Harley Hahn Newsletter #34

Harley Hahn Newsletter
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  HARLEY HAHN NEWSLETTER
           #34

       May 25, 2004

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"If there's one thing I've learned in life,
 it's that there isn't just one thing that
 you learn in life."

 -- Harley Hahn


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Bits, Bytes and Bubblegum
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Children take computers for granted today, much
like their parents took radio and television for
granted during their childhoods. Bits and bytes
are a part of childhood now, along with Saturday
morning cartoons and bubblegum.

It won't be long before you hear children on the
playground singing:

Bits, bytes and bubblegum,
Tell me where your disk comes from,
Do not transmit while I send,
Or I'll have to boot again.

But what about those of us who didn't grow up in a
house full of RAMs and ROMs and floppies? How can
we make sense of all this? Like the weather,
everybody talks about bits and bytes, but when you
come right down to it, what are they?...

Bits, Bytes and Bubblegum


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Reading: A Hollywood Education, Call of the Mall
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I love to read, and I always have a variety of
books on hand, switching back and forth to suit my
mood and my needs.

I believe that it is important to experiment with
reading. That is, we should read all types of
books and not just stick to what is familiar or
comfortable (or easy). As a result, I often find
wonderful surprises: books that appear out of
nowhere and unexpectedly enrich my life because I
gave them a chance.  Of course, being an
experimenter also means that I sometimes waste my
time with books that have little redeeming value
and are best avoided.

To inspire others, I keep a annotated list of what
I read, and you can visit it on my Web site
whenever you want.  From time to time I add a new
book, so when you get a spare moment, it's worth
checking back just to see what's new.

I recently added two books to the list: "A
Hollywood Education" by David Freeman, and "Call
of the Mall" by Paco Underhill.  Take a look and
see what I thought of them:

What is Harley reading?

If you are like me and you love reading, you will
also enjoy...

Harley Hahn's Guide to Reading

Finally, take a look at the following page, where
you'll find some great reading-related Internet
resources that you probably don't even know exist:

Reading resources on the Internet

If you are member of The Harley Hahn Experience,
you'll find links on this page to lots of reading-
related material directly from my books.

-- Harley Hahn