Pete's Hangout

1) Travel 2) Automobiles 3) Aviation 4) Marine 5) Books Books "Christmas Holidays brought a treasure trove of books to my coffee table. My intellectual holiday is to read until I can't stay awake. And wake up and read some more in the middle of the night. Teddy Roosevelt's biography has been a long term project and I'm 600 pages into the 700+ page book. It has been a fascinating and detailed look at another time in politics in America. It was also a time period where it took a week or so to get to Europe, and New York was still ethnically chopped up and as exciting as it is today. Angels and Demons is the predecessor and partner book to Da Vinci code, and with the movie coming out soon, I figured it would be a light complement to the other serious reading I've taken on. It's also a cheap way to visit Europe intellectually, and see the power of Rome at work. The Master Key to Riches is a Napoleon Hill Classic. Dating back to 1965, and printed many times again, it penetrates the decades with timeless wisdom and inspiration, and we are reading it together as a company. Master Key is a good, positive mental attitude primer, and a way to get us all on the same wavelength to start another challenging year. One Billion Customers and 1776 are new, and will be started within the next two weeks. I keep thinking that I should learn a foreign language and Mandarin keeps entering my mind as a real challenge. One cannot be in business, especially in California, and ignore the Asia Factor in our lives. 1776 will keep me entrenched in the depths and details of American History, which is a staple of consumption for me. The legacy of being a Political Science major....? The Purpose Driven Life has finally received it's due press, it has been a (Christian) best seller nationally, I read it early in 2004 but continue to revisit some of the solid guidance offered chapter by chapter and results in a re-centering of oneself, if you subscribe to this flavor of personal growth and achievement. Non-religious and non-believers, who are open-minded enough to read the book will gain from it." My current reading: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris. Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown 1776, by David McCullough One Billion Customers-Lessons from the front lines of doing business in China, by James McGregor The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren The Master Key to Riches, by Napoleon Hill