Friday, June 15
5:00 am
It is +10 °C, with a high forecast of +19 °C.
From the Environment Canada website:
Today A mix of sun and cloud. 40 percent chance of showers late this afternoon with risk of a thunderstorm. Wind northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming light this afternoon. High 19. UV index 7 or high.
Tonight A few clouds. Low 8.
5:10 am Literature
I want to try something new this morning. I am about half way through reading Marjorie Gerber's book, "The Use and Abuse of Literature. The current chapter mentions close reading a number of times. I want to play with this notion. The fundamental idea is to read for content. What is she trying to say in this book? What are the main points and how does she support them? And what is my reaction to them?
My approach is to use a mind mapping program to clarify the overall structure of her book. Thus I begin with the program, not the book. In this case I will use MindManager.
The chart is simply a schematic copy of the table of contents. It is often useful to know a little about the author. In this case there is a brief biography on the flap of the book's cover. She has impressive academic credentials.
Here is an expansion of the material from the Introduction:
Here is another screen capture of the latter three sections:
I definitely find that the process of creating such a diagram forces one to select/create important summary comments.
11:00 am Technology
It has taken another 2 hours on the phone with a representative of the communications company but we finally sorted out the problems and now have both iPhones working. Almost everyone has a different way of doing things, even within the same company. It was incredibly confusing, and frustrating, but I think we are operational again.
9:00 PM Literature
I need another fast reading novel, to balance the various slow reading books that I have on the go. A nice Australian mystery fits the bill nicely: Barry Maitland's "No Trace".
