My Bad Web Habits
I’ve had Time Sink[1] running for quite a long time now. More than half a year, in fact. It’s silently been collecting the window titles of every application I use, and the amount of time I spend with them.
I’m going to analyze that data very closely (I’ll be posting more about that on my other blog, which I’m in the process of setting up.) But just for fun, I exported the data to a CSV file, removed everything but the web browsers, and composed a list of all the title words from browser sessions along with the frequency of that word. Basically, instead of showing how much time I spend on a site, it would demonstrate how many times I go to the site. Some of it is just words from the titles. Programming, gay, etc, etc. Topics I read about. They are overshadowed though by the big sites that I go to over and over and over again.
Once you have word counts, it’s easy enough using python[2] to create a text file which can then be used by a tag cloud generator (in this case, I used wordle[3]). I allowed wordle to remove common English words, and I removed anything that I consider dangerous to reveal. In other words: I removed the name of my bank.
Here then, is the tag cloud. Clicking it will give you larger version.
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[1] – Time Sink is available at http://manytricks.com/timesink/
[2] – Python is a programming language available at http://python.org/
[3] – Wordle is at http://www.wordle.net/
Review of The Information Diet
There is a lot of information in the modern age, and much of it is accessible to anyone. While this can be an incredible thing, it also has problems. Many people complain of Information Overload, and people have a hard time dealing with their inboxes, social networks, news feeds, etc. If you have this problem, then Clay Johnson may have the solution for you. He calls it The Information Diet.
According to Johnson, the problem isn’t too much data: it’s too much of the wrong data. He equates our information overconsumption to the obesity epidemic. Not all calories are equal, and neither are all information sources. He says that there is “no such thing as *information overload*”. No one is forcing us to consume the data, just as no one is forcing us to binge on McDonald’s and KFC.
The Information Diet is laid out in three parts. The first section describes the problem, the second section describes how an information diet works, and the third is a call to action. In the first section, Johnson lays out just how bad our information consumption is. We binge on entertainment disguised as news(Fox News, MSNBC, The Huffington Post, and many, many others.) We hang out with people who share our views, whether it’s online or in person. We fall into the three traps of agnotology, epistemic closure, and filter failure.
Briefly, agnotology is the phenomenon that causes people who are more informed about an issue to become more entrenched in their views. An epistemic closure is caused by depending on views from only your side (so conservatives can’t believe what liberals say, because if its liberal, it must be a lie, and vice versa. Johnson uses Climate change to describe this.) Most people are already familiar with Filter Failure: the problem caused by algorithms that pay attention to how we search and how we click, and respond accordingly by showing us more of the same at the expense of other voices.
Obviously, this is just a brief description of the problem and Johnson goes into more detail. In part two, he presents a solution: The Information Diet. While I won’t give away his solution, it involves things like getting your news locally (but not from TV), going to original sources, learning better search techniques, using ad blocking software, and seeking balance. While I agree with much of what he says in this section, I do have a problem with ad-blocking software (there are good information sources that depend on ads to exist. Book Review blogs like The Rumpus, The Millions, HTMLGiant, and others couldn’t exist without ads.) I use ad-blocking software, but only for sites that use intrusive advertising (anything that prevents me from reading the content).
The third section, Social Obesity, describes how people can work together to fix the problems with our information consumption. Johnson worked on the Howard Dean campaign, and on Obama’s social media campaign leading up to his election. He knows how grassroots (and fake grassroots) organizations really work, and how effective they can be. But we have to be aware, and we have to spread that awareness.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. There’s a lot of important information here. I’ve started tracking how much data I consume (using a tool for OS X called Time Sink which can be found on the Mac App Store.) It’s shocking how much time I spend with Google Reader, my inbox, G+, and other distractions. I’m surprised I was able to pull myself away to even write this blog post. Obviously, I have a lot of work to do, and so do a lot of us.
How I Find New Things to Read
I asked people on G+ to tell me how they found new things to read. I promised that I would answer that question myself with a blog post, so here it is.
