Rereading, and Derek Sivers’ Hell Yeah or No

Halfway through December, I received my signed copy of Hell Yeah Or No. A good motive to re-read the book.

Derek Sivers - Hell Yeah or No - book cover

I had already read the ebook. I purchased the same offer: an ebook and a signed paper copy. Given the work Derek has put into producing and distributing the signed hardcover version, I cannot imagine he made much money on it.

I seldomly re-read books. But this one is definitely in the re-reading category. As a sidenote, my re-reading category includes: Gerrit Krol (Dutch writer (probably one of the first people writing on Artificial Intelligence in De Man Achter Het Raam (1982!), definitely in the Netherlands, but probably also internationally), Douglas Coupland, Haruki Murakami, Tom Peters (not everything, but definitely The Little Big Things).

Scott Young’s blog – learning 3.0

One of the blogs I read regularly is the one by Scott Young. Scott got some fame by arranging his university degree online for a few thousand dollars. This was unheard of, especially in the US, where the costs for a college degree have gone totally out of hand.

Scott has been writing his blog for a very long time now and keeps coming up with interesting thoughts on learning and other things.

Scott also wrote the book Ultralearning about effective learning.

Kim Gordon – Girl In A Band

Somewhere on the great Interweb, I found a review of Girl In A Band by Kim Gordon. I did not know the book. It had disappointed this reader. Nevertheless, I purchased the book, being a long-term lover of Sonic Youth and curious about Kim Gordon’s life.

Girl in a Band by Kim Godon - book cover

I found the book very good. Nice details describing Kim’s environment, household things, stuff, music. Written in a loose style. The edition of the book I have – the pocket edition with the orange cover – is a bit grungy. A nice fit with the black and white pictures in the book.

Kim Gordon sketches an entertaining and informative image of punk-rock life in the 80s, 90s and 00s. There seems to be no end to the progress of Sonic Youth, until Thurston Moore falls into an affair with fortune hunter Eva Prinz (the name is not in the book, but it required little research to find out).

The tone turns from melancholic, in the description of her schizophrenic brother, to disillusioned in her marriage with Thurston Moore.

Beautiful book and woman, strange.

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The Art of Doing – have a vision, persevere, collaborate

The Art of Doing by Camille Sweeney & Josh Gosfield was recommended here and there, so I put it on my list. The book turned out to be different than what I expected—not in a negative way. I had expected a self-help book with chapter-by-chapter advice. Instead, every chapter shares 10 learning points from the achievements of high-flyers in a wide variety of professions. The list of these people goes from author Stephen Dubner to tennis champion Martina Navratinova to soprano Anna Netrebko.

The Art Of Doing

A few common threads emerge among these people. All have a vision, persevere through bad times, and are collaborative. None of them are psychotic “leaders” you typically find in large bureaucratic organizations or egomaniac attention-seeking media addicts. All are driven by a why. All are hardworking and humble.

My highlights:

Martina Navratilova: don’t specialize, dream big, practice and exercise (do the work).

Simon Doonan (I didn’t know who he was before reading the book – Simon is a world-famous window dresser): Go Niche, be the best at something.

Tony Hsieh: discover your values (first).

Mark Frauenfelder (by far the best entry in the book!): Make the blog that doesn’t exist, Be original, get an attitude, Don’t bullshit (don’t waste people’s time), mix things, find unexpected things.