Vacating

Around about Sunday I realized that I was still replying to email and having a hard time being on vacation without reading about search. So I decided to leave the computer behind for a few days and read some books instead; I’ve been in “a book a day” mode with very little computer time, so here’s a few mini-reviews of books I’ve read since Monday.

Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan. As much a detective novel as cyberpunk, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Morgan’s twist is that people’s memory can be backed up and then “sleeved” into a new body. I traded another Googler for this book, and now I’ll be checking out what else Morgan has written.

JPod, by Douglas Coupland. You’ll want to read Generation X or Microserfs first to acclimate to the style. The reviews that I read complained that Coupland introduces himself as a character in the book, but I thought it was fine. Another reviewer complained about things like prime numbers or digits of pi being thrown into the book, but it’s not as quirky as it sounds. The book still works.

One surreal part of JPod is that on page 73, Coupland starts listing languages from the world. By the time he got to Catalan, I suspected that Coupland cribbed it from Google’s language page. By the time I got to “Elmer Fudd,” I was sure. But then Coupland starts hiding other words and languages (Cockney, Fortran, Ikea, Stepford, Vanna White) in. Double-plus surreal. I objected to page 397 (you’ll have to pick up the book to see why), but otherwise it was a fun read. I dunno know about you, but I like reading books where the author changes the font and throws in some different stuff from time to time.

Out of the Woods, by Chris Offutt. A collection of eight stories by a native Kentuckian, about Kentucky. In the first story, “Out of the Woods,” a Kentuckian journeys to Wahoo, Nebraska, to pick up a brother-in-law who died. The lead character ends up hauling the dead man back to Kentucky in his pickup truck, along with some nice dirt he finds in Illinois. Many of the stories center around Kentucky in some way. I enjoyed this book, but I think readers would enjoy No Heroes: A Memoir of Coming Home more. Bear in mind that Offutt exaggerates and takes some artistic license in his representations of Eastern Kentucky.

Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth, by Simon R. Green. The sixth (?) book in the “Nightside” series is a quick/fun read, and not terribly deep. In the Nightside (tucked away in the heart of London), it’s always 3 a.m. and dark forces wait behind every corner. If you wanted a deeper/darker picture of a fictional London where magic courses through the Underground veins of the city, you’d be going for Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman. But if you’ve already read Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Anansi Boys, The Sandman series, and Good Omens, then you might be ready to try this series.

White Wolf, by David Gemmell. A pretty standard “swordmaster meets axmaster and quests to save someone” book. With Gemmell, many of his books are set in the same fictional land at different times. The benefit of that is that many books stand on their own; you don’t have to read them as a trilogy, quadrilogy, or dodecalogy. Nope, with Gemmell, you can usually count on each book wrapping up individually. A fine summer read, especially if you or someone you love finds it at a book sale (which is how I got it).

Quite Ugly One Morning, by Christopher Brookmyre. This was another reader suggestion, from Domas Mituzas, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It’s set in Edinburgh, so some of the lingo is a little hard-to-follow. But if you press on, you’ll find a nice tight little detective story. I liked watching things unwind for the killer, who is gradually injured more and more until he’s practically a walking zombie.

So far, I’d say that JPod was my favorite, followed by Quite Ugly One Morning and then Altered Carbon. Now I’m trying to decide what to read next. If you have more suggestions, chime in. πŸ™‚

192 Responses to Vacating (Leave a comment)

  1. Leaving web and seo aside, i think we all need some time for ourselves, and our troubled minds.

    This internet trend is killing us.

  2. While this isn’t exactly in the style you appear to be reading, if you want something lighter you might try something from P.J. O’Rourke ( ex National Lampoon ). He has a number of books on subjects like the economy (Eat the Rich) all the way up to a fairly recent (2004) tomb on war and politics (Peace Kills: America’s Fun New Imperialism). Some of it is pretty funny coming from someone who qualifies as rather conservative. Amusing providing you don’t take the politics too seriously, just the world through someone else’s very weird eyes.

    Slant from Greg Bear is another semi-classic sci-fi book (tell the truth, just tell it slant), as would be his book Blood Music. He also has a couple of short story compilations that can make enjoyable reading. ( i have pretty much everything Greg Bear… a good combination of entertaining action based sci-fi combined with decent potential science)

    Finally, I can suggest Robert Charles WIlson’s Mysterium. While the ending is a little bit junk from my point of view, the story leading to it is entertaining and the concept(s) put forward are thought provoking.

  3. Only problem with books is that I’d have to learn how to read. Oh, I guess I did understand your post, didn’t I? Damn. There goes that excuse…

  4. Dave (Original)

    Matt, being a young pup you may not have read “Catch 22” by Joseph Heller. It’s one of my all-time favorites.

  5. Okay, I’ll bite.

    I spend a week at a writer’s workshop every Summer, and one Summer I concentrated on crime story techniques. The guy responsible for the crime section is the chief crime editor of the no. 1 publishing house in this country, and I at one point asked him what 10 crime books he considers the best – not least as an inspirational ressource. One of the books he came up with is this one:

    Haruki Murakami – A Wild Sheep Chase. ISBN 1 86046 718 0. This particular one was published round 2000, so there may be a newer edition out.

    Murakami has an interesting way of not really caring about how traditional crime stories are written – you make forays into other genres along the way, but you don’t really notice unless you are looking for it. He creates his own universe for the story, really. I catch myself thinking about it every now and then, which is a rare thing for me with specific books.

  6. I’ve recommended it before, but for light reading with an informative bent you can’t beat Does Anything Eat Wasps? (ISBN 0743297261) – a collection of questions and answers to life’s most important questions, such as How fat do you have to be to become bulletproof?, Why do people have eyebrows?, How quickly could I turn into a fossil? etc.

    Alternatively, if you’re after something deeply affecting, a ‘change-your-life’ kind of book, then I can only recommend If This Is A Man/The Truce by Primo Levi (ISBN 0349100136). It is the first hand account of the authors time in Auschwitz, but it is told in a very calm, sober manner. Levi does not show anger towards his ex-captors, and he presents events and actions in a very clear way, wich makes the book all the more powerful as the sadness, anger and horror you feel when reading the book is your own reaction to these events and not the result of emotional writing. I first read this for my A-levels at school many years ago, and everybody I have recommended it to subsequently has been so moved that they have further recommended it to others. Unmissable genius.

  7. I highly recommend the following:

    The Belgariad series by David Eddings
    The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
    The Chronicals of Dune, by Frank Herbert
    The other Dune books by his son and another author

    But you’ve probably read all those πŸ˜‰

  8. Matt,

    If you really want to vacate, then stop doing what youΒ΄re doing when you work. (Being in the same places you usually are) Reading a book in stead of reading your computer screen is not vacating.

    Go on vacation!!!!!! Go somewhere you never went before. That will keep your brain busy too,. πŸ™‚ (the worsed thing about vacation is that your brain doesn’t agree with doing nothing, so you have to keep it busy πŸ™‚ )

    Get in your car without a plan,.. just a direction and keep driving till you find interesting things.

    Last time I did this I was still living in holland. We got in the car with just one goal: Italy! 5 days later we found our selves at the top of the vesuvius (for those who don’t know what that is,.. thatΒ΄s an almost 4000 feet high vulcano in italy next to pompeii.)

    On our way there going through switzerland we decided not to take the easy tunnels through the mountains, but to take the small roads over the mountains. The landscape above the tree line (so high in the mountains where trees don’t grow anymore) gives an almost surrealistic view of mountain landscape with just grass growing. It was almost freezing up there, but a couple of hours later when we entered italy it was over 100 F.

