Books I've Read This Week

Saga Volume 1 by Brian K Vaughn and with art by Fiona Staples is pretty damn amazing. It is a science fiction epic where we follow Alana and Marko who are fleeing a war. The crux of the matter is that Alana and Marko are from opposite sides of a war between two different alien races. The powers that be from both sides want them apprehended before it is discovered that the two races can inter-breed. Oh yeah, the story opens up shortly before the birth of their first child. The pair are chased by a collection of odd characters including elements from the military of Alana's race as well as a number of bounty hunters which include the Stalk (a human spider hybrid) and The Will. Just image the original cantina scene from Star Wars: A New Hope writ large. Fiona Staples really gets a chance to play with character designs and sweeping alien vistas. The book would be well worth it from the art alone but you also get some great writing as well. I'm looking forward to picking up this series for years to come. Finally the six issue collection only has a $9.99 price which is an absolute steal. I really love that introductory price on Image Comics first trade paper backs.

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau. I admit I'm intrigued by entrepeneurs. I'm super impressed by the guts one must have in order to strike out on their own. The thing this book tries to address is taking away the fear of taking that risk. Guillebeau dives into fifty case studies of small entrepreneurs who've started their business with as little as $100 and now make a full time living off of that business. The key piece that I take away from this book is that anyone can do it and you don't need to risk your financial security in order to do it. However, the book also tells you that the way to succeed is to do something that you are not only good at but passionate about. That's where I count myself lucky as my day job is working with open source software and playing with mobile phones. It doesn't get much better than that for me.