Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

A while back I reviewed Metal Cowboy by Joe Kurmaskie which I thoroughly enjoyed. Joe is an amazing writer with a flair for getting to the best of a situation or person and he always has a way of making me laugh out loud while reading his tales. After finishing Metal Cowboy I immediately went out and picked up the follow-up called Riding Outside the Lines.

In Riding Outside the Lines Joe tends to focus more on his international adventures which made for a nice change of pace coming off of the mostly U.S. centric Metal Cowboy. One line in and I knew I was hooked again. I wouldn’t be able to put this book down until I finished it off.

The cast of characters this time around was impressive. I always wonder how he meets such interesting people time and time again. My favorite stories in Riding Outside the Lines took place in Ireland because I had spent a decent amount of time there and backpacked across the country with Laura (I hope to someday ride across Ireland but that’s a whole other story).

Joe is a masterful storyteller and this book showcases that talent. His descriptions truly bring the people to life in your mind and you begin to feel like you are there with him every revolution of the pedals. In fact, I call Joe by his first name now as if I we were lifetime friends. It’s pretty crazy!

From his run-in with the local lifeguard trainees in New Zealand to the the brush with death in Ireland that lead him to the best impromptu B&B in the country to the mountain biking trip that ends the journey in Mexico Joe shows us what it means to be alive and that people, while they have their problems, are generally good and kind. The book is a great read for cyclists and non-cyclists alike and I guarantee you’ll become engrossed in Joe’s stories within a page or two.

Needless to say I have since purchased Joe’s most recent and third book called Momentum is Your Friend and am eager to read it. In Momentum Joe takes along his two young sons on the journey which should yield some interesting stories.

Why am I not jumping into that book right away you ask? Well, I picked up Miles from Nowhere by Barbara Savage which I am going to read first. I actually got the name of the book from the chapter in Riding Outside the Lines where Joe nominates people for cycling sainthood. Barbara is one of the nominees and in the paragraph about her Joe calls Miles from Nowhere the cyclists bible. After that kind of recommendation how could I not read it?

Please go check out Metal Cowboy and Riding Outside the Lines when you have a chance. They are top notch reads and will really get you thinking about what you want out of life. Ride on!

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

The Rider by Tim Krabbe chronicles a fictional 137 kilometer bike race or more specifically, the Tour de Mont Aigoual, through the eyes of Krabbe himself. We quickly learn that cycling is more than just a sport to Krabbe when he glances up from his gear before the start, sees some spectators and thinks “Non-racers. The emptiness of those lives shocks me.” From that moment on we are swept up into the race with Krabbe and never look back. Nothing else seems to matter.

Kilometer after kilometer Krabbe pushes along, calculating his moves and recounting both races he’s participated in and tidbits from famous races like the Tour de France, Giro de Italia and Milan – San Remo. Not only is the reader able to pick up a lot of cycling history they are also able to see what really happens inside a road race – all of the things that we aren’t privy to as spectators.

What stood out to me most after finishing the book is the pure suffering cyclists endure in a race and determination they have to have to overcome their suffering. I always knew that the suffering was intense but watching cycling races never conveyed to me quite what Krabbe’s words did.

Cyclists and cycling fans will definitely love this book. However, I would recommend it to non-cyclists as well. If you’re a fan of good clean writing and enjoy a captivating fast-paced story this book is for you. Who knows, it may even make you a cycling fan!

Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

I started reading Metal Cowboy, a collection of stories by Joe Kurmaskie, a few weeks ago at my Dad’s suggestion and have had a hard time putting it down. I finished it on Thanksgiving day and knew I had to get a review up in short order. Metal Cowboy is a collection of some of Kurmaskie’s stories from his long distance bike tours but I promise you that you don’t need to be a cyclist to appreciate this book.

Kurmaskie is a top notch storyteller who writes in a way that is relatable to anyone who would come across his material. He also has a knack for showcasing what is good among people. Joe’s optimism shines through even when he is in the worst of situations while on the road. He manages to make you feel as if you are right there with him experiencing everything he does.

One of my favorite stories in the book is called “The Tree Huggers versus the Tree Cutters as Told by the Fence-Sitter” and it begins with this quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat.

