Charlotte's Web

Loved this audiobook.
The edition I had was read by the author, E. B. White. There are a couple of classic books whose quality and universality I would like to approximate, and this is one. There was an Afterword as well that said this book has sold over 8 million copies and gave some history about the story. One night on his family farm, E. B. White attempted to nurse a sick pig back to health, lamenting that it was going to die anyway. That was a key event in choosing a pig to be one of the main characters. It took him 2-3 years to write this story.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Very interesting read (or listen to).
A few years ago he spoke at a math conference, but I didn't go to his presentation. Have been interested in his work mainly because of his success.
I liked listening to the examples he used to illustrate his theories: from Canadian hockey to Bill Gates, the Beatles to Korean pilots, Jewish lawyers in NYC and the successful KIPP schools. I liked his main ideas: talent isn't enough, it is coupled with opportunity and 10, 000 hours of hard work. It made me ask what my opportunities are and what my future holds. He is Canadian and dislikes the American ideal of the self made man--more of a believer in community and what you bring to the table because of your background. Reading this on paper would be interesting, I would like to see his references. He seems to be very knowledgeable & is a great writer.

I liked his idea of giving opportunities to more people--specifically the KIPP schools. What a life changer they are for the students who are able to attend them.

I disliked the profanity in this book. Not very prevalent, but after listening to Clayton Christensen's book, a let down. I want to listen to my audiobooks in an environment I would be comfortable if my children walked into and that was not the case--I never was able to identify when an expletive was coming. I moved his other books a little further down my wishlist . . . to the maybe's.    

Siete

 Our milk drinker turned 7 . . . . so glad she's in our family.

Fudge instead of cake . . . breakfast burritos with yogurt and steak for dinner (with celery). She's got great taste.

(400th post)

One more reason we want the Temple close

We just don't go to the Temple in bad weather . . . this is why.
Denver 104 car pile up

It will be nice not to have to get on I-25 to go to the Temple.

I drove on I-25 yesterday morning, but not to Denver. I was on it for 30 long minutes from Ft. Collins to just south of Longmont. I saw no fewer than 10 cars off the road, three pointed in the wrong direction and several on their sides. It was a harrowing experience--but could have been much worse.

How Will You Measure Your Life?

A better contender for the Summer Reading project for my children than the last one I mentioned.

Loved it. He's brilliant. I liked his ideas of disruptive innovation, (lots more to read on this), and I can't wait to get my next audio book written by him.

You can read lots of summaries on this but basically it's an expanded version of the final course lecture he gave his students in his business classes. Very inspiring, clean (NO SWEAR WORDS), and gave me lots to think about.

4 hours late

Tonight we were going to have brown rice for dinner . . . which I usually bake in the oven. But we weren't going to be home from 1:15 until 5:30, so I started baking it at noon. It was supposed to come out of the oven at 1:00pm . . .

but I didn't remember to take it out until 5pm . . .
when we were at the swimming pool and I was talking to my sister on the phone about what she was making for dinner. 

Nathan was home so he rescued the "browner" rice and quickly threw white rice into the rice cooker. Dinner saved. House not burned down. Crisis averted.

You win some and lose some.

We had this for FHE dessert and it is a keeper.

Book it

With my Spanish tutoring dollars, I bought an ipod. I still don't know how to use it very well and regularly ask my kids advice on how to do what I want to do . . . there's a learning curve.

I wanted it primarily to listen to audio books while I move around the house. My sister Laura has done this for years and was influential in my decision. (It's particularly nice when I am washing dishes, but I've found it to be useful in many settings around the home & around town). I finished my second one this morning:

Do you listen to audiobooks? Have any recommendations?

Nathan & I are listening to Seabiscuit, and I've also listened to Shannon Hale's Palace of Stone.

About Katie Couric's book, I loved it. I recommend it. As you would expect, there are some swear words, but the majority is clean. It is successful people (most are well-known), sharing advice that was usually pivotal to them. They are grouped by main idea, so it's easy to understand. I love Katie Couric and really enjoyed listening to this book. It was inspiring in many ways. It may be the summer reading book at our home . . . the one I pay my children to read, unless I find one I like better. One of the things I liked is that she had people in many fields--art, drama, education, medicine, entertainment, etc. Well done.