Weekend reads

I'm quite late with this, but I finally read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell after T's recommendation. I read Gladwell's The Tipping Point in college, so this wasn't a stretch. Certainly the author's writing and liberal use of statistics in Outliers will raise some eyebrows, but there are many things that ring true. As in Avenue Q, everyone's a little bit racist sometimes, and with some reason--cultural differences lead to generalization, jokes and discrimination. But I'm putting in my 10,000 hours of practice. Just give me 10 years.

Treasures of the Falcon: Showcasing the Jewels of the Middle East is a Standard Chartered Banks exclusive coffeetable book. Aside from the structures you expect such as the Egyptian monuments, Petra, and the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, lesser-known ancient cities such as Baalbek, Lebanon and Jerash, Jordan are featured here, as are the seven-star hotels Burj Al-Arab in Dubai and Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. Seems that this region is a magnet for both archeologists and businessmen.