Quick book reviews (#4)

As I've done previously, I’ve written some brief reviews of books I recently read. These reviews use a scale of one to five stars based on Library Thing (where I posted these reviews as well). I am generally a tough grader, but I think they were all worth reading.

Seven Days that Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science by John C. Lennox (4.0 stars)

As a student of both technology and the Bible, I am always looking for good books that attempt to understand the connections and apparent contradictions between the two. In this book, Lennox looks at the issues of creation as outlined in Genesis versus science. People like Stephen Jay Gould have argued (in Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life) that religion and the Bible are non-overlapping magisteria and as such have nothing to do with each other and no attempt should be made to reconcile them. Lennox in this book does not agree with that and does a good job at looking at the Bible and creation. 

He raises a number of good questions and brings up some excellent points about how at different periods in time people have fervently believed the Bible stated something regarding science that we no longer think it does. He talks about how passages in the Bible refer to the earth as unmoving (such as 1 Chronicles 16:30 and Psalms 93:1) and others that the sun did move (such as Ecclesiastes 1:5). These verses and others were used to refute Copernicus’s heliocentric view that the earth revolves around the sun. Luther and Calvin both disagreed with this view. We now view those passages as being poetic or metaphoric, not literal. It is an important cautionary tale for how we should approach the creation account in Genesis. 

Although I found the book very interesting and well worth reading, it was difficult to tell where the author was going. He raises good points, but did not actually resolve many them. He does, however, a decent job of pointing out what is essential, such as that fact that God was in control of creation, not random chance. I actually found the appendices, especially the final one, as interesting as the rest of book. I consider this book well worth the short time it took to read for anyone interested in a Biblical perspective on creation and science.  

How the Church Fails Business People (And What Can Be Done about It) by John C. Knapp (4.0 stars)

This book is a fascinating, though sobering, look at another two worlds important to me that often do not mix—Christianity and business. Knapp bases much of the book on a series of 230 interviews to find out how Christians experience work and the church. The results are often disheartening as many of the respondents saw the church as having little or nothing to say about the challenges they faced in their work lives. The book is full of statistics and quotes from the interviews. One striking statistic is that only 18 of the 230 people had ever consulted a pastor for advice about a work-related matter. A related quote was, “It would be important to feel the freedom to talk about work-related problems with my pastor, but for some reason it seems it wouldn’t be appropriate.” Statistics and quotes like these form the core of the book. 

Unfortunately, though the book starts out excellently, it trails off and was a bit difficult to finish. The author admits that he does not have “neat answers or prescriptive solutions.” However, I consider the book important for church leaders to read to see an area that we need to address within our churches. It is certainly a book that has made me think quite a bit and one I have discussed with my pastor and other folks.  

It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine’s Path to Peace by Rye Barcott (3.5 stars)

I am fascinated by books about how a single person can have a major impact on the world (Three Cups of Tea and Mountains beyond Mountains are favorites of mine). This books tells the story of the author and his work in Kibera, Kenya—one of the worst slums in the world. As an ROTC marine in college at UNC, he begins a program to help Kibera. Eventually, what he started grows and has a real impact. The book starts out great and really held my interest. The latter parts of the book, however, deal more with his disillusionment as he serves with the marines in Iraq. Though still interesting, it is not nearly as compelling. It took some effort to complete, but I felt it was worth doing so. This book is worth reading to understand what impact people, even young people, can have if they are willing to make sacrifices and work hard.  

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (4.5 stars) 

I recently watched the movie Hugo which is based on this book and quite enjoyed it. I knew nothing about the book, however. Then, while trying to organize some books in my office, I found a copy. (I received it as one of the books from the TED Book Club.) I devoured it immediately. (Which is why I generally do not allow myself to read fiction--I can't stop once I start a book.) The book is a delightful combination of prose and pictures, mostly pencil sketches by the author. The story revolves around an orphan boy (Hugo) who repairs the clocks in a train station in Paris. It is also the story of an old toy shop owner in the station and his hidden past. Movies and a mechanical man tie the two inexorably together as the story unfolds in interesting and surprising ways. The book is a children’s story, but so are many of the best loved fiction of recent years (Harry Potter and Hunger Games being obvious examples). I whole heartedly recommend this book (and movie) to anyone interested movies, history, and a good read. 