The quote is a powerful one and it foreshadows the rest of the story nicely. In a nutshell, Joe runs across a logger while at a campsite who he becomes friends with. The logger then offers to let Joe stay with him when Joe makes his way towards his house in the coming days of his trip. Joe ends up at the loggers house but he is not home so Joe decides to camp in the woods where he meets a number of the “tree huggers” who are protesting the company that Joe’s logger friend works for. Joe, trying to be friends with both the loggers and the tree huggers, ends up having to explain himself to both the logger and the tree huggers and everyone ends up not caring for Joe too much since he wasn’t really up front about his true beliefs.

The story reminds us to not be afraid to talk about what we believe in and to be up front. It also urges us to step out of the gray twilight and take some chances. As entrepreneurs and VCs we are all taking our shot at changing the world. Yes, a lot of us will fail at some point in our lives but I, for one, would rather fail while taking a chance on something I believe in than to have never taken a chance at all and I think a lot of you probably feel the same way.

That said, I highly recommend picking up Metal Cowboy. You won’t regret it. My only warning is the book may cause an overwhelming urge to grab your bike, load it up and head out on an extended bike tour of your own!

Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes

When I first read the Da Vinci Code (DVC) I was captivated. I read the book through in one sitting and then passed it along to my roommate who did the same. While reading the book I found myself constantly hopping out of my chair and heading over to the computer to do research. The more I dug into the art and scholarship relating to the DVC the more I wanted to dig. Fortunately Dan Burstein (accomplished journalist and GP/founder of Millennium Technology Ventures) was doing the same research and I had the idea to compile the best scholarship on the subjects featured in the DVC and put it all in a book called Secrets of the Code.

I was able to get my hands on a copy of the book through a BzzCampaign I was part of (see BzzAgent for more) and started reading it immediately after I received it. I just finished the book over this past week while I was on vacation and I can now officially say it is well worth a read, especially for anyone looking to know more about the themes in the DVC from the “professionals.” One thing that I particularly love about Secrets is the fact that the book takes scholarship from both sides of every DVC related debate so that the reader obtains a balanced perspective and can make up their own mind.

There are other features of the book that are equally as interesting as the scholarship. Two of these sections, both written by veteran journalist David A. Shugarts, should be noted. One section chronicles Dan Brown’s life to show readers where he may have found his inspiration while the other showcases Shugarts’ well researched answers to some of the DVC’s most asked questions including a listing of many plot holes and timeline issues that can be found throughout the book.

The essays in Secrets, numbering nearly 50, are written by top minds from Newsweek, Time, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal as well as the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, The Jesus Mysteries, The Chalice and the Blade, The Gnostic Gospels, The Templar Revelation, The Goddess in the Gospels and The Woman with the Alabaster Jar (just to name a handful). Also included within the pages of Secrets are a guide to all of the DVC characters, a glossary, backgrounders on all of the contributors and web resources for further research. If you want to understand the thinking of the people on both sides of the DVC debate this is definitely the book for you. Give it a read, you won’t be disappointed!

Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

I just finished reading Banker to the Poor this weekend which was written by Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank. The book chronicles Yunus’ discovery of microfinance and readers get to see the idea move from its humble beginning (a spontaneous $27 loan from Yunus’ own pocket) to the poverty fighting powerhouse Grameen is today ($5.34 billion in loans distributed with a 98.45% payback rate). However, it wasn’t easy getting there.

Yunus faced many issues while building up Grameen. The first of those issues what that of purdah. Purdah is a tradition in Bangladesh (where Grameen started) that basically says women should stay inside the home and not leave or converse with other men unless their husband is present. This tradtion caused Yunus and his team much trouble in the early days since women, the primary microfinance borrowers, were to scared to talk to them and especially to borrow money without their husbands permission. Even if Yunus could talk to these women while their husbands were around their hubands wanted to know why they couldn’t have the loan.

I should take a side bar here and note that women are the primary focus of Grameen because Yunus and his team found that money made by women affected poverty the most since they would put the money back into their home and buy food, etc. so, econmically, women with money will provide more on an impact on poverty.

