Browsing Tag: books

    Miscellany

    10 Years Late & Well Worth the Wait

    April 25, 2013

    moneyball-bobYou could say I’m a little behind in my reading and watching lists.

    I just now finished Moneyball — the Michael Lewis book about baseball and the Oakland A’s. It was published in 2003 and I’d always wanted to read it. But just never got around to it.

    I think my son bought it a year or two ago at a school book sale, or something like that (Sean?), and he read it first. He said it was really good — and he was right! We saw the movie last year, and it was pretty true to the book, but (as is always the case), the book is better than the movie. Super glad I finally read Moneyball.

    I also recently finished watching something even older: Band Of Brothers. Holy crap, how great is that miniseries??!!??

    That came out in 2001 and I’d heard a zillion people over the years saying it was great, but never watched it until now. For about two months, it was my treadmill entertainment at the gym, so I basically watched it 40 minutes at a time — although there were a couple nights that I had to keep watching, so ended up on the treadmill for an hour or more.

    I’ve just started watching The Pacific, which is like the sister series as I understand it, but it’s not quite as good as Band Of Brothers so far. I’ll keep watching.

    But now I’m wondering what else I missed 10 years ago that I need to watch or read….

    Miscellany

    The First Book Ever Ordered on Amazon … & the Guy Who Ordered It

    October 28, 2012

    This is just awesome. Ever wonder what was the first book ever bought on Amazon? And who was the first person to place an order on Amazon?

    Well, turns out that there’s a question on Quora asking those exact questions, and the guy who placed the first order was told about it … then answered!

    His name is John Wainwright and he ordered Fluid Concepts And Creative Analogies: Computer Models Of The Fundamental Mechanisms Of Thought by Douglas Hofstadter on April 3, 1995. Check out his full story, along with a photo of the book and the original receipt from Amazon.

    Read Quote of John Wainwright’s answer to Amazon Company History: What was the first book ever ordered by a customer on Amazon? on Quora

    That’s internet history right there. Seriously, seriously cool.

    Miscellany

    Recommended Reading: Historical Tweets

    April 15, 2010
    lincoln-tweet

    Imagine if Lincoln was on Twitter! Or Lewis & Clark. Or Adam. I’m betting some of you are familiar with Historical Tweets, a super-funny site that conjures up what famous people from history might’ve said on Twitter. It was featured on CNN and elsewhere a few months back and little did I know at the time, but … it was created by an old friend of mine!

    Alan Beard was a student at Pepperdine when I was there in the late 1980s. In fact, he lived in the same suite as me when I was in charge of one of the on-campus dorms. We had a group of about 5-6 friends, ranging from freshman to seniors, and we had an absolute blast hanging out, making each other laugh, you name it.

    historical-tweets-bookAnd I just found out today that Alan and Alec McNayr have turned the web site into a book: Historical Tweets: The Completely Unabridged and Ridiculously Brief History of the World. The book is coming out on April 27 and you can pre-order on Amazon for less than $10 (aff link).

    I’ve already put in my order and even if some of the most popular historical tweets from the web site will be in the book, that’s okay. Alan says there’s a lot of new stuff in there, too. Can’t wait for it. Congrats to my old Pepperdine friend.