Reviews

Book Review: Escape from Cubicle Nation

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Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur
by Pamela Slim

ISBN-10: 1591842573
ISBN-13: 978-1591842576

PROS: A good, friendly book that covers the process, psychology, and issues of starting one's own business.  Many personal and general insights are provided.

CONS: Occasional odd metaphors and "pop-culture" elements can distract.  The book does not cover everything about your own business in depth – but does advise where to go for in-depth information.

SUMMARY: An excellent, broad guide mixing psychology, encouragement, and advice for starting your own business.

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Let Me Bore You: Review of Econompicdata

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Review of:http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/

PROS:  A site that explains economics with pretty graphs, actual english, and a good sense of humor.
CONS: Can get a bit too "economist-like".  Subjects chosen can be erratic.

SUMMARY: A colorful, effective site on economic issues that makes economics a bit easier to learn and understand.

I do love a good econoblog.  This is not necessarily because they're easy to understand – they often art – I just value the information I get.  The problem of course is communicating this to other people less inclined to analyze these things in depth or without the background to understand what the people at econoblogs are TALKING about.

Econompicdata is a refreshing change.  With the subheader "Darn Nice Economic Eye Candy" this is a blog that mixes good explanations and good graphs to discuss a variety of issues in a bite-sized way.

Econompicdata's blogger, Jake, picks whatever seems to come to mind or be interesting and discusses it with one or more helpful graphs.  YOu can see info on plane crashes, the housing market,oil, liquidity, and more.  The graphs help you understand what's going on – and Jake's explanations usually (but not always) are easy for non-economics to understand or at least get a grip on the issue.

The blog, the graphics, and the writing are refreshingly clear and easy to read.  No clutter, no fuss, no mess, just the subject, the information, and the analysis so you can get an idea of what's going on.

If there's one real flaw it's that you're never sure what's going to get posted here, so unless you're deeply into economics, you can be pretty sure not all of it is going to be of interest to you.  It's a testimony to Jake's depth that he covers so much, but be aware that the blog isn't always going to be up your alley.

I strongly recommend putting this into your blogfeed of business and economic information.  You can be pretty sure at some point something of use to you is going to pop up – and be understandable to you.

– Steven Savage

Con Report: Kin-Yoobi Con

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I just did my fan-to-pro panel at Kin-Yoobi con, in Hayward, CA.  My second year there – and the last presentation of my current panel structure (a new one is in development for the fall).

THE PANEL:
The panel area was noisy this year due to the architecture of the place.  I had about the same attendance as last year (about ten people), and this time I was armed with increased handouts as well – all put in nice plastic folders (these will be up on the soon-to-be-added site library).  The panel went pretty good – most interesting was the reaction to the advantage of having fans help you move – I guess a lot of people there had thought about or had had to relocate.

Met a lot of good folks there, chatted with one after the panel who displayed his self-created flash games (including a dynamite enhanced Tetris).  He actually had them with him on his laptop – an interest idea that I think could also pay off in an interview.

THE CON:
The con was a bit disorganized to start, but then everything fell in line.  Kin-Yoobi has a good energy to it and it was VERY friendly.  People chatted, hung out with friends, or made new ones.  It skewed to the college age crowd, with some older and younger fans.

A few things stood out:

  • The gaming area was in a hall – this made watching games easier
  • Since the campus had limited lunch facilities, the membership fees paid for a free pizza lunch that got brought in and everyone just went at it.  THAT was neat and friendly – everyone just hung out eating pizza.  It felt like a big PARTY.
  • The dealers had a lot of fan-artists and fandom-merchandise, kind of doubling as an artists alley.  Very nice

So I had fun, met some great folks, enjoyed doing my panel, and plan to go back next year time permitting!  More and more I like how the con's developed an intimate hang-out-with friends atmosphere.

– Steven Savage