Currently reading: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett 📚
Broke my leg skiing two days ago. At least 6 weeks non-weight bearing. My world has shrunk down to a bedroom and bathroom, a walker and a shower seat. This is your reminder that you’re temporarily abled.
Currently reading: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng 📚
Finished reading: The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker 📚A strange novel, a Trojan War story told from the POV of Briseis, Trojan royalty made a slave to Achilles. I’m haphazardly making my way through the Odyssey in the Emily Wilson translation, so this novel was useful for background.
Grateful that Micro.blog keeps track of my reading. I read 76 books in 2023. Favorites were Loot, Of Time and Turtles, The Country of the Blind, Learning Korean, The Peregrine, and Africa is Not a Country.
Still reading: Clarissa by Samuel Richardson 📚I’ve been reading this novel for about a year and I’m only half-way through its 1800 pages.
Finished reading: All Systems Red by Martha Wells 📚So fun! I see why people love these Murderbot diaries.
Finished reading: Fatherland by Burkhard Bilger 📚Definitely a good read. An American researches his Nazi grandfather. He notes how small decisions become big decisions. And that treating people with humanity is always the right thing to do, of course.
Iceland sunset at about 3:30 pm
Finished reading: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry 📚worth reading. Interesting meditations on relationships, religion, science, faith. Set in England as science was being invented. Interesting characters.
Iceland view
I bet everyone can tell that today is my first day not bogged down by too much work. I cleared the decks for this week in preparation for our trip to Iceland beginning Thursday. I’m still looking for recommendations for things to do in Reykjavik. We’re there for 4 days.
Bookshelves is reminding me that I’m currently reading 16 books. Sounds about right 🤣
Currently reading: Fatherland by Burkhard Bilger 📚
Currently reading: The Odyssey by Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) 📚
Finished reading: Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson 📚Notched another one from the “Robert Macfarlane Recommended Reading” list. Written in the 1920s, a beautiful but also brutal naturalist work about the short life of an otter in the English countryside.
Currently reading: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry 📚
Currently reading: White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link 📚
Finished reading: Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton 📚quite good. A Shakespearean ending that takes your breath away but also makes sense as a commentary on our late-capitalism world.
Currently reading: The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf 📚
When will this be done?
Are you terrified when someone asks “When will this be done?”
Whether you’re being asked about a project or a task, it’s often hard to answer this question.
Here’s what I know.
🏁 The best way to figure out how long a task will take is to do the work
It’s often better not to estimate. It’s time that would be better spent working. Do the work, show your results, get feedback, and keep going.
👀 Consider why people are asking for the estimate: what information are they really looking for?
When you understand their needs, you may be able to answer their question without having to give them a date.
💯 A range is better than a single number.
The likelihood that your task or project will be completed at a specific, predicted moment is near zero. When you and your team can provide a range that feels accurate, you’re sharing useful and actionable information.
It’s FAR better to be roughly right than precisely wrong.
We’re going to Reykjavik Iceland in a few weeks. Any travel experts have “must see” recommendations for us? I like getting off the beaten track.
Currently reading: Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson 📚
Finished reading: The Years by Annie Ernaux 📚This took me a while to get through but in the end, I agree that it’s a masterpiece. It manages to be the story of the past 60 years for a white, educated woman and yet general, too. She captures so much in so few words. Translated from the French.
Finished reading: Loot by Tania James 📚An excellent novel, set in India and France, touches on history, colonialism, growing up bi-racial, and more heavy topics while also being an enjoyable read. Highly recommended.