    Also fun were the German highways where there are no speed limits and we did 500 miles in 5 hours (including a stop of 10 minutes every 2 hours).

    Get out of the house Matt, get out of your comfort zone and you will have lots of fun (and stories to tell)!!!!

    πŸ™‚

  9. Well I can recommend the Da Vinci Code – much better than the film in my opinion or any Bill Bryson book, I love his stuff, he has a great sense of humour and like me loves travelling.

  10. Would it be possible to tag and/or display differently your posts about Google / SEO / black&white hats and your posts about your personal vacations, likes and dislikes and things like that ?
    Because, honestly, we are many to read you _because_ (and only because) you are one voice from Google.

  11. Malaiac: that’s what the right side of the page is for. πŸ˜‰

  12. Just finished Labyrinth by Kate Mosse – http://www.mosselabyrinth.co.uk – found it very difficult to put down.

  13. JPod is a great read!

  14. I always find blog posts about being on vacation from computers a little ironic. πŸ™‚

    Did you know that several years ago the Japanese goverrment created a “department of leisure”, in an effort to get Japanese workers to start taking breaks and reducing their manic work weeks? They eventually shut the department down because they found out the departmental staff was working 24/7.

  15. If you’re in a literary mood, I’d try Ada by Vladimir Nabokov. Nabokov is one of the most imaginative and eloquent writers of all time. Ada is a love story / fantasy about an alternate world. Don’t know if it’s your type, but it’s so beautifully written that I savored every page when I read it a few summers ago.

    I also recommend anything by Lauren Slater. She has one book called Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir, which is about the role of lies in our life. The insight in this book is wonderful.

  16. Who are these rude people that are still emailing you even though they know that you are on vacation? When my boss is out sick or on vacation, I don’t bother her with work stuff. It’s called consideration. Although, you aren’t really helping yourself by continuing to CHECK it.

  17. They eventually shut the department down because they found out the departmental staff was working 24/7.

    LOL. That’s funny.

  18. This book is the story of George Scovell (I had not heard of him before I read this book) who if he lived now instead of the early 19th centaury would surely have worked for Google!

    The Man Who Broke Napoleon’s Codes by Mark Urban
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060934557/qid=1148837872/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-3084634-2902566

  19. KY writers:
    Check out Divine Right’s Trip by Gurney Norman – he was my creative writing professor at the University of Kentucky. He wrote it in the 70’s and it’s total hippie… but literate.

    I mean he mashes in references to St. George vs. Dragon and his tight language makes images slide easily into your brain.

    Norman palled around with Ken Kesey.

    He doesn’t have Offut’s sparse, clean style, but he’s interesting for his intersection with the “revolution.”

    Ed McClanahan is another good Kentucky writer from the same era – check out The Natural Man. He ran around with Kesey too.

    I’m a pretty good Kentucky writer too – check out searchenginelowdown.com πŸ˜‰

    Other standard suggestions I make people as far as good reads:
    Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
    Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)
    Watership Down (Richard Adams)
    Grendel (John Gardner)
    Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (Hayo Miyazaki – the movie sucks; this is his only comic book. In 4 parts. incredible)
    His Dark Materials Trilogy (Philip Pullman)
    Garth Nix Sabriel series (officially called Old Kingdom Trilogy)

    Other standard suggestions I suspect you’ve read:
    Snowcrash
    Neuromancer

  20. Great short reviews Matt.

    Though it’s not something one reads straight through I’m enjoying “1000 places to see before you die”. Lots of neat new ideas and out of the way places few have heard about. In fact you still have time on the Vacation to head on out to a few of them!

  21. If you enjoyed Richard Morgan you’ve got to try Vernor Vinge. Morgan has only written 3 other books, though, so you can get through him pretty quickly.

  22. Dave (Original)

    RE: “found it very difficult to put down”

    Sticky pages? πŸ˜‰

  23. Hey Matt,

    I’m not a religious or Cultish kind of guy, but I read “Left Behind” and 8 books later find myseld looking for the next.

    It’s a very intiguing read that will keep your attention.

    I don’t really prefer the “lead/hype into the next release” or the “in our next episode!” scenario, but past the Marvel comic endings its a good read.

    GaryTheScubaDiver

    ps. Still waiting on the FB on the Costa Rican thing (DS blog/interview…thx)

  24. My favorite book is called, “The Ultra Marathon Man” – Dean Karnazes. Very motivational.

  25. Hi Matt! this is my first time asking a question on your site, don’t no if it will get answered but thought I’d give it a chance! I’m a new web designer and learning SEO. I’ve been reading all of the messages on webmaster world and it seems like a lot of webmaseters are losing ranks on pages or getting pages dropped all together.. My question is, as a new Designer is there a specific path or guideline I should follow to insure page rank or better optimization for my site or any of my client sites? I would appreciate any feedback, or advice, or insult (lol) for being so stupid! Thanks again for reading this, or any other webmaster for reading this! Bye!

    Donovan

  26. Hey Matt,

    I enjoyed “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer…quite interesting what happend on Mount Everest…and of course “The Discovery of Heaven” by Harry Mulish, which is one of my favourites πŸ™‚

  27. If you want to embarq on a long journey with Stephen King, I highly recommend the Dark Tower. It’s 7 books (he wrote the first book in the early 80s and he released the last book late last year).

    Seeing that you read 1 book a day, you should be able to go through it in a week!

  28. Try ‘A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away’ also by Christopher Brookmyre. The title is cool and it just gets better. ‘The Wasp Factory’ by Iain Banks is a book I read years ago and I still think about (well haunts me really!) it years later!

  29. I second the Murakami suggestion, while Wild Sheep Chase is an interesting read, I enjoyed The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle much more, there is more going on with a much fuller (albiet longer) story. Both books ( Most of his books actually.) have a lot of myth interweaved into them, with out coming of like a fantasy or sci-fi novel. Good Stuff!

  30. Just read “The Education of Little Tree” again, by Forrest Carter. It’s one of those books that are meant to be shared. The story, in the 1st person, is told by a young boy being raised by his Cherokee grandparents. During one glorious and deeply felt Summer, Little Tree learns about Christians, Politicians, Bootlegging and so much more. A gem.

  31. Ok, so you talked me into it. I got a book out and read it… and I even learned a few things along the way. Think Like A Billionaire by The Donald wasn’t too bad. In fact, I’d even recommend it to people.

    The other book I read was Zawodny’s book on MySQL, but that’s not quite as relaxing. πŸ˜‰

  32. I’d echo Catch-22. Great book. A challenge to follow, as it has flashbacks, and flashbacks within flashbacks, and the plot tends to wander to the moon and back before you catch up with it. Lots of fun to read.

    Yossarian Lives!

  33. Matt,
    While you have been on a well deserved vacation, I have been checking out some sites that violates everything and anything!
    One of my sites was removed from Googles index for some odd reason and I ask for reinclusion and it has come back for a couple of days and now it is gone again!!
    This is REALLY annoying especially when you find web sites in Googles index, not one, but hundreds of them, with scraped content from my site even though I have reported them over and over again to Google and nothing happens.
    Check out this site: http://505.2vo1dvm.info/ and let me know why it is in Google’s index? There are tons of sites using a web site to generate content (veryfastsearchDOTcom) and then tey scrape/steal content from other site and Google swallows it all and displays them happily!!
    Now what kind of behaviour is that?? From tha latest Google update I have droppped 60% of my visitors on most of my sites and I am GREATFUL that MSN exists otherwise the Google update would have killed my business totally.
    Guess you’ll may consider NOT to have this post show up but I sure would like some explanation to what is goping on with Google and it’s index.

