My friends Larry and Pat Nelson just put up an interview with Lucy Sanders, CEO of National Center for Women & Information Technology.  Not surprisingly – Lucy is the most articulate person I know concerning the issues NCWIT is addressing.  If you have any interest in what NCWIT is up to, have a listen.

The quote of the week (at least in my world) was from one of the CEO’s I work with regarding Silicon Valley.  After a short trip to the bay area, he told wrote me a quick email that said “I love coming out here. It’s like high school but with money instead of girls.”  That reminded me of a line that a fellow bay area VC dropped on me at lunch last month “Just remember – Silicon Valley isn’t America and VC’s aren’t really people.”

I’m not a lover of military stories, but I think Tracy Kidder is one of the best writers currently living on this planet.  I picked up My Detachment in one of the English language bookstores in Paris that Amy and I discovered (Village Voice Bookshop in the 6th was my favorite) and gobbled it down on the plane ride home.  It was magnificent – once again Kidder delivered a beautifully written book – this time about his personal experience as a Lieutenant in the Vietnam War.  When I went online this morning to look at some of the critical reviews, I found several of them negative – suggesting that Kidder didn’t really “get it” and that the book is “pointless.”  I thought those reviewers were missing the “point” – maybe I think Kidder is being too subtle, but he really does get at the fundamental “pointlessness” of war without either slamming you in the face with it or getting under your skin about it. 

I’m going to be optimistic given my belief that Kidder chooses each of his words carefully and presume that he intended the title to have the double meaning I assumed when I picked up the book.  While this isn’t The Soul Of A New Machine, it’s another great book from a masterful writer.

Ah – it’s so nice to be home.

A run to town, lunch at The Rio, a massage, and maybe a movie in the late afternoon.  What could be a better way to spend a Sunday?

This week was my quarterly “week off from email / telephone / work.”  However, I didn’t really feel like I needed a complete break this time, so I kept up with email although I stayed off the phone.  Amy and I finished up a great month in Paris with lots of reading, walking around, a trip to the Louvre, great runs on the Seine, some good meals, and more reading.  But – no blogging – and it was really refreshing.  I hope you missed me.

I started the week with Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast.  I love Hemingway.  I’ve read this book about 10 times, but this was the first time I’ve read it while walking the streets of Paris.  It was perfect.

Douglas Coupland’s JPod was next.  Coupland is predictably hysterical and after I laughed out loud for the 30th time, Amy tore the book out of my hands, read it, and then gave it back to me to finish.  JPod is an appropriate update to Microserfs.  His descriptions of China are over the top.

I struggled through King of the Jews, a version of the story of Arnold Rothstein, the original New York jewish mobster and the inspiration for Meyer Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby.  Tosches is a complex writer, there were several threads going simultaneously, and a lot of the history was lost on me. 

Hedgehogging by Barton Biggs was a great romp through the Biggs’ view of the hedge fund world.  He talked liberally from his experience of setting up his own hedge fund, along with many stories and anecdotes about fellow hedgehogs.  Biggs has always been a superb writer – even his market missives from Morgan Stanley – while not literary gems – were always stimulated and thought provoking.

Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst was fucking hard to read.  It was also impossible to put down.  Dan Reingold was one of the top two telecom analysts from 1997 – 2002 (the other was the infamous Jack Grubman) – this was Reingold’s side of the story.  Reading the ride up and the ride down – especially knowing how it ends – was just painful.

The Visiting Professor was absolutely brilliant.  I’m glad I ended with it.  I tried to read Littell’s The Company last summer and never got into it.  I’ll try again, with new appreciation for his writing style – I think I was just daunted by the size of the book.  It’s nice to finish up my Paris trip with my new friends L. Falk and Occasional Rain.

During the week, I’ve been listening to Atlas Shrugged on my iPod as I run.  This is the first time I’ve run while listening to an audio version of a book.  Atlas Shrugged is one of my mainstays (Amy carries it with her everywhere), but I haven’t read it from cover to cover in a decade.  Listening to it while I run has surpassed my expectations – I’ve enjoyed running to music, but getting lost in a book on a run is just awesome, especially one with Dagny, Hank, Francisco, John, and other old friends.

My palette is cleansed, my brain is rested, and I’m ready to return to Galt’s Gulch.