Highly recommended....................

 

Things that cause......................

 

..............the need for greater book shelving space.

Highly recommended....................

 

Highly recommended.......................

 

. . . humans are "cognitive misers," relying on simple narratives instead of using complex analytic thinking.  The more compelling the narrative is, the more corrosive it becomes to our analytic abilities.

Highly recommended..................

 

   In his seminal work, Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl challenges us to reframe how we think about purpose and meaning in life.  He writes that the age-old question "What is the meaning of life?" is not one we ask—it is one we answer. . . .

     To truly live, then, is to embrace each moment with purpose and appreciation.  It's to recognize that our time is limited, but our potential for impact is not.  It's to understand that in the game of life, how we play those final moments can define our entire legacy.

Highly recommended........................

 

A few more books...........................

 

.............................in the mail.

thanks Chris

Highly recommended..............

 

Highly recommended..................................

 

Highly recommended.............

 

. . . if we trace these through the foregoing essay on driving, I think we arrive at a better understanding of the central issue of politics: sovereignty.

     To see a problem that needs fixing often stems from a failure to see that a solution has already been achieved—through the skill and intelligence of ordinary people.

     To drive is to exercise one's skill at being free, and one can't help but feel this when one gets behind the wheel.  It seems a skill worth preserving.

Summer-reads...............................

 

John Sandford has never let me down.

Recommended..............................

 

      This one patiently sat in the bookcase for about twenty years, waiting for its turn.  Worth the wait.

cotton candy.......................

 

     I was sitting at my desk drinking my third cup of coffee of the morning.  I was doing this guilt-free, having read that two to five cups a day not only prevented a long list of diseases, but also helped you live a longer, if more caffeinated, life.  But then you can always find somewhere on the Internet that tells you what you want to hear, about almost anything.

-Mike Lupica's opening paragraph

 One can only handle so many philosophical-type readings before the brain rebels and wants something lighter and easier.  I've read all of Robert B. Parker's books—my very definition of lighter and easier.  Parker's estate has been using pinch-writers for quite a while now.  Apparently, the character of Spenser (and his sidekicks) is too good to let go.  Anyway, Lupica is roughly my age.  I almost always have enjoyed reading his sports writing.  Good pick by the Estate of Robert B. Parker.  Consider this one recommended.

Highly recommended................

 

Have to admit that it was work finishing this book.  Also believe it was worth the effort.  His argument is subtle, but my takeaway is that Crawford is saying that in our haste to be autonomous, self-sufficient individuals - to be liberated from authority - we have lost connection our heritage, our traditions, our past.  This "isolation" creates a feeling of discomfort or anxiety.  To ease that tension, we take a poll - see what others are thinking.  Helped by the latest in technology (social media) to see what others are thinking, us "rugged individualists" become part of the herd, and in turn that herd gets manipulated by the latest in technology.  Ironically, Crawford seems to be saying that the path to true individuality is to be willing to be "in conflict with the world" and in collaboration with others - past and present - and the world.  Not accepting abstractions or representations but taking the world as it is - warts and all. "Arguably, what it takes to be an individual is to develop a considered evaluative take on the world, and stand behind it. Doing so exposes one to conflict, and in the conversations with others that follow you may revise your take on things.  Such developments can't occur if you're not attached to anything to being with, or never put it forward to others as being choiceworthy."

Highly recommended..................

 

You can make someone's day better and your own day better with the same act of kindness and generosity.  And you don't need to be rich or flush with cash to do it.

Being curious and being a good listener are a big part of how to effectively utilize your relationships . . . it's only when you learn to soak up what those people tell you—not just let it go in one ear, out the other—that you truly begin to make yourself useful to others and become a resource yourself.

Curiosity.  Hunger for information. Being open-minded.  Putting your knowledge to good use.  This, it turns out, is a formula for anyone to create real, meaningful change . . .

None of us has ever done anything on our own when you really think about it.  We have always had help or guidance.  Others have paved or pointed the way for us . . .

. . . it's important for you to recognize that you have a responsibility to give back. To help others.  To send the ladder back down and lift the next group up.  To pay it forward. To be useful.

Recommended.......................

 

. . . relieve yourself of the need to forge a masterpiece.  Progress is what matters.  Not perfection.

. . . the focus required to get better is simply not compatible with busyness.

"A little quality work every day will produce more and more satisfying results than frantic work piled up on top of frantic work."

Obsession, she pointed out, can be paralyzing.  Quality matters, but if it becomes everything, you may never finish.

Do fewer things.  Work at a natural pace.  Obsess over quality.

Sort of interesting...................

 

-a few excerpts:

Their deepest underlying assumption may be that the tradeoff between doing well and being well is a false choice.

The best teams aren't the ones with the best thinkers.  They're the teams that unearth and use the best thinking from everyone.

. . . that collective intelligence depends less on people's cognitive skills than their prosocial skills.  The best teams have the most team players—people who excel at collaborating with others.

The people to promote are the ones with the prosocial skills to put the mission above their ego—and team cohesion above personal glory.

If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and will never achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

Weak leaders silence voice and shoot the messenger.  Strong leaders welcome voice and thank the messenger.  Great leaders build systems to amplify voice and elevate the messenger.

If you doubt yourself, shouldn't you doubt your low opinion of yourself?

Recommended...................

      The Stoics believed in social reform, but they also believed in personal transformation.  More precisely, they thought the first step in transforming a society into one in which people live a good life is to teach people how to make their happiness depend as little as possible on their external circumstances.

-William B. Irvine, A Guide to the Good Live (the ancient art of stoic joy)

Recommended....................

      As the war drew to a close and Washington stepped down from command, he turned the army over to Knox, who was given the assignment of reducing it to 700 men.  He demonstrated a prophetic vision as a statesman.  While serving as secretary at war under the confederation government, Knox realized that he needed to redefine perceptions about the army to suit the needs of a democratic republic.  Many prominent American leaders wanted to disband the army completely and viewed any force as antithetical to representative government.  Knox created a vision of a new kind of army in which solders were instilled with the nation's most cherished values.  He believed that soldiers could be trained to fight to preserve political ideals rather than geographic boundary lines, to love liberty more than personal ambition, and to value honor above greed and the spoils of war.

Recommended......................