Subtitle: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse
Highly Skimmable. The best four lines in the book that kind of say it all: “Portable carpeted dog steps” – These are the things that make us unhappy – the blur of needs and wants caused by rampant materialism.
The major causes of WHY people feel worse while life gets better:
1.The unsettled, nonlinear character of progress: while things do get better, there are stops and starts. While healthcare is improving, we still have the AIDS epidemics, etc.
2.Fundraising only happens at the extremes. Politicians couldn’t get very much money out of you if they represented inevitable progress. When right-wing personalities claim that Democrats are ruining the world, and vice versa, they’re doing so as a means to coax funding from your wallet.
3.Crises raise the self-importance of the elite (and boost ratings) - and thus, the elite generate their own crises.
The one thing I didn’t like about this book was the lack of solutions or constructive thinking about how to reverse the trend. The one theme that seems to recur in all of these happiness tomes (I’ve read quite a few) is referent anxiety (i.e. keeping up with the Jones’s). There’s a great deal of debate about referent anxiety and costs and benefits to society. For example, there is less referent anxiety in a stagnant economy – but one would argue this isn’t necessarily advantageous to a country’s citizens. Easterbrook’s main example was that of Scandinavian countries, whose “socialism-lite governments have moved everyone to middle class – something vaguely like a society in which everyone has a 3BR and a Honda accord”. Sign me up?
Showing posts with label books i've read. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books i've read. Show all posts
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
June Books
Continuing on my Friedman kick, I read The World is Flat, which was another very insightful, albeit skimmable tome. Similar to last time, for me, it was worth reading for just a few valuable sentences and concepts
One.
The reminder that despite the repetition of the pundits, that al-Qaeda is not a religious fundamentalist group, but rather a phenomenon of political extremism. They do not focus on communication and interaction with their god at all. Rather, the focus is on a totalitarian utopian skewed vision of a kingdom on earth – i.e. an Islamic state that rules the land.
Two.
I found the connection between terrorism and humiliation quite profound: “Humiliation is the most underestimated force in international relations and in human relations.” After emphasizing the possibility for hope of economic development and financial elements of the flattening world, it was an excellent counterbalance to talk about the ways terrorism… is spawned by the poverty of dignity (not money).
Up next is Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, oh, and I’m reading Ted Hughes’ Birthday Letters right before I fall asleep each night. Reminds me how much I miss reading poetry.
One.
The reminder that despite the repetition of the pundits, that al-Qaeda is not a religious fundamentalist group, but rather a phenomenon of political extremism. They do not focus on communication and interaction with their god at all. Rather, the focus is on a totalitarian utopian skewed vision of a kingdom on earth – i.e. an Islamic state that rules the land.
Two.
I found the connection between terrorism and humiliation quite profound: “Humiliation is the most underestimated force in international relations and in human relations.” After emphasizing the possibility for hope of economic development and financial elements of the flattening world, it was an excellent counterbalance to talk about the ways terrorism… is spawned by the poverty of dignity (not money).
Up next is Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, oh, and I’m reading Ted Hughes’ Birthday Letters right before I fall asleep each night. Reminds me how much I miss reading poetry.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
May: Books I've Read
I have been a pretty bad reader these past few weeks, which I can admit, despite making it my goal month after month. What I did get to this month was:
The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman.
Extremely interesting read as a snapshot in time; it was published in 2000 – before 9/11, long before all of our current troubles, endless wars in the Middle East, et cetera. The focus of the book is globalization as the new (post-Cold War) era. Even the constant reference to the Cold War as an anchoring point has a confused disarming quality. This was a long book with lots of stories and I can admit to a bit of skimming. The foundational analogy: the lexus = economic development and the olive tree = lingering nationalism and heritage. All of Friedman’s stories point to the inevitability and the new permanence of these two competing forces. As such, it gets a bit repetitive, but two novel (to me) things that I took from this slightly dated book were:
The Golden Arches theory of Conflict Prevention – This being the idea that no two countries who have a McDonald’s have ever fought a war after getting the McDonalds, i.e. democracies and/or countries with potential for greater economic development do not like to fight wars; they prefer to stand in line for burgers. My google search, “Is the Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention still true?” produced a Wikipedia article citing exceptions with Georgia and Russia (invasion earlier last year) and ongoing skirmishes between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region. Regardless, I think the overall concept reinforced my understanding that to some extent it’s not about political posturing or aid – it’s about economic development, and hope for people to generate posterity after poverty. It isn’t even all about policy, although I think that’s probably an inextricable part of the economic development piece.
The other key truth that I retained after reading is the idea that economic development isn’t enough – it just isn’t enough to flourish in the new global world. I am paraphrasing my big takeaway quote from memory: “It isn’t enough to be right about the two economic imperatives of globalization and free trade.” These two realities and values do not preclude the aspects of government that is good, the stabilizing forces of society that protect us and give us a safety net from misery. Something to remember even as Obama’s administration is criticized for the typical big government arguments.
In addition to this one actual book, I have also been reading quite a few good articles (my favorite treadmill reading). I’ve been catching up on several back issues of Vanity Fair articles, for one… latest on Bernie Madoff, the new Tarantino movie, profiles of Heirs and Heiresses, quite an homage to Ted Kennedy. And, have also been reading articles from top consulting firms as posted on their websites. As I’ve been researching potential career options for business school, reading about a consulting firm’s expertise and ideas in a particular industry has been interesting fodder to help me think about how I might approach similar problems and like working on them in that context.
Next up is Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat, Reagan’s America (Wills), and The Remains of the Day (Ishiguro). Can't wait til I'm out of work and can actually get more reading in :)
The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman.
