Open Circuits, Richest Man in Babylon and The Last Lecture

Open Circuits by Eric Schlaepfer, Windell H. Oskay

I think I heard about Open Circuits on Hacker News three or four months back. I found it very interesting and I eventually gifted it to my sister-in-law and her husband, both of who are electronics engineers and run a small hardware consulting firm. Their first reaction was that they wished they had this book when they were younger. I read this book early this week while I visited them and I felt the same. The book is more of a coffee table book in my opinion with large pictures of the inside of various electrical and electronic components with brief explanation on the components themselves. This would have been a great book to start exploring the field of electronics as a young kid, potentially leading to a ton of questions on the various components in the book. One constant question I had throughout the entire book was regarding the manufacturing process of these intricate electronic components. This is high on my list of books that I would recommend to kids who are beginning to explore Science and Technology.

Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

I've come across this book as a must read on a number of self-help and finance reading lists and I finally came across the actual book in a friends' book shelf around Christmas time. I borrowed the book from them and finally got around to reading it. At the end of the book, I agreed with most of the things in the book and I wish I had read it 5 years earlier. But I also realize, like the book mentions, that I might have been too young and naive to fully understand and digest the advice that the book gives.

I've made a reasonable number of financial mistakes, some of which the book warns the readers about, so I strongly stand by most of what the book talks about. I like the fact that the book is aware that most of what is being preached is cliche and trivial. The author then points out the fact that even if these are trivial changes, they require conscious effort to practice. Overall, I recommend it for people who are just starting their careers but maybe not for people who have already had 5-10 years to make and learn from their financial mistakes.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow

The Last Lecture book is based on the Last Lecture talk by Randy Pausch. Randy Pausch was a Professor in the Computer Science department at the Carnegie Mellon University. He gave the Last Lecture a few months before succumbing to Pancreatic Cancer. Almost 10 years ago is when I remember first watching the talk and immediately reading the book. I don't remember the contents of the book but it left an impression on me. I finally decided to re-read the book today. The book is a recollection of how Prof. Randy Pausch realized a lot of his childhood dreams. At the end of the talk, and the book, the author reveals that the content is also meant for his three young children and to help them understand how to live. Overall, I still like the book. The book is more about how to live than it is about how to handle dying, sort of the opposite of When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanidhi.

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