  34. Matt,

    Can i recommend 2 amazing books;

    The Gate; francis Bizot;
    the account of his escape from the clutches of Khmer Rouge, one of the few people to meet Pol Pot and survive

    Wild Swans; Jung chang
    Insight into 3 generations growing up in China,

    Alternatively, if you really want to relax come over to the UK for The Big CHill festival, Eastnor Castle in August..

    All the best

    David Reilly

  35. Snow Crash… Great book… I wish I could goggle into my computer…that is right I said goggle not google πŸ˜‰
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash

  36. Don’t feel too good about yourself but….

    Through you I started reading the “Y Guy’s” blog and was very surprised that he mostly seems to do Google bashing.

    Why bother? We know he is from the Y! camp so it lacks any credibility.

    Cheers,
    Ted

  37. I would be suprised if you have not read it already but I highly recommend

    The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
    – A Trilogy in Four Parts
    – By Douglass Adams!

    Wonderful, detailed, fantastic, fun reading.

  38. If you enjoyed Altered Carbon, you’re abound to get on with Broken Angels and Woken Furies, which have the same central character. Personally I think Broken Angels is the best of the three, having plenty of plot, some character development, and slightly less hyper-violence than AC, which I found went rather over the top at times.

    For something along a similar theme, I can recommend Voice of the Whirlwind and Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams, and Mindstar Rising by Peter F Hamilton (the start of a triology.) All well written, good escapist stuff.

  39. I laugh at page 16 on Amazon’s preview function where the author talks of fishermen’s fanaticism over statistics. He references, that even in the bible, when Christ appeared on the morning shore of the Sea of Galilee and the disciples didn’t catch a “boatload” of fish, nor “about a hundred and a half”, nor “over a gross,” but precisely “an hundred fifty and three”. He remarks about how Jesus just rose from the dead and the disciples must have squatted down and painstakingly counted “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven…” while the Lord was ignored, till the heap of fish was quantified.

  40. Sorry about the previous post, unfortunately if you get the security code wrong, and hit the “back” button, your original post is lost.

    The book is The River Why by David James Duncan and is very entertaining and will have you laughing out loud.

  41. Matt!

    Reading lists are the things that dreams are made of. Really.

    If you’re like me (which few people are), you could be reading several books at a time. Depending on mood/time of day/discipline, a different book deserves to be read. Here are some that everyone should read:

    PLEASURE
    The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell
    Marley & Me – John Grogan (are you a dog person? being from KY & all…)

    BUSINESS
    Love is the Killer App – Tim Sanders (So Important!)
    The Cluetrain Manifesto – Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls.
    –> Surely you’ve read this, but if not you’re going to really love how it humanizes the essential interactivity of the web & its users.
    Post-Corporate World – David Korten (With Google where it is…)

    Hope this helps. Enjoy!

  42. Great book selection Matt!

  43. Haiku haiku:

    Mind Drifts through Fiction
    Sharper than a Serpeant’s Tooth
    Decadence Enthralls

  44. I’d like to second Etienne’s vote for The Dark Tower series. To be honest I’m only finished book four, but I’m taking the rest with me on vacation at the end of this month.

  45. May be a bit late on this, but Terry Goodkind has got me. For some reason sitting down to a book lasted me about 5 minutes, but i can burn through this collection for days straight. A lot of my work on the web is marked with charactes from this series (as well as LOTR). Doh, i just created the next pattern for the spam team, linking fictional characters mentioned on websites to a spammers network. Seriously though, good books and Matt, when you get a chance in the near future drop me a line, I have a small question to ask.

  46. So, you intend to give-up search related reading but now you’re searching for some reading? Really? lol

  47. Matt,

    My staff and I worked all week on a welcome-back present for you.

    http://cartoondollemporium.com/mattcutts.html

    Hope you like it!

  48. That is incredibly disturbing.

    Ah well, at least he’s not in a Speedo.

  49. Hi Matt,

    Hope that you also got to enjoy the great outdoors. I decided to improve on my dragonfly identification skills and have been out chasing down dragonflies.

    As for books, Escape the Night by Richard North Patterson. It’s a suspense story centering on the lives of a publishing family that spans generations. Very early Patterson (1983) and a very easy read.

  50. It’s too hard to think of SEO when it’s June and it’s sunny and hot out there. Doug Coupland and Generation X a must read for those sunny lazy beach days.

  51. Matt,

    I have something I’d like to discuss with you (an idea) over email but don’t have your address. If you would please email me, I would greatly appreciate that.

    But back on topic with your post, I think I will check out Altered Carbon and JPod for interests sake and I’ve needed some new books to read for some time now. But yeah, it really is nice to get away from the web side of things once in awhile.

    Anyhow, will be glad to hear from you, either in email, or your next post.

  52. how about reading “The Little Prince”. Its a classic book. πŸ™‚

  53. If you liked Altered Carbon, I’d definitely check out his other books: Broken Angels was much better than Market Forces, as the latter was a little weak.

    Also, William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition is a bit of pulp it sounds like you’re in the mood for – less substance than style, but it worked for me.

  54. One more – the Night’s Dawn trilogy (it’s six paperbacks) by Peter F Hamilton.

  55. heh sometimes I’m also having a hard time to relax a step away from all the internet rush, hard to stop checking the emails every day πŸ˜€

  56. That doll thing is just wrong on so many levels. You are trully a cult figure now. eerie.

  57. Matt,
    I’ve said it before, but two authors that you could read if you liked cyberpunk-ish work are Jon Courteney-Grimwood (http://www.j-cg.co.uk/) and Neal Asher (http://www.nealasher.com/)

    JCG’s more recent work is more entertaining – Stamping Butterflies is good. Like Harry Turtledove, the author goes back in time, changes a little thing, then brings it forward into a modern society… For example: Waterloo was a crushing defeat for Wellington. No more British Empire etc.

  58. What part of the word “vacation” don’t you Cuttlets understand? πŸ™‚

    *out*

  59. Shouldn’t Matt be back by now?

    *looks at date*

    hmm, today is the day of the beast.. hope Matt isn’t out there being evil πŸ™‚

  60. Offtopic — Don’t Post.

    Hi Matt, Not sure who to send this to, so thought I’d ask you. Sorry to bother you with this.

    I’ve had this idea for years and years and thought I’d suggest it to Google as you guys like to fiddle with stuff. I’ve always thought it would be really cool to have a visual timeline of the evolution of earth, animals, etc. For example I could type in 65million years ago, and a map would be displayed with all the known animals and where they were located then and the known plants and the known location of the continents and atmosphere, etc. Or I could type in 10,000 years ago and get the same stuff. Or I could say run a movie from xx time to xx time in years or millions of years.

    Experts from every field could sign up to contribute the data. Kind of like a wiki only a visual timeline.

    Anyway, that’s the gist of it. Hope you had fun on vacation!
    m

  61. i just want to say that you have some nerve being on vacation just when i start reading your blog, after all the great stuff i have heard about it!

    anyway, enjoy!

  62. Aaron a blog is more than just the author – comments are part of the dialog. But I bet Matt’s just itching to post a few. Vacation and blogging … mix just fine.

