I saw Iron Man recently at the theater. It was a fun summer movie. In fact I think it’s my favorite comic to big screen movie so far with the possible exception of Road to Perdition. I can’t wait to see the other more movies from Marvel if they are all this good. They can’t possibly be as bad as that Hulk movie from a few years ago.

When I was out sick I read a favorable review of the book, “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need”. I dropped it into an Amazon order. If you feel some angst about your career and you don’t have a good mentor or have only been in the workplace for a couple of years this is a great read. It might make a good gift for someone who is headed out to their first real job after college. I found the advice pretty basic. On the other hand it was still a fun read thanks to the format and the illustrations by Rob Ten Pas.

There wasn’t anything special I learned but I loved the reminder that “it’s not about you” and “leave an imprint”. You can check out some illustrations on the Johnny Bunko web site.

I really enjoy reading about computer history. There are a few reasons.

1. Computer History is navel gazing something I enjoy already. The books and essays make what I do for a living seem important.
2. I have a core belief that today’s computer industry is re-inventing the breakthroughs from 20-30 years ago. Reading the history helps me get the “next big thing”.
3. The characters in my industry fascinate me. Ultimately, the history of my industry is the very personal story of some very smart and sometimes very odd people.

So if you like computer history you might want to check out this essay entitled,”Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine“, by W. Daniel Hillis that appears on the Long Now web site. I have worked some some smart people iin my life, but what a treat to work with someone like Richard Feynman. The Thinking Machine alumni list is pretty amazing.