Reviews
I read a lot of reviews. My main review sources are, in no particular order:
- Rain Taxi – a non-profit quarterly print magazine that also does reviews online.
- Bookforum – An indie quarterly print magazine
- The Quarterly Conversation – An online Quarterly that does a lot of reviews, and is especially great for reviews of books in translation
- Harper’s – I sometimes read the reviews here. Depends on my mood. I always read the fiction and the long-form journalism
- The New Yorker – Like Harper’s, I only read the reviews rarely. It’s all about the fiction and the long-form journalism
- The New York Review of Books – It’s an old, stodgy institution, but I read it to be amazed by the quality of scholarship, not so much for the particular books they review. I pick this up whenever I see it, which is about 5 or 6 times a year (nobody carries it locally)
There are a few other review sources I read, but I’m saving that for a future post about using Yahoo Pipes to get just the content you want out of an RSS feed.
Podcasts
I listen to a lot of podcasts, but only two are book oriented. Both are longish (about 30-60 minutes) interview shows.
- KCRW’s Bookworm – A great interview show from KCRW Public Radio. Michael Silverblatt interviews authors about their recent books. Silverblatt asks extremely interesting questions, and often surprises the authors with his interpretations of their books. If I had any complaint about this show, it is with its choice of authors to interviews. Every author, with rare exceptions, writes literary fiction.
- The Bat Segundo Show – In a way, the Bat Segundo Show is the anti-Bookworm. The host, Edward Champion, asks great questions, but he tends to be less formal than Silverblatt. He tries to ask questions that the guests haven’t heard before. He interviews across the entire genre map, which I really like.
Online Services
- Literature Map – This is a flash application. You enter an author’s name, and it’ll show you other writers who are related to that author. The closer a writer appears to the name you typed in, the more likely it is that you’ll enjoy that writer. Here’s an image to give you an idea of how it works. (Clicking on the image will expand it.)
- What Should I Read Next – Type in the name of the book, and this service will offer suggestions on what to read next. Even better, if you set up a free account, you keep a list of books you like, and then pick multiple books to decide what to read next. Sometimes, combinations of books will provide really interesting things to read.
- Amazon Recommendation – If you shop at Amazon, you know it recommends books based on what you’ve previously purchased. This gets better the more books you buy there. Lately, it’s given me some very good recommendations.
- GetGlue – GetGlue is a check-in service. Rather than checking in at a location, though, you check in what you’re doing. There are several categories (watching a TV show, watching a movie, drinking wine, etc.) My personal favorite is reading a book. When you check in, you can also choose to say if you like the book you’re reading. That books page has reviews, but more importantly, links to similar books. When someone checks-in enough and writes enough reviews and/or comments, they can become the guru of that book, and add to the suggestions of related books. A lot of times, it can lead you to junk, but other times, it can lead you to real jewels.
- Twitter – There are some hashtags I just found about that have to do with indie writing. Those hash tags are: #selfpub #indieauthors #indiepub #indiepublishing #indieauthor. My twitter client of choice, YoruFukurou allows you to set up search tabs, so I have a tab setup called Indie Authors that looks for all of these hashtags. Makes it easy to find stuff when I have the time to look through twitter.
And Last But Not Least
Recommendations from friends. Most of my local friends don’t really read, and when they do, it tends to be fluff. (Note: There’s nothing wrong with fluff. It’s just not what I prefer to read. If you want to read beach fiction and Harry Potter all year, go for it.) Fortunately, there are great online communities filled with people who like to read the same things I do and can recommend things I’d never heard of before.
If you’d like, you can tell me how you find things to read in the comments. I’d greatly appreciate it, as I’m always looking for things to read.
Review of Termite Parade by Joshua Mohr
Mired (pronounced, as she says, “like the verb”) is an alcoholic with a history of bad relationships, including her “current catastrophe”, Derek. Derek, in a moment of anger, purposely drops Mired down a flight of stairs after a party at which she has gotten very drunk. Derek then does the only thing he can think to do: he calls his twin, Frank, for help, and then he lies.
