I'm re-reading the Maltese Falcon at the moment. Mmm. I spent many years daydreaming I was a gumshoe.

well i have read that book soo many times myriam. heres something. when i was an undergrad at the pretegious and notable indiana university back in the 80's, my friend silent bob and i went down to the the ryder film series. the ryder was basically a guy who showed independent, foreign and classic films in the back of a bar. well, my friend and went to check out john sayles' flick "lianna", which is aobut a housewife who becomes(discovers?) that she's gay. anyway, we were the only guys at the show. we were having some beers waiting for the show to begin, when the the guy runnin the show gets up and reads off a list of coming attractions etc. one of which included the maltese falcon. then he says i have this rare treat. the original trailer to the movie. you are gonna love it! well, he plays it, and it is the most sexist, misogynist thing ever. and all the women are booing and hissing and my friend and i (who are both very hardboiled btw) are sinking lower in our chairs, trying not to become the outlet for the room's collective disgust....and here it is...
the">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T8TW8Kh0eg]the black bird

ha ha ha! Awesome! "Fast on the draw... and FASTER IN THE DRAWING ROOM!"

I thought Friedman's book was a bit self evident...but that's why I "retired" as a software developer and started studying architecture. I've been reading Restak's books on the brain like "Modular Brain" or "The New Brain". Malcolm Gladwell's books are pretty good. Try a Tom Robbins book or "The Russian Debutante's Handbook" for fun fiction.

JPOD - Douglas Coupland. Hilarity.

re: maltese falcon trailer: it's still hard for me to see peter lorre without thinking of that little chihuahua in the warner brothers cartoons.

olly, i also recently read Jpod, enjoyed it, but nowhere near as much as his other books. i also was a bit unsure of his use of himself in the story.