Karen Ruby

Review: The Alchemist

I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho yesterday. Right from page one, I started underlining sentences and I think I must have underlined something on every single page. I got so much out of this book and I really recommend it if you are looking for a purpose and a reason to pursue your dreams.

I can't remember where I read that this book was a must-read (probably Oprah magazine or one of my daily RSS feeds that I read), but I'm really glad that I ordered this book from Amazon. I had never heard of Paulo Coelho, but apparently he is a very famous Brazilian author with many influential books.

From the jacket cover:

"This story, dazzing in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest.. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way."

The story is very simple, but the lessons imparted in the book are timeless: that everyone has a purpose in life or a dream when they were young that came from their heart, but as they grew up they listened less and less to their hearts and allowed their dreams to die. The universe is waiting to help you fulfil that dream, if you would only listen and pay attention to the omens in your life which are leading to what your heart really desires.

Some more pearls of wisdom from the book:

"It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."

"Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own."

"...that a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie."

"It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything that they would like to see happen to them in their lives."

"...people need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want. We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand."

"It was my fear of failure that first kept me from attempting the Master Work. Now, I'm beginning what I could have started ten years ago. But I'm happy at least that I didn't wait twenty years."

"Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure."

There's not anything really new and earth-shattering in this book, but the writings and story speaks so well and sometimes we have to be in the mood to hear and pay attention to universal truths. I won't reveal what happens to Santiago along his journey for his personal treasure, but this book has a lot to say in its simple story and I would recommend that you read it if you are interested in listening to your heart and following your dream. It's never too late.

Tags: The Alchemist Paulo Coelho

Publish On Demand

I came across a couple of self-publishing or publish on demand sites that I thought I would share.

As you may have read here, a couple of months ago I self-published my Mother's poems and provided everyone in the family with a copy of the book. It turned out fantastic and as this was something that I had always wanted to do for my family, I don't have to live with the regret of not completing this goal any longer.

Even though it's in beta, Blurb.com looks like a really really easy way to self-publish your book. You can even use one of their book templates if you didn't want to design your own book from start to finish. You have to install their software on your computer, but as the site says: What will your book be? Start-to-finish publishing software simple and smart enough to make you an author. The prices seem pretty reasonable, too, at $29.95 for a 40 page colour book. I'm waiting until they complete their blog template before I decide to take the plunge and self-publish some of my blog posts for members of my family who don't own a computer.

Another site that is pretty cool is the Lulu.com site that allows you to not only publish your books but also you can publish other products such as calendars, videos, images, music and audio and then sell those products on Lulu's site. There is a ton of stuff to check out at Lulu.com. The Lulu.com site is a more robust site that offers so much more than just publishing your book, they have marketing services links that provide you with everything you need to design, market, publish, graphic designers, and get your book sold on their site. The site has a wide selection of books and other products that authors have used Lulu.com to create. Thinking of writing a non-fiction book? I noticed quite a few non-fiction titles in their Top 100 books.

Everyone wants to be an author and everyone has a unique voice. If you are thinking of self-publishing or publishing on demand, check out the links.

Tags: Blurb Lulu Self-publishing

Self-Publishing Poetry Book

My Mother has written poems all her life and one of the things that I've always wanted to do was to give her an actual book of her poetry. Last month, I was able to accomplish this major life goal of mine by self-publishing her poems.

Here is a picture of my Mom's books on the day the order arrived. Talk about exciting! The book turned out better than I ever expected. You cannot imagine the thrill of holding a "real book" in your hands, until you self-publish. No wonder so many people self-publish and want to be authors! It's quite thrilling to hold the finished product in your hands.

Here's a close-up of the spine and cover:

I had always wanted to do this for my Mom and as an keepsake for each member of my rather large family. I had originally wanted to give the book for my Mom's 70th Birthday (which was 3 years ago). When the opportunity presented itself to self-publish her poems, of course I did was so happy to be able to do this for her, for my family, and also for me. My Mother's health is failing and I did not want to live with the regret of not having my Mom's poems in a book form so that everyone in the family and her close personal friends could have a copy of her beautiful poetry.