I’m currently reading a number of books that I really like, so hopefully I’ll get in a decent bit of reading over the holidays and will have to write another batch of reviews!

2012 George Hincapie CEO Cycling Challenge

At the beginning of October, I had the opportunity to participate in an amazing experience, the 2012 George Hincapie CEO Cycling Challenge in Greenville, SC. From Thursday afternoon until lunch on Sunday, I was at what I can best describe as a cycling fantasy camp.

The participants in the weekend were a group of six male executives including me.  One was the president of Schlumberger and another, the owner of Blackberry Farm. We ranged in age from thirties to fifties. We rode about 150 miles over three days. The three rides included some mountain climbs and culminated in a timed climb up Paris Mountain. 

During the weekend, I learned about maximizing training from a pair of coaches from Peak Coaching Group one of whom, Hunter Allen, quite literally wrote the book on training with a power meter. (He gave me an autographed copy.) They supplied power meters which the mechanic installed. (A power meter is a device which measure how much power you are actually applying to the move the bike. It is the most accurate way to measure the effort applied while riding.) Check out the additional data on my climb up Caesars Head. The fourth chart down is the power. You can see I was working really hard on the climb! It was very helpful having Hunter explain how to properly ride out of the saddle on the ascent and the other coach (Tim) help me understand better how to properly descend. George and another rider still sped by me going over 50 mph! The picture above is the group at the top of Caesars Head.

During the weekend, the CEO Challenges folks attended to every detail. A mechanic serviced our bikes after each ride and made sure everything (including pumping up the tires) was ready to go in the morning. He also accompanied us on the rides in a BMC team car. There were a few cycling pros that rode with us to make sure there was someone with each of us on long climbs and that no one was dropped. After rides we got massages.

Beyond riding, I ate great meals each evening and got to hang out with CEO/C-level executives and other interesting folks all with a passion for cycling. 

A big part of what made the time special was George Hincapie himself, who rode with us, ate with us, and generally included us in his circle of friends and family. We even had dinner at his house Saturday night and got to meet his wife, kids, and parents. The picture on the right shows the view from his house overlooking Greenville, SC. 

The picture below is George showing us the bike (in front of a portrait of him) that he rode alone to lead the peleton as they entered the center of Paris this summer in the final stage of his record-setting, 17th Tour de France. That moment had been one that I found very touching when I saw it on TV. It was very cool hearing stories about things that I had watched on TV like Cadel Evans and the tacks-on-the-road episode in this year's Tour de France.

Of course, George has been in the news a lot the past few weeks because of the release of his testimony regarding Lance Armstrong. George never discussed any of that, but he was great to be with. Here are a couple stories to illustrate this. On Saturday, there were at least twenty folks riding in a double pace line fairly early in the ride. Somehow, I ended up pulling at the front up a hill. I was not about to let the guy next to me go faster than me, so I pretty much crushed myself to the top of the hill. As I dropped back to the rear of the pace line, I felt a pat on my shoulder and the words “nice pull.” It was George being polite and treating me just like any rider. It made the ride, and possibly the weekend, for me.

On Sunday, it was raining as we rode to our timed ride up Paris Mountain. We stopped to get drinks and such and George noticed that one of the riders did not have on a rain jacket. George offered his to the rider. When the rider tried to refuse, George said, “You need it—you are the one doing the timed ride.”  

As we rode up Paris Mountain, we each had someone with us to encourage and give advice. The day before, Hunter had told me how to use the power meter to avoid starting out too fast. George rode with me the last couple hundred meters exhorting me to push harder. It was a hard 2-mile climb, but I beat my goal of sixteen minutes by a few seconds. 

In case you are wondering how my time compared to the others, I came in last place, but I felt my time was respectable. A part of me wanted to come up with excuses such as being the heaviest of the riders by at least 20 pounds or having the least expensive of the bikes there (one was a Specialized Venge McLaren with a list price of $18K). But the real issue was that these guys were in better shape than me. 