  63. Maybe Matt’s too busy to keep up with the comment conversation. πŸ™‚

  64. Hey Matt, try “Dirt Music” by Tim Winton. Tim Winton is a West Australian author and captures the West Australian landscape and West Australian people in a very authentic, touching and raw way. Great characters, great stories, absolutely engrossing style of writing. At the same time his writing reminds me a bit of the South American magic realism, with the world he creates in his books following its own rules (especially in one of his earlier books, “Cloudstreet”). Wholeheartedly recommended if you want to read something from down under.

    PS. Latest rumors have it that “Dirt Music” will be made into a movie with Heath Ledger and Rachel Weisz next year … better get in and read the book before the movie comes out. πŸ˜‰

  65. Todays serpnews:

    Matt Cutts is currently #6 for “Shark Jumping” and #11 for “Jump The Shark” in G.

    Joseph – Yes indeed.

    Ever notice that when you go on vacation as an adult it is like you have been away for years?

  66. “Pollen” by Jeff Noon is perhaps the best cyberpunk novel I ever read. The prequel “Vurt” is better known but I preferred “Pollen”.

    It’s a sort of mash of Gibsons Sprawl, 2000ADs Cursed Earth, and Alice in Wonderland.

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/033033882X/qid=1149685382/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_3_2/203-1507652-1662356

  67. But back on topic with your post, I think I will check out Altered Carbon and JPod for interests sake and I’ve needed some new books to read for some time now. But yeah, it really is nice to get away from the web side of things once in awhile.

  68. Aaron a blog is more than just the author – comments are part of the dialog. But I bet Matt’s just itching to post a few. Vacation and blogging … mix just fine.

  69. Matt I read your blog all the time. You always have awsome information and interesting things to read about. Keep up the great work haha or lack there of BLOGGING! haha

    Ben

  70. Dave (Original)

    RE: “Check out this site: http://505.2vo1dvm.info/ and let me know why it is in Google’s index?”

    You are joking………aren’t you?

  71. Matt Gets

    Druss the legend

    or

    Ghost King
    Last Sword of Power
    Morningstar
    Legend
    King Beyond the Gate
    Waylander

  72. I’m currently reading “Pictures From An Institution” by Randall Jarrell ISBN: 0-226-39374-7. It is a devastatingly witty book about academia. Randall Jarrell is terribly erudite and uses his intellect to put down other people with all too clever sarcasm. In other words, he was a typical English teacher.

  73. Matt,

    You have time to read? not to mention 3 books… I thought you’d be the type who lives and sleeps in front of your computer?

  74. Matt, you said that the David Gemmell book white wolf is a great summer read. While it is a great book to read during the summer, lets face it, it really only lasts a day or two because with his books you just can’t put them down. I have read most of them.

  75. Based on the comments in this thread, my expert assesment is that 99.9% of the people on this board need to get drilled … and by drilled, I mean getting laid, and by getting laid I mean getting DRILLED! Whether it’s on or offshore … some may need it more than others.

    Matt, hope you’re getting laid, while on vacation.

    Beaumont, hope you enjoy the spike in traffic from the click-through(s).

    Go DRILLERS!

  76. Sick of the Google Con Job

    I found it quite amusing that Matt is concerned about whether someone might have lifted content from Google. At one point I recall finding that Google had been indexing and repurposing Trip Advisor comments and “mashing” it with other content. At that point, it struck me like a flash that this appeared to me to be just a blatant violation of Federal copyright laws.

    It appears to me that by its very definition and purpose, Google has made a living leveraging other people’s content and deriving financial benefit from it. It was like the great Google project to index every book in libraries. Oh, wait a minute. One slight problem – a little annoyance called Copyrights.

    In this vast Universe of ours, irony reigns supreme. Frankly, when I read that comment my jaw nearly hit the floor. Ah, yes, the King’s new clothes.

    Of course, the founders “lifted their ideas” from their professor’s work, so I think Matt should probably open a book on the history of Google and get in sync with the culture. Or, wait a minute, may be the same rules don’t apply to them.

  77. Cartoon Doll Emporium, that is funny but also disturbing.

  78. You go on a long vacation, Scoble quits, and cats are chasing bears up trees.
    Could this just be a coincidence?

  79. rob chamberlain

    if you still have time I’d agree with the reccomendation on
    “into the wild” – actually any of his books are quick vacation reads – into thin air, under the banner o heaven etc..

    two narrative non-fictions I’ve enjoyed (realizing it’s hard for geeks to completely get away from reality)

    Devil in the white city – great book
    Shadow Divers: – about some deep see divers obsessed with discovering identity of sunken u-boat

    biographies
    Ben Franklin- Joseph Ellis

    escape –
    if you haven’t read and always good for vacation :
    Harry Potters – they are fun. the writing gets better as the series progresses
    Chronicles of Narnia.

  80. The Singularity Is Near, by Ray Kurzweil
    An unabashed alert of the technology-changed world to come

  81. [b]Note to Cuttletts:[/b]
    If you need a Matt fix, I have provided a place for you to do it.

    Introducing http://www.mattchat.net

    This is my contribution to the Cuttlett Community where you can discuss things brought up on this blog, broaden discussions started in the ‘Comments’ section of Matt’s posts, get your site reviewed by other webmasters and SEOs, plus more.

    My motivation is to de-clutter Matt’s blog and move side discussions to a more appropriate forum. Also make it easier for others to find posts and comments in the future.

    Please come over, all robust (but polite) discussion is welcome.

    http://www.mattchat.net

    [b]Note to Matt:[/b] I realise I am taking a liberty ‘comment spamming’ your blog. If I’m out of line, please delete this post.

  82. Hey Matt-

    I hope your vacation is going well. I actually took a short one a few days ago. I realized that it was the first “real” vacation that I took in years. Reason? I didn’t bring my computer with me. It was the first time since the 90s that I actually did not have to take my computer out of my carry-on for security.

    Didn’t break out in hives (or anything) from computer withdrawal. πŸ™‚

    Needless to say, my travel partner was amused. We saw a Dale Chihuly exhibit. He’s a world-renowned glass artist. I read on vacation/holiday, too. Except I’m into the classics rather than current publications. It’s nice to read something that doesn’t have anything to do with work or school

    I hope all is well with you and your wife. And I hope your kitty doesn’t get mad at you when you return home.

  83. i have a suggestion, dont read, spin down and ask yourself, is what I’m doing worth it ? Examine carefully your socially redeeming contributions. Try to get underneath your own text and gut check your willingness to continue in the same direction. Imagine a reverse amortization schedule with your actuarial as the variable. And then, when you are almost on the verge of answering the almost unknowable of whether its really that important that 7 out of 10 Soccer Moms trust Google more than the leading brand even though YOU know the index is being manipulated, report to back to work like nothing happened.

  84. culture shock, you’ll love it

  85. These would be nice books to read on any vacation. Thank You Matt
    Famed Southwest Lawyer and Author William A. Keleher (1886-1972) founded the Oldest and Largest Law Firm in New Mexico, Keleher & McLeod, P.A. The Michael W Rogers site contains over 300 Rare Photographs of numerous Pioneer Southwest Luminaries like Elfego Baca and Conrad Hilton. Internationally Famous William A. Keleher authored some of the premier works on the Southwest: “Maxwell Land Grant,”1942; “Fabulous Frontier,” 1945; “Turmoil in New Mexico, 1846-1968,” 1952;”Violence in Lincoln County,” 1957; and “Memoirs” 1969. and “New Mexicans IKnew.” Purchase the Books of William A. Keleher in .PDF format from me online through Google Books.

