Thinking about writing...

So, at our last Rodmockers meeting we discussed the importance of being a good writer if you plan on having a successful academic career. Hank , Alisa and I were really keen on passing on to our graduate students some hints to help remind and encourage them to really take to heart the joys of constructing an informative and readable paragraph. My favorite hint, came from Hank -- in order to be a better writer you need to read, read, and read some more. I am all for more reading-- especially on a wet and cloudy days like we are having so many of in central Oklahoma.

What are you reading today? While I am all for a nice trash novel, we should all be reading at least one thing that stretches our mind in some way-- stretching our vocabulary, stretching our understanding or maybe stretching ourselves right out of our own comfort zone.

So what am I reading today? I have decided to re-read Neal Stephonson's The Diamond Age or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. The amazon.com editorial review describes the plot this way,

"John Percival Hackworth is a nanotech engineer on the rise when he steals a copy of "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" for his daughter Fiona. The primer is actually a super computer built with nanotechnology that was designed to educate Lord Finkle-McGraw's daughter and to teach her how to think for herself in the stifling neo-Victorian society. But Hackworth loses the primer before he can give it to Fiona, and now the "book" has fallen into the hands of young Nell, an underprivileged girl whose life is about to change."

I really like this book. I am not a big fan of how it ends (sort of fizzles out), but right up until the end the story is engaging. I love how the idea of subversive thinking is necessary for growth, and innovation. It is an important commentary on how we adapt to the institutions we find ourselves in.