Regardless, it was an amazing weekend. Now, I need to go buy a power meter, sign up for some tough mountain rides next season, and push myself harder with more training!

Gadget reviews

For many years, Mark Van Name and I wrote reviews and columns for computer publications like PC Week, Byte, and PC Magazine. I often miss being able to tell the world my opinions of technology products. Admittedly, this blog does not have quite the reach of those publications, but it is nice to have some outlet for my opinions other than random people I manage to corner at social gatherings. 

The following are a group of products I set up in my home over the last few months. There is another product on my pile to play with and include here, the Nest thermostat. I have been meaning to install it for about nine months, but never quite get around to it. Rather than put this blog entry off any longer, I decided to go ahead and discuss the other two. All of three of the products are home integration/automation products that use WiFi. In my opinion, the battle between wireless, home-automation standards (such as Zigbee, Z-Wave, X10/electrical wiring) is over and WiFi has won. While the others were trying to gain acceptance, WiFi quietly got cheap enough and became so pervasive that there is no reason to think of using any other standard. The other big trend these products highlight is that dedicated remote controls are dying. Your new remote will be your phone or tablet. The combination of these technologies means that sitting here in my home office, I can use my phone to turn on the lamp, adjust the temperature, and play my choice of music at the volume I want on my stereo. 

Belkin WeMo – Over the years I’ve tried X10 (it never worked well for a number of reasons) and other approaches to home automation. I’ve also long used mechanical devices to turn lights on and off automatically. One of those devices recently stopped working. I looked for a replacement and discovered the WeMo. It is basically just a WiFi-controlled, electrical outlet.  It is a very simple device, but works very well. After setting it up, I can check on the status of the outlet which controls a lamp and turn it on or off from anywhere using my iPhone. I can also create simple programs to automatically turn the outlet (and the lamp) on and off at specific times during the day.

The WeMo has a great solution for how to get the device initially onto a WiFi network with a password. Devices with some sort of screen and a few buttons can allow you to enter the necessary password directly (if clumsily). This device has neither. What it does instead is broadcast a WiFi network. You download an app for your phone and connect to the WeMo's WiFi network. You then use the app on your phone to give the WeMo the password to your home WiFi network. The WeMo connects to that network and drops its own WiFi network. Your phone automatically goes back to your home WiFi network and you continue setting up the WeMo. It all went very smoothly.

At $50, the device is a little expensive, but I think worth it for spot usage. Of course, the price will probably come down over time. Belkin also makes a motion detector that can be used in conjunction with the outlet. I definitely plan to keep an eye on what they are doing. Of course, I’m also looking forward to getting my SmartThings Starter Kit later this year after its successful Kickstarter campaign. There are lots of interesting things happening in the home automation space (and on Kickstarter)!

Yahama RX-V473 – This device is an audio/video receiver I got for my home office. It does a great job as a receiver for my Samsung 3D TV, Xbox 360, and Samsung DVD player, other than occasionally fighting with my cable box over what resolution to display on the TV.

The RX-V473 also had a feature I wanted to try out. It turned out to be something I will use a lot more than 3D. The feature is Airplay support. AirPlay is an Apple protocol for streaming content over WiFi. It allows me to stream audio or video straight from my iPhone or iPad to my receiver. That, coupled with the ability to use either of them as a remote control is great. While writing this, I grabbed my iPad from my desk, turned on my receiver, picked an album (Marcus Roberts’ As Serenity Approaches) with my iPad’s music app, told it to use my receiver over Airplay, and my office is awash in beautiful piano music. As a bonus, the receiver shows on its front display the name of the song my iPad is playing.

With a list price of $450, this is not a cheap receiver, but it is competitive with similar receivers in its class. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an audio/video receiver, especially if they have other devices supporting AirPlay. 

I will install the Nest in the near future and let you all know what I think. Once I can change the temperature in my office, I really will have very few reasons to leave my chair! I also need to write up my experiences with high-tech light bulbs as well as an update on my most expensive gadget, my Nissan LEAF. I’ve also made the mistake of finding cool stuff on Kickstarter. That pretty much guarantees a steady stream of technology products to blog about.

