May 20, 2008
Why reading?
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Are you ready to take on risks? Are you ready to change your life and the way others see you? Are you able to rejig your priorities, sacrifice things you hold dear for the potential of something better?
Books can change the way you live your life, even the person you are. I have been inspired by a book recently, and, along with other events, it made me do a complete U-turn in some aspects of my life. I received a book in a bookcrossing bookbag, not even directed at me personally. The book, Is there a book in you? has changed the way I live.
I have a normal job and a relatively normal life, but this book sparked the idea that I should try to write a novel - just because then I will know if I can do it. I can’t write, so I set up a blog to practice writing quality content, which led to this one. Then I ran into trouble with my work, and thought naturally about getting extra employment through blogging and freelance medical writing. So that led to another blog, to prove my medical writing credentials. What about my novel? Well. I have written less than 10% of what I am aiming for, and it is all jumbled, so that I can’t even give it to my husband to read. But if I don’t try now, I will never know if I can.
How has reading changed your life?
May 20, 2008
What to Read, Why reading?
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Books vs. Blogs « Marketing Integrity
I realized today that I have spent more time reading in the past 6-months than normal, concentrating on blogs rather than on books….Historically, I have consumed information on business and career topics from books. Now…not so much.
This is an interesting article about the change in the role of literature over time, especially as technology develops. The author contends that he reads blogs far more than books now. He is talking from the point of view of non-fiction, business type blogs (I suspect, given the title of his blog). However, I think it has sparked an interesting discussion in the comments.
For me, there are two types of reading. First, there is the type of reading that this blog focusses on - reading to expand who you are, and experience the world. That is much better done in books (or perhaps maybe E-book readers, although no good ones work in Australia, so I am not an expert on that).
There is also “work reading.” This includes marketing, business, current events and all that stuff. This sort of reading is much more applicable to blogs. Blogs form sort of radio programs, or television sound bites - you tune in for the segments you are interested in, and then tune out when something more important comes up. I think we need to remember that people who read posts like the one above, are likely to be much more immersed in the internet information sea, and the blogosphere than the rest of us.
What do you think: Will literature enter the blogosphere? Do you read your fiction in blogs? Do you read blogs to relax? What is the role of blogs vs printed books?
(Via Tweet from Darren Rowse (Problogger).)
May 15, 2008
Finding books
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I have some friends who have released a free PDF of a book on their site. It is a How to Manual for using photoshop and is excellent quality. This book has previously only been for purchase, but they are nice enough to make it free for download for a short time only.
Download a free book now!