Extremely interesting read as a snapshot in time; it was published in 2000 – before 9/11, long before all of our current troubles, endless wars in the Middle East, et cetera. The focus of the book is globalization as the new (post-Cold War) era. Even the constant reference to the Cold War as an anchoring point has a confused disarming quality. This was a long book with lots of stories and I can admit to a bit of skimming. The foundational analogy: the lexus = economic development and the olive tree = lingering nationalism and heritage. All of Friedman’s stories point to the inevitability and the new permanence of these two competing forces. As such, it gets a bit repetitive, but two novel (to me) things that I took from this slightly dated book were:
The Golden Arches theory of Conflict Prevention – This being the idea that no two countries who have a McDonald’s have ever fought a war after getting the McDonalds, i.e. democracies and/or countries with potential for greater economic development do not like to fight wars; they prefer to stand in line for burgers. My google search, “Is the Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention still true?” produced a Wikipedia article citing exceptions with Georgia and Russia (invasion earlier last year) and ongoing skirmishes between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region. Regardless, I think the overall concept reinforced my understanding that to some extent it’s not about political posturing or aid – it’s about economic development, and hope for people to generate posterity after poverty. It isn’t even all about policy, although I think that’s probably an inextricable part of the economic development piece.
The other key truth that I retained after reading is the idea that economic development isn’t enough – it just isn’t enough to flourish in the new global world. I am paraphrasing my big takeaway quote from memory: “It isn’t enough to be right about the two economic imperatives of globalization and free trade.” These two realities and values do not preclude the aspects of government that is good, the stabilizing forces of society that protect us and give us a safety net from misery. Something to remember even as Obama’s administration is criticized for the typical big government arguments.
In addition to this one actual book, I have also been reading quite a few good articles (my favorite treadmill reading). I’ve been catching up on several back issues of Vanity Fair articles, for one… latest on Bernie Madoff, the new Tarantino movie, profiles of Heirs and Heiresses, quite an homage to Ted Kennedy. And, have also been reading articles from top consulting firms as posted on their websites. As I’ve been researching potential career options for business school, reading about a consulting firm’s expertise and ideas in a particular industry has been interesting fodder to help me think about how I might approach similar problems and like working on them in that context.
Next up is Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat, Reagan’s America (Wills), and The Remains of the Day (Ishiguro). Can't wait til I'm out of work and can actually get more reading in :)
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
March's Selection of Amorous Books
Maybe it was The Guy being away, but I inadvertently chose two rather amorous books to read back to back this month…
Couples by John Updike
This was a rather hard title to track down. I remember it being referenced once and put it on my to-read list, but hadn’t come across it in bookstores or libraries, and finally it came up on my Book Mooch list. The copy that came to me was from 1969 – and the book is definitely reminiscent of that age. We’ve memorialized the late sixties now into a cliché, but I’ve wondered before what it felt like at the time. And especially, what it felt like for those average folks that weren’t at Woodstock or weren’t protesting. And I imagine the tone (if not the content) helps portray exactly what it felt like. Excitement and intrigue, but also an air of purposelessness and meaninglessness. The book is about 10 married couples (so many characters to keep up with that I’m having trouble powering through) living in eastern Massachusetts, who are all sleeping with each other and suspecting each other of sleeping with each other constantly, which Updike represents as no more than an “imaginative quest”. It’s been fascinating to read, although not particularly moving.
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
The painfully tender account of a virginal British couple on their wedding night. I love McEwan and I love this type of writing = the type of writing which reaffirms what we as humans know – that there are always a million flashes of emotion and lack of emotion and meaning and insanity behind each day’s mundane moments. Or, another way, there is always more – always more to it than we think. But this book is so short, so quick a read, that you feel the painfulness of their stories more than you feel the rich emotional reward for having gone through it with them.
Couples by John Updike
This was a rather hard title to track down. I remember it being referenced once and put it on my to-read list, but hadn’t come across it in bookstores or libraries, and finally it came up on my Book Mooch list. The copy that came to me was from 1969 – and the book is definitely reminiscent of that age. We’ve memorialized the late sixties now into a cliché, but I’ve wondered before what it felt like at the time. And especially, what it felt like for those average folks that weren’t at Woodstock or weren’t protesting. And I imagine the tone (if not the content) helps portray exactly what it felt like. Excitement and intrigue, but also an air of purposelessness and meaninglessness. The book is about 10 married couples (so many characters to keep up with that I’m having trouble powering through) living in eastern Massachusetts, who are all sleeping with each other and suspecting each other of sleeping with each other constantly, which Updike represents as no more than an “imaginative quest”. It’s been fascinating to read, although not particularly moving.
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
The painfully tender account of a virginal British couple on their wedding night. I love McEwan and I love this type of writing = the type of writing which reaffirms what we as humans know – that there are always a million flashes of emotion and lack of emotion and meaning and insanity behind each day’s mundane moments. Or, another way, there is always more – always more to it than we think. But this book is so short, so quick a read, that you feel the painfulness of their stories more than you feel the rich emotional reward for having gone through it with them.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Nonfiction Kick Continues...
This month was....
Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
Subtitle: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness
This was certainly interesting, and I found myself referencing some of the basic principles in conversation quite a bit in the past month. The basic concept as I already wrote about HERE is that of libertarian paternalism – the authors support freedom, but recognize that you can keep freedoms intact and still subtly encourage people to make better decisions by choosing defaults in a paternalistic way and ensuring that information is readily available and positioned carefully to support better decisions. I really enjoyed reading it, but some of the examples of nudges were pretty far-fetched: attaching pictures of houses next to your retirement savings (a shack for a 2% savings rate and a nice urban condo for 10% savings rate) just seem farcical.