Termite Parade is told in alternating chapters, each labeled with the character (Mired, Derek, or Frank) who narrates that particular chapter. If you’ve read Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying you’ll be familiar with the technique. The characters are completely unreliable, and even with all of their viewpoints, it’s hard to tell what’s truth and what’s not.
Frank believes he is playing the role of “Reliable Eyewitness” to “Derek’s andMired’s bizarre, sadistic tale – this testimony of animals.” In many ways, though, Frank is the most unreliable narrator of all. He is driven by his belief that he is an auteur, and he is composing a film that he believes is the next evolution in filmmaking, a documentary of sorts called The Unveiled Animal. This drive to create causes Frank to cross several boundaries.
The breaking of boundaries is a theme of this book. Mired allows men to violate her boundaries time after time. Frank violates boundaries to create his film. And Derek’s violation of his and Mired’s boundaries is the center that the plot orbits about. This is a book about character, and how easily we can twist our values in the pursuit of validation. I highly recommend it to any fan of character-driven literary fiction.
Gender Audit of Books I’ve Read in 2011
I found BOOKONAUT’s Gender Balance Audit via Reddit. Basically, he looked at all the books he read in 2010, and determined what percentage were by female authors and what percentage were by male authors.
I don’t have a record of 2010, but since I started a challenge this year to read 100 books in 2011, I have an accurate record of what I’ve read so far. I honestly thought that I’d read quite a lot of books by female authors, but the numbers don’t lie. Without further ado, here is a chart of my gender audit for 2011 as of April 20th. Blue represents books written by male authors; green represents books written by female authors.
Looks like I need to read more books by women this year. Any suggestions?
Also, of this point, I’m going to start keeping more accurate data about the books I read, and also short stories and essays. It should be interesting to see what I learn by the end of this year.
Review of Shuck by Daniel Allen Cox
Shuck is the story of Jaeven, a street hustler, gay porn star, diarist, meth addict, and unpublished writer. The book takes place in the late 1990′s in Manhattan. Shuck consists of short segments, narrated by Jaeven. We follow him episode to episode, and it quickly becomes apparent that Jaeven is a man worth following. He’s witty, sometimes happy and somewhat miserable. He is often filled with both bravado and fear.
Shuck feels like a true story, and that’s because it contains grains of truth from the author’s previous existence as a porn star and high-priced escort. Cox has said that Shuck is fiction, but much of it is based on actual events(including an incredible scene where Jaeven shows up for his first porn shoot.)
At the heart of Jaeven’s life is an artist named David, who allows Jaeven to stay in his apartment for $300 a month, and the promise of showing off any bruises and scrapes he acquires. David needs those bruises to come up with brand new colors. His most recent artistic endeavor includes turtles and markers. The relationship between David and Jaeven (platonic throughout the book) is confusing. Jaeven isn’t quite sure if David is jealous of Jaeven’s sex with other men, even though David and Jaeven have never had sex, though they sleep in the same bed.
There are scenes of great humor in the book, along with scenes that will make you cringe. Some sections consist of lists of reasons why New York is not America. Others contain lists of things Jaeven finds while dumpster diving. Mostly, though, the book is a brief excursion into a life most of us will never know. It was an amazing read. Highly recommended.
Review of The Child by Sarah Schulman
The Child is about a gay fifteen-year old named Stew. Stew travels to Manhattan in order to meet up with an adult gay couple, David and Joe, that he met online. He has gone to their apartment a few times, and has engaged in sexual activity with them while there. Stew then propositions a police officer in a public restroom, and his world comes crashing down.
The officer convinces Stew to turn in David and Joe through deception. David and Joe are arrested, and because David has a prior conviction, he’ll likely get a stiff sentence. The book also follows two attorneys, Hockey and Eva, and Eva’s partner, Mary, a playwright who’s had little success in NY’s theater scene. Hockey is approached by a friend who wants him to represent David. Hockey brings in Eva to assist him.
