an interesting one that kind of ties a few of your things together miltown was–i’m about 90% sure on the title here and first name–“the memory palace of matteo ricci.” he was one of the first jesuits in china, became fluent in chinese, accepted at the manchu court and so valuable to the mission that he died in china. he had an amazing memory and put a good deal of mental effort into devising memory systems–thoughts were associated with real-life items and assigned a place in an imaginary mental palace for retreival when needed. one quote from one of the imperial exam takers he tried to ingratiate himself with through his systems, which has always stuck with me “they are the true laws of memory, but one must have a fantastic memory to make any use of them” be forewarned 
Getting Things Done is based on that exact premise. It’s not the most exciting book (I started it about 6-7 months ago and still haven’t finished), but I’ve been using his system (more or less) and it works better for me than anything I’ve ever done before. Part of it involves organizing your To Do list, which I do on my Palm.[/quote]
Based on the reviews of this (Getting Things Done) book in Amazon, plus the fact that I think my mom read it. I’m gonna add this final book to my list of books to get.
[quote]
Based on the reviews of this (Getting Things Done) book in Amazon, plus the fact that I think my mom read it. I’m gonna add this final book to my list of books to get.
Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People[/quote]
take a look at my copy before you spend your money. I’m happy with it, but it’s always nice to know what you’re getting.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
I just finished “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people” a couple of days ago and thought it was fantastic! I felt like I picked up a number of good tips from it. There were a few things about the book that bothered me while reading it, but I ignored those and pushed through. I wanted to write this while the daze is still fresh. :?
Becasue of my nature I read every 1 star and a few 2 star reviews on Amazon. Most people just wrote worthless trite (is that right? trite.). Any way, a few people suggested some other readings and a couple mentioned the aurthur’s religious background (which cleared a few things up).
Well, in my confused state I still think it’s worth a read (for anyone that can just quickly blaze through it).
Here are some weblinks for the authurs religious back ground (for your reading pleasure)
apologeticsindex.org/c13.html
mormonstoday.com/990103/L4Covey01.shtml
cephasministry.com/mormon_stephen_covey.html
Even knowing about the authors background I still think it was interesting to read. There are many books (good and bad) that can’t get hyped up as much as this one has. It’s interesting seeing how they’re put together (something I don’t a lot about)
As I sit right now, I’d still recommened the book to others. Maybe in a few days when the brainwashing has worn off I’ll feel differently… or maybe I won’t :shock: .
I’m still looking for book suggestions. I haven’t made the order yet. I’m gonna be trading the 7 habits for “Getting Things Done” in a few days, so I’ll come back with a report on that one too.
For something completely different, try the Cyberiad, by Stanislaw Lem. He’s probably best known lately for having written Solaris. The Cyberiad, however, is completely different: a book of whimsical but profound short stories, set in a world of machines and informed by a wickedly satirical look at some of the absurdities of the Polish socialist state, Lem’s home at the time of the book’s writing.
It’s one of my favorite books.