05oct2014

The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Your Life: Thought-provoking. I know a few small-business owners who outsource regularly because 1) there is almost no difference between life and work, and 2) there is simply no way you can have the skill to do everything yourself. "Wealthy households" in the 18th and 19th centuries were also small businesses. On the other side, you can see the cons all around us in this generation.
Why I Just Asked My Students to Put Their Laptops Away: Clay Shirky on dismissing electronic devices from his classroom. Interesting point: distractions have grown when the only variable is the devices being brought to class. Strong points on the impact of distractions on cognitive development as well.
The 2014 Sinqfield Cup: Nice read to catch up on the state of international chess with lots of good links. There are hints of the impact of Internet-based chess play in preparation for competitions, something that would be interesting to know more about.

Over the last couple of months I’ve started reading more books and fewer Internet posts. The reason is time. Work has been intense and will continue to be so for the forseeable future. The quality of books is also very high compared to almost everything on the ‘Net. There just isn’t time to browse anymore, and this has shown in the frequency of my linklog posts in 2014. I’ll continue to post links, but I am also going to try posting comments on books I’m reading. This may or may not grow into full reviews but hopefully will give you some ideas for your own reading list.