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By C. Jake Williams. May 12, 2010
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It's been a busy week for me, and the week ahead will be relaxing to the same degree.
I registered for 14 credits of biology and chemistry courses yesterday. Classes begin August 23rd at the University of Utah.
In just under five hours I leave with my girlfriend and mom for six days in Seattle. We're going to visit my favorite possible future bro-in-law. My mom taking the same flight is a complete coincidence; she's going on business and booked the flight months after us.
I'll be back the night of the May 17.
Leading up to the trip I have finished four books. The first, in line with my goal to improve my memory, was Harry Lorayne's Ageless Memory. The first half is particularly practical for my goals, and I'm keeping this one handy for future reference. Highly recommended if your goals match mine.
I read the second book on an iPod Touch, my gift meant especially for reading from Melissa. Without the gift I'd not have read The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla. I've always had interest in Tesla and his inventions but he's also an extraordinary writer. He boasts too much, perhaps, but maybe he boasts an amount appropriate to his achievements. That speaks to how much he achieved.
The third book is a sequel to one of my favorite books. Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World, which I've read four times and listened to several times more. I've owned Brave New World Revisited for years, and finally got around to reading it cover to cover.
The fourth finished book is Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. Great book. Due to Carnegie's style and perspective I purchased another book, which I'll discuss shortly.
Aside from reading these four works, I'm happy to report that I've moved on to part two of my summer plan. I have begun working on my reading speed. The application I use on my iPod Touch is called QuickReader Lite, a free version that I will soon upgrade.
My regular reading speed has always been about one page every two minutes, but I think that's doubled now due to the short time I've trained with the program. I doubt I can read that quickly yet with college texts that are content heavy, but I'm certainly moving in the right direction.
The main thing I need at this point is more practice, focusing on applying the methods taught by QuickReader. This leads us to my next book(s).
Dale Carnegie also wrote Lincoln the Unknown, a 253-page biography of Abraham Lincoln. I'm taking this to Seattle and will finish it before I'm back on Utah time.
The next book queued on my iPod is Benjamin Franklin's autobiography.
I'm also taking a compilation given (loaned?) to me by Travis called Thinking About Thinking. We'll see if I get it before I'm home.
I'll update again after my trip.
You were there.