  86. In the not to distant future, unless someone at the plex reverses the damage that has been to your beloved search quality, you will soon be able to read “The Rise and Fall of Google”.

    This has nothing to do with lost sites or links and every thing to do with now when searching for practically anything, you get a whole lot of trash at the top.

  87. hi Matt,
    I like David Gemmel…he’s so cool!

    some his best books:

    1) Druss The Legend
    2) Drenai Saga
    3) A wolf in the shadow

    bye

  88. Hey Matt, if your next post will be on Saturday @ 9:01pm I will win the ShoeMoney contest for your next post. If this happens then I will throw in an extra 100 bucks (I live in Buffalo, NY so this is not chump change ;)) and donate it to your choice of charities.

    No worries either way. Come back soon.

  89. Hi!

    2 all who thing human technique are the greatest, I say: read an enjoy
    The Flying Sorcerers from David Gerrold and Larry Niven.
    I hope Hollywood make a film out of this very amazing story about the megalomania of mankind.

  90. Win $150 if you can guess when Matt Cutts makes his next post!

    http://www.shoemoney.com/2006/06/14/matt-cutts-welcome-back-watch-contest-win-150/

  91. Pretty long vacation there, almost as long as the one Google has taken. I think it’s time to sell my stocks, I mean come on, how long is it going to take to fix your search engine?

  92. It’ll take as long as Google has thousands of these sites http://1689.942zk.info/ in their crappy index!! Reported sites over and over again but as usual nothing happens!!
    Not sure how a vacation can be this long when there is a crisis going on with Google or maybe the vacation indefinite and Google’s janitor is trying to fix it himself πŸ™‚

  93. I think the super hero look is good on you Matt! When are you coming back Matt?

  94. These doorway pages will never go away becuase it’s a computer program that will be fooled

  95. You did not fisish your sentence.

    These doorway pages will never go away becuase it’s a computer program that will be fooled and all the pages with real content have been de-indexed because someone broke Google and all the kings horses and all the kings men can’t put Google back together again.

  96. Oh, if I was to recommend a book series, it would be:

    “The War against the Chtorr” by David Gerrold (who wrote “The trouble with Tribbles” for ST: TOS).

  97. With every way IN, there is a way OUT. The same is true for Google, except in reverse. People will always find a way to think outside of the box, and find a way in.

  98. Not a bad idea to leave the computer alone for some time.

  99. Viera, if you don’t like how Google search works, show them by not using it anymore. Or create something better. πŸ™‚

  100. search engine optimization, I find myself using other search engines more often to do reasearch as I do not get current good results from Google, but since Google still sends 60% if the SE traffic I get , it still is a concern. As for creating something better, I, surely, do not have the resources but there are those who do and Google is now like a wounded Lion King and the other lions smell blood.

  101. When is he coming back, maybe he has been sacked from Google and we shall never see him write another worn or maybe he has become a recluse on a desert island?

  102. Dave (Original)

    Seems to me that Google is still head and shoulders above the other SEs. My stats have G sending a LOT of free traffic and rising! All *unbias* stats still show Google as the most poplular by far.

    Ever since Google rose to fame, bias Webmasters have predicted a fall from grace. Not happened yet πŸ™‚ However, if enough things are said enough times, odds are they will jag one as being right.

  103. To Search Engine optimization I just want to say that if you search for your doamin name in Google sites like this shows up: 521.cxirm0.info and on the first page too!! How do you like that? Do you think that they should be there? Why can they parasite on sites like yours and mine? Why doesn’t Google do anything about them? How did they get into the index?
    I Think Matt needs to go back to work πŸ™

  104. You guys are rough on Matt and Google. My 2 cents…. let the guy relax and google will work things out. For now, everyone should just deal with the hand google is dealing. If you’re that upset about it, then you should take a vacation too πŸ˜‰

  105. Eternal Optimist

    Wow, it’s some weeks since I looked at this blog, as many of the posts didn’t seem relevant to me. [although I am sure they are relevant to others!]

    It seems like people are condemning Matt for taking a holiday,condemning Google for their search results,and it reminds me of an expression or two:

    ” If in doubt, leave it out”
    ” If you can’t beat it, join it”.
    ” If you don’t know, then say so !”
    ” Don’t look a gifthorse in the eye.”

    Remember the 3 wise monkeys: ” See no evil, hear no evil, do no evil”.

    Matt deserves a holiday, free from stress, and Google deserves some credit for what it has achieved πŸ™‚

  106. I wish I got 3 week vacations! WE NEED INFO MATT! πŸ™‚

  107. Eternal Optimist you missed one very important expression; The bigger they are the harder they fall:)

  108. Dave (Original)

    Eternal Optimist, most will only see Google for what it is when/if THEIR site ranks how they want. They base the whole of Google on how their site ranks.

    In a nutshell, it’s called sour grapes πŸ™‚

  109. “Double-plus surreal.”

    Someone been reading 1984 lately?

  110. matt… were you fired?

    Because Big Daddy turned out to be a total mistake? With billion-subapges-big spam sites indexed in two weeks? With thousands of legitimate sites BANNED every week? You chose nice time for holidays… You go vacationing and everyone is writing about how easy to deceive google is…

  111. Matt, when I search google now, I see 0 results…

    look:
    http://www.seotrax.com/googless.jpg

    if i clear cookies and log out of homepage, i see results. but once I log in to a google service, I get nothing.

    What’s goin on?

  112. Dave, my grapes are not sour, in fact I think I am better off with the mess at Google, but sour grapes or not, here is some light reading for you: http://www.platinax.co.uk/news/19-06-2006/google-admits-bad-data-push-error/

  113. While were at it TBPR is broken too, again, no sour grapes, just common knowledge.

  114. Dave (Original)

    TBPR has never reflected true PR in real time.

  115. Dave (Original)

    Veira, I don’t read that as being true at all. At the very least it has been sensationalized.

    On the blog the link pojnts to, Adam said;

    “We have noticed that some site: queries are showing bizarre results and it’s turned out to be tied to a bad data push. We’re fixing it now.”

    He then posted another to clear up his meaning;

    “I’m saying that the results counts are drastically off. Sorry for not being more clear”

    AND

    “The incorrect results-count estimation (e.g., that we have billions of these pages in our index) was caused by a bad data push”

    AND

    “While my referencing of a bad data push was clearly not the most popular description on TW, it’s what it was actually called by engineers here directly working on the problem. With that said, though, I recognize that my emphasis on the order-of-magnitudes-off results numbers made it seem like I was belittling the presence of the junk that was still listed. Mea culpa. Tersity (is that a word?) — while understandable late on a Saturday night perhaps — did not serve me or you well in this context.”

  116. Dave, I don’t take that information to be exact, just another bit of proof that Google is broken. 101 webmasters can’t be wrong: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=86819

    If one person complains I can see it being sour grapes, but if many complain it has to be something else.

  117. …and then one day he returned and it was like he never was gone at all! Where he went and why were not as important as the fact that he eventually returned.

    If only it were true…

  118. Viera,

    So what engines do you use, if you are done with Google?

  119. Dave (Original)

    Viera, I don’t see it as proof of anything. It hyped up, out of context and sensationalized IMO.

    The forum you link to is one that is frequented by black hats. The Thread is about the advanced Site: operator, which Googles true customers (searchers) would not use.

