolutions in the book. An area just a few miles southwest of where I grew up was described this way:

Agents had infiltrated the Panthers and Jackson’s “army”. As well as a training area, the Santa Cruz Mountains had become a killing ground, where the burned corpses of “soldiers” thought to have been informers were hastily buried, leaving shards of bone in full view.

Even today, some areas in those mountains ARE NOT places to go wandering around. As recently as two years ago myself and 2 friends were nearly jumped by some ‘hillbillies’ (for lack of a better description) while riding motorcycles on a public road near their mountain homes. Strange things go on in those mountains.

There were associations with other radical groups including the Weathermen (which, as it turns out is the next chapter in the book).

In the end, for all the had work Fey Stender did to free Huey Newton and other Panthers, on May 28, 1979 the past caught up with her, and the very people she spent so much time fighting to help, put out a hit. At 1:20 AM and she was gunned down in her Berkley Home, the gunman asking her “Don’t you feel you betrayed George Jackson?”. She survived the shooting, becoming paralyzed from the waist down and in chronic pain from the 5 bullet wounds, finally taking her own life 6 months with sleeping pills, in Hong Kong.

The chapter included many interviews with people who were there at the time, both prime agents in the cause and those moving around the peripheral. So far it’s been an interesting, informative and compelling read. So far, I’m glad I didn’t put too much stock in the New Republic’s review of this book.

books, Economy, Literature, Software Development

Corporation or LLC – that is the question.

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I’ve always been one that is not at all comfortable relying upon a single source of financial well being. Since the early 80’s in one form or another I’ve owned and operated a business.

Early on I have a little Electronics sales business selling Cell Phones to the well-healed during it’s hayday. It was fantastic. Hardly work, get paid well, and live La Vita Loca.

I’d take a number of odd jobs during that time, driving computer mag tapes around Silicon Valley, installing car audio systems, systems administrator for a large multi-national corporation, Y2K mitigation for a number of organizations (not the least strange of which was the California Department of Corrections).

At any rate, as I said, I’m not one that’s comfortable with a single source of income, so I’ve been investigating business structures to determine what my next organization will look like.

I have plenty of experience being the President and CEO of a corporation, having ran one from 2000 to 2006. The structure offers a lot of advantages, such as dividing income between corporate tax concerns and personal tax concerns. Corporations also have the advantage of having ownership interest in other organizations. But there are also some disadvantages, not the least of which is very strict requirements and regulations on annual meeting, IRS and state tax filings, additional book keeping to track basis and stock ownership (plus managing different classes of stock).

I was really more of a burden than a blessing to myself, which is to a large degree why I terminated operation in 2006 and became a W-2 wage slave.

Since that time a number of interesting ideas have popped into my head. One of which are some software product ideas for the iPhone.

My intent at this point is to move forward on development of 2 concepts. One of which will have a pretty limited market, the other, I hope, to have a much wider market, and is a type of social networking application. The second of which I hope to see wide spread usage. The plan, is for the first app to fund development of the second. That is the plan.

Before I cut my first line of code, I wanted to know what type of organization I wanted to create. I need to have my business licenses in place, before I complete the Apple Developers Contract. They are quite clear that it won’t be approved for any shoddily / hastily created pseudo-company.

I’ve done some reason on the Secretary of State’s website, checked a few of the fee structures, and such, but my primary source of research on the business organization from has been from the book “LLC or Corporation – How to Choose the Right Form for Your Business“. Author is Anthony Mancuso, Attorney.

It’s not a long read, about 250 pages, which I spend the last 5 evenings digesting. It’s rather repetitive, which was a little frustrating for me, initially. However, having completed the book I can understand at least one reason for it’s repetitive nature. If anyone were to pick up the book and *not* read the entire thing (why would you do that, well, sometimes I’ve been guilty of poaching the parts of books I need without taking the time to digest the entire tome) they would still get the frame of reference required to get useful information on the topic of interest. I’d say, it’s a modern writing method for the more ADHD nature of our society. In the end, it’s worth dealing with the repetitiveness. It has it’s place.

Another helpful part of this book is extensive use of examples. More than once I’d read the example 2-3 times to really grok the point, and that was very helpful. The last chapter is also dedicated to some ‘real-world-ish’ examples of business formation decision making. All in all, it was well worth the $25.00 price tag.

