Warning: Consuming too much information can make you fat, clueless -- and dead

The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption
By Clay A. Johnson
(O’Reilly, hardback, list price $22.99; Kindle edition, list price $19.99)

Book Review

We are sitting down too often and too long while we consume information. It pours into our heads from the Web, from TV, from smart phones, from books, and as blather from our car radios while we drive around.

Much of the information we consume is drivel and crap – the digital equivalent of high-fat junk food and raw sugar. And some of us are driving ourselves to destructive distraction through gluttonous obsessions with tweets, status updates, downloads, videos, instant messages, text messages, emails and restless Web surfing.

In this controversial new book from O’Reilly Media, veteran software developer, open source guru and political advocate Clay A. Johnson makes the forceful argument that our current mania for consuming information is killing us, mentally and physically.

For instance, suppose a tweet just went by mentioning some kind of rumored problem with pig populations in Zambia. You idly read it, process it in your head, waste a few more seconds of your life, take another sip of your latte and another bite of bagel while continuing to sit on your butt much longer than you originally intended.

Now you check your Facebook account on your iPhone or iPad, take another sip of your latte, take another bite of bagel, and go back to Twitter. There, you follow a link to what seemed to be a review of a movie you’ve already seen to see. It turns out to be just a lame blog post about how Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich resemble certain characters in Avatar. Then you take another bite of bagel, another sip of latte and check your email and follow a link to something inane about Lady Gaga.

More wasted time. More attention to generally useless information. And more sedentary life has gone by.

We now spend nearly 11 hours a day consuming – frequently gorging on – information, Johnson’s book points out. And it’s driving us to distraction – and killing us.

First, the physical dangers. Johnson notes: “In 2004, one physician coined the term Sedentary Death Syndrome to classify all the diseases that come from the sedentary state. The effects: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and yes, obesity. Some researchers are calling it the second largest threat to public health in America. What are we doing when we’re sedentary? Few of us are meditating. We’re consuming information.”

He continues: “New research points to sitting, especially amongst men, as a leading cause of death. Even if you exercise regularly, it turns out that sitting for long periods of time can be deadly.”

It’s also easy to lose track of time and lose control of time management while distracted by the free flow of information. Something unexpected or surprising or outrageous on the Web grabs your attention, and your carefully crafted to-do list for the day is shot to hell. And, relationships can be affected: “Just a quick check of email when we get home can often end up in evenings entirely lost to LCD screens…” instead of talking and paying attention to each other.

Then there’s the problem of “attention fatigue.” Writes Johnson: “About two years ago, I started to wonder: what the heck happened to my short-term memory? And where did my attention span go? I’ve written a little pithy 140-character tweet, sent it into the universe, and in no more than five minutes, I’ve received a reply. The only problem is, I’ve already forgotten what I wrote in the first place. I’ve had to go back, and look at what I said just five minutes ago to understand what the person replying to me is referencing.”

This book offers more dire warnings about consuming too much information. But the author also offers ideas and recommendations for achieving “Attention Fitness.” You can still have your information and consume it, too, in deliberate, conscious doses that are healthier for your mind, body and your participation in American democracy.

If you pay attention to The Information Diet long enough to actually think about what it points out and proposes, you may figure out how to get healthier again, how to regain your focus – and how to better understand the ways you are being duped by some of the misinformation constantly sucked into your head by your addiction.

You can become a more conscious and proactive consumer of information and not just another wasted – and life-wasting -- data junkie.


– Si Dunn‘s latest book is a detective novel, Erwin’s Law. His other published works include Jump, a novella, and a book of poetry, plus several short stories, including The 7th Mars Cavalry, all available on Kindle. He is a screenwriter, a freelance book reviewer, and a former technical writer and software/hardware QA test specialist.

Need to do a big presentation? There’s a book for that: slide:ology #bookreview

slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
By Nancy Duarte
(O’Reilly, paperback, list price $34.99; Kindle edition, list price $27.99)

Bet you were thinking I was about to say: "Need to do a big presentation? There's an app for that!"