    Also, many of the members of that forum are using the Co-op Advertising Network spam. Which is a link scheme to try and game Google into passing more PR to participating members. It was SE Spam when it was launched and it’s spam now. If these members are loosing pages from Google they only have themseleves to blame.

    “The way I learn, is simply by doing and experimenting”

    That is a statement from the coop spam pages. What it doesn’t state is that all participating members are the guinea pigs.

  120. search engine optimization I never said I was done with Google. I have their toolbar installed but when I am researching topics for my site I find myself using MSN a fair bit which I have never had the need to do so before. Google also sends me a heck of a lot of traffic, but I did some checking and over the past year it was about 87% Google. Over the last 3 months it was 82% and over the last month it was 77%.

    Facts are facts, there is something wrong with Google and their indexing and I understand they can’t come out and say it, their stock would go down drastically. The problem lies in the fact that those would see their sites being de-indexed and not aware it has nothing to do with their site, but rather a glitch with Google, can end up making drastic changes to a perfectly set up site and hurt them even more. The other problem is that this has been going on for 4 or 5 months now, which is a long time not to fix it.

    As for TBPR, the last normal TBPR export was in Sept. 2005. There have been 2 exports since, on in Jan. 2006 (Not exactly sure of the date) in which only sites and/or pages without previous PR were updated but sites/pages with previous PE were not.

    The next PR update was in April 2006 (again not exactly sure of the date) where once again sites and/or pages without previous PR were updated, but new sites seemd to get pretty generous PR. I know of several instance of sites less than 2 month old with more or less no backlinks going to PR8. and hundred of 2 – 3 week old sites with no backlinks going to PR5.

    Both these glitches in Google do exist and I know for a fact that many website owners are hurting as a result. If you want to turn a blind eye, that’s fine, it’ll all come out in the open sooner or later and either Google is going to fix the problem or some other search engine will replace them.

    For those that have seen their site de-indexed by Google, in part or entirely, before making those changes to your site I recommend doing some research as those changes may hurt you even more.

    Here’s a good place to start: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/

  121. Dave (Original), oddly enough the black hats you are referring to are not the ones complaining about Google, but rather the ones that built genuine websites through hard work only to see their original unique pages being de-indexed, most of whom do not use the co-op.

    As for your statement “If these members are loosing pages from Google they only have themseleves to blame”, that’s what Matt basically said when this started comming out in the open and many webmasters made drastic changes thinking they could please Google only to loose their ranking in MSN and Yahoo, basically killing their sites.

    I know where it stands with Google, it’s my livelyhood and I stay well educated on anything that may affect my income, and I’d be willing to bet a years income that I am right, but it will all come out in the wash sooner or later.

  122. Dave (Original)

    Willing to bet you are right about what?

    BTW, SEO=links at digitalpoint. The whole place is full of bad & risky advice. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that the regulars at the White Hat forum I frequent have not lost anything, but many have been doing better.

    You appear very much to be fixated on TBPR. That’s exactly the sort of bad & risky advice you will get from digitalpoint. My advice, forget TBPR and add lot’s & lot’s of good unique content for your vistors. Links to *like* sites when it makes sense for your *human* visitors. Then, after a short period, request a link back. If they say no, forget it and leave the link in place and move on.

  123. Dave (Original) , DP is pushing 30,000 member so you’re going to get white hat, black hat and all shades of gray and members in all groups have been affected, but moreso the one’s that are whitehat.. I just wonder if you work for Google or maybe are related to Matt as you seem to be trying to deflect the blame as Matt did 5 or 6 weeks ago and came out looking silly. Google has problems with it’s indexing period. It has nothing to do with co-op, backlinks or any other thing that has been blamed in the past, it’s Google.

    As for TBPR, i can see you live in some dream world and in your world anyone that mentions PR is fixated with it. In my world I was just pointing out that they have problems with it as well.

    We can get into the problems they’ve had with their adsense payments as well, what, three thing now broken with Google. (They did fix the adsense payments at least)

    It’s time to return to reality from GooGoo land.

  124. Dave (Original)

    Of course you will get some white hats, I didn’t say otherwise. Unless you are reading between lines that don’t exist. My point is that the advice in general from that place is risky and often outside Google’s guidelines. E.g. Links, links and more links. The coop spam was just a well known example, nothing more.

    How would you know that TBPR is having problems?

    RE: “Google has problems with it’s indexing period.”

    Perhaps it does, I don’t know (I don’t you know either) as all the people I mix with, at the forum I frequent, are NOT having issues. I have never been one to automatically put things down to coincedence. That’s what I believe it’s no coincedence that all/most the noise is from black hat forums.

    As for your other comments, I wont sink to your level and bite. Sorry. Leave out the childish jibes and I’ll debate. If you feel the need again to resort to childish jibes…….well it’s clear why and I cannot be bothered replying. πŸ™‚

  125. Dave (Original)

    BTW viera, you never answered my question

    “Willing to bet you are right about what?”

  126. BTW viera, you never answered my question

    β€œWilling to bet you are right about what?”

    Willing to bet that Google has problems with websites being deindexed on an arbitrary basis. There is no new algo to weed out spam, there is an error with their algo that drops legitimate sites and pages and those sites being de-indexed are not the result of anything the webmaster may have or have not done, but the result of the fact that Google is broken.

  127. Dave (Original)

    Viera, computer algos etc are simply not capable of being “arbitrary”. If Google is dropping *certain* pages it is doing so for a *reason*. One of these reasons is VERY likely to be as of result of something the Webmaster has, or hasn’t done.

    There has always been a part of the algo that weeds out spam IMO and always will be. This, I believe, is part off all SEs algos.

    Google being “broken” is not a fact but your limited *perception*. *Webmasters* have been saying “Google is broken” Etc, since its inception. Generally referred to as the tall poppy syndrome.

    When Google is *truly* broken it’s users (not Webmasters) will switch to another SE. In this regards the ONLY looser will be Google themselves and not site owners.

  128. Did you hire Michael J Fox. to write that for you? Google as it stands is by far and away the most popular search engine and if someone’s site gets de-indexed then they loose and there are many webmasters that have lost and quite unjustly.

    Just because they said it was broken in the past doesn’t mean it’s not broken now.

    The problem I have is this “One of these reasons is VERY likely to be as of result of something the Webmaster has, or hasn’t done.” which has been implied by Matt as well.

    I just wonder how many people have mad changes to their sites to try and please Google only to be hurt even more.

    I am seeing more traffic from other SEs in the past few months and as I pay attention to this stuff, the conclusion I draw is that more people are using MSN and Yahoo for searches.

    I am leaving it at this as I really can’t stand the garbage that has been spewed on this blog to cover it up. I just hope that this garbage doesn’t end up hurting people more.

  129. Dave (Original)

    Well of course a site will likely loose income when/if their pages are dropped. What’s your point? Whether or not it’s “unjustly” would be on a page-by-page and site-by-site basis. Frankly, unless you paying for a listing I cannot see how it can ever be “unjustly”. Just think about all those Webmasters that have risen due to pages being dropped. I never heard any complaints on their be-half by you when they were being topped by umpteen other pages.

    RE: “which has been implied by Matt as well.”

    Well, you got an answer. Not the one you would like, but an answer none the less. It’s likely a good answer too. Perhaps you should take heed.

    RE:”I am seeing more traffic from other SEs in the past few months and as I pay attention to this stuff, the conclusion I draw is that more people are using MSN and Yahoo for searches.”