MS150

This past weekend, I rode in a charity ride to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis research. The MS150, held for over 20 years in New Bern, NC, is a great ride over two days (Saturday and Sunday). As the name implies the standard ride is 75 miles a day, but you can ride 30, 50, 75, or 100 each day. There are plenty of rest stops and too much to eat along the way. This year there were well over 2,000 riders. This year was my seventh time riding in the MS150. Between those rides and the many other rides I've done in the area, I've come to know quite a few of those folks. As some of the pictures show, the ride is a lot of fun. 
 

I rode on Saturday with people that I regularly ride with from Lifetime Fitness. I had hoped to get in a really quick ride, but I missed the fast, early group and then had issues finding a group to ride with for a couple of the five hours of riding. The rain held off until after I finished, so all-in-all, it was a nice day to ride 100 miles. Sunday I rode 75 miles with some good friends, Laura, Marcia, and John. That ride was fun as well, though the cumulative affect of riding that many miles did make it a bit uncomfortable by the end. Despite that discomfort, it was a great weekend.

More important than the fun I had is the fact that the ride raises money for a cause near and dear to my heart—MS research. Why do I care about this cause? My son, brother, and a dear friend all have MS. MS, and disease in general, are the result of sin in the world. The world that God originally created did not include such diseases. Even folks who are not religious think something is fundamentally wrong with a disease like MS. It seems to be the body attacking itself, not just any part of the body but the nerves. 

I can’t cure sin in the world nor can I cure MS. I hope, however, that by helping to raise some money I will play a small part in finding a cure for MS. I desire that not just for altruistic reasons, but selfishly for the people I care about. For Davey, Jamey, Laura, and others I hope and pray that they find a cure for MS soon.

Bolivia

I don’t cry. More precisely, I seldom cry. On Friday, however, I did. Not from sadness, but because I was so touched by a gift.

Friday was the end of my weeklong trip to Cochabamba, Bolivia. My goal was to spend a week there with the children in the orphanage (La Villa) run by the Amistad Mission. I joined a group of three other folks on the Amistad Board of Directors, including Walker whom I met during my trip last year. (If you are curious about my two-week trip there last year, please check out my journal from the trip. Start from this entry and then use the links on the right to navigate the entries in chronological order.)

The four of us spent the week enjoying time with the kids and learning lots about Cochabamba, the area around La Villa, and the general plight of orphans. We had a wonderful translator/guide (Sarah) that was with us most of the time and made things both fun and easy.

We met with the leaders of the two communities next to La Villa and heard them describe their desires for some sort of community center that would help their most pressing needs for quality care for their young children (rather than locking them in their homes while working) and education (classes both for themselves and their children). It was amazing to see women in traditional Bolivian clothing who clearly knew what they needed to improve their lives.

We visited an elementary school where a number of the children from La Villa go to school. We went to some of classrooms where “our” kids were and answer questions from the students. One teacher told us that the kids said there were “blancos” visiting the school. Even at my tannest, I am white to the children of Cochabamba! I think our kids felt special as they knew the visitors from far away that all the kids were talking about. 

We toured another orphanage (Salomon Klein) where some of the children from La Villa started out. The place was packed with over 150 children, one of them only 3-days old. The orphanage was in the midst of budgetary cuts that will necessitate laying off most of their staff and relying on volunteers. The people there loved the children and were doing their best under the circumstances. A number of the children reached up to grab our hands calling out, “Mi papá!” or “Mi mamá!” The situation was heart-rending. Our group of four basically gave them all of the money in our pockets, but with the sad realization that it would only pay the staff for another two or three days. 

The highlight of the trip for me was the time I spent with the children. I reconnected with some of them from my last trip like Bárbara (who promises me she is going to learn English better so we can talk), Evelin, Mario, Madelen (who I tried to teach to count in binary on her fingers), Wilson, Rosalía, Zulma (the girl on my shoulders in my favorite picture from my last visit), Escarlet, Lucero, Jhonny (one of my Bolivian Facebook friends), and many others.