There probably is, or soon will be. Meanwhile, consider this book.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just phone in your PowerPoint slides and audio and stay comfortably ensconced at a Starbucks in Waterloo, Iowa, while 50 managers and executives in Boston huddled in a poorly ventilated conference room and sweated while they marveled at your presentation?

Some of you already have developed and honed an iPhone-it-in or iPad-it-in capability. But most of the world’s drafted or “volunteered” presenters have not. They show up at work one day and are told they will have to prepare a presentation by next Tuesday that could make or break their job – or a whole department’s jobs.

“No pressure. You know how to do this, right? Everyone else is tied up with projects and deadlines. So we’re counting on you. Have fun with it. Get creative! And have it ready for review and comments by 4 p.m. tomorrow.”

Published in 2008 and still attracting readers, slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations has gathered an array of pleased fans and good reviews, as well as some scathing reviews from a few detractors.

This is not a 1-2-3 how-to book that can help you throw together a slide show by tomorrow morning. Instead, it lives up, quite colorfully, to its subtitle: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations. It delves carefully into a wide array of topics related to the process of preparing slides that can connect with their intended audience. And it is nicely illustrated with many examples.

If you are starting a new job or a new position where you will be expected to make presentations, you should consider spending some quality learning time with this book and keeping it handy. Get a jump now on developing the skills and knowledge you will need when crunch time suddenly hits.

This also applies if you are under increasing obligation to wow the bosses with charts and graphs and bullet points – or if you are thinking of becoming a presentations teacher or consultant.

Developed by Nancy Duarte, a “widely recognized…leader in presentation development and design,” slide:ology is divided into 12 chapters: 

• Chapter 1: Creating a New Slide Ideology
• Chapter 2: Creating Ideas, Not Slides
• Chapter 3: Creating Diagrams
• Chapter 4: Displaying Data
• Chapter 5: Thinking Like a Designer
• Chapter 6: Arranging Elements
• Chapter 7: Using Visual Elements: Background, Color, and Text
• Chapter 8: Using Visual Elements: Images
• Chapter 9: Creating Movement
• Chapter 10: Governing with Templates
• Chapter 11: Interacting with Slides
• Chapter 12: Manifesto: The Five Theses of the Power of a Presentation

The author cautions that “presentations all too often reflect the agenda of the presenter rather than build a connection with the audience.”

And, if your job includes meeting with customers: “In many instances, presentations are the last impression a customer has of a company before closing a business deal.”

Indeed, elaborate hundred-million-dollar advertising and branding campaigns can be neutralized by a single lame presentation on a laptop computer right at the critical moment, she warns.

You will not want to be the one who created that dud slide show.

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– Si Dunn‘s latest book is a detective novel, Erwin’s Law. His other published works include Jump, a novella, and a book of poetry, plus several short stories, including The 7th Mars Cavalry, all available on Kindle. He is a screenwriter, a freelance book reviewer and a former technical writer and software/hardware QA test specialist.

Starting (or revamping) a small business? Three good books

I have operated a small (very small) business for more than 30 years. I am now in the process of revamping some of what I do and sell.

The three books listed below are proving very helpful to my ongoing efforts. If you are starting or restructing a small business, you may find them useful, too.

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinmeir Hansson - A refreshingly snarky alternative to those how-to biz books that have you start out with market studies, mission statements, business plans and rounds of meetings.

The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott - The recently issued third edition covers digital trends in marketing and public relations. Even if your business will be run from a single laptop or smartphone, you will find good and useful information in this book.

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson - Yeah, everyone and his dog mentions this one. But have you actually read it and considered how and what it means to "Make everything available" and "Help me find it"? within the context of your enterprise? Do you agree with him that "the future of business is selling less of more"? How could you make that concept work in your business?


– Si Dunn‘s latest book is a detective novel, Erwin’s Law. His other published works include Jump, a novella, and a book of poetry, plus several short stories, including The 7th Mars Cavalry, all available on Kindle. He is a screenwriter, a freelance book reviewer, a manuscript editor, and a former technical writer and software/hardware QA test specialist.

