I've just read Frank Zappa: The Biography by Barry Miles. It's a detailed book on 380 pages about virtually every year of Frank Zappa's life. From his parents to his death.

I'm a huge Frank Zappa fan and have been for more than a decade. It's probably the most listened to artist ever in my life in terms of number of listened to songs. Actually not probably; definitely. I adore his music and his personality and this is the second book I read about him. The other book I read was Real Frank Zappa Book written by Peter Occhiogrosso based on biography interviews with Frank for the purpose of writing this book. That book was much more bland and emphasized particularly his early political work and also very much emphasizes on his work as a orchestral conductor/business man.

The detail work in this book is really fantastic. It's thanks to Barry's in-depth understanding of music and the music industry that you get deep down to the nitty-gritty details of Zappa's work. As always with books like this, it's not till you read about the lyrics that you fully understand the lyrics even if you have listened to them many a times. Some of these lyrics I'm actually kind of sad to have understood now as of reading about them in this book. For example, I now understand that the song We're Turning Again which is an up-yours to his old band members Mothers of Invention.

If anything bad can be said about the book it's that it sort of ends on a bad note (no pun intended), as it ends on the sad last few years when Frank was really sick and up to the point of his death. And also, I would have liked to find out more about Barry's own personal relationship with Frank because he couldn't possibly have written this book had he not admired the guy too.

There is no doubt in my mind that Frank Zappa is one of the most innovative and inspirational characters in twentieth-century music history. And probably show-biz too for that matter. Even though the book reveals some truths about Frank as a bit of "douche bag" I'm still firmly one of his biggest fans. If you wanna find out more about Frank Zappa this is most like the book to get.

Following is an extract from a quoted interview by Gail Sloatman who later became Gail Zappa:

"And I remember thinking, Oh my God! Here's this guy, I think he's extraordinary, it's such a different sensation! I know he hasn't taken a bath in four months and his moustache smells like peanut butter..."

She sums it up nicely in her own very personal words so well. There is something amazing about this guy beyond the less appealing facade.

An American businessman took a vacation to a small coastal Mexican village on doctor's orders. Unable to sleep after an urgent phone call from the office the first morning, he walked out to the pier to clear his head. A small boat with just one fisherman had docked, and inside the boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.
  "How long did it take you to catch them?" the American asked.
  "Only a little while," the Mexican replied in surprisingly good English.
  "Why don't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" the American then asked.
  "I have enough to support my family and give a few to friends," the Mexican said as he unloaded them into a basket.
  "But... What do you do with the rest of your time?"
  The Mexican looked up and smiled. "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Julia, and stroll into the village each evening, where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor."
  The American laughed and stool tall. "Sir, I'm a Harvard M.B.A. and can help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. In no time, you could buy several boats with the increased haul. Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats."
  He continued, "Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution, and move to Mexico City, then to Los Angeles, and eventually New York City, where you could run your expanding enterprise with proper management."
  The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will all this take?"
  To which the American replied, "15-20 years. 25 tops."
  "But what then, senor?"
  The American laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions."
  "Millions, senor? Then what?"
  "Then you would retire and move to a small coastal fishing village, where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos..." (The 4-hour Work Week, Timothy Ferriss, page 231-232)

This quote is ripped from a book called The 4-hour Work Week by nutty young entrepreneurial American man called Timothy Ferriss. Just finished the book I have to admit being quite hit by it. It says on the back "WARNING: Don't read this book if you don't want to change your life". I don't want to radically change my life but a bit wouldn't hurt.

If your an office guy working for the man (or as the Japanese call it "salary men") reading this book will probably leave a bad taste of guilt and trembling eager to take his advice on board.

My take is to not take the book on at either 100% (what the author wants) or 0% (what almost all readers will do) but instead do some cherry picking of ideas and concepts that I like. I've actually already started to change a few things in my life all thanks to inspiration in the book.

Rumor has it's it's $thousands still if you can even buy one. The juicy thing about these is that they promise around 50 hours of battery life since it takes 0 power to show a screen. It only takes power to change the screen which makes it ideal for reading e-books.

More in this annoyingly narrated video

I've just finished Dylan Nichols book called "What Are You Doing Here" which is a funny little book about Australians in England (London especially), why they came, what they do here, what influences they bring with them and why they keep coming and last but not least what gets them to go back home.

Dylan is a good friend of mine and I book my signed copy at his book launch a couple of weeks ago. A lot of my friends here in London are aussies and reading this book will only help me understand them and possibly whats going on in their head. Reading this book has given me some profound understanding about Australians' feelings about coming here that I didn't understand before.

Got my copy today! I'm excited to read it.

Martial Arts is a book about martial arts films such as Enter the Dragon and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon etc. written by my "kung fu sister". Within the club you sometimes refer to other people in club as brothers and sisters. Pen and I train both train with Dave in Islington.

Have you seen Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? Do you understand it all or are you, like me, just watching for its fascinating effects, scenery and swordplay? Apparently, all the questions that you've always wanted to know is in the book. I remember asking Pen once: "Why does she jump off the bridge in the end?" To which Pen replied: "Buy my book and you'll find out". So I did. Can't wait!

