Try Reading Something Different

Readers all have their favorite genres or topics that they gravitate towards. I think it is a good idea to step outside your "reading" comfort zone from time to time and find somethng "else" to read.

Recently, I picked up Flotsametics and the Floating World which discusses the career of a oceanographer. The book Flotsametics gives insight into beachcoming, gyre patterns and a variety of other interesting topics around ocean drift patterns and floating objects. I also read The American Leonardo, the true story of the legal battles around a painting that may or may not be a Leonardo da Vinci. The book and tale reminds me of the fictional Dickensian novel, Bleak House and the endless legal case - going on and on, with no one being better off at the end.  Perhaps my favorite recent "outside my reading box" book was The Island of Lost Maps, a true story of cartographic crime. I found this an amazingly fascinating true tale.

By stepping out of our reading comfort zone, we may discover new things, explore new ideas, and look at the world with a different perspective.

What are you reading?

Brevity - Short and Sweet

Yesterday, I stumbled across an advertisement for Sundance's institute seeking an editorial and publications coordinator. The amazing word that stood out was brevity.

Brevity is defined by Merriam-Webster's online dictionary as shortness of duration, shortness or conciseness of expression.

Keeping things short is the way of the future. No longer are we seeking Dickens's, three comma sentences. Think or read Bleak House for a real understanding. We have too much to read, or visually stimulate us each day at least during the working hours.

Whether it be written or verbal communications, keeping things short, is the way to go for the business world.

However, at my leisure I truly enjoy a long and lengthy book. I just reread Edward Rutherford's epic novel "London". If you haven't yet read it and have room to read, I highly recommend all 800 pages of it.