Tag: dailyprompt

Books I regret reading

~ Veselin ~ 13 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Have you ever regretted reading a book — which one and why?
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I have this rule that if a book doesn’t go well, I just stop reading and move it to the donations pile. This rule prevents 1* reviews and makes my life a tiny bit more positive. I also don’t suffer through bad fits for too long, as I clearly don’t like what I’m seeing. This rule got me from 30~ish books read/year to over 50.

However, there are at least two ways to get to the end of a bad book without realizing it’s that awful.

  1. It can be a good book with a terrible ending. Like, it looks like a great thriller or crime, and they kill the main character, the main supporting character, or it reveal the main character as the killer. John Grisham does that often. Sooley is a good example.
  2. It can be a passable book with hints it might contain AI slop or really poor ghost writer work. I complete it and then the memories about it sit less and less well, and what was once a 3* book turns into a 1* slop in the weeks after. The most recent works by Lee Child and Harlan Coben fall into that category. I recently had a thriller where the main character was misgendered in the text and a very suspicious stats book, with issues hinting AI use.

AI doesn’t produce readable books for me, also doesn’t produce readable chapters, paragraphs or blog posts. It can turn a perfectly fine paragraph into a grammatically correct and unreadable slop. I wouldn’t even be able to point my finger at what’s wrong with it.

Which author I’d like to meet

~ Veselin ~ 2 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Which author would you love to have dinner with?
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There’s a saying that you should never meet your heroes and after meeting some of mine, I stand by it. However, I checked and Linus Torvalds wrote a book so if I could have a dinner with 10-ish nerds and Linus being there in a way that the other 9 maintain the conversation, while I just stfu and listen, that would be fantastic. I had one of these with Monty Widenius, and while I don’t remember much of it because it was a long time ago, the setup was fine.

As for popular science or fiction writers, while there are plenty I’d love to see at a book signing, having an actual meaningful conversation would be too much.

Best purchase ever

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What is the best purchase you have ever made?
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I try to not get too attached to items and keep them replaceable.

I grew up in an environment when we couldn’t really own anything expensive. One day, my parents brought home beautiful fake adidas pants with three stripes (I think it was abidas or something like that). I went out with it and a kid pushed me down during play (probably on purpose) so my pants got torn. I learned by that mistake and the next fancy thing (a sweather) my parents brought, I didn’t wear at all. Then there was a birthday party and I wanted to put it on, and it was already too small. I outgrew it. So that didn’t work either.

Later in life, I had a chance to experience shopping stuff I need and want, I need and don’t want, I want but don’t need, and even stuff I neither wanted or needed. I it was around my mid-30s when I established some stable principles and conclusions about purchases.

  • The satisfaction you get from a new car and from a new book is not too far out but the car is far more expensive
  • Storage space is a limiting factor for the things you want but don’t need. Space management requires a good sense of minimalism. Once you learn how to throw away things, you get attached to items even less and no longer buy as much as before
  • You can’t be cheap on stuff you’ll use for work, and some of the hardware that frequently fails, I keep fallbacks. I have multiple backup glasses, some kept at specific locations, multiple headphones, countless chargers, cables, connectors, a battery that can recharge my computer and so on.

So with this philosophy, the items I buy are replaceable. Even my book collection is fluid, with a constant outflow of books that get donated.

If I can nominate one item that was life changing and at the same time inexpensive and easily replaceable, that’s my Apple Watch. It keeps me walking.

Shaped by experience

~ Veselin ~ 8 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Do you think we’re shaped more by our experiences or by who we are?
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I used to believe in the idea that we shape our own futures, at least to a large extent, unless something catastrophic gets in the way. I read Ayn Rand and found her perspective appealing.

Then I had kids.

My children are so different that it’s hard to believe. From a very young age, they had distinct personalities, different strengths, and different abilities to focus on the things that interested them. I now believe that nature has a greater influence than nurture, even though nurture still matter a great deal and shouldn’t be underestimated. You may have a much higher odd of becoming a pro basketball player if you’re super tall but you won’t if you don’t put in the hours.