Through shear perseversence and cultural awareness Yunus and his team were able to win over the people and the bank was formed. The problems didn’t stop there though. The government was not as fond of Grameen as they should have been, natural disasters sometimes wiped out the borrowers assets and even the World Bank caused Grameen some troubles. However, the concept and the people behind it were too strong to be cast aside and I, for one, am greatful for that.

Many of you who are long time readers know that I am strong advocate of microfinance lending (I even produced a podcast on it which you should check out if you are interested). I believe that microfinance makes the most economic imact per dollar spent in terms of helping the poor. The impact is so great because credit empowers people to take control of there lives and use their natural creativity to pull themselves out of poverty. Many programs out there now, while still doing a lot of good (and I applaud them for that so please don’t take this as a knock), think that training is the answer and that without it people won’t move above the poverty line. Microfinance shows just the opposite. It shows that everyone is an entrepreneur and can/will survive on their own merit if just given some start-up capital.

I urge anyone who is somewhat interested in microfinance to read Banker to the Poor. While reading you will feel the passion Yunus has for the idea and you will see, through examples, that it works. I am willing to bet that, after reading the book, you will feel as strongly about the concept as I do.

Additional Info: I will be attending the Chicago Microfinance Conference on April 21st at the University of Chicago (you can register and attend too – just click on the link for more info). I am really excited about it and will undoubtedly have some interesting things to report on after so stay tuned!

Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes

I just finished a book last night that was incredible. If you are a physics geek like I am or even if you just want to know more about a theory that could possibly explain everything than The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene is for you! Greene writes in such a way that anyone can understand the gist of what he is talking about so it is great book for anyone. With that said, it is a pretty intense book and not a book I would recommend for light reading. I took quite a bit of time with the book myself since I really wanted to try and wrap my head around the concepts.

In the book Greene takes readers on a journey through the history of physics from Newton to Einstein and on to String Theory (M-theory). The background you get in the beginning of the book is a perfect primer to the more advanced string theory. Basically, string theory says that, rather than point particles, the universe is in fact made up of microscopic strings that vibrate in different manners and that the vibrations actually correspond to what we see as electrons, protons and so on. Not only that, string theory also provides for 11 dimentions and possibly parallel universes! Fascinating stuff…

Even more fascinating is the fact that string theory explains all, or most of, the physical properties (relativity, quantum mechanics, etc.) that we already observe. String theory implies that they should be there! Basically, if string theory was the first thing that was found, everything else we (and by we I mean physicists) have discovered would have been a given. String theory also gives rise to some interesting black hole explanations but I don’t want to give too much away. Well, OK, I’ll give a little bit away but you’re going to want to read the book to get the full picture.

The center of black holes actually have the same characteristics that physicists think were in place before the “big bang.” They have been able to figure this out, more or less, through string theory. The interesting conclusion that can be drawn is that the centers of black holes are actually universes or universes before the big bang. Why don’t we see them you may ask… well, the black holes event horizon shields us from seeing anything inside. The event horizon is the point of no return. No light can escape past it and out of the black hole and all matter that passes the line will be sucked in forever.

The book seriously blows the mind. It is an incredible piece by one of the people on the forefront of string theory but it is still written in a way that “regular people” (who are willing to put in the time) can understand the big concepts. I recommend giving it a read if you want to take a look at the BIG picture through a very small lens.

For more on the Elegant Universe and string theory please visit the Elegant Universe webpage. Also, you can watch the entire NOVA special hosted by Brian Geene himself and entitled the Elegant Universe online. Enjoy!

– I am going to put a piece up in my “normal” style very soon as I was inspired to write on google and yahoo through a piece written by Jason at 37 signals today. Look out for that or, better yet, if you are not already subscribed please subscribe and you’ll get my posts automagically!

Reading time: 6 – 10 minutes

As most of you know, I have starting working on a podcast called VentureWeek which will be a roundtable of both VCs and entrepreneurs talking about the issues and technologies of the day. In thinking of subject matter for future shows I came up with a show on search (pretty much a given for my format) and a show on the future of technology (inspired by the writings of Ray Kurzweil) along with some other ideas. After jotting down these ideas and e-mailing possible panel members the other day I decided that it was time to relax. So, I sat down in my favorite chair and began reading my fresh copy of “The Search” by John Battelle.

