I haven't updated about the books I've been reading recently. So here is a catch up post.

These may not appear in the order I read them, but it will be approximately correct.

Collapse - Jared Diamond
Diamond discusses several ancient civilizations and explores why they failed. He defines a set of causes from which a civilization can fail from any single cause or from a conglomeration of causes. One of the most popular reasons for a civilization to fail is poor resource management. For example the mysterious lost peoples of Easter Island cut down all of their trees. They no longer had wood available for building fires, homes, or boats. The loss of trees allowed for rapid soil erosion causing crops to fail. Eventually the entire civilization disappeared. He then explores these same factors in several modern societies and what they are doing to hurt or improve their situation.
At the end he discusses things we can do to prevent from destroying ourselves as these many other civilizations have done. He actually ends up with a similar thread as "Fast Food Nation"; which is that big corporations can bring change incredibly more quickly than any government regulations can. If you don't like what a company is doing tell them so and organize a group that will boycott their goods until they change. If you can get a large enough group together they will change rather rapidly (given a reasonable request). So vote with your money and not with your mouth.

The Age of Napoleon - Alistair Horne
I picked this one up in the bargain corner of the BYU Bookstore. It was only a couple of bucks so I thought it might be worth it. It wasn't terribly well written. It attempted to cover Napoleon's influence on things non-military oriented. So there was no discussion of battles or campaigns, except incidentally as they affected his ruling. It as sort of interesting, but I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to read it.

How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling - Frank Bettger
This one I purchased on the advice of a Board writer. I have no interest in selling or learning to become a salesperson, however, Olympus recommended it regardless of that fact. So I gave it a read. It could use a thorough editing and revision, but since Bettger was not a writer by trade and I'm sure is dead by now (born in 1888) I doubt it will be happening. Anyways, it contains some interesting anecdotes about his life. He went from a failed baseball player to one of the best insurance salesman ever. One thing I liked about it is that he specifically refused to try or use any tactic that he felt was a "trick" to get the client to buy. He thrived on honesty and building lasting relationships with his clients rather than fast talking and slippery contracts. He discusses a number of things to do that will keep you organized and motivated which can be applied to any trade. If you have some spare time and feel like learning a little bit, I'd recommend reading it.

A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet - Madeleine L'Engle
Josh has these sitting on the bookshelf in the living room and I was bored one day so I started reading through them. I know I read "A Wrinkle in Time" for school at some point, but it's been many years. I still enjoyed that one, but the other two really weren't as good as I was hoping. L'Engle really isn't that great of a writer. She reuses the same plot devices in each of the books. In every single one the night of the events has a mysteriously strong storm that arises. A new mysterious stranger (an other-worldly creature) arrives to the Murry residence to take some of the kids on an adventure to save the world. But if you let yourself ignore some of the poorly used plot devices the storylines themselves are decent and enjoyable, more or less.

Besides another technical book , "Harnessing Hibernate", which I won't bore you with a discussion of, I think that's all the reading I've been able to do recently. I'm in the middle of "Foundation and Empire" by Isaac Asimov right now. I've also had "The Life of Pi" recommended to me, and one of these days I need to get around to reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

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