Fighting guns and ghosts with bare hands: An action-horror feature screenplay

RAVINE
Trapped in an isolated ravine, a combat veteran who fears violence must save himself and his family from a crazed gunman, also a combat veteran, who is being driven mad by the ghosts of three men he killed in Iraq.

SYNOPSIS

JAKE WARREN, his wife KAREN and their young daughter KATIE have no idea why their SUV suddenly is being pursued by an unseen driver steering a hulking black van. And they have no time to figure it out. After a short chase that seems like road rage out of control, the black van slams their SUV through a guard rail and into a deep ravine.

The Warrens are all injured, Katie very seriously. And now they are trapped in an isolated area with no way to call for help. The only person who knows where they are is the man who has just tried to kill them: CHARLIE MACKLIN, a disgraced former Marine lieutenant who now lives in a squalid mountain camp nearby and is haunted by the ghosts of three Marines he killed in Iraq by giving bad orders. Charlie has decided to kill three other people, so perhaps their ghosts will replace the ones that have been tormenting him. When Charlie discovers the car crash did not kill the Warrens, he goes back to the ravine with guns.

Jake Warren, meanwhile, is also a combat veteran, a former soldier who did well in Iraq but was injured and now fears violence. Armed only with rocks and his bare hands, Jake must find enough courage to climb out of the ravine through gunfire and fight a man increasingly made murderous and insane by ghosts, while Karen fights to keep her and Jake’s daughter alive.

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RAVINE

Feature Screenplay

by Si Dunn

Copyrighted, WGA registered

For more information about this screenplay and its availability, contact Sagecreek Productions LLC, 3800 N. Lamar Blvd., Suite 730-131, Austin, TX 78756-4011, sidunn@hotmail.com.

Sometimes, a good Western screenplay needs...a town-saving cavalry charge?

BATTLE AT BUCK CREEK

by Si Dunn
 (WGA Registration: #1118098)

HIGH NOON meets AIR FORCE ONE -- on a moderate budget. 

  

BATTLE AT BUCK CREEK

An Old West town’s new mayor and its free-spirited school teacher must team up and fight a murderous gang that has seized many hostages and will kill one hostage per hour until the mayor’s father, the state governor, releases the gang leader’s brother from prison.

Synopsis

WILL HANSON, troubled son of  GOV. JEB HANSON, has been sent into the Texas version of political exile by his father. In a sham election, Will has been voted into an office no one else could be bothered to take: mayor of the dusty, isolated community of Buck Creek.

Will has arrived just as Buck Creek’s townspeople are preparing to celebrate their remote settlement’s 10^th anniversary. But not everyone is happy. In Buck Creek’s telegraph office, free-spirited school teacher ANNA BAIN is pestering the telegraph operator, NASH GRAHAM, trying to convince him to let her send a message. She has been studying Morse Code, she tells him. Angrily, Nash throws her out and takes an incoming message of congratulation for the new mayor from his father, the governor, JEB HANSON. But when Nash leaves to deliver the message, Anna slips back into the telegraph office and receives an urgent message from another tiny community. More than a dozen riders who don’t look friendly may be riding toward Buck Creek to cause some kind of trouble. Anna gives the message to Nash when he returns. But, angry at her insolence, he tears it up without reading it and throws her out again.

As Will nervously prepares to make his inaugural speech and the governor’s telegram is read to the crowd, several RIDERS who seem to be trail-weary cowboys ease into town from different directions, in small groups. They are barely noticed as they gather at the local saloon. Actually, they are members of the BO BARRETT GANG.

When Will was a young sheriff in another town, he managed to help put Bo Barrett’s brother into prison. Now Barrett and his men have arrived with a murderous plan. They will seize Buck Creek’s only link to the outside world, the telegraph office, and take many hostages, including Will. Then they will notify the governor that they have his son, and they will kill one Buck Creek citizen per hour until Bo Barrett’s brother is released from prison and sends a message verifying he is free. Buck Creek is so isolated that the nearest army post is a two-day ride, so the townspeople will not be able get help.