FogGreek is putting together some sort of management training course and Joel has put up a reading list for the course. They're all either technical computer or modern management books that new-age web entrepreneurs should read.

Of all those books I've only read five but I recognize almost half of them.

Here are the ones I've read:

It's a shame they've missed out on Maverick! (or at least The Seven Day Weekend) by Ricardo Semler but it pleases me that he skipped the micro$oft propaganda book Joel on software

I just finished reading DOM Scripting by Jeremy Keith to learn more about how to use the DOM (Document Object Model) to manipulate web content with JavaScript. The book teaches you how to write JavaScripts to create, change and animate content with scripts using document.createElement and stuff. The book starts with refresher on JavaScript which I must confess to reading much faster than I'm able to. However, it did explain the importance of declaring variables with var and why it matters well.

After chapter 4, you've been taught more or less everything there is to know about the DOM and the rest of the book is just big and explained exercises that iterate the importance of separating Structure (XHTML), Presentation (CSS), Behaviour (JavaScript) with examples and code from all three disciplines. By the way, don't worry when I say "exercises". You can read the book in the bath tub without having to do step-by-step exercises; Jeremy does all of that for you in the book.

I got my copy of the Python Cookbook today. This book might have been available in the US for some time but I had it preordered here in the UK. So for all fellow UK Python people who have been waiting like myself, just wanted to let you know that now it's avaible.

"One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin."

On Sunday morning I heard that Project Gutenberg has started to provide some of their books in MP3 format. I did a "random" search and eventually started downloading The Trial by Franz Kafka. Whilst waiting I started to read Metamorphosis also by Franz Kafka.

We read it at school many years ago and I appreciated it even more this time. What a fantastic book it is. So incredible many subtle hints that you easily oversee. This time around I understood it much more. Maybe it's that I've matured more or maybe I read it too quickly last time. Last time I understood it as Gregor Samsa just felt forgotten and dying. This time I realised that it abstracts so many other forms of social development. I had not understood the importance of the mother, the father and the sister. They in themselves represent different layers of social groups in a very well hidden way. Before I used to think of the members of the family all as one entity.

This was also the first I've ever read a book on screen. It's definitely not an alternative to read long novels on the computer but Metamorphosis isn't very long and I was curious what it'd be like to read a book on the screen. The biggest problem I think is the sitting position. If laid back and comfortable and it becomes hard to focus on the little letters and to close you end up with neck strain and tear running eyes. Nothing beats the paper alternative. The question is, what's the next ideal digital alternative to reading from paper?

(or Historical Guide to England)
I just finished this book. The Swedish version. Don't know if there is a English version.

The last page was nice. It attempted sum the English (or British) people like this (roughly translated):

"They [the Britons] remain in soul and heart peaceful, obedient and tolerant and are persistent in their strife for compromise instead of confrontation."

There is a free web book with the title Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in Python

The book is not yet in print but when it is I'll buy it.

When I first started at Fry-IT they gave me Maverick! by the same author as this book and they said: "Read this. This is how we work". This book is the sequal to the Maverick! book. The first book tells the story of Semco, an industry manufacturer in Brazil that is run by the employees with the CEO Ricardo Semler as "catalyst". Employees come and go as they please, dress as they please, recruit their own bosses, no secretaries, no dedicated desks and even set their own salaries! Employees are given more or less total freedom to do what they want or to do what they have to do how they want to do it.

The core principle in both books is: He who is given responsibility takes responsibility.

It's mostly about moral trust. For example, they abandoned having a security check when people left the plant. Sure, a couple of people stole some tools and stationary. But showing respect to the majority of people boosts their confidence and hence perform better. Besides, the people who stole things were soon kick out (or persuaded otherwise) by their own collegues because it was counteractive for them when tools were missing. I must add that the employees all have generous bonus schemes.

Read the first book for more explainations and examples, but you don't have to have read the first book to read this second one. In this book Ricardo Semler talks about several things such as:

• Why can employees check their work-email on a Sunday but not go to the movies on a Tuesday afternoon?
• Question everything! Ask "why?" at least three times to all things that you think about.
• Working is not only about making money. Considering the amount of time you spend at work, you'd better make it worthwhile.
• Managers that don't care. Why should a manager get involved in things that his staff can solve better themselfs if they're unafraid of making misstakes?
• Aligning your interests. Employees can develop their own ideas into business and take the lead.

Ricardo constantly surprises me with his unconventional ideas. I thought I was "modern" in my views of worklife but constantly I get reminded of being old-fashioned. This book has given me many new ideas to adopt when I work. One such idea is to go play golf during the day and make up for that in the evening.

One major idea I've learnt from reading this book is that about Aligning your interests. Suppose I have an idea for something our company can make money on, then with my collegues acceptance and guidance I can enthusiasticly develop this idea from within the company. This is what a lot of people do. They leave their job to instead start up a company and work with their idea. That comes with risks, and if your company instead can allow you to develop your idea within the company, the employee is more secure and the company gets yet another product to sell.

I recommend that you buy this book and read it if you want to learn about how to make worklife more interesting. It's one of those books that makes you think and re-evaluate your ideas. I like books like that!