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Expand Your Mind - a list by gordon
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About this list:
I read many books, listen to lots of music, surf the Net, and watch lots of TV/documentaries/movies concurrently. Mostly I am into science, econ/finance, psychology/sociology, current events/history, and strategy/business. Occasionally, I come across a great epic novel or really quality sci-fi or some book or film that really blows my mind. I love to share when I find mind-expanding media.
Qualifications:
Media junkie. I don't watch much TV except for HBO and SHO.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
First to recommend
3 people recommended this item
Description
Love vampires and scary fiction that is written well enough to call itself "literature" with a straight face. Then I highly recommend The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Totally fun story w/a good chunk of apparently more or less accurate history about a modern day scholarly investigation into Vlad the Impaler's undead personal self-re-invention as Count Dracula, the vampire we all know about. No Bela Lugosi cheesiness here though. The story is scary and Vlad is definitely painted out as a rather nasty fellow. Excellent bedtime reading.
Updated Dec 7, 2007
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Murakami- retrospective on his work
First to recommend
6 people recommended this item
Description
Murakami is a totallygenius Japanese artist who has built a small empire by creating highly commercial- but very original and compelling- art that he then productizes by putting his images on fashion items, luggage, t-shirts, and vinyl figurines, as well as manga/anime and TV/Movies. I totally admire Murakami's work because I think he has done an amazing thing by seamlessly blending his business and his art into one coherent- and apparently quite profitable- whole! Achieving such an integration of my passions and my career is a personal goal of mine and seeing Murakami do it in such a visually compelling and ground-breaking way is awesome. This book gives a great overview of his work and contains several very worthwhile essays about the importance and method of his work/business. If you dig Japanese pop culture or consider yourself to be a "cultural creative," you must check out Murakami's work.
Updated Nov 28, 2007
Lisa Kristine Migration Photography
First to recommend
Description
I was recently in Sonoma, CA and came across Lisa Kristine's Migration Photography gallery. Lisa Kristine creates really beautiful travel photography that documents peple and places from around the world w/a particular bent toward Asia and 3rd World subjects. Her work is powerful, rich, and nuanced. I love this sort of stuff alothough it always fills me w/wanderlust and a desire for a world-romping, seeking adventure right now.
Her work is large format color photography. What I think is particularly interesting about Lisa Kristine, besides the work itself, is how she has built a business around her own brand. She has made herself a commercially viable artist by opening multiple captive galleries and mass-producing her work. I know the art world purists out there are probably horrified by this sort of behavior, but it seems to me to be the wave of the future. People like Wyland (though his stuff is cheesy), Murakami, and Christo have all shown that there is a strong demand for the commercial high art artist
Updated Nov 12, 2007
Blue Morpho Butterfly
First to recommend
2 people recommended this item
Description
I have to say I am a huge fan of evolution and think it has produced some of the most beautiful creations I have ever seen, high among them is the gorgeous metallic blue Morpho butterfly. I have seen morphos in the wild in Costa Rica and they are amazing. At risk of sounding like some weird and maybe slightly cruel taxidermy buff, I also have set of preserved ones glittering over my desk and I never get tired of looking at them (I was really into bugs and nature as a kid and never really outgrew the fascination).
At home, I have a bunch of preserved morphos and other butterflies in a case and my kids totally dig checking them out. I am so happy that they can see and appreciate nature's beauty and complexity at home so they will be really excited to go out and experience the wild first-hand when they get older (they are 5 and 3 now and are a bit young to tramp around the rain forests of costa rica or dive on the Great Barrier Reef, etc).
Suffice it to say, morphos are a striking and beautiful addition to any room and are both modern/sleek/stylish and wild/natural at the same time.
Updated Nov 7, 2007
West Ocean DJ Sets
First to recommend
Description
Not a product per se but a site that is an AWESOME collection of DJ sets. I love, love, love electronic music, especially IDM (intelligent dance music) and West Ocean DJ Sets has hundreds of great sets from great DJ's. I used to DJ and, if I had more time, I would totally start doing it again (spinning until the wee hours is a bit at odds w/being a daddy to two toddlers, ceo of a start-up, and a morning work-out person, but hey, one day my sched will relax a bit...)
