RonMertens.com

I just finished reading Dracula. It’s one of those books that were on my waiting-list for years, and I finally found the time to read it. It was surprisingly good - I really enjoyed it. It was quite modern (it was written in 1897) - written as written journals and newspaper clips. Recommended to all the fans lovers out there

I just finished reading the Tin Drum, by Gunter-Grass. It was a ‘difficult’ book, and took me quite some time to read - but it was also brilliant. I liked it, and enjoyed most of it. It was hard to get into.

It really reminded me of Salman Rushdie’s books (and Marquez as well) - it’s a fictional auto-biography of the main character. There’s a lot of historic information (passing-by, sort of), some fantasy here and there, funny and sad at the same time. And I like it when the story goes through several generations of the family.

So. A good book, and recommended

I just finished reading “His dark materials” which is a Trilogy by Philip Pullman. It can be called a fantasy book…but I’m not sure how to label it.

Anyway I really enjoyed it! A friend (Shaham) bought it for Michal, and then I got to read it too. Heartily recommended.

Here’s a book recommendation for you (From the Metalgrass blog). How to start your own software (or web service) company. Check it out.

I just finished reading the Earthsea cycle (yeah, 6 books) by Ursula Le Guin. I read them when I was little (the first three, anyway). They are still a great read. I especially liked the last one. Recommended to all fantasy fans!

I just finished a book called Freakonomics. It was a rather interesting book. It’s written by a young economist (And another journalist bloke). He likes to look into big sets of data and extract interesting facts. He then gives interesting answers like “Do sumo wrestlers cheat?” or “What is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?”. I didn’t like the fact that this guy is very much in love with himself (Before every chapter in this book there’s a short story from some newspaper saying how great he is. In his own book!). And sometimes he is not convincing. But all in all it’s a good book. Thanks Opher for the recommendation!

I just finished reading an interesting book - “The question of happiness”, by Tal Ben Shahar.

Tal claims that there are four types of persons: Rat racers, who are not happy now, but are working hard towards goals that should make them happy: degrees, job promotions, etc. But they are never happy. There are hedonists, who are “enjoying” the present, having a good time, but do not care about the future. After a while, they stop being happy. There are people who are not happy, neither have hopes at being happy.

Then there is the fourth type: Those who are enjoying their present time, but still have goals set in the future. This is obviously what we should strive to be. Find a job that interests us, and that we enjoy. Have goals, and achieve them, but not at too large a cost.

I guess I have been a rat-racer most of my life… I’m trying to change that now.