The Hourglass

The Hourglass is a blog carnival dedicated to the science of aging.

Check out the latest edition here.

David Wiesner

At the library I stumbled upon a book which had been placed out on display. Printed in aquatic ink, lay the title "Flotsam".

The book contained no words, just fantastic images of a day at the beach and life in the oceans. Below is a taste of what can be found. I checked out the book to keep in my home and show to people who drop by.




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or check it out at your local library.

Julia Nunes

I have been a fan of Julia Nunes for some time now. A natural actress and talented musician Julia rose to fame on youtube and now has put out two albums which are for sale on her website here:
http://www.junumusic.com/products.php

Camille Dalmais

Camille Dalmais is a French singer/songwriter.

Here she is preforming a version of la demeure d'un ciel using nothing but her voice and a loop pedal. An amazing performance!



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Himalya by Michael Palin

Michael Palin’s adventure books are always a joy, they take you to another life at another place. In Himalaya Palin explores an area ancient and remote. He visits a place where religion has existed for over 5000 years.

The book is a Himalaya travel diary of for the BBC show, and really is nothing more than a matter of fact account of what is happening with little spots of wit of all the fun little things that happen when you travel.

As such, Palin’s book is not so much a glorified account of travel as a real one, and lets you know what it is like to be there with him.

He concludes Himalaya reflecting that it is not so much the landscape that made the biggest impression on him, but the simple people who he was forced to rely on, and who took good care of him, so to leave a great memory.

There are a lot of people in the world, and this book opens a window on a few of them.

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The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

I am not sure what to say about the Ultimate sales machine. I picked up the book to try get a look into the mind of a salesman. Someone who is trained to convince people to make decisions, and in effect, convince them as to what is best for them.

Chet’s main point is that whatever you do, use pigheaded discipline and determination to stick to it. This explains a lot about salesman, they are stubborn and persistent. Annoyingly so, distrustingly so.

Chet goes on to describe ways to sell yourself into mainstream media, create information and portray yourself as an expert. He even goes so far as to suggest making tapes that can almost brainwash you, recording things to yourself like “I love cold calling in the morning” with relaxing music in the background. Scary.

As a scientist, if I am a scientist, I believe in doubt and keeping an open mind, you always want to ask questions, you always want to be open to being wrong, to some other new opportunity. This is good for a soul I believe.

Sales is the opposite. In sales you focus on a goal, you consider all the ways someone can say no, and ways to counter them.

I don’t know whether or not to recommend this book. The parts about getting into the media, planning, and eliciting feedback from customers was useful, the rest was annoying, and honestly, I skimmed quite a bit of this book.

Take it for what it is, and I openly say, I don’t mind if I don’t make this sale.

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The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss.

The four hour work week is a guide to a self-driven life. The idea of taking responsibility for and controlling your own life seems simple till you actually do it. If you had 3 million in the bank, what would you actually do? What cause would you pursue? How would you fill your days? How long before lounging around gets old?

It is a new topic, and Tim tackles it in a new style by giving a lot of references and how to. In today's information age I think it is good to see a book that points to websites and other resources that lets you explore the ideas and concepts of the book. As you apply them, you adapt and change them.

In short the key of the book says: Be self-driven and do what matters. Stop postponing your dreams and live them. I have done some of this myself and can say that the power of being in control is overwhelming and just an awesome feeling. Tim describes it as going from the passenger seat to the driver seat. Every human being has great potential to not just accomplish their dreams, but more than their dreams and this is a book that can help you get there.

Check out his website

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