The Organic Foods Sourcebook by Elaine Marie Lipson
It’s very easy to slip into thinking of organic as one more privileged principle of the much-accessoried yuppiedom I have uncomfortably begun inhabiting. On Saturdays, we go to Costco, on Sundays we read the Times, in our grocery cart, the strawberries and raisin bran have to be Organic. Reading the original hippie handbook was a reminder to myself of the health-oriented causes of the panic around pesticides and a government with no incentive to support people over multinational corporations. Reading it now, interdependency shone as the most important theme and principle behind the organic movement. You can’t tinker with one thing without unknowingly affecting others. And it also produced a question which I’ve now begun researching answers to – how long before I could feasibly eliminate or radically reduce the pesticide residues in my own body. There is a transitional period in organic farming – land must have been farmed with organic methods for three years before its produce can be certified organic. But what is that same transitional period for humans? If I converted to an all-organic diet now, how long would it be before my breast milk wouldn’t contaminate my children? Three years, or ten years? Or is it even possible? The notion of interdependency in general also rings true on some other events going on in the news right now... hmm, what could I be referring to?
Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
Subtitle: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness
This was certainly interesting, and I found myself referencing some of the basic principles in conversation quite a bit in the past month. The basic concept as I already wrote about HERE is that of libertarian paternalism – the authors support freedom, but recognize that you can keep freedoms intact and still subtly encourage people to make better decisions by choosing defaults in a paternalistic way and ensuring that information is readily available and positioned carefully to support better decisions. I really enjoyed reading it, but some of the examples of nudges were pretty far-fetched: attaching pictures of houses next to your retirement savings (a shack for a 2% savings rate and a nice urban condo for 10% savings rate) just seem farcical.
The Organic Foods Sourcebook by Elaine Marie Lipson
It’s very easy to slip into thinking of organic as one more privileged principle of the much-accessoried yuppiedom I have uncomfortably begun inhabiting. On Saturdays, we go to Costco, on Sundays we read the Times, in our grocery cart, the strawberries and raisin bran have to be Organic. Reading the original hippie handbook was a reminder to myself of the health-oriented causes of the panic around pesticides and a government with no incentive to support people over multinational corporations. Reading it now, interdependency shone as the most important theme and principle behind the organic movement. You can’t tinker with one thing without unknowingly affecting others. And it also produced a question which I’ve now begun researching answers to – how long before I could feasibly eliminate or radically reduce the pesticide residues in my own body. There is a transitional period in organic farming – land must have been farmed with organic methods for three years before its produce can be certified organic. But what is that same transitional period for humans? If I converted to an all-organic diet now, how long would it be before my breast milk wouldn’t contaminate my children? Three years, or ten years? Or is it even possible? The notion of interdependency in general also rings true on some other events going on in the news right now... hmm, what could I be referring to?
Friday, January 30, 2009
January Books I've Read: Winter-Hibernation Edition
I can’t believe we’re still in the month of January. For some reason (or a few: waiting on b-school responses, hasn’t been above freezing point for more than 20-minutes the entire month, a new boss at work whom I think is incompetent), this month has felt excruciating long. But there were plenty of opportunities to bury myself in a couple good books....
Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
I joined a book club this month (and hosted the first one, so my food expenses were a little higher than I’d planned) and really enjoyed discussing this book that was chosen. I’ve had In Defense of Food on my shelf for awhile, but this seemed more intriguing to me, and I already wrote about it once here: "The True Cost of a Dozen Eggs". The book is a kind of social history about how we eat and how we decide what is okay to eat and what we should eat (the referenced dilemma). What I took away was:
1. A better understanding of just how much corn is in our diet.
2. That dietary choice is essentially made for us by US industrial food system, agricultural policy and subsidies.
3. Organic is great, but sometimes "big organic" doesn't solve any of the problems inherent in our food system.
4. Our current food system makes it really hard for us to truly see all of the ecological and moral inputs.
At the end of the day, it also made me want to know a lot more about our public policy around agriculture. So, anyone who has any good recommendations on how I can learn more about the farm bill, pass them on!
Living a Jewish Life by Anita Diamant
The other book was a library selection which I picked up after realizing how poor my knowledge was of some of the holidays I’ve been celebrating now for two years (the Guy is Jewish – I am not). And yes, that’s Anita Diamant, author of the Red Tent, which seemed a little strange to me. But I suppose no stranger than my own divergent interests – writing, business, agriculture... I digress. This has been a fantastic read – SO easy for a non-Hebrew, unaccustomed, unfamiliar like myself. The style never feels pedantic or infantilizing in any way. I feel so much more confident just in experiencing these traditions and cultural norms. The way I think about it is now at least I know what I don’t know. Which is a great start. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in knowing more about the Jewish culture they’re experiencing, whether it’s personally or tangentially. It organizes beliefs, societal structures, customs and holidays in a way that’s easy to wrap your head around.
The World Atlas of Wine by Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson
This is one of those enormous coffee table books that I fell in love with one day browsing around Barnes and Noble. I suppose it’s meant to be a general wine-lover’s reference, but I’ve decided to read it cover to cover. I read a page a day while I’m having my morning coffee-and-oatmeal, based on the theory that you can become an expert on anything with consistent learning everyday (cued from another book on my bookshelf: Talent is Overrated). It makes me want to start my own winery… not a bad early morning daydream…
Next month’s book club selection is Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth & Happiness. Anything else I should be reading next month?
Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
I joined a book club this month (and hosted the first one, so my food expenses were a little higher than I’d planned) and really enjoyed discussing this book that was chosen. I’ve had In Defense of Food on my shelf for awhile, but this seemed more intriguing to me, and I already wrote about it once here: "The True Cost of a Dozen Eggs". The book is a kind of social history about how we eat and how we decide what is okay to eat and what we should eat (the referenced dilemma). What I took away was:
1. A better understanding of just how much corn is in our diet.
2. That dietary choice is essentially made for us by US industrial food system, agricultural policy and subsidies.
3. Organic is great, but sometimes "big organic" doesn't solve any of the problems inherent in our food system.
4. Our current food system makes it really hard for us to truly see all of the ecological and moral inputs.
At the end of the day, it also made me want to know a lot more about our public policy around agriculture. So, anyone who has any good recommendations on how I can learn more about the farm bill, pass them on!
Living a Jewish Life by Anita Diamant
The other book was a library selection which I picked up after realizing how poor my knowledge was of some of the holidays I’ve been celebrating now for two years (the Guy is Jewish – I am not). And yes, that’s Anita Diamant, author of the Red Tent, which seemed a little strange to me. But I suppose no stranger than my own divergent interests – writing, business, agriculture... I digress. This has been a fantastic read – SO easy for a non-Hebrew, unaccustomed, unfamiliar like myself. The style never feels pedantic or infantilizing in any way. I feel so much more confident just in experiencing these traditions and cultural norms. The way I think about it is now at least I know what I don’t know. Which is a great start. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in knowing more about the Jewish culture they’re experiencing, whether it’s personally or tangentially. It organizes beliefs, societal structures, customs and holidays in a way that’s easy to wrap your head around.
The World Atlas of Wine by Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson
This is one of those enormous coffee table books that I fell in love with one day browsing around Barnes and Noble. I suppose it’s meant to be a general wine-lover’s reference, but I’ve decided to read it cover to cover. I read a page a day while I’m having my morning coffee-and-oatmeal, based on the theory that you can become an expert on anything with consistent learning everyday (cued from another book on my bookshelf: Talent is Overrated). It makes me want to start my own winery… not a bad early morning daydream…
Next month’s book club selection is Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth & Happiness. Anything else I should be reading next month?
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The True Cost of a Dozen Eggs
I’m not generally a big organic buyer. I work for a big food manufacturer and am close enough to our operations that I haven’t been convinced that pesticides have been that pervasive or harmful in non-organic food. I have absorbed An Inconvenient Truth and I do my best, but I am no eco-evangelist of any kind. I want to buy sustainable, ethical products, and try when I think I can make a difference, but by and large, I’m frugal, and want to keep my food costs as low as possible.
I started to think about it a little differently after reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and hearing how government subsidies have turned our industrial food system on its head. The parts about corn-fed beef was pretty horrifying but what I thought was most powerful was the notion of true cost for food. While some products may be cheap, what’s the true cost of mass-producing and mass-transporting this food. What’s the true cost to our society – moral and economic? What’s the true cost to our healthcare system, after the impact of obesity and poor nutrition? What’s the true cost to our foreign policy, now that we’ve become utterly dependent on the cheap oil to fuel our cheap corn to fuel our cheap food across the supermarket?
Pollan’s arguments were insightful, but the main result of reading about the industrial food system, is that you realize that the price on the grocery tag doesn’t incorporate all of the costs. While you may not be paying those costs, you will most assuredly pay them later – through healthcare or taxes. His underlying premise is that you can’t just look away – you have to understand how the economics of the grocery store work:
“but this is what can happen to you when… you look. And what you see when you look is the cruelty – and blindness to cruelty – required to produce eggs that can be sold for seventy-nine cents a dozen” (Pollan)
I was in shock when I read about the egg operations for the majority of manufacturers – that they drive the animals to insanity and starvation, and factor into their business model a 10% premature death rate for the hens who can’t stand these conditions. If that’s the true cost, then I will be paying the premium from organic, sustainable eggs from now on.
Note, FruGal has another excellent post on a related topic: ethical shopping and being more aware of foul play in the grocery store supply chain)
I started to think about it a little differently after reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and hearing how government subsidies have turned our industrial food system on its head. The parts about corn-fed beef was pretty horrifying but what I thought was most powerful was the notion of true cost for food. While some products may be cheap, what’s the true cost of mass-producing and mass-transporting this food. What’s the true cost to our society – moral and economic? What’s the true cost to our healthcare system, after the impact of obesity and poor nutrition? What’s the true cost to our foreign policy, now that we’ve become utterly dependent on the cheap oil to fuel our cheap corn to fuel our cheap food across the supermarket?
Pollan’s arguments were insightful, but the main result of reading about the industrial food system, is that you realize that the price on the grocery tag doesn’t incorporate all of the costs. While you may not be paying those costs, you will most assuredly pay them later – through healthcare or taxes. His underlying premise is that you can’t just look away – you have to understand how the economics of the grocery store work:
“but this is what can happen to you when… you look. And what you see when you look is the cruelty – and blindness to cruelty – required to produce eggs that can be sold for seventy-nine cents a dozen” (Pollan)
I was in shock when I read about the egg operations for the majority of manufacturers – that they drive the animals to insanity and starvation, and factor into their business model a 10% premature death rate for the hens who can’t stand these conditions. If that’s the true cost, then I will be paying the premium from organic, sustainable eggs from now on.