You cannot imagine the reaction to the book in my family - everyone is so thrilled with it. Of course, I am too! This is something that can be passed down from generation to generation in our family. My Mom is already a great-grandmother and one day her great grandchildren can remember their "Noni" by reading her beautiful poetry.

Here's one of my Mom's poems that I particularly like:

Thoughts

Sometimes I lie awake and think about things
How mountains grow and streams run
Silly thoughts, serious thoughts fill my mind
And leave me with an appetite for more
A thirst, a craving of what, why and how?
This often escapes me and I become
Impatient for this knowledge
For when can I grasp as much as my cup will hold
Then shall I know where lies my future

Rita G. Ruby

The book was relatively easy and painless to get self-published. I worked with a graphic designer to design the cover page and the spine. I had already typed up all the poems (54 pages of them) and ordered them into chapters. I also wrote the page page, describing the book of my Mom's poems. The graphic designer worked with the printing company to print the pages and with the binding company to perfect bind the book. We also included two pages of colour photographs of different stages of my family. We only have a handful of pictures of everyone in the family in one picture.

All in all, it was so worth the time and money to be able to self-publish my Mom's book of poetry. If you have been thinking of self-publishing your own writings or someone in your family's writings, I really encourage you to do so. From start to finish, the book took only about six weeks and for 50 copies, it was under $1000. The money means nothing - the relief of not having the regret of not doing this for my Mom and for my family is priceless. The joy of actually holding the final book, knowing the happiness that it would bring my Mom and my sisters and brother, cannot be described. Self-publishing a book is pretty cool!

Don't live with the regret of not looking into self-publishing, if this has been something that you've wanted to do. If I can do it, then so can you.

Tags: Self-Publishing Poetry

Book Review: Mapping Hacks

I've been reading Mapping Hacks: Tips & Tools for Electronic Cartography for a while now and have been meaning to post a review about this book.

It's an O'Reilly book, so of course, they have a great website with free chapters and sample hacks: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mappinghks/chapter/

The authors, Schuyler Erle, Rich Gibson and Jo Walsh offer 100 mapping hacks and have organized the book into nine chapters called Mapping Your Life, Mapping Your Neighborhood, Mapping Your World, Mapping (on) the Web, Mapping with Gadgets, Mapping on Your Desktop, Names and Places, Building the Geospatial Web, and Mapping with Other People.

I really liked this quote in the preface and find that it's spot-on:

"Geospatial, or locative, literacy might be described as the ability to understand, create, and use spatial information and maps in navigating, in describing phenomena, in problem-solving, and in artistic expression -- ultimately including the ability to create and utilize information, viewable in place, directly associated with physical reality. There are no programs to help people develop this kind of literacy, and even in the most developed countries, those who have achieved a high level of geospatial literacy have done so without a compelling formal curriculum."

The book is a good resource to increase your geospatial knowledge by doing, not simply reading. The hacks range from very simple mapping hacks to more complex hacks that require specialized software and coding to reproduce.

The authors also have a website for the book and offer a lot more mapping hacks: http://mappinghacks.com/

A friend of mine who is a GIS Programmer at ESRI Canada had pre-ordered the book, but this was near the same time that Google Maps Beta had just come out and she canceled the order. I didn't cancel my order because I thought there would be some pretty good mapping code tricks that would still be relevant.

The book is heavily geared towards the U.S. market with a lot of U.S. - based links, there were some hacks that worked just as well for Canada. There are also a lot of hacks that use MapQuest, which in my opinion, seems really, really old since I was using Yahoo Maps and telling all my friends to use it, even before Google Maps came along. But, as the preface states, they worked on this book for quite a while with a lot of revisions to account for the fast changing pace of mapping and technology. That's understandable.

Conclusion
As for the book itself, I liked it. Although some of the images seem pretty dated even if the book was published in June 2005, I actually learned quite a bit of GIS and cartography from the book. There were some pretty good tips on setting up your own "mapping hacks". I didn't do all 100 hacks but I did some of them and learned by doing, rather than just reading about the hack. I also picked up quite a bit of what I would consider insider knowledge, information about the GIS and mapping industry that I don't necessarily get exposed to because I don't currently work in the field. That alone was worth the price of the book for me.