    Then, like I said, the only looser will be Google themsleves. If Google is as bad as you say and the majority of searchers are switching to another SE, you having nothing to worry about, so long as you are listed in the ‘other’ SE. Having said this, it is very narrow minded to base the whole of Google on your site stats.

    RE: “I just wonder how many people have mad changes to their sites to try and please Google only to be hurt even more.”

    No idea, but “mad changes” are only for the mad πŸ™‚ I would think the ones that look into their own back-yard, rather than blaming Google, will do much better than those that are in constant denial and assume Google owes them a listing regardless.

    Another question you must have overlooked is the one below;

    “How would you know that TBPR is having problems?”

  130. So much for
    MATT: PLEASE DO NOT POST
    lol

  131. >Did you hire Michael J Fox. to write that for you?

    Viera, I find that above comment a bit tasteless… shame on you

  132. I agree with Viera, google has lost its way and many of us are looking at the other big 2 instead. MSN and Yahoo seem to be fair search engines that if you put in the time and effort (which SEO should be about) you get the right results and you benefit from it.

    IΒ΄m feed up with chasing Google, and to be quite honest Google can stick it where the sun dont shine – iΒ΄m going with the other 2, let you lot waste your time with a search engine that is completely over rated and is a complete waste of space.

    Bring it on MSN and yahoo !!!

  133. Matt have you seen this –

    http://www.shoemoney.com/2006/06/14/matt-cutts-welcome-back-watch-contest-win-150/

    Why are so many people guessing early when Matt is not coming back until after June 30 ?

  134. I just want to pat myself and others on the backs for not ripping this place to shreds while Matt was away.

    Looking forward to hearing Matt’s take on the day’s events once again.

    *drops pin and listens”

    :-0

  135. Hey, everyone, please respect the fact that Matt’s on vacation and also kindly respect his request (in the above-linked “guidelines on comments”) to avoid veering wildly from his post’s topic in your comments.

    Thanks!

  136. Dave (Original)

    Fair enough. Back to books we go then πŸ™‚

    If you like reading about serial killers and trying to find how/why they tick. Try “The shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer” by Brian Masters. VERY disturbing indeed.

  137. Adam!

    Matt’s on …. vacation?

  138. Dude, are you still on vacation?

    I’m predicting the death of your company man, you better get back to work or it will be all your fault!

    Slacker… πŸ˜‰

  139. Matty come back
    you can blame it all on me
    I was wrong, and I just…can’t…live.

    Hope your vacation is vunderbar.
    Jacko

  140. Matt, I hope you are enjoying your vacation…

    I would really appreciate it if you tweaked the timestamp to read “June 30, 2006 @ 7:59 am” for your next post…

    πŸ˜›

  141. Here’s some more light ready on how Google is “NOT BROKEN”, yeah right!

    http://www.threadwatch.org/node/6999

  142. Dave (Original)

    Here are some facts that contradict the disgruntled, bias, why is my site not #1 Webmasters. Who, incendently represent about 0.05% of Google customers.

    MediaPost reports

    β€œMORE THAN 2.78 BILLION SEARCHES were conducted on Google last month, marking 32 percent growth since May of 2005, according to new data by Nielsen//NetRatings. Google’s share of searches reached 49.1 percent–far surpassing that of rivals Yahoo (22.9 percent) and MSN (10.6 percent). β€œ

    And, as this topic is about good reads, just for you Viera πŸ™‚
    http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

  143. Kingdom of Shadows and Blood of Victory by Alan Furst: Paris 1938 Thank You Matt πŸ˜‰

  144. Hi,
    I read Altered Carbon as well and enjoyed it very much. I then began reading Broken Angels and was enjoying it, but I got sidetracked and now more tahn a month has passed since I’ve picked it up. I’ll ahve to get back to it because I had wanted to read all 4 Kovacs novels.

    Thanks,
    Earl

  145. Dave, where do you get your facts, I do not recall ever seeing a ‘disgruntled or not survey’ and if there was one I’m pretty sure I’d know about it.

    Regardless, I hope that attitude is not Google’s as well, because if it is the decline will come and it will be on a mass scale.

    As for your guidelines, I have seen many a site that follows them like the bible de-indexed as well. Let’s not mention the king os spam site that managed 5 billion (yes billion) pages listed in Google and was only removed recently after many complaints from many forums.

    OOps forgot, they call it all a bad data push, that one makes me laugh.

    Dave you seem like an intelligent guy, but backing this illusion of yours will only make you look foolish.

  146. Eternal Optimist

    Respectfully, Adam Laskins asked for this blog to be kept on topic.

    It is both unfair and unreasonable to continue this saga on someone elses blog.

    Why not agree to go on a forum and continue your personal debates, instead of abusing someone else’s blog.

    I’ll take it a step further, as Adam works for Google, and I don’t. Matt has provided us all with some insight into Google, into correcting our site errors, into whats coming up, into some of his personal pastimes etc etc. Now, if you really want him to stop this, you are going the right way about it. The personal insults towards both him and Google make me shudder. If I were him, I’d be thinking ‘ Why on earth should I bother?’ But then, Matt is so focused on what he does, and proud of it, that I am sure he will continue, with those who appreciate his work in mind. Remember, he uses a part of his own personal time to write this blog. Give him the credit and respect he deserves.

  147. We can all assume that based on this entire thread; the guy’s really not on vacation from his job – who can afford to take a vacation that long?!?!? Even with Google’s stock options!!! He’s really just taking a vacation from writing this blog. What with all the abusive comments and posts, not to mention going off topic! This thread was supposed to be about books and reading! Wow guys … there’s a lot of specialists on this thread … maybe you guys can start your own blogs, we can then have other outlet for SEO insight.

  148. Dave (Original)

    I agree. His blog is offering his insight into some aspects of Google like never before. It makes me sick when disgruntled Webmasters use it as their own personal ‘bitch blog’ because they think Google owes them.

    My apologies Matt and all those that read here. My intention is only to try and re-inforce what you have said so many times before in regards to disgruntled Webmasters.

  149. And to those of you who used this thread as their own β€˜bitch blog’, a good book to read: http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/item/0471684678

    Matt, hope you having a great time!

  150. I am not bitching, since all this began my sites visitors sent by Google has increased month after month, but I have done some research and I know for a fact something is wrong and it just may affect my site in the future in a negative way. You all may be just content sweeping it under the rug, but unless it’s dealt with it just may come back and hurt you.

    I make my living online and I take anything that may affect my livelyhood seriously and for the first time I do not feel confident about Google, but I can not live of MSN and Yahoo traffic at this point in time, although that may change.

    I always thought Google was a great company, but maybe they are too powerfull now and you know what they say about power.

    There are post after posts about this on many, many forums by many, mnay people from all color of hats and ignoring it will not make it go away, just worse.

    But I’ll leave you to you delusions, I have to fix my sites so they are PG friendly. (Post Google)

  151. Dave (Original)

    Viera, you have said the same thing many time now. Let’s respect Matt’s blog (and stay on topic) so we don’t lose all his insights forever. Agree?

    You will attract more bees with honey than bitterness πŸ™‚

  152. Yeah try reading “The Little Prince” πŸ˜€

  153. Fine, agree, my last post.

    Matt, Google is broken, have someone fix it please.

