Dean Michael Berris

So I've been working on this blog post for a while already and for some reason my well-written and well thought out version of this article basically vanished in between "standby" modes of the computer. I'm writing this one on Google Docs first before copy-pasting the contents into the blog post text area. I just hate losing content just because technology is not smart enough to save it for me. Can someone at Squarespace please fix their rich text editor so that it auto-saves the drafts? Anyway, rant over -- with a newly installed air conditioning unit, my head (and our room) is cooler so I should recover from this minor setback with some renewed vigor. What is this post about? Reading.

This past weekend I did a few interesting things. Saturday, I bought a new air conditioning unit which we just had installed today. Yesterday I did the groceries and decided to get a few books at the book sale and the bookstore to read at night or during the commutes from home to work -- and back. Today I had the handyman fix all the faucets and all the showers in the house. And to top off this day, I then continued with sharing my next three books I'll read this coming week.

Here's the list:

• "Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance" - a gem I found at the book sale alongside titles I think deserve to be in a book sale priced for the paper they're worth. This one however is an interesting find because it's set in the late '90s for the C-level executives tasked in coming up with a "digital strategy". Back then the Internet and the Web was in its infancy and a digital strategy was something that was still unheard of. Today though if you're starting a company and you don't have a digital strategy (unless you're a research firm) then you're going to have some trouble finding your way in this current digital economy. The book is filled with lots of anecdotes from a time far removed from our current setting -- but is an interesting read nonetheless if you're into strategies and are in a position to influence your company's direction.
• "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" - Chris Anderson's follow up to "The Long Tail" is a title I've been looking forward to reading. Basically from what I read about it in the Internet, it's his treatment and analysis of the companies that can somehow afford to provide a service at a ridiculous price: Free. Just like how he observed companies making money by selling more and playing the economy of scale in an unlimited storefront called the Internet (think Google, Amazon, Apple through iTunes) in "The Long Tail" in "Free" he explores how many of today's mega-brands can afford to provide -- and do provide -- a service that is Free. It's a long time coming for me and I am really looking forward to digesting this book sooner than later.
• "2061: Odyssey Three" - So yes, I'm going to try and read Sci-Fi. Although I think this is not such a good book to start with (judging from the reviews of the book) I saw it as an opportunity for me to try to get into the Sci-Fi genre. I read a lot of fiction before but mostly these areJohn Grishamanalytical lawyer adventures orDan Browncontroversial conspiracy plays. I pretty much gave up on Sci-Fi because, well, my head nearly exploded (and the juice nearly flowed out my ears) when I tried reading "Quicksilver" byNeal Stephenson. I even had illusions that I'll start that series and maybe finish the three books in a month. Well half-way into "Quicksilver" and my head just turned to mush with characters coming into and out of my frame of mind and just having too many things happening at the same time. Maybe that's also why I couldn't read Tolkien. The point however is that I'll try my hand at Sci-Fi with this book and see whether my brain can handle it now. Besides, it was cheap in the book sale so not much to lose for me.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the three books I'll try and finish this week. I've got a few more books I picked up that I fully intend to read after these three titles, so look out for mini-reviews and maybe some posted insights. If you want to discuss the books with me it would be great to leave comments (if you have tips for me in reading Sci-Fi), connect through FriendFeed, tweet through Twitter, or exchange messages via Facebook.