Just so you know, I pre-ordered the "Google Maps Hacks" book by the two of the authors, Schuyler Erle and Rich Gibson, at the end of September, but cancelled the order last week because Google Maps came out of Beta and it was just taking too long to get the book.

I wonder if there's a third, more recent book in the works now that Google Maps has come out of Beta, MSN Virtual Earth is gaining ground and the ever-impressive Google Earth, plus Yahoo Maps, and a9 have spanned such interest in GIS and mapping hacks (and mashups)?

Books and Writing

Here are some interesting topics concerning books and writing that I've come across this week:

• Do you know what NaNoWriMo means? Did you know that November is National Novel Writing Month? Well, I didn't either, but I think it's a great idea. If I were to write a novel, then this would be the inspiration. Check out: NaNoWriMo
• Amazon.com to sell individual book pages starting next year. The Globe and Mail had an interesting article on this new approach by Amazon. It's about time! - "Under Amazon Upgrade, anybody purchasing a paper book could also look at the entire text on-line, at any time, for a "small" additional charge, Bezos said. For instance, a $20 (U.S.) book might cost an extra $1.99." Sign me up! I can't wait to subscribe to this new service next year, it had better be rolled out to Canada, too. Why haven't they done this before?
• Google to index entire public domain books. I just use the huge Gutenburg Project site myself, when I'm in the mood to read a classic. The Gutenburg site is an unbelievably good resource to find and download free e-books on public domain books.
• An interesting post about how to write effectively for the web by Gina Trapani of Lifehacker.com.

Check them out.

Tags: Amazon.com Gutenburg Project Lifehacker.com NaNoWriMo

Small Acts of Revenge, Updated

I have to apologize to John M. who sent me an email a while back to update me on Ian Urbina's new book and his blog that addresses those everyday annoying things that just drive you mad and what you can do about them.

I wrote a post back in March of this year about an article in the NY Times that Ian Urbina wrote titled: "No Need to Stew: A Few Tips to Cope with Life's Annoyances".

You can read my original post here: http://karenruby.typepad.com/weblog/2005/03/small_acts_of_r.html

Ian Urbina has parlayed his NY Times article into a book called, "Life’s Little Annoyances". If you want to read some real-life stories about how people are getting their small acts of revenge against life's annoyances, check out Ian's Lifes Little Annoyances blog.

I received an email from another friend of mine a couple of days ago and in it she laments that she has noticed that her tolerance for "degenerate behaviour in others" has noticeably declined.

If you follow this blog, you will know that I've written a few posts on the increasing rudeness of others and the lack of manners displayed lately. No, it's not in your head and no, you are not simply getting old and losing your patience. Studies have been done to show that modern life is becoming too insular, too fast-paced, too self-centered, and this has resulted in an increase in displays of rudeness and obvious retalitory acts of annoyances.

One way to counter this problem is to be more conscious of your/our actions. It all starts with the individual.

Just something to think about.

Tags: Ian Urbina Life's Little Annoyances Rudeness

Freakonomics Review

I was about to write a review about the Freakonomics book by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner since I only have about one chapter left to read in the book. But, then I came across this review from the "How to Save the World" blog by Dave Pollard which does a far better job than I could ever do.

So, go read his post on the book here: http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/07/25.html#a1221

Although Dave hasn't been blogging very long, I'm very impressed with the depth of his knowledge and his posts.

One thing I will say about Freakonomics: I found it to be a very interesting, entertaining, and thought-provoking read. If you have read Malcolm Gladwell's Blink and Tipping Point books, there are some similiarities in the writing style and examples detailed in those books and in Freakonomics. Definitely recommended.

Orson Scott Card, Ender's Saga, and Advent Rising

Ender's Saga and Orson Scott Card

I discovered Orson Scott Card about a year ago when I read a review on a site for his Ender's Game book. Since that moment, I've been obsessed with reading all of his Ender's books, including his latest "Shadow of the The Giant" which I read last week.