I’m torn about how I feel about this book. The book is literary LGBT fiction wrapped up in a legal thriller wrapper. The problem is, I don’t think it entirely works as either. For starters, most of the dialogue felt inauthentic. It reminded me, in fact, of a pastiche of A.M. Homes and her very weird, but very realistic dialogue. I’m not a fan of legal thrillers, but I’ve read a few, and this just didn’t flow in the same way as legal thrillers I’ve read. In fact, the tempo felt off. (I can’t really explain why. That’s just the way I felt).
On the other hand, there was a lot about this book that I liked. The ambiguity of Stew’s fate seemed natural, since the fate of any teenager (and gay teenagers in particular) is always ambiguous. I also appreciated that Schulman’s treatment of David and Joe’s actions was fairly objective. While the characters all seemed to have opinions about it, I didn’t get a sense that the author’s opinion was presented anywhere in the novel. Were David and Joe pedophiles? Legally, yes. Is growing up different for gay teens and straight teens? Absolutely. Does that make David and Joe’s actions appropriate. No. Does it make their actions understandable. Possibly.
For me, though, the book fell apart at its most crucial scene. While I won’t give the specifics away, it’s fairly obvious that Stew is filled with rage, mostly directed towards his family. When that rage finally erupted, it erased any amount of empathy I had for Stew. I was extremely frustrated by a decision that Mary made late in the book, but I was even more frustrated by Eva’s reaction to it. I don’t expect tidy endings all wrapped up in a bow. I do expect that decisions characters make have a connection to their thoughts or behaviors earlier in the novel. I also expect characters to demonstrate some emotional depth. Schulman’s tone was so objective, that her characters felt flat.
So how do I judge this book. I usually go by three criteria. Did I enjoy reading it, would I read it again, and would I recommend it to specific people. I did enjoy reading it, though I wouldn’t read it again. There are too many great books out there to settle down with a mediocre one twice. As to recommending it: I couldn’t think of a single friend that I thought would like this book.
This book gave me the impression that while Schulman is an adequate writer, she’s neither a good writer nor a great one. But I’ll read at least one more of her books to get a better impression of her talent.
Review of ManBug by George K. Ilsley
Sebastian is a gay entomologist with Asperger Syndrome. Tom is a dyslexic bisexual and (nominally) Buddhist. ManBug is the nickname Tom accidentally gives Sebastian (he meant to say BugMan). ManBug the novel is the story of their relationship. The novel is written in the third person, but it is obviously filtered through the mind of Sebastian.
The story of their relationship is told in short chapters which read like ethereal wisps of stories. There is a story here, and despite the light feeling of the prose, there is depth and weight. There are also moments of incredible humor. Familiarity with Buddhism, while not necessary for the enjoyment of this novel, will certainly add new depth to some of the story.
The Kardapa Lampa was both a reincarnating lineage, and a theory Tom ascribed to. The current title holder had been empowered through a series of events whose legitimacy provoked controversy and much bitter debate. People loved him or they hated him. The Kardapa Lampa was either tearing Buddhism apart, or he was a living embodiment of the teachings.
There was no middle way here.
One of the devices that I found interesting was the way that Sebastian saw the world of feelings as colors. Throughout the book, Tom moves from blue to green.
The word “kiss” as it came off Tom’s lips was a kind of blue that melted from the edges and faded, but lingered.
The word “Tom” also became bluer after this. Thoughts of Tom were oddly tinged blue somehow, in a new development.
Of course, one can’t talk about a novel called ManBug without wondering about its relationship to Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. The word “metamorphosis” appears several times throughout ManBug, and change is certainly a major theme in the book. Tom and Sebastian’s relationship changes throughout the book, but more importantly, Sebastian’s relationship to the world changes.
Another theme of the novel is impermanence, the Buddhist concept that nothing lasts and that everything, even the idea of “I”, the ego, is ephemeral and changing. Ever chapter is a fleeting, impermanent thing that often leaves behind no residue. The novel, as a whole, however is concrete and will live in my mind for a long while.