Note, FruGal has another excellent post on a related topic: ethical shopping and being more aware of foul play in the grocery store supply chain)
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
November Book Reccommendations
I have to admit that I haven’t been very good at updating the sidebar on What I’m Currently Reading. I picked up and rather quickly put down Oliver Stone’s USA because I hadn’t yet seen many of the films referenced. I will hopefully be picking that up when that task is completed! What I have been reading instead:
The Straight Man by Richard Russo
I was lead to believe (by an overly chipper member of our HR dept at work) that this was a funny book. It was funny only in the wryest sense, in which you feel bemused but somehow more depressed for the characters. Coming from an HR recommendation, that just made my reading of the book rather weird. Other than that, it picked up in the second half and was definitely an easy read if nothing else. The one line that stuck with me which I thought was salient: “I’m not a ______ (fill in the blank: sadist, misogynist, whatever), but I can play that role.” There are so many times we pick up the end of a joke or deliver a line knowing that we’re playing a role, more than we’re being true to our own characters. Such an interesting behavior.
The Good Book by Peter J. Gomes
This has been a truly seminal read for me. Growing up in a conservative (Southern Baptist) family, I have had a hard time reconciling what I do see as my own true faith, with my now fairly-liberal political and social views. How can I have faith in the same God of my childhood upbringing and also believe something so heretically different from what my parents/grandparents/minister/ believe about the world. This book takes an intellectual look at what it means to read the Bible and how much the Bible has been misused to mean whatever the cultural consensus prefers. Using examples like prohibition/temperance, slavery, women’s rights, anti-Semitism, abortion, and other cultural battles, Gomes outlines exactly what the Bible does say that could be related to these topics and gives examples of how these passages have been interpreted (for better, or more often for worse). The cultural construction of spirituality is a subject I’ve always been interested in, and this was a really enlightening and truly NEW understanding of some of these issues and how people can construct very different worldviews while still believing in the God of the Bible. I highly recommend it.
The Latest Non-Required Reading Anthology Edited by Dave Eggers
This time the guest editor was Judy Blume and some of the front matter they’ve compiled is truly hysterical. I haven’t gotten to any of the stories yet (I’m sharing this read with the Guy so I’m waiting for him to finish). But the opening bits were just classic. My favorite was seeing the Best Facebook Groups and seeing some of mine in there! Yes, I’m a member of the Facebook Group “I judge you when you use poor grammar.”
The Straight Man by Richard Russo
I was lead to believe (by an overly chipper member of our HR dept at work) that this was a funny book. It was funny only in the wryest sense, in which you feel bemused but somehow more depressed for the characters. Coming from an HR recommendation, that just made my reading of the book rather weird. Other than that, it picked up in the second half and was definitely an easy read if nothing else. The one line that stuck with me which I thought was salient: “I’m not a ______ (fill in the blank: sadist, misogynist, whatever), but I can play that role.” There are so many times we pick up the end of a joke or deliver a line knowing that we’re playing a role, more than we’re being true to our own characters. Such an interesting behavior.
The Good Book by Peter J. Gomes
This has been a truly seminal read for me. Growing up in a conservative (Southern Baptist) family, I have had a hard time reconciling what I do see as my own true faith, with my now fairly-liberal political and social views. How can I have faith in the same God of my childhood upbringing and also believe something so heretically different from what my parents/grandparents/minister/ believe about the world. This book takes an intellectual look at what it means to read the Bible and how much the Bible has been misused to mean whatever the cultural consensus prefers. Using examples like prohibition/temperance, slavery, women’s rights, anti-Semitism, abortion, and other cultural battles, Gomes outlines exactly what the Bible does say that could be related to these topics and gives examples of how these passages have been interpreted (for better, or more often for worse). The cultural construction of spirituality is a subject I’ve always been interested in, and this was a really enlightening and truly NEW understanding of some of these issues and how people can construct very different worldviews while still believing in the God of the Bible. I highly recommend it.
The Latest Non-Required Reading Anthology Edited by Dave Eggers
This time the guest editor was Judy Blume and some of the front matter they’ve compiled is truly hysterical. I haven’t gotten to any of the stories yet (I’m sharing this read with the Guy so I’m waiting for him to finish). But the opening bits were just classic. My favorite was seeing the Best Facebook Groups and seeing some of mine in there! Yes, I’m a member of the Facebook Group “I judge you when you use poor grammar.”
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
October Book Review: Gilead
I haven’t read much lately. I just realized I haven’t had one of these recaps in quite awhile. But I finally finished Gilead. I warmed slowly to this book. At first it seemed like exactly what it was billed as… the ramblings of an old Iowa preacher. Having been raised in a pretty conservative family (my dad is the head deacon at their Southern Baptist church), I am generally pretty skeptical of the truth and beauty of 'spiritual writings'. It’s just become too familiar (stale) for me through the years. But I was gradually and reticently moved by this book and these characters. Even the Guy enjoyed the passages I read aloud to him (he’s Jewish)… because they transcend anyone’s religion and say a lot about the awe and wonder of simply being human, and what that means. It is a book that makes you feel your very delicate and precious mortality.
I think my best endorsement would be to re-write this passage:
“You didn’t wait until this morning to realize that I am old. I don’t know what it was I saw, and I’m not going to think about it anymore. It didn’t set well with me…
If I live, I’ll vote for Eisenhower.
How I wish you could have known me in my strength.”
I think my best endorsement would be to re-write this passage:
“You didn’t wait until this morning to realize that I am old. I don’t know what it was I saw, and I’m not going to think about it anymore. It didn’t set well with me…
If I live, I’ll vote for Eisenhower.
How I wish you could have known me in my strength.”
Thursday, August 28, 2008
August Read/Bought Review
I bought no books this month! Although I’ve been very tempted by How Fiction Works, written by a former professor of mine, and I was given this book as a gift at my company: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, which is 944 Pages long, and which will take me some time to even develop enough interest to peruse the introduction.
