Published on June 5, 2009
in books.
I severely dislike self-help books. They usually state the obvious, do it in an uninspiring way and do not sway me an inch into doing whatever they want people to do.
Since quite some time I have been trying to procrastinate less and do more with my time. A few weeks back when I was in a Crossword bookstore I picked up the book Eat that frog by Brian Tracy. It was a small book and the blurb on the back cover sounded very helpful and sensible.
In fact the blurb on the back cover was probably only one of the 2 useful things in the entire book. Or to be more accurate the only useful thing till about three-fourths into the book which is when I stopped reading it. The author makes a 4-page chapters out of the most obvious advice under the sun.
By the way in case you are wondering what the title means then let me tell you that a frog (looks ugly, probably tastes terrible as well but the author does not know that frog’s legs are a delicacy in Kerala 
) is used as a metaphor for that task or project in your life that is important but difficult or uninteresting and thus most susceptible to being ignored.
Now this is the thing about procrastination… most people who get away with it are smart people. They survive even though they procrastinate. They usually know what they are doing wrong… they just need some motivation to do the right thing and some specific actionable tactics to do better. Including me. And that is the one thing this book absolutely does not have.
The only 2 pieces of useful advice are – (1) Start with the most important thing and not the easiest (2) Make a list of short-term, medium-term and long-term goals, WRITE them down and make plans around it.
Well (2) is still quite obvious but I liked the way the author elaborated on it.
So my advice to you is – Eat that frog but don’t buy this book. It is not worth the Rs. 175 you will have to spend to buy it or the 3-4 hours you will have to spend reading it.
Published on January 22, 2008
in books.
I indulged in a modified version of retail therapy yesterday. I went to the Crossword bookstore in InOrbit and bought 4 books. A clearance sale was going on in Crossword and lots of books especially classics were heavily discounted. Moreover I had a Rs 250 gift voucher I recently won in an office contest that I wanted to spend so I just headed out to Crossword with the intention of passing some time and grabbing whatever was good and not so expensive. The bookstore was too crowded so could not leisurely browse through the books… but you don’t really need to check out classics so that’s what I mostly bought.
Books are:
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde – Pulkit recommends this highly so am looking forward to reading this. We had Oscar Wilde’s hilarious play The Importance of Being Earnest in 10th standard that I immensely enjoyed and I am sure I am going to enjoy this one too.
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – I read this novel long long back but I hardly remember any of it now, though I do remember that I had liked it. Another good book for my collection.
- 1984 by George Orwell – “Orwellian Society” is a term I frequently come across in security literature especially in this era of increased mass surveillance. I have been looking for this book for quite some time but only recently happened to find a copy.
- The Portable Atheist by Christopher Hitchens – I picked up the book and read a few randomly selected pages. I liked the contents and the style of writing so bought it. Looking forward to reading this one too.
By the way if you are ever confused on what to gift me there are 2 very safe items – books and chocolates
The complete collections of Calvin and Hobbes, Tintin and Asterix are on my books wishlist and will be bought as soon as I “settle” down.
Aah… weekends. Usually my favourite part of the week. Went to sleep very late last night. Was playing around with the blog and reading stuff.
Also started reading a book called Programming the Universe authored by Seth Lloyd. Lately I have been rereading some of my favourite stuff, Harry Potter, Asimov books, Sherlock Holmes etc. Too much of fiction actually. So this time when I walked into a bookstore I decided to get something I usually would not get. Picked up this book at random, read a random page and liked the quantum-mechanical thingamajig the author was talking about, so bought it. Read a few pages and seems interesting. The initial pages in such books are always easy and interesting. It is later that the fun starts… I have still not complete reading A Brief History of Time. Hopefully this book will be easier to finish.
Have lots of errands to run over the weekend. Parents are coming for 4 days next weekend so I have to get the house in order. Nothing big, my rooms are usually in good shape. But have to do some cleaning, call the plumber, call the electrician, order for a new gas cylinder and so on and so forth. I also have to plan how to take them around in Mumbai. I just hope the weather stays pleasant, that it does not rain and it does not get too hot.
That’s all for now. See ya soon!
Published on July 23, 2007
in books.
Yes, I had prebooked Deathly Hallows.
No, I have not collected the book from the bookstore till now.
No, I have not started reading the book.
Yes, I will be collecting the book in a day or two.
No, I will not be reading the book immediately.
Yes, I will be reading the HP1 to HP6 again and then reading HP7 (have already read HP1-HP3 almost).
No, I don’t know how HP7 ends.
Yes, I hate people who are trying to send me spoilers over email, chat and in conversations.
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