TITLE: Think Big!
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: July 15, 2005  4:41 PM
DESC: A couple of links for the end of the week.
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BODY:
A couple of quotes about thinking big -- one serious,
and one just perfect for the end of a Friday:

<EM>Think Global, Act Local</EM>

<A HREF="http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/dw_blog_comments.jspa?blog=317&entry=85613&ca=drs-bl">
   Grady Booch writes</A>
about the much-talked-about 125 hard questions that science
faces, posed by the
<A HREF="http://www.aaas.org/">
   American Association for the Advancement of Science</A>
on the occasion of its 125th anniversary:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
Science advances daily through the cumulative efforts
of millions of individuals who investigate the edges of
existing knowledge, but these sort of questions help
direct the global trajectory of all that local work.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

At the end of his entry, Grady asks a great question:
What are the grand challenges facing us in computer
science and software development, the equivalent of
Hilbert's problems in mathematics?

<EM>When Is Enough Enough?</EM>

<A HREF="http://www.livejournal.com/users/sirenian/">
   Elizabeth Keogh writes</A>
about reality for many readers:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
If you think you're going to finish reading all those
books you bought, you need more books.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm a book borrower more than a book buyer, but if I
substitute "borrowed" for "bought", this quote fits
me.  Every time I read a book, I seem to check out
three more from the library.  I recently finished
Glenway Wescott's "The Pilgrim Hawk", and I'm about
to finish James Surowiecki's "The Wisdom of Crowds".
Next up: Leoneard Koren's "13 Books".  (I'm a slow
reader and can't keep up with all the recommendations
I receive from friends and colleagues and blogs and
...!)
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