  154. Viera Said,

    “Matt, Google is broken, have someone fix it please”

    Matt mentioned previously that they are going to work on the new infrastructure (BigDaddy) during this summer. I.e pushing data, tweaking, trying new filters etc.. etc..
    As a result of that , we should expect all kind of things to happen. But that doesn’t necessary means that Google is broken πŸ˜‰

  155. Actually I think they listened, it’s fixed now:)

    There are mass reports of deindexed pages comming back over the last few days and my research confirms it.

    Someone fixed Google.

  156. Eternal Optimist

    Viera,

    I am sure we will all sleep a lot better after seeing your statements of ‘fact’.

    “Google is broken.” followed by “Someone fixed Google”

    Now, let it rest and offer some degree of respect to this blog.

  157. I for one have missed reading Matt’s posts about Google and SEO and spam.

    As for google being broken…lighten up, they’re just comments.

  158. Wow, you read alot of books. I read once, the JPOD, but couldn’t complete it.

  159. Matt, give us some update on google πŸ™‚

  160. Viera, so how exactly do you make a living online? Where can we view your website?

  161. nice vacation; probably includes the coming weekend.

    Matt’s first post after may be a doozy.

  162. Haha, I’m gonna laugh when Matt gets back, finds some bad stuff on certain people’s websites, and boots them. Not that he would do that, but damn how funny would that be?

    NOW … How about we let matt enjoy the last few days of his vacation???

    I too am getting antsy, but people, if you’re that uppity about Google, take a freaking vacation yourself. Get your panties out of their wad, and realize that Google isn’t out to get you. They’re not going down hill, all technology is human based and therefore carries some mistakes, etc. All you need to do is know that if you are truthful and do the right things on your website you will be rewarded.

  163. I thought only school teachers got summers off… Man, I need to work for Google. Wait. That might involve *working* for Google. That doesn’t sound as pleasant anymore. I think I’ll continue *working* (wink wink nudge nudge) for my self! πŸ˜›

  164. Hey guys. A few people have asked me to identify myself since I created the Matt Cutts dress up doll at http://www.cartoondollemporium.com/mattcutts.html. Name’s Evan. I’m a writer, artist, and Cuttlet. Any new doll requests, feel free to drop me a line.

  165. What’s a Cuttlet? This is looking more like the Oprah Book Club.

  166. So now JPod was my favorite too… thanks for the info. πŸ˜‰

  167. Dave (Original)

    LOL @ Cartoon Doll Emporium. Nice one πŸ˜‰

    I take your site is now ok Viera and Google is no longer “broken” πŸ™‚

  168. I also liked the Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, if you haven’t read it I would also like to suggest it.
    Thank You Matt
    Hope you are enujoying your time off.

  169. I also read David Gemmell’s White Wolf awhile ago. It was a good read! I love how the protagonist is a battle-hardened warrior whon is somewhat past his ‘prime’ (arguable though… I think he is actually wiser and better). Makes the story that much more original for me.

    Personally, I find myself wanting to read more about Skilgannon and I can’t wait until I find some time to read the Swords of Night and Day (despite mixed reviews)! Other books I have read by Gemmell are also very good. πŸ™‚ He’s a great story teller.

    Super-Cannes by J.G. Ballard is another book I highly recommend. Different type of story (it’s a darker story)… but one that really made an impression with me.

  170. > Kate Moris
    >NOW … How about we let matt enjoy the last few days of his vacation???

    Kate, I don’t see how exacty we are keeping matt from “enjoying his vacation” posting on his blog, being as he’s not even looking at it.

  171. I read altered carbon a few moths ago – If you liked alterd carbon check out “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson its an excellent work. Oh and you would defintly dig “Pattern Recognition” by William Gibson.

    Pick up the “Valis” triology by P.K.Dick too – i never get muich change to read now days either unfortunately, but sometimes i like to take a few days off and just read the whole time – good stuff

  172. ‘Lamb’ by Christopher moore – the story of Biff, Christs childhood pal – witness jc get wired on coffee and invent cappuccino and then learn judo. Biff has been raised from the dead to write his story by an angel that wants to be spiderman and who is crushed to learn that soap operas are really just theatre. A must. If you haven’t read him, his other stuff, particularly Bloodsucking Fiends and Practical Demonkeeping are great as well as Coyote Blue….

  173. HAPPY JULY 4th πŸ™‚

    Hope you are doing fine.

  174. Hey Matt and everyone, hope you’re enjoying your vacation, sorry for a little off topic..

    I’m using the same theme on my blog, but it’s kinda small and I like how your blog looks – nice and simple, so I want my theme to use allmost all the screen like yours, could you suggest what should I change to make it wider? (if you’re not afraid of competition that is πŸ˜‰ )

    thanks, Mike

  175. Hey Matt, if you enjoyed Neverwhere, the Sandman series and Good Omens you’ll enjoy To say nothing of the dog by Connie Willis. A great summer read about time travel in 2057.

  176. july 4 is my birthday! hehe. πŸ™‚

    hope we are all doin fine. cheers!

  177. Marisyl Castillon
    +++++
    seoluv exclusive:
    Philippines Philippines Mabuhay
    This is a very complex story involving among other things SES New York, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act violation allegations, the Miami Dade Police Department, other Police Departments, the Philippine Embassy in the United States, the Philippine Consulate in the United States, the US Immigration and Naturalization, alleged kidnapping, alleged identity theft, a military base, Estafa and other criminal charges filed in Cagayen de Oro filed by Filipino SEO’s against Filipino SEO’s.
    We are still trying to obtain all the facts:

    We have given each party involved an equal opportunity to tell their side of this complex International SEO intrigue involving outsourced SEO services from the Philippines to the Untied States.
    Here is what seoluv has for its readers so far:
    http://seoluv.com/2006/07/07/philippines-philippines-mabuhay/

  178. this is a good read:
    Complex International SEO Intrigue involving Outsourced SEO services to the Philippines from the Untied States.
    what is Greg Boser doing with Marisyl Castillon ?
    http://www.seoluv.com/index.php
    Marisyl Castillon and Greg Boser on the right
    http://www.harvestseo.com/RICO_Action_Marisyl_Castillon.pdf
    http://seoluv.com/2006/07/11/marisyl_castillon-and-greg_boser/
    and matt cutts 2 ? http://www.harvestseo.com/michaelblog/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/Syl-and-Matt_Cutts.jpg

  179. hi Matt, Just reading Jpod having seen you read it on your hols and i like it, i actually tried locating my phone number in the first million digits of pi, how quirky am i..Pleased you had a nice vacation..A long one at that..

  180. Six Generations in America

  181. Welcome back Matt. Hope you had a GREAT vacation but are glad to be back. πŸ™‚

  182. How about some classic H. G. Wells like The Island of Dr. Moreau?

  183. Leave the computer behind for a few days? OMG I can’t even live without my computer for a day lol

  184. A few days without emails will worry me….

  185. Glad to see you back, Matt!

  186. For those of you interested in history, a great read, if not the best on the subject of Christian History is:

    “The Great Controversy”

    Been reprinted for approx. 100+ years, well worth the hunt.

  187. Brian, I can’t live without my computer for an hour, not to mention days! LOL!

  188. It’s nice to see you back! I’ll practically die if I don’t get my e-mails daily! πŸ™‚

  189. You guys who are mad just need to find religion! Please feel free to come worship at the Google / Matt Cutts shrine!

    http://www.orlandofloridasucks.com/orlando_florida_google_shrine.htm

  190. As for 3Formed pointing out that it appears to be UK only – well, that would make sense. Roll out this anti-spam filtering in one datacenter first. see how it works – tweak it. and get it right before rolling out worldwide

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