An Open Letter to Dave Eggers
Dear Mr. Eggers:
I know you love literature. I know you love print. I can tell how much you love paper by how hard you work to demonstrate how printed material can do things that ebooks can’t. And I agree with you. Print is wonderful. Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves couldn’t be rendered as an ebook. The McSweeney’s head box is a beautiful object that I display proudly on my bookshelf. The smell and the feel of paper, whether old or new, is the most amazing smell in the world.
So why then, am I writing this letter? I have a problem. As much as I love print(and I really love it), I can’t always read it. About a year ago I started having neurological problems. One of those problems is blurriness in my right eye. To make matters worse, the amount of blurriness is never the same, so glasses aren’t a solution. What does work for me is changing font sizes on documents. So on those days when my eye is blurry (which is more common as the weeks and months progress), I have to read on a screen.
The McSweeney’s app on the iPad is a great app, but it has a severe problem. If I purchase something from the store, the book is laid out as it was originally designed, page for page. It’s an exact duplicate of the printed book. This is great for most people. For me, it makes those books unreadable. I’d like to be able to increase the font size, like I can with material from The Small Chair. And then, I’d really love it if you could increase the number of books available in the store.
Now I understand that you are a small publishing house, and that you have financial issues to consider. I’m not asking for all of this to happen tomorrow. I’m just asking you, as one lover of literature to another, to make a plan towards increasing the availability, and more importantly, the accessibility, of McSweeney’s content, in digital format(s). Ideally, I’d love to see McSweeney’s magazine and The Believer available in digital format someday.
Sure, I can get plenty of great literary novels in digital formats from various places, but those aren’t books published by McSweeney’s, a publishing house I love and respect. Lliterary magazines are even harder to come by in digital format, but I suspect that will change over time (maybe McSweeney’s could take the lead here?)
Again, I love print, and I love paper. I realize more and more everyday, though, that paper has one significant flaw: the lack of accessibility to those of us with optical disabilities. I know you are a very busy man, Mr. Eggers. I don’t expect a response. I don’t even know if you’ll ever see this. But if you do, and you can help, then thank you. Also, thank you for helping to keep quality literature alive. I wish more people would do even a tenth of what you’re doing in support of literature.
Joe
[Note: I give permission to reblog this, as long as you link back here. In fact, let's make it official. License below.]
An Open Letter to Dave Eggers by J.E. Johaneman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at jejohaneman.com.
An Open Letter to Lehigh Valley Health Network
On September 22, 2011, I had a Laminectomy at Lehigh Valley Health Network at the Cedar Crest facility. After my surgery, I was an inpatient for several days. My experience at LHVN was mostly phenomenal. The surgeon and his staff are wonderful, and I’ve made great gains since the surgery. While an inpatient, the nursing staff were excellent and often went above and beyond the call of duty. I remember, for example, that when there was a shortage of cleaning staff, the nurses on the unit did the cleaning work to make sure that the floor was clean and sanitary for the patients. The nurses and the techs treated everyone with dignity.
However, I did feel that the nursing staff and the other staff at LVHN need some training in LGBT sensitivity. As a gay man, I often referred to my partner while I was there. On more than once occasion, staff referred to my partner as “my friend.” Were I straight, they would have had no problem using the word wife or girlfriend. So why is partner so difficult? I’m calling on LVHN to provide sensitivity training for their staff so that they understand how hurtful such a word choice is. To me, it felt as if my relationship was invalid and therefore my partner didn’t warrant the word “partner” and he only deserved the word “friend.”
Again, my experience at LVHN was mostly a great experience. This small problem, though, is not as small as it seems. I felt uncomfortable around staff who called my partner “my friend”, because it felt to me that no matter how good they were at their jobs, they were making a judgement about me and my relationship, and it wasn’t a positive judgement.
Please fix this LVHN.
Update: I posted a link to this post on Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Facebook wall. My server logs show a hit from Anne Klein Public Relations, a firm that represents Lehigh Valley Health Network. Lehigh Valley then posted the following on Facebook in response to this post:
Link to Facebook Post