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In ancient China, there was a saying that one could find both wealth and beauty from books. Of course, that sounds materialistic. Historically, books helped knowledge being passed from generation to generation. Without books, human civilization would grow in a much slower pace. Successful minds that I have ever met normally read a lot of books or even have written books by themselves. I feel that it is a good hobby to help oneself learn, enjoy, and relax.

The place that I have visited the most is amazon.com, obviously, which is full of reviews. I also like to enjoy reading books in a good atmosphere, such as in a bookstore, or a library. Fortunately, there are good places near where I live:

• Borders at Sunnyvale: 9-11 everyday.
• Borders at Santana Row: 9-11 everyday, except Friday (9-12).
• Barnes & Noble at Steven Creek: 9-11 everyday.
• DigitalGuru at Lawrence: It is a 6000 sq ft technical bookstore.
• Sunnyvale Library: It has a good collection of business and photography magazines.

Stress can be defined as the sum of physical mental responses to an unacceptable disparity between real or imagined personal experience and personal expectations. It’s the body’s way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness. The events that provoke stress are called stressors. The human body responds to stressors by activating the nervous system and specific hormones. These hormones speed up heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and metabolism. All of the physical changes prepare a person to react quickly and effectively to handle the pressure of the moment PHYSICALLY. That’s how our ancestors escaped dangerous situations.

Everything has been working perfectly for human beings until the information new era when people are using brain, instead of physical body, to solve issues. In that case, the amount of hormones pumped into the human body seems to be too much and makes people stressful even when stressors no longer exist, which is called stress overload.

How to fight it? Here are some tips:

1. Music
2. Laughters
3. Food/Snack: Try healthy food. Don’t staff yourself up, which worsen the situation.
4. Try a repeat performance
5. Regular exercise works best. Try yoda, jogging, hiking, bicycling, etc.
6. Focus on one’s breath to reduce heartrate variability. This is more like meditation.
7. Avoid interruption: emails, IM, etc.
8. Wash hands
9. Have an exercise when possible