Summer Holiday Reading

I was fortunate to spend two full weeks at my family cottage this summer. It has been a few years since I have been able to spend two full weeks there and I found that it makes a big difference. One week feels like three days while two weeks feels like three weeks. You need those extra days to slow down from the city pace and not try to fill every day with activity before it is time to go home.

I enjoy the time at the cottage as an opportunity to some uninterupted reading while not too tired (as compared to bedtime reading). I always try to do some "work reading" and some recreational reading. My work reading was "What Would Google Do" by Jeff Jarvis. I found it to be a rambling piece with the author often repeating himself. However, it was enlightening for me on the impact of the internet on business. The author suggests ways in which Google's business model can be applied to other businesses,including real estate. It is worth a read. A new book that likely covers some of this same territory is Free:The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson (he is referred to by Jarvis in his book). For more info, and reviews by other readers, google the title!

My "recreational" reading was Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson with David Relin. It tells of Mortenson's efforts to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, beginning in the mid 1990s. Reading this book helps to build an understanding of what is happening in those countries with the Taliban and the Islamic extremists. Mortenson tells an interesting anecdote of going to pay his respects on the death of Mother Teresa ending up by himself in a room with her body. The book wasn't as "recreational" a read as often do over the holidays but well worthwhile.