I did read three from my own bookshelf:
How Soccer Explains the World (An Unlikely theory of globalization) by Franklin Foer –If Foer had titled his book differently (perhaps “Soccer Teams I Like and Random Observations about their Country of Play” or “On Hooliganism”), I might have liked it better. As it is, soccer doesn’t explain anything. Rather soccer hooligans, are affected by the same world factors as international businessmen and politicians. Yet they resort to horrific gang violence.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchet – A mesmerizing, truly lyrical book. I was entranced. I haven't read a piece of fiction this good in awhile. This is also a book I would recommend to someone who doesn’t read a lot of fiction. It’s just that penetrating, and it’s a good story that happens to also have beautiful prose.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson – This book finally got enough book club action among my acquaintances that I finally had to pull it off my unread bookshelf. I recently committed – like The Writer’s Coin – to read only the books I own before buying any new ones, and I separated everything into separate bookshelves to help me track my progress.
I did read three from my own bookshelf:
How Soccer Explains the World (An Unlikely theory of globalization) by Franklin Foer –If Foer had titled his book differently (perhaps “Soccer Teams I Like and Random Observations about their Country of Play” or “On Hooliganism”), I might have liked it better. As it is, soccer doesn’t explain anything. Rather soccer hooligans, are affected by the same world factors as international businessmen and politicians. Yet they resort to horrific gang violence.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchet – A mesmerizing, truly lyrical book. I was entranced. I haven't read a piece of fiction this good in awhile. This is also a book I would recommend to someone who doesn’t read a lot of fiction. It’s just that penetrating, and it’s a good story that happens to also have beautiful prose.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson – This book finally got enough book club action among my acquaintances that I finally had to pull it off my unread bookshelf. I recently committed – like The Writer’s Coin – to read only the books I own before buying any new ones, and I separated everything into separate bookshelves to help me track my progress.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Slackonomics: Our Part in Rehauling the economy as we know it
Just read the introduction for the book Slackonomics: Generation X in the Age of Creative Destruction by New York Times contributor Lisa Chamberlain (I think the snappy description under the subtitle sums up the premise nicely: “How financial insecurity and technological innovation changed everyday life for a generation poised to take the reins from boomers – and not a moment too soon.”
I guess I should say that I’m a Gen Y person by definition, but I’m excited to finish this one. So far what I like about it is that it really seems to be just an anthropological look at a unique era, the specific cultural experience that we’ve had. I really like that Chamberlain doesn’t try to compare our generation to another and make some argument about how we’ve missed a lesson somewhere, financially. Her point is that in some ways, these economic times were almost inevitable and unavoidable – but this creative destruction we’ve experienced and are experiencing is likely to uproot a lot of the old definitions and economic modes, and spit us out into a totally different realm – for better or worse.
For instance – take social security (note: this is my own example, not Chamberlain’s). Scottrade Investing just completed a survey that noted that although 87% of Gen X’ers believe they deserve social security benefits from the government, most aren’t counting on actually getting any benefits. Other highlights from the survey:
43% believe they won’t be able to retire fully
26% aren’t sure they’ll ever be able to leave the workforce
37% predict they’ll need $1 million to retire
40% haven’t hit the $25 thousand mark yet
40% are saving more as a result of their insecurity over social security
I think those stats exemplify Chamberlain’s definition of creative destruction – because of all of the financial insecurity (first four bullets), Generation X will be forced to create a new economic reality for themselves (last bullet). Right now, they are just saving more, but will there be a reinvention of how we save for retirement, or protest that results in genuine change to the entire social security infrastructure.
Otherwise, I’m reading Jane Eyre at night before bed. I used to have a tradition of reading one l-o-n-g classic every summer (back when I got summer breaks), and I’m trying to carry that over now. What’s your favorite classic?
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Sabbatical Explanatory / Books I've Read
Apologies for my little sabbatical from blogging. I have some good excuses and some blah ones, but I'm officially back on the bandwagon, and here’s what I was doing the last month and a half:
1) Essays were released for Harvard Business School. So I spent about 10% of my time actually thinking about how I’m going to answer the questions and 80% of my time stressing about the fact that they are released and the time is ticking. The other 10% devoted to nail-biting and drinking.
2) Watching Boston sports and the Democratic showdown with baited breath. Various Red Sox v. Yankees, Obama v. Hillary match-ups, and the NBA Finals only getting started now… a lot of laziness in front of the tube ensued.
3) Developing and perfecting my cupcake menu for my little side business, which I now have up and running and you can see here @ All Mine BabyCakes. For now I’m just doing local orders, that’s Twin Cities MN. So all of the other Bookish supporters out there will have to just salivate at the screen. More to come on me getting this off the ground. And THANK YOU for all of the encouraging notes you’ve left for me! It's gotten me out of my embarassed little rut.
4) Enjoying the beginnings of (what could be called) summer in Minnesota. Which includes reading…this month it was The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. This really wonderful travel-lit about what elements of a country’s culture contribute to its happiness or lack thereof. It’s not a “how-to-be-happy” guide, which I’m always half-way expecting out of these kind of tomes. But a nice thinker about what elements of happiness we can change, and when location can affect that. This just made me want to accommodate a few more trips into my travel budget (Did you know Iceland is one of the happiest countries?)
1) Essays were released for Harvard Business School. So I spent about 10% of my time actually thinking about how I’m going to answer the questions and 80% of my time stressing about the fact that they are released and the time is ticking. The other 10% devoted to nail-biting and drinking.
