It’s 105 degrees here which means the one-person preferred pastime experience is reading, but not ordinary reading. The summer is the time to find something to devour. I have an endless queue of business books and professional articles that will eventually trickle down into my subconscious or become obsolete. The great thing about reading about technology and business is the army of editors that review and revise the thinking behind most of the great ideas of the day, so you don’t have to.

What I’ve most enjoyed this summer is Justin Cronin’s, The Passage. It’s such a popular book that there is little I can say that hasn’t been all ready said. Forget that it’s easy to package the 800 page novel as a vampire book, which might turn many off, but to do so completely misses the nuances and brilliance of the story. It’s a wonderful journey about the love between fathers and daughters, an allegory about the survival of the humanity and retelling of the story of Noah. It’s not The Stand and it’s not, and I’m quoting another reviewer, about “your teenager’s vampires.” The creatures in the book are the results of secret government experiments gone-real-bad in a very believable political climate that mirrors our current culture of distrust and suspicion. Every character’s story is told with a level of empathy and honesty that’s hard to dismiss or forget.

Yes, parts of the book are terrifying, but not in that, “I’ll never sleep again” kind of terrifying. Cronin has an amazing gift for language and he makes you want to read the most horrifying parts of the book, over and over again.

One of my favorite passages

“That was when he heard the sound, coming from beneath the overpass. A soft, wet ripping, like sheets of damp paper being torn in half, or the skin being pried off an orange fat with juice.”

Close your eyes and picture me holding two thumbs up.

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Babies and Miles

June 9, 2010
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I am not “that person” who would show up at work, day after day, after winning the lottery. And no, I don’t have that wish for the one, super-special expensive and gratuitous purchase like M.C. Hammer gold bathroom fixtures or a Michael Jackson amusement park. All I want is to invest everything I have into [...]

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A pause from not-so-regular blogging to help homeless kids

January 14, 2010

My wife Lara and I are volunteers and board members of Positive Tomorrows, a non-profit private school that provides a free education and support for homeless children and their families. It’s hard to imagine, but the children who come through the school doors each morning are truly homeless–living in shelters, sleeping on the couches or [...]

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What’s an MBA good for, anyway? (and why most entrepreneurs could use one)

October 6, 2009

Ok, I get it. Well, sort of. There’s a blog article from OnStartups – 10 things that you won’t learn about business from MBA School. It’s easy to climb onto the “bash MBA” bandwagon. There are plenty of people that boast their MBA pedigree or continuously look for opportunities to reference their pumped-up mental muscles. [...]

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Baby Naming

September 21, 2009

An early ultrasound says there’s a 75% chance that we’re having another girl in March and baby naming is a subject of much discussion around the WyRobot household. Middle names are much easier for us, but first names are a bit more challenging. We like unisex names, southern names, names of strong women characters and [...]

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Trust and Entropy, Maybe some Despair

July 17, 2009

I’m desperately trying to NOT comment on topical news issues, but I couldn’t help a few thoughts about Walter Cronkite’s passing today. I’m sad that such a respected voice of trust is now gone and I’m left to consider what that means for us, the rest of us. We’ve become such a stratified and segmented [...]

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Google Voice or Youmail

July 14, 2009

I just received my anticipated invite to Google Voice and now I have a dilemma – GV or Youmail, which I’ve been using for over a year. What I love about Youmail Different outgoing voice mail for different contact groups or even individuals Example: My wife gets Darth Vader, clients hear something less Darth. Visual [...]

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25 ways to rock the world of fatherhood

July 1, 2009

Now that I have 23 months under my belt, I’m obviously an expert on parenting. Ok, maybe not, but I am grateful for having such a happy daughter and although I can’t take full credit, we’re doing some things right. Other than being one myself, I don’t have a lot of experience with fatherhood so [...]

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Why Tim makes so much sense

July 1, 2009
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