Notes From The Corner

Ian.R.Sandy

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  • Recent Books


    The Dilbert Future by Scott Adams
    Third time and still way too funny, as well as being almost too true       

    1421 by Gavin Menzies

    Possibly a bit over imaginative, but a good read       

    A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson

    A great airport book - huge concepts boiled down into two minutesnapshots - a good read       

    Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond

    One of the better books I've read recently that tries to explain why it is some areas of the world became dominant and others didn't. As good a set of explanations as any.

    Lords of the Horizons, by Jason Goodwin

    A history of the Ottoman Empire - a good read !

    One Billion Customers: Lessons From the Front Lines of Doing Business in China, by James  L. McGregor

    For anyone interested in modern China, and more specifically doing business in China, this is an interesting introduction which will leave you with as many questions as it answers !

    Riding the Waves of Culture, by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner

    Excellent !

    The Art of War, by Sun Tzu

    Translated by Samuel Griffith - a good read.

    The Secrets of Consulting, by Gerald Weinberg

    Still a useful reference

    The Singularity is Near, by Ray Kurzweil

    This may be a bit far fetched in some areas, but otherwise is an amazing book and well recommended to anyone with even a half ounce of curiousity !

    The Stories of English, by Davis Crystal

    A fantastic book with a whole chapter on the origins of the American expression "yo'all" - must be read to be believed !

    The Untied States of America, by Juan Enriquez

    An excellent read - highly recommended !

    Who Says Elephants Can't Dance, by Loius Gerstner

    A great read !!

Posts Tagged ‘Star Trek’

At the Movies

Posted by Ian R. Sandy on May 22, 2009

Retirement is a wonderful thing – you can go to the theatre any time during the day – ideally when there are no crowds – just like all the other unemployed folks and kids skipping their afternoon classes ! Yesterday was the first chance we’d had to go and check out the new Star Trek film, and  it was a real treat for two reasons: 

  1. it is a great film, and surpassed my expectations
  2. tickets are cheap for seniors !!

This was the first time I’d bought ’seniors’ rate tickets anywhere, and as it represented a milestone of sorts in my life,  I’ve pinned the ticket stub up on my bulletin board in my den. It helped that I sort of looked the part – I’m still hobbling from folding my ankle over last week in BC, so between having a bad limp, the grey hair and the fixed, slightly distracted stare that I get when I’m focused on seeing some (hopefully) great sci-fi, none of the staff in the theatre even wanted to think about stopping me and checking just how old I actually was ! 

The film itself was a real treat, and kudos all around to J.J Abrams and actors Pines, Quinto, Nimoy etc.  for bringing the Trek world off of life support and back into relevance. If you spot-check the web, the comments from Trekkie’s range all over the map and frankly for those of them who didn’t enjoy the film, all I can offer in the way of sympathy is  ’get a life’.  For the rest of the world, I see it continues to do well at the box office and as such should be assured of a follow-up. If that happens, I can guarantee you I’ll be there watching it – together with all the other unemployed people and high school delinquents during the weekday afternoon when its not too crowded !!!

Now if there were only solid plans for a Galaxy Quest sequel ……………..

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