i'm trying to get more disciplined about reading books. i figure it's like most things, i just need to make the time and the time will magically appear. i'm already making progress this month, having finished small pieces loosely joined and the da vinci code .

i might start reviewing books by how long it takes for me to fall asleep after i start reading it. as much as i wanted to like small pieces loosely joined , i found that it made me fall asleep after about 20 minutes. as much as i might agree with many of basic points in the book, i found it covered a lot of the same ground that i covered in philosopy seminars at evergreen in the mid-nineties. of course, that's not david's fault, so i'd still recommend the book to the unitiated.

i'm almost embarrased to admit that i enjoyed the da vinci code and found it difficult to fall asleep after i picked it up. i imagine it's the sort of thing that robert anton wilson might have writtten had he decided to make the illuminatus trilogy a mainstream page-turner, without all the drugs and high wierdness. while it's a good guilty read, many parts of it feel like the author is trying a bit too hard to get someone to pick up the film rights. i guess it worked since the movie is, in fact, being made and directed by ron howard . no, i'm not making that up. opie is directing a movie with the premise that jesus christ had a child with mary magdalene. then again, maybe it's not so wierd, since ron's supposedly a freemason . who knows, maybe he really does know the da vinci code.

and now, i'm on to Autumn of the Moguls, which is looking like it's 52 minutes on the sleep scale.