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Good Reading
I just downloaded The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, in its entirety, from eReader [the link is to the series on eReader.com].
Even though this is one of the best fantasy series ever written, I've only read two or three of the books. eBooks have given me the ability to find and read the entire series, which I hadn't found when I first started reading such books. I was reminded of the series as I was taking down my library to make way for a new built-in set of bookcases that I'm building around the stairwell and front wall of my living room.
With the first page I was struck by something that I had started to ignore. While there are some good authors today, most current authors write to a fifth grade level - the "average" reading level in America, I think. Anne McCaffrey is using "big words". She's showing the English language in all its wonderful richness. This is what made me an avid reader so long ago, when, before I started school, a retired teacher, a tenant of my parents, gave me a book to read. She knew that my maternal grandmother had already taught me to read. Not a day has gone by since, that I haven't read a novel for an hour or more before going to sleep.
And even though my arthritis is acting up, and my joints are throbbing from all the lugging and screwing that I've been doing today, installing my pre-fabricated bookcases, I had to get out of bed and blog this, because the words are so wondrous.
I like to add the hard bound edition of the eBook to library, as a collectors item - especially now that I don't have to crack the book to read it 
I wonder if on Amazon or eBay or somewhere, I can find new or collectable hard bound editions of The Dragonriders of Pern. Sweet.
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I'm Joseph A. di Paolantonio and this blog has two main foci: my interest in food, and my interest in the future. This provides a look into my personal life, and is separate from my consulting work…though there will be overlap. I am an independent researcher, working as a strategic consultant and I'm an executive with over 20 years of commercial experience with a technical interest in the intersection of Internet of Things, with advanced data management and analysis methods. I view data science as a team activity, and I feel that the IoT must be viewed as a system. I am leveraging my past activities to understand the adoption and impact of the IoT; first, as a system engineer in aerospace, where I developed Bayesian risk assessment methods for systems within the Space Transportation System (including the Space Shuttle), Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer, Gravity Probe B, and many more, and second, as a enterprise data warehousing, business intelligence and analytics professional. Between my aerospace and IT careers, I indulged my hobby of cooking by starting a food company, Montara Magic, centered around my chocolate sauces. My education combined chemistry, mathematics and philosophy. I performed research into molten salt fuel cells in graduate school, and in photovoltaic materials for a short time in industry. The lure of bringing the human race into space was strong, and when I was offered the chance to combine my chemistry and mathematics skills to develop new risk assessment and system engineering methods for space launch and propulsion systems – I couldn't resist. I perform independent research and strategic consulting to bring value from the Internet of Things, Sensor Analytics Ecosystems and data science teams.I am a caregiver, a lover of science fiction and speculative fantasy, and my passion to learn has led me to a pilot's license, an assistant instructor in SCUBA, nordic and alpine skiing, sea kayaking, and reading everything I can, in as many topics as I can.