Most excellent online radio station for cranking thru a powerpoint or grooving out. (via RGold_1999)
Updated Nov 7, 2007
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The DUX Bed by Duxiana
First to recommend
4 people recommended this item
Description
The DUX Bed made by Swedish bedmaker extraordinaire, Duxiana, is the Cadillac of beds. I have only slept on one once and it was fantastic- no lumps or ditches, firm where it needs to be, soft where it should be, no bizarrely kinked necks or shoulders in the morning. Ihave friends who have a DUX and they totally swear by it. Though they are expensive ($7K for a bed!), I have come to realize the value of a good night's sleep and think that for the amount of time I spend asleep, investing in a great mattress is a great ROI. If you live an intense lifestyle and need to be well-rested, good sleep is a must.
I hate my current mattress and am thinking about treating myself either to a new car or a DUX Bed for my upcoming birthday. Not sure which way I will go just yet: porsche or a Dux.....
Updated Sep 12, 2007
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James Clavell - Tai-Pan: a Novel of Hong Kong (Unabridged)
First to recommend
Description
Tai-Pan is an amazing book, I think Clavell's best. Tai Pan takes place at the birth of Hong Kong in the 19th century and focuses on Scotsman Dirk Struan, Tai Pain (supreme boss) of the Noble House (ie the biggest opium/tea trader). The cast of characters is vast and vaired and includes one of my all time favorite characters ever, Mai Mai, the concubine of the Tai Pan. Mai Mai is smart, super-savvy, speaks in a "fantastical good" pidgin English, and is hilarious, hey-yah!.
Tai Pan is the right mix of adventure, history, and fine, insightful writing about the human condition that makes this a must read bordering on fine literature (w/out all the pomp and tedium that often goes along w/that classification).
I have read Tai Pan and am now listening to this audio version. In general, I like audiobooks and the recording of Tai Pain is one of the best I have ever heard. The narrator does an absolutely superb job of capturing the different voices, accents, and personalities of the characters throughout the 25(!) hour recording. I wish I could deliver and read aloud half as well as this guy.
If you run a company, have to evaluate and judge people in high pressure circumstances, and want to see a portrait of how a fictional master entrepreneur conducts himself, do yourself a huge favor and read Tai Pan. I promise you that you will not be bored
Updated Aug 19, 2007
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National Geographic Magazine
3 people recommended this item
Description
National Geographic is possibly the most inspiring magazine I have ever read. I started reading NatGeo as a little kid and it really instilled a taste for adventure, science, and exotic locales/cultures in me. I have never lost that interest and always thought running NatGeo would be a blast.
If you are curious, have kids, or just love to look at beautiful pictures, I highly, highly recommend getting a subscription to National Geographic.
Updated May 3, 2007
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The Blue Planet - Seas of Life Collector's Set (Parts 1-4)
First to recommend
4 people recommended this item
Description
Blue Planet: Seas of Life is possibly the best nature documentary series I have ever seen. Costing over $10 million and narrated by the superb David Attenborough, Blue Planet travels the Earth's oceans and captures some truly spectacular footage from the deep benthic depths to the open pelagic ecosystems to tropical reefs and polar environments. It is AWESOMELY done and is the sort of dream project I want to develop/produce.
I think the sheer beauty of the oceans really comes thru and there is enough science to keep an adult interested while providing enough eye candy to enthrall little kids. Highly recommended
Updated Apr 25, 2007
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The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
First to recommend
Description
River of Doubt is a fantastic bit of history and partial biography of Teddy Roosevelt, the US president whom I think I most admire as a man (but not his policies). Roosevelt was a true adventurer, naturalist, and bon vivant who lived an outsized life. River of Doubt tells the story of his trip to the Amazon Basin where he set off to descend the River of Doubt, one of the Amazon's unexplored, nearly thousand mile long tributaries.
River of Doubt is a harrowing tale of adventure, misadventure, leadership, exploration, the ecology of the Amazon, and the politics of that day. It reads like a thriller but also does a good job of putting the story in historical context w/out overloading on the minutae that often overwhelm history books. IOW, it is good popular history, not the footnote-laden slog you might have read in school.
I think that being on the trip would have been one hell of a time, certainly historic, and no doubt very trying- definitely the kind of experience that is character-building!!!!
Updated Apr 22, 2007
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gordon
I am the CEO and co-founder of ThisNext. I am a serial net entrepreneur and have all the baggage that goes along...
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