I thought that the book, while being very good, was going to be a pretty straightforward tale of how Google began and how it, along with other search companies, changed the business landscape. Boy was I wrong. In hindsight I should have known not to under estimate John’s talent for tech writing. After the first fifty pages I had to put the book down and do some thinking. This thinking ultimately led to the blog piece you are reading.

John brings up some pretty powerful thoughts on search and what it could grow into early on in the book. The thought that really struck me was that search will probably be the first form of artificial intelligence. After taking a moment to think about that profound statement I realized that it made complete sense. We all want a search that can intuitively understand the context of our search. For example, when I searched for “new york hotel” on Google I came up with results that included both hotels named New York and hotels in New York. In fact, the first non-sponsored result was the New York-New York Hotel in Las Vegas which did not help me find a hotel in NYC for the weekend before BlogOn. Google, as great as it is, can not discern the context of my search, yet.

I, and I suspect many others, have always pictured AI coming in the form of humanoid robots (see Isaac Asimov’s robot series) or a talking supercomputer like HAL in Arthur C. Clarke’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” However, it makes sense that AI would come gradually rather than all of a sudden in a massive breakthrough. It appears that the first real practical use for AI would be developing better search. Once AI search was developed the technology could be built on to create other forms of AI and eventually even merge with human intelligence through nanotechnology and robotics to create the singularity described in Ray Kurzweil’s new book, “The Singularity is Near.” While this technology would be a huge advance it does not come without a large responsibility.

Michael Crichton’s book “Prey” illustrates, albeit in an exaggerated way, what can happen if we create technology (nano machines with AI in this case) that we do not fully understand. In the book the main characters develop a “nano swarm” that learns, adapts, and thinks. Throughout the book the swarm envelops its’ creators until there is nothing left of them. The swarm was thought to be a breakthrough and great step for human kind but in the end it took on a life that no one expected. Essentially what happens in the book, and in most of Crichton’s tomes, can be described through Chaos Theory.

Chaos Theory, the most important piece being known as the Butterfly Effect, is characterized by sensitivity to initial conditions. The term the Butterfly Effect came from Edward Lorenz who stated that one flap of a butterfly’s wings in South America could cause a tornado in Texas (not sure of the exact country or state but you get the idea). One model that is used to effectively show Chaos Theory in action is the Mandelbrot Set (based on a mathematical equation) seen below.

The black portion of the Mandelbrot set represents the stable points, or the points that will gravitate, and eventually stay on, a single point. Basically, if you pick any point inside the black area and run the equation over and over you will eventually get pulled in to a particular point in the black area and stay there. The colored portion of the diagram is a whole different story though. As soon as you pick a point right on the edge of where the black ends and the color begins the point, after iterating the equation repeatedly, will stray off into infinity never settling on a single point or coming into the black portion of the diagram. (The other interesting thing about the Mandelbrot set is that, if magnified over and over again, it can be seen that it holds more and more tiny Mandelbrot sets. Also, each point on the Mandelbrot set is linked to a particular Julia set. Please check out the link above for more information or this link to play with a Mandelbrot set.)

The Mandelbrot set shows that the slightest change in beginning conditions can make a huge difference in the final outcome of anything, keeping one thing stable and throwing another into Chaos. Chaos can happen if we do not watch technology closely. The good news is that people, like the Foresight Institute, know this and are keeping an eye on everything and educating the public about advances in technology.

Nanotechnology and AI are undoubtedly coming and will probably converge at some point in the future. Companies will form to commercialize the technology and VCs will fund them. We don’t want to end up in a world like the one portrayed in the Terminator or in the Matrix and we certainly do not want to change the human race into one where everyone is the same and the race is no longer recognizable as described in Kurzweil’s “The Singularity is Near.” However, the human race is defined by innovation and we can’t afford to stifle it. There is a delicate balance that needs to be found and we need to make sure that we do not tip and fall into the multi-colored infinity of the Mandelbrot set.

Whew… all that over a smarter search engine…