2) Watching Boston sports and the Democratic showdown with baited breath. Various Red Sox v. Yankees, Obama v. Hillary match-ups, and the NBA Finals only getting started now… a lot of laziness in front of the tube ensued.
3) Developing and perfecting my cupcake menu for my little side business, which I now have up and running and you can see here @ All Mine BabyCakes. For now I’m just doing local orders, that’s Twin Cities MN. So all of the other Bookish supporters out there will have to just salivate at the screen. More to come on me getting this off the ground. And THANK YOU for all of the encouraging notes you’ve left for me! It's gotten me out of my embarassed little rut.
4) Enjoying the beginnings of (what could be called) summer in Minnesota. Which includes reading…this month it was The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. This really wonderful travel-lit about what elements of a country’s culture contribute to its happiness or lack thereof. It’s not a “how-to-be-happy” guide, which I’m always half-way expecting out of these kind of tomes. But a nice thinker about what elements of happiness we can change, and when location can affect that. This just made me want to accommodate a few more trips into my travel budget (Did you know Iceland is one of the happiest countries?)
Monday, April 28, 2008
April Read/Bought Review
Weird that it's already the end of April....
Bought:
Last Night by James Salter $6 at Housing Works bookstore in NY. Worth it, since it’s $6 towards a good cause. Housing Works is a non-profit that benefits AIDS research and related initiatives. They also have thrift shops across NY. Very cool, this would definitely be something I’d volunteer with eventually.
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner One of those insane $25 hardcover, really silly impulse purchase when I was shopping with my parents. But the book does look good… so I will report back next month after I’ve gotten through it.
Read:
A Theft by Saul Bellow.
I read this in an hour on my flight to New York. A quick, emotional, weird read. Bellow is one of those writers where I don’t necessarily relish the story, but rather, the individual lines and images. There’s some brilliance in the way he can imbue these ordinary words and phrases with more depth of meaning than they have.
Last Night by James Salter
A collection of short stories that I’ve been piecing my way through. Very beautiful. My favorite so far is the first, called Comet. Salter takes on unexpected characters for a literary writer. Very refreshing.
9/11 Commission Report
I bookmooched this… and while this sounds so dry, it has actually been so much more engaging than I thought it would be. It provides in clear, plain-English language the history and background leading up to the attacks, how the concepts of “terror” and “counter-terror” even developed. I’m only halfway through because it’s (obviously) not a beach read. I only wish I had read this sooner so I could have been dissecting the news a bit more. It’s sad, but I just know that I can’t trust network news anymore. Too many soundbites, so little nuance. On a side note, Elizabeth Edwards had a fantastic Op-Ed in the Times yesterday, Bowling 1, Health Care 0, reaming the media for their unreliability.
Bought:
Last Night by James Salter $6 at Housing Works bookstore in NY. Worth it, since it’s $6 towards a good cause. Housing Works is a non-profit that benefits AIDS research and related initiatives. They also have thrift shops across NY. Very cool, this would definitely be something I’d volunteer with eventually.
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner One of those insane $25 hardcover, really silly impulse purchase when I was shopping with my parents. But the book does look good… so I will report back next month after I’ve gotten through it.
Read:
A Theft by Saul Bellow.
I read this in an hour on my flight to New York. A quick, emotional, weird read. Bellow is one of those writers where I don’t necessarily relish the story, but rather, the individual lines and images. There’s some brilliance in the way he can imbue these ordinary words and phrases with more depth of meaning than they have.
Last Night by James Salter
A collection of short stories that I’ve been piecing my way through. Very beautiful. My favorite so far is the first, called Comet. Salter takes on unexpected characters for a literary writer. Very refreshing.
9/11 Commission Report
I bookmooched this… and while this sounds so dry, it has actually been so much more engaging than I thought it would be. It provides in clear, plain-English language the history and background leading up to the attacks, how the concepts of “terror” and “counter-terror” even developed. I’m only halfway through because it’s (obviously) not a beach read. I only wish I had read this sooner so I could have been dissecting the news a bit more. It’s sad, but I just know that I can’t trust network news anymore. Too many soundbites, so little nuance. On a side note, Elizabeth Edwards had a fantastic Op-Ed in the Times yesterday, Bowling 1, Health Care 0, reaming the media for their unreliability.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
March Read/Bought Review
Bought: Nada, yet again. I’m getting better with the self-restraint thing. Living across the street from the library instead of a bookstore helps with that. Also, I joined Bookmooch, an online website which lets you give away books you don’t want and receive books on your wish list. So Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto is coming my way for free and old college books I’ll never read again are going out. The only costs are shipping… so I’m sure I won’t do a lot of it, but it is exciting. Especially with some of the “rarer” books on my list.
From the library this month I read:
Here is New York by EB White – beautiful and moving, especially since I’m hoping to move there.
What we Talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver – I have always loved Raymond Carver, and I was finally able to read more of his “disturbing” stories, I’ll say...especially the title story.
Love Stories for the Rest of Us – this was a nice compilation that sold me on the title. A husband and wife team of editors compiled stories that represented love in everything but a traditional “darling” fashion. Really endearing and memorable stories from what I’ve read so far. I read one about a married couple that becomes enamored with a more glamorous couple and ultimately gains back their self-respect and autonomy in the relationship, one about a little girl who observes lesbians kissing for the first time and one about a housekeeper’s daughter that falls in love with the son of her mother’s employer. I highly recommend the collection.
And from my bookshelf I read:
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.
This has been a beautiful, if slow, read. And as I’m originally from the south, they are more familiar than exotic characters populating the chapters. It’s definitely made me want to get back to the southern story I’ve been writing off-and-on for the last few months.