On Friday afternoon, we said our last goodbyes to the children not in school. Madelen ran up and gave me a big hug. She then held up her fingers one at a time and said, “uno, dos, quatro, ocho, dieciséis.” That brought a smile to my face. Then, Bárbara came back after having said already goodbye and indicated that she had something for me. She gave me some of drawings she had done. They were beautiful. Across one of them, it said in Spanish, “For a very special person, Bill.” She also wrote me a very touching letter. Reading that letter was when I found myself shedding a couple tears. 

As I write this, I’m sipping some coca mate (which it turns out may not be legal in the US). The tea brings back a flood of memories. I’m glad to be home, but I realize that I’ve left more than a little part of my heart with Bárbara and the children in Cochabamba. Thanks, Bárbara. I will be back.

Thankfulness

I now share something with quite a few of the Tour de France riders this year—a tack that caused a flat tire. Mine, unfortunately, also caused me to crash. As I was finishing a 30-mile ride on Tuesday evening, I turned left onto Apex Peakway going about 20 miles an hour. I did what I normally do—I turned my wheel and leaned into the turn. Rather than turning, my tire slid out from under me, I hit the pavement, and the person behind me ran into me as I slid across the road. 

I later found this thumbtack in my tire. A front tire that is flat or has low pressure doesn’t give the necessary traction to facilitate a turn and thus led to my crash.  Other than some bruises (including a nice tire imprint on my right butt cheek) and some road rash, I am fine. The other rider messed up his chin, but did not get any stitches and is fine as well. Our bikes were unharmed and we rode together again on Saturday.

As I was tipping over and starting to slide, I remember thinking, “Not again!” and “Why me?” I was mad at both myself and the situation. I felt rather put upon. I also felt bad that I had caused someone else to be hurt. Generally, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself.

As we grabbed a bite to eat afterwards at Rudino’s, the wife of the guy who crashed into me said something like, “It could have been worse.” That was scant comfort, but I had to admit she was right. Over the next few days, I thought about what she said while listening to folks jokingly call me clumsy and recommend that Susie take out more life insurance on me.

Should I have been more thankful that nothing serious happened? Or, depressed that this stupid thing had happened to me? While a few bruises and scrapes are not that big of a deal, the principle applies to much of life. Pollyanna or Eeyore?  

Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Folks often seem to think Paul is saying be thankful for everything, but that is not the case. He is not telling me to be thankful that I crashed, but to be thankful that the consequences were mild.

Going back a little farther in the chapter and including verses 16 and 17 yields these commands – Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks. Those are three things that I find hard to argue against. I need to do a better job of incorporating all three into my daily life.

No, I am not Pollyanna. But, I do have MUCH to be thankful for. I will concentrate on being more aware of those things.

Besides, the crescent-shaped bruise on my cheek is sort of attractive…

I didn’t build that

A number of folks have joked to me over the last couple of weeks something along these lines. “Obama says you didn’t build that business you co-founded.” Generally, I’ve laughed off the comments or said that I’d like to see the full context of the quote before commenting. Beneath the surface, however, I have been offended. We’ve worked really hard to create Principled Technologies.

Here is President Obama’s quote in more context (from here--the full quote is worth reading):

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The Olympics seem to be awash with political ads of Obama trying to put this quote in a more favorable context and Romney doing the exact opposite. My opinion was somewhere in between—I could see what Obama might have been getting at, but at the same time I was offended that he was belittling what we have accomplished. I did build that!

On my flight back from California last week, I was reading a book by John C. Knapp—How the Church Fails Businesspeople (And What Can Be Done about It). It included the following, written well before Obama’s line:

Abraham’s acknowledgement that his wealth comes from God is echoed throughout the Old Testament in the refrain that it is arrogant to take credit for one’s own success. There is little room for the modern ideal of the “self-made” person. “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)

This morning at church, my pastor used the same scripture in his sermon. Gulp. I am guilty of taking credit for my own success.

I don’t think that Obama was calling for us to give God credit for our success, but the end point is the same. Whatever success I (and you) have had is due to the help of many others, and ultimately to God. I am blessed and have been blessed and need to keep that in mind. At best, I can use the line from the old Shake and Bake commercial, “And we helped!”