First, if you don't know who Orson Scott Card (official site: Hatrack River) is then you must live in a hole somewhere. Just like I used to :-).  He's just the best science fiction writer alive today! When I read Ender's Game, the story simply blew me away. I couldn't believe how much I got into Ender and his capacity to think strategically and his military brilliance. I'm personally not into 'the military' or thinking in that vein, but the story was so engrossing and believable that it sucks you right into Ender's universe. It's one of those books that stay with you long after you read it and changes your thinking.

Ender's Game has won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award and voted as the 100 Best Books for Teens. I would say that it's one of the best science fiction saga stories ever (except for maybe The Lord of the Rings). The book is not really geared towards children, nor teens for that matter. Even though the main character is a child and the story involves the 'Battleschool' aboard a space ship, the story is not really geared towards children. It makes you think too much to be a children's book.

Once you read the first book in the series, Ender's Game, then you are hooked. You have to know what happens to Ender, his sister Valentine, his brother Peter, Bean, Petra, and the rest of Ender's jeesh. After Ender and the rest of the Battleschool military geniuses save Earth from the Alien invasion (I don't want to give too much away and spoil it), you have to read Bean's story in "Ender's Shadow". You have to read Bean's story and the way he survived the streets of Rotterdam because Bean's story returns in other of Orson's Ender books. I then read Speaker for the Dead, which was very thought-provoking. I felt Card went a little out to left field with the story, but it was still very gripping to read about what happens to Ender and his family on Lusitania.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Ender's brother Peter is trying to unite the entire planet under his benevolent rule in "Shadow of the Hegemon". Shadow of the Hegemon also continues with Bean's story and how he finds himself. Bean also plays a central character in "Shadow Puppets", which I found to be very relevant to today's geopolitics. If you are at all interested in the world's politics and religion and geography and military strategies, then you should pick up this book (and Shadow of the Giant).

Back on Lusitania, Ender and his family are battling a deadly virus in "Xenocide". In this book, the central theme of ethical dilemmas is embellished further as Ender races to save his family and the planet. The A.I. character, Jane, plays a pivotal role throughout the books involving Ender and has the task trying to save the three sentient species on Lusitania. She plays a major role in "Children of the Mind". Jane is a very interesting character and her evolution throughout the books is mesmerizing. The artificial intelligence of Jane, how she became more than just a computer voice, the ethics involved, the technological wonder of her existence, are also central themes in the books where Ender is the main character.

I found the last book in the saga, "Shadow of the Giant" to be the most relevant to what's happening in the world today. Many may find the politics slightly boring in the book, but I found that theme to be the most thought-provoking, especially considering what's happening in the world right now. The Battleschool children have come back from space to their respective home countries, who are using their military brilliance to try and take over their neighbours or unite under religion.

Another of the themes is the theme of colonization, which I found to be very interesting. Not colonization as in trying to take over other worlds, but the race to save Humankind by spreading the species throughout the galaxy so that if something were to happen to planet Earth, then the entire Human species wouldn't be able to be wiped out. In this last book, the other theme of uniting the entire planet under one ruler or Hegemon (Peter Wiggin) was very interesting, too, because it reminded me of the United Federation of Planets in the Star Trek franchise. If everyone on the planet were united by one thing, that of being Human first, then all the petty wars and atrocities in the world would be superseded by the need to save ourselves, to free up resources to better all humankind, to colonize and explore and 'raise ourselves up out of the muck' as it were. This stuff makes you think.

You don't have to read the books in the order that I read them, just check them out and if they seem interesting (how could they not!), then read them. Read the reviews, see what everyone is talking about. Learn something.

Advent Rising

Orson Scott Card has collaborated with GlyphX Games and Majesco Entertainment Company to bring Advent Rising, a third-person, intergalactic action/adventure epic game to life. As GameSpy mag writes, Orson "helped develop the storyline, a plot involving a universe in which mankind is believed extinct. He also wrote the dialog and directed the voice acting sessions. In many ways, the work he is doing on Advent Rising mirrors the role his readers have when they read Card's books."

