Reading Vacation

When you’re working on managing and pushing live various site each month, it’s not always easy to break away to read about the happenings of your industry.

I don’t think it’s neccessary for me to go into how quickly things change in the web/app development world, but you can only imaging how much a week or more will set you back.

It’s important to not only know what’s going on within the community but to also contribute to it. This is something that’s been hard for me over the last part of the year. So when vacation comes along, I pack my bags mostly full of books and make sure my RSS reader is fully refreshed and I stick my nose in as many books and articles possible.

This vacation was helpful for getting quite a bit of reading done and I still have a few days.

I finished a fantastic book by Danial Pink called A Whole New Mind which talks about moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. I can’t begin to explain how valuable this book was for me along with a great resource for new inspiration.

Along with finishing A Whole New Mind, I caught up on the monthly Treehouse Magazine which has great articles and tutorials on a variety of new web trends and philosophy.

I also got a chance to dig pretty deep into Agile Web Development with Rails which is a book I borrowed/stole from Dan Morrison. For those that have been keeping up with my blog, we’re using this language and framework to develop 7dots.

If that weren’t enough, I’m right now finishing this months Business 2.0 magazine along with 300ish blog posts currently sitting in my news reader.

I can’t express how good it is to get so much reading done. Later this week I have plans to pick up Blue Like Jazz and possible start Velvet Elvis which was given to my by Mark Tanis earlier this year to read and discuss.

So what have you found yourself doing this holiday season?

posted on December 26, 2005 | 1:33 PM EST

rusty Says:

Having given Rob Bell and Mars Hill more than a fair chance in the past, I was looking forward to the publication of ‘Velvet Elvis.’ If you’re looking for anything even remotely informative, however, don’t expect Bell to explain it. VE is a slick-looking, over-priced avatar that represents how complicated and vague emergent churches can be. If you’re interested in progressive theology, read “Mapping Postmodernism: A survey of Christian options” by Robert C. Greer. Greer gives a good summary of theologians like Stanley Grenz, whose theology forms the core principles for churches like Mars Hill. Bell’s “trampoline theory” on using church doctrine as ‘springs’ to get closer to God is a good example. Read Greer and Grenz first. Then read Bell’s book and decide if you think it is worth recommending to friends who have $20 sitting around.

Posted at: December 27, 2005 4:58 PM

Aaron Says:

Thanks Russ - I’ll pick up Mapping Postmodernism: A Survey of Christian Options. I’m gonna try and find it at a local library before shelling out cash though.

Posted at: December 27, 2005 5:04 PM

theParagon