Barrett’s scheme soon is set into motion with bloody results, but Will Hanson, Anna Bain and the previous mayor, JOHN RIDEOUT, manage to escape and hide in the town. And there is a growing chemistry between the mayor and school teacher, but no time to act on it.

Bo Barrett hangs his first hostage, the town’s PREACHER, to show he means business, and the town’s UNDERTAKER is his next victim. Outgunned, Will, Anna and John can only watch helplessly from their hiding place, until Anna convinces Will that she can work a telegraph.

They try but fail to regain control of the telegraph office. John Rideout is wounded. Anna remembers that her older brother, ANDY BAIN, a Lieutenant in the 7^th Cavalry, sometimes trains new recruits about 10 miles outside Buck Creek, with strict orders to stay away from the town. He taught her Morse Code. If she can climb a nearby hill with a mirror, she may be able to flash a message to him.

It’s a desperate and dangerous gamble. But Will distracts most of Barrett’s men by challenging Bo to a showdown, and Anna escapes the town. Will, however, is captured and will be the next hanging victim unless the governor responds.

As Anna climbs the hill with a big mirror, she is spotted by two of Barrett’s men. They chase her. She fights them off , knocking out one and killing the other with part of the shattered mirror. Now she has just enough mirror left to start flashing a plea for help.

One of the raw troopers being trained by her brother sees the flashes. Lieutentant Bain reads the message, and he and SERGEANT HARRIS lead their green cavalrymen on a desperate gallop toward Buck Creek. They charge into town with bugle blaring and swords flashing and do battle with Barrett’s men just as Will is being hanged.

Anna runs into the battle and helps save Will. Barrett escapes the melee, but Will soon chases him down. They fight to the death, and Will is the survivor.

After the day’s many dead are buried, a happier time soon dawns. A high-noon wedding is held in Buck Creek. The mayor marries the school teacher, and they march beneath an archway of flashing cavalry sabers as they leave for their honeymoon.

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For more information regarding the availability of this screenplay, contact Si Dunn, Sagecreek Productions, LLC, 3800 N. Lamar Blvd., Suite 730-131, Austin, TX 78756-4011, sidunn@hotmail.com.

Hawking Books on the Digital Highway - #amwriting

Many of the people I follow on Twitter are writers. And many of them, like me, have new ebooks. So  naturally, we use Twitter to try to help us sell copies of our latest works.

In a typical two minutes now on Twitter, I often see two or three tweets go by that are promoting ebooks. Sometimes, I add one of my own ebook links to the digital hustle and flow.

But the reality is, trying to sell books this way is a bit like trying to sell them while standing in the middle of a freeway, facing onrushing traffic.

It's hard to get anybody to veer off the Digital Highway long enough to click on a link, look at a cover image, read a book summary and reviews (if you're lucky enough to even have any), and then press the "Purchase" button, etc., etc.

There is just too much other information and interesting or outrageous statements continuously flowing by to help us stay self-absorbed. Also, thanks to easy ebooks, there are now more works available than readers willing to part with even 99 cents. Or zero. As in "Read it free!"

Once in a while, some writers get frustrated with their lack of ebook sales, and they try to do the one-person digital equivalent of  Occupy Twitter. They throw themselves into the roadway, kicking and flailing, and hope for some kind of miracle. Or mercy.

They unleash long strings of BUY MY BOOK tweets, offering discounts, freebies, coupons, rewards in heaven, anything they can think of to try to convince someone -- anyone -- to stop, look and click.

By the way, thank you for veering off the Information Superhighway long enough to read this thought-provoking post.

While you've been parked here, I've quietly removed your tires, radiator and distributor cap.

Hey, but I can get you get moving again in mere seconds!

All you have to do is click on this link ... yes, and BUY MY BOOK!

– Si Dunn‘s latest book is a detective novel, Erwin’s Law. His other published works include Jump, a novella, and Anchoring, a book of poetry, plus several short stories, all available on Kindle. He is a freelance book reviewer and a former technical writer and software/hardware QA tester. In an earlier career, he was a photojournalist whose works appeared in numerous regional and national publications.