Timothy's Thoughts

I ’m amazed at what some people think is keeping up with the latest technology. They’ve all got to have the latest phone, the latest handheld device, and they’ve got to be a member of the latest social media website. Rachelle Gardner recently suggested that staying current on these things would help stave off dementia or help you maintain marketable skills. That’s a nice thought, but really, do you think knowing how to use Facebook, or Twitter, or now Pinterest is going to do all of that? Other than the fact that there are some people who are convinced that the latest technology is too hard to try, many of the things that people think are new technology are old technology with new packaging. The social media networks are driven by fads. But given the number of people who are using them, you can be sure that it’s okay to skip the latest thing. You don’t have to sign up for the latest social media website. You don’t have to have the latest handheld device. If at some point you see a r...

D o you give create where credit is due? The other day, I happened across a blog and the author quoted me, without stating my name. While I don’t believe that is illegal, or even plagiarism, since she didn’t claim the statement as her own, it would've been nice to have my name next to the quote, even nicer if there were a link back to the statement I made. (Or course, you realize I’m mentioning what she did without providing a name or a link.) My thought is this: if you use something someone has said as the basis for an argument or a point of disagreement, it is important to cite your source. If you are giving an example of something someone has done, but you believe it is representative of what many people do, it isn’t so important to cite them, especially when it may place them in a bad light. From doing research papers, you know the importance of citing your sources so that people can verify your work. When it comes to online stuff, one of the reasons I think it is important...

O kay, Wow! One of my books is available for free right now on Amazon.com. I knew it was going to happen, but I had let it slip my mind. But I didn’t see any harm in it. After all, the whole point is to encourage a broader audience to take a chance on it. Apparently, hundreds of people decided to do just that. It makes my sales numbers look good, even though I’m not making a red cent from any of them.

S ee if you can answer the following true or false questions without looking them up. Before his death, Barnabas looked up and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Saul, later called Paul, held the coats of those who stoned him. One night, Peter preached for so long that a young man went to sleep and fell out of a window to his death. David had a one night stand with Bathsheba while his army was off in battle. As a result, their first son, Solomon was born. The Lord told Hosea to buy Gomer, a prostitute, and marry her. King Saul consulted with a witch and asked her to bring Isaiah back from the dead. Think you know the answers? Compare your answers with those at the end of this post. Did you get them right? The point of this exercise is to highlight the existence of Bible illiteracy . Many people go to church and they claim to believe the Bible and yet they don’t know what the Bible says. Some churches don’t bother teaching from the Old Testament these days. I don’...

I ’ve already said more about autographs than I intended to and probably so much that some of you are tired of hearing about them, but I’d like to say one more thing. Aside from the increased value an autograph gives a book and the personal connection that exists when we meet a favorite author and ask them to sign a book, why do we ask authors to sign books? Forget the famous authors, what about those who aren’t so well known? I have purchased a few self-published books that haven’t sold very well. I won’t mention the names of the authors because you wouldn’t know them anyway. But if I were to meet these authors, I would ask them to sign their books. Why? Asking an author to sign his book is a way of recognizing him for the work he has put into the book. Maybe the book is poorly written. Maybe we couldn’t get past the first page. That doesn’t matter. We want to show the author that we appreciate him, whether we think much of his book or not.

W hen I was a kid there were a few books that I would read, reach the end of the book, and immediately flip back to the beginning and start reading again. I don’t remember the name of the book, but there was one such book Mom gave me for Valentine’s day. It was about a kid who was on a trip with his uncle. His uncle was some kind of spy. You know, the James Bond type spy, not The Spy Who Came in From the Cold type spy. Anyway, there were these guys after them and his Uncle had this special kind of watch with a type of keypad on it. At the time, that was amazing stuff. These days, that is old technology. But I remember reading that book, being disappointed because I had reached the end of it, then turning to the beginning to read it again. What I wonder is why I don’t do that as an adult. Part of it is that adult books are longer. That book was probably a hundred pages long, if that long and the text was probably slightly larger than most adult books, so it wouldn’t have taken me lo...

E van Jacobs, the creator of Kindlegraph recently posted the following on a blog: In my opinion, [it is] the connection between authors and readers that is the important thing and the signed book is simply a memento of that connection. The move toward digital books doesn’t [mean] that these connections will no longer exist or no longer be important. On the contrary, I believe that authors and readers have even more opportunities to connect. I created Kindlegraph as an acknowledgment of the power of personal connections even while people become more anonymous because of technology It is interesting to see his perspective, even though I still remain critical of Kindlegraph . For those who are uninformed, Kindlegraph is a means by which Kindle readers can request a personalized inscription for e-books. The concept is that an author will fill out a form and the software will generate a file that can be stored on the reader’s device. But what the reader actually receives is a message wr...