So, what did I decide to do? Well, an LLC is the type that I’ve decided to select for a number of reasons, but the primary ones I’ll list here:

  • Simplicity of formation
  • Limited personal liability for company debt
  • Pass-through tax advantages (this sword cuts both ways though)
  • Fewer operational requirements (no board of directors, meetings, etc.)
  • Simpler tracking of each owners basis in the company

So, with my new company name selected, and my form of business decided, it’s time to move forward with foundation of the company.

You know I’ll be sure to post information on that once the State registration has been completed any my licenses granted, EIN number acquired, and finally the domain names registered.

Aviation, books, Military, Politics, travel

Book: “Touching History” – untold story of 9/11

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I’m a fairly avid reader, seldom without at least one book to read. In fact I have two I’m working through right now. And by working through, I mean, working. Both of these A Beautiful Math and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information are pretty technical in nature, so they are not a typical casual evening read.

Digressing, while fighting off a nasty cold, I took in a little television time on Saturday, the 9th Anniversary of that terrible day in New York City. Obviously there was little on the national broadcast crap-fest, nor the typical brain-dead cable fare to tide me over. But, I flipped onto CSPAN (a guilty pleasure, I’ll admit) and caught most of the 3 hour panel hosted by Lynn Spencer, a commercial airline pilot, whom wrote the book Touching History, The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11.

I was a fascinating panel discussion. The first panel was comprised of FAA and ATC personnel that were on the front line that morning, trying to sort out disaster, land nearly 5000 planes, and re-route the remaining International flights to other countries. The second panel was comprised of commercial pilots flying when the attack happened, and Air Force pilots that had to intercept countless commercial jets, with orders to shoot if they did not comply.

Stories of a airport in Canada that was stacked 30 planes deep, fighter squadrons recalled from a training mission to be re-armed and then briefed on the rules of engagement for shooting down passenger aircraft, pilots that saw the planes hit the buildings while they were trying to land, others simple told to ‘get out of the area, just leave’.

It was a moving 3 hours of television. I felt compelled to go find this book, but sadly, our local book store (I’m not even sure why I waste my time at Barnes and Noble) did not carry it. I know I can get it online, but I’d like to spend my money local, and support stores that carry books such as this.

When I do get the book in my hands, I will be sure to read, and post my thoughts. In the mean time, you might look into it as well. If the book is anything like the articulate author I watched on TV, I’m pretty confident that I will not be disappointed.

UPDATE: 23-SEP-2010
Try as I might, absolutely no luck in finding the book in a brick-and-mortar store. Too many ‘Vampire Stories’ filling the shelves. A rather sad commentary on America’s literary tastes. Not all is lost, the book is in transit as I speak from an online e-tailer. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll be sure to blog when I’ve started to read.

Looks like it will be here sooner than estimated!

Lynn Spencer "Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11"
    Previous estimated arrival date: October 07 2010 - October 15 2010
    New estimated arrival date: September 29 2010 - October 02 2010
Aviation, books, Military

Book: “Forever Flying” – Autobiography of Bob Hoover

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I recently complete reading this fascinating book. I’ve always been a big fan of Bob Hoover, having seen him fly at countless air shows. Over the last few decades, I’ve heard some pretty amazing stories about this guy and his life, including his direct involvement in the X-1 project (where we broke the sound barrier, for those non-aviation types). Most you have likely heard of Chuck Yeager. Well, Bob was his back-up guy, on the project. Had he not nearly lost his legs in a crash during the program, he’d have likely been the 2nd guy (maybe the first) to do it.

But, it turns out that was just the tip of this great man, this hero’s, incredible life in aviation. Bob basically tough himself how to fly, became one of a rare few enlisted that earned their wings during WWII, spent a lot of time flying Spitfires in Europe and Africa, received numerous flying medals.

I don’t want to spoil the read, and give away any of the amazing stories told in this book, a fair portion of it from the point of view of the pilots that flew with him. Excerpts from their diaries and letters home provide some very unique, and amusing perspectives on his incredible life in aviation.

Some of the most striking stories from the book:

  • Flying a bomber off a beach
  • Getting arrested in Russia, at the height of the Cold War
  • His first ‘dogfight’ with Chuck Yeager in the skies over Ohio
  • Test piloting the first jets developed by the United States
  • Flying the F-86 in combat over Korea, as a civilian
  • Being shot down and captured by the Germans in WWII
  • His amazing escape from Stalag I

If you are at all any sort of aviation nut, this is a MUST READ book. After reading it, I had visited the Boeing Museum of Flight (where I’ve been many times), except this time a lot of the ‘other’ displays about aviation greats were people I’d read about in his book. It’s impacts go beyond Bob himself. It just goes to show what an important part of US aviation he played.