An Expert Life Underwriter Bears Witness to the Growth of Ebooks

globeandmail.com: Ebook sales are close to $1-billion. From Sentimentalists to Imperfectionists, John Barber explores how the publishing world shifted in 2010

The slow yet steady shift from dead tree to digital versions of books is fascinating.  One of my holiday presents was a Kindle.  I have joined the movement.

Last year was a disappointing year in my personal book reading.  I read just 30 books in 2010.  The reason was simple to deduce.  I spent too much time doing other things  (like working).

And in recognition of the new reality I am not increasing my effort to meet my goal of reading a book a week.  I’ve decided to approach this situation with more intelligence than I have in the past.  Yes, I’m setting the bar lower.

Read a Book a Week is now Read a Book Every Other Week.

26 books this year should be doable, no?

Work as Paradox

The Job Satisfaction Paradox for the Self-Employed – BusinessWeek

How can the self-employed earn less money, work more hours, and experience more work-related stress than the wage employed—yet still report greater overall job satisfaction? The answer appears to be that people value highly the autonomy, flexibility, and opportunity to work in a small organization .

Many studies show that the desire to be one’s own boss is one of the leading motivators of self-employment. Others report flexible schedules are a key motivator of self-employment. Moreover, human beings have a preference for working in settings where they can interact with all the members of the organization, according to research by Bruno Frey and Matthias Benz of the Institute of Empirical Economics of the University of Zurich.

In short, the paradox isn’t such a paradox after all. People will work harder, earn less, and put up with more stress so that they can enjoy the freedom, flexibility, and work environment that self-employment provides.