Audio Books on Garmin Nuvi, iPod Touch, and Motorola droid
When the family is traveling with me, the choices are typically not my own. The memorable family audio books of summer were The Cardturner (Oregon trip) by Louis Sachar who also wrote Holes (North Shore trip) which was another selection.
When I'm traveling by myself, it's pretty much all business, especially leadership. I try to select titles, from audible.com, which are one's I'll want to listen to multiple times as I build an audio library and also have a good likelihood of being good listening on drive segments of up to 8 hours by myself.
For my June Moline road trip, I listened to a couple Patrick Lencioni books which were really good: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Three Signs of a Miserable Job. I also got a start on Kouzes and Posners Credibility. For a day trip from Moline to Dubque, I got through most of Kouzes and Posners Encouraging the Heart. Will try to finish it up during the upcoming September Moline road trip.
Speaking of that road trip, I've gotton three more books to round out the estimated 24 hours on the road. From Patrick Lancioni, I've picked up Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars and Death by Meeting. I've read Silos previously. For the Moline to Fargo segment, I've gotten Larry Osborne's Sticky Teams.
I don't know what we'll be listening to during the 12 hours each way between Fargo and the Black Hills. I will lobby to listen to a section of Francis Parkman's 1848 classing, The Oregon Trail. Specificly, the chapters dealing with the Sioux hunting expedition to the Black Hills.
Kindle Books on iPad, Motorola droid
This summer marked my return to reading science fiction after an approximately 30 year hiatus. I've been working my way through The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty First Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois. I like the short story anthology because I can make it through a story in a sitting. My sittings can be several weeks apart and a full book could drag on for a long time. I've been stimulated mentally by the reading which is what brought me back. Sci fi had been a summer staple for me in the 1970s, but I left it behind a few years into college for science and engineering reality.
I've also gotten Francis Chan's Crazy Love, but haven't started it yet. Maybe in the Black Hills...
Old Fashioned Paper on, well, paper
I've finished one patent book and started another in support of my invention and patent portfolio management work activities. The completed book is Invention Analysis and Claiming, Patent Lawyers Guide by Ronald Slutzky. I'm about 100 pages into the 600+ page Patent Law by Janice M Mueller.
During our 2010 North Shore vaction, I made it through two books. The first was Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Garner Dozois and including essays from authors including Isaac Asimov. I have ideas for a numbe rof short stories which I hope to put on paper whenever I get sufficient free time. I m also finding the disciplines and activities needed to generate a good sci fi story also apply to my inventive and futurist activity.
The second, my best read of the summer and maybe the decade was John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life. The last few years I've been trying to answer some questions about career as I look ahead to retirement and more generally, get a game plan for the second half of my life (assuming a long life). I had been reading some books by Bob Buford like Halftime, but he assumes a person has enough money to retire early or enough staff and authority to semi-retire. I'm not quite there. Piper has good theology and practical application which applied nicely to my current life situation. Good for all ages.
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