I am totally excited to go buy this game (it's supposed to be out on PC this Tuesday August 9). Even though the story doesn't involve Ender, Orson Scott Card is an amazing science fiction writer and I can't wait to see what he brought to life in Advent Rising.

GameSpy says:"In Advent Rising, a common legend pervades the galaxy - that of a powerful, ancient race that will one day unite the universe Millions of cultures from vastly different worlds revere and hallow these mythological beings known as humans One race, the Seekers, know humans actually exist and are threatened by their potential power Under the guise of benevolent explorers, the Seekers travel throughout the galaxy in a desperate attempt to eradicate any human society they unearth." Sound familiar?

This reminds me of the theme in the last book, "Shadow of the Hegemon" and why it was so important for humans to go out in the galaxy and colonize. I'm not that big a fan of first person or third person shooter games (I prefer RPGs), but I'm going to buy this game, just because it has Orson Scott Card's name on it. I will buy anything with his name on it.

Have you read any of Card's books? What's your opinion? One of the best science fiction writers ever?

I Love Harry!

I love Harry Potter!

It doesn't matter to me that many people think that it's strange for a grown woman to read and love Harry Potter. I don't care what you think. I enjoy reading about Harry, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid and the gang at Hogwarts. I have all the books and the three DVDs (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).

My 'guaranteed-to-be-delivered-on-Saturday-July-16th' order just came from Amazon.ca and I can't wait to get started reading the latest book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - all 607 pages of it!

It's Harry Potter day for me, I've been waiting all day for the knock on the door to get my book. The DVDs have been playing in succession, in preparation for the knock on the door. It's been so long since I've had my last fix of Harry.

Excuse me while I go inhale the book.

[Update 10:00 PM: Well, I've just finished the book and am really surprised at who died. There will be an uproar, for sure, from many, many, kids when they find out who Rowling killed off. Or did she?]

Mapping Hacks & Links

I just came across the Mapping Hacks website. They have some pretty cool hacks and interesting posts so make sure to check it out.

Saw this post at BoingBoing about the new Mapping Hacks book by the Mapping Hacks site's authors. David Pescovitz (of BoingBoing) writes:

"As a "map curious" newcomer to digital cartography, I can say with certainty that it's an engaging and downright inspiring book. From Google Maps to Dodgeball, location-enhanced technologies are all the rage these days. But it's easy to get lost in the hype of geocoding, Geographic Information Systems, and even GPS. Fortunately, as with the other books in O'Reilly's Hacks series, Mapping Hacks is all about learning by doing. "

It did the trick: I just ordered the book tonight from Amazon.ca (sorry guys, I ordered the book before I saw the link on your site, guess you won't get the small kickback). They have a chapter on hacks for Google Maps - can't wait to check that out. I guess in the next version they will cover Google Earth. That will be so cool!

Will definitely post a review about the book when it ships from Amazon.

I have played around with Google Earth, but not as much as I want to. I'm also on the Keyhole BBS and have played around with some cool network links that are posted there. Hopefully, things will calm down in my life so I can seriously do some playing with the Google Earth. It's just so cool!

I'm currently finishing the last course I need for my (2nd) GIS Certificate from Ryerson University, so it's exciting to see the explosion of interest in digital cartography, GIS, mapping, etc.

Here are some more interesting mapping sites/articles that I've come across lately:

• http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/

• http://www.googleearthhacks.com

• http://mappinghacks.com/

• Google Weather Maps: http://www.myjavaserver.com/~weathermaps/weather/index.jsp

• GMaps Pedometer - http://sueandpaul.com/gmapPedometer/

• Adena Schutzberg from Directions Magazine posts an interesting question - does the functionality presented in Google Maps, Google Earth and the rest really considered GIS: http://www.directionsmag.com/blog/archives/367-Just-Making-Maps.html

• Make: has a really interesting post about HOW TO GPS Tag Photos: Flickr, Mappr, Google Earth... If you haven't checked out Make, you really should as they have some pretty cool DIY technology hacks

Pretty darn cool.