Since the bookmooch proposition works best with more “rare” books – any suggestions out there from those who have a rare find favorite, that’s never going to be sitting out on any Borders front table?
From the library this month I read:
Here is New York by EB White – beautiful and moving, especially since I’m hoping to move there.
What we Talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver – I have always loved Raymond Carver, and I was finally able to read more of his “disturbing” stories, I’ll say...especially the title story.
Love Stories for the Rest of Us – this was a nice compilation that sold me on the title. A husband and wife team of editors compiled stories that represented love in everything but a traditional “darling” fashion. Really endearing and memorable stories from what I’ve read so far. I read one about a married couple that becomes enamored with a more glamorous couple and ultimately gains back their self-respect and autonomy in the relationship, one about a little girl who observes lesbians kissing for the first time and one about a housekeeper’s daughter that falls in love with the son of her mother’s employer. I highly recommend the collection.
And from my bookshelf I read:
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.
This has been a beautiful, if slow, read. And as I’m originally from the south, they are more familiar than exotic characters populating the chapters. It’s definitely made me want to get back to the southern story I’ve been writing off-and-on for the last few months.
Since the bookmooch proposition works best with more “rare” books – any suggestions out there from those who have a rare find favorite, that’s never going to be sitting out on any Borders front table?
Monday, March 3, 2008
February Read/Bought Review
In February, I read David Sedaris’ Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and not much else. Even though the cold usually induces cozy evenings in with a book, I’ve been surprisingly busy and I’ve had a lot less leisure time lying around the apartment. But the book was better than I thought it would be. It made me daydream about living in Paris, or as an ex-pat anywhere. Having the accent, the feeling of constantly learning, that’s a dream life for me.
On the plane ride to San Fran, I also read the Persepolis graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi. Fabulous. Can’t wait to see the movie.
I’ve also started in on The New Mainstream by Guy Garcia. Subtitle: How the Multicultural Consumer is Transforming American Business. At work, I recently was assigned all of our multicultural initiatives, which was a nice vote of confidence and something I was definitely interested in already. I’ll have to report back on how this is. With business books you usually get the main premise in the first ten pages and the rest is examples and case studies and more of the same, so I don’t know if I will be motivated to finish.
Books I’ve bought – none! Everything was from my shelf already but Persepolis, which was loaned by a friend. I set out to the library the other day to pick up Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad, but was googling the author’s name before I left and came across this Slate piece that criticized it as fluff with no real financial advice. The book has been on my to-acquire list for awhile. The title is especially snappy to me, as I was raised in a “doing-okay” middle-class family, where money was rarely openly discussed. I wondered if I had missed certain lessons and principles that I wouldn’t have if I had grown up in a wealthy household, which seems to be Kiyosaki’s premise.
Now that I have lived in a different state from my family for over five years, and my salary is more than both of my parents’ combined incomes, I don’t know if that’s the case or not. My parents are both wise about money, I think, and I don’t know how they are doing now anymore than I did then. But I think they have done some things right. They pay all their bills on time and have a good credit rating and they are fiscally responsible. So, I’m almost glad to hear that there is criticism of the book out there as little more than a marketing tactic. Would be interested to hear though if there are any good nuggets of wisdom in the book or if anyone else has had a better experience.
On the plane ride to San Fran, I also read the Persepolis graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi. Fabulous. Can’t wait to see the movie.
I’ve also started in on The New Mainstream by Guy Garcia. Subtitle: How the Multicultural Consumer is Transforming American Business. At work, I recently was assigned all of our multicultural initiatives, which was a nice vote of confidence and something I was definitely interested in already. I’ll have to report back on how this is. With business books you usually get the main premise in the first ten pages and the rest is examples and case studies and more of the same, so I don’t know if I will be motivated to finish.
Books I’ve bought – none! Everything was from my shelf already but Persepolis, which was loaned by a friend. I set out to the library the other day to pick up Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad, but was googling the author’s name before I left and came across this Slate piece that criticized it as fluff with no real financial advice. The book has been on my to-acquire list for awhile. The title is especially snappy to me, as I was raised in a “doing-okay” middle-class family, where money was rarely openly discussed. I wondered if I had missed certain lessons and principles that I wouldn’t have if I had grown up in a wealthy household, which seems to be Kiyosaki’s premise.
Now that I have lived in a different state from my family for over five years, and my salary is more than both of my parents’ combined incomes, I don’t know if that’s the case or not. My parents are both wise about money, I think, and I don’t know how they are doing now anymore than I did then. But I think they have done some things right. They pay all their bills on time and have a good credit rating and they are fiscally responsible. So, I’m almost glad to hear that there is criticism of the book out there as little more than a marketing tactic. Would be interested to hear though if there are any good nuggets of wisdom in the book or if anyone else has had a better experience.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
January Read/Bought Review
A very good month for furthering my bookshelf... not all of these I bought, some of these I was actually given. Best gifts!
BOUGHT
Hateship, Frienship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage - Alice Munro
A Worldly Country - John Ashbery
Howard's End - EM Forster
The Five People you meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
READ
A Worldly Country - John Ashbery
Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
I love Ashbery's poems - one of my favorites was my comissioned for my city and resides on a bridge I ride underneath every week. Eat, Pray, Love was so different than what I normally read, and there were parts of it that took solipsism to a whole new height (for crying out loud, I read four pages about the author's bladder infection), but there were also true gems of wisdom and revelations about happiness. My favorite quote:
BOUGHT
Hateship, Frienship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage - Alice Munro
A Worldly Country - John Ashbery
Howard's End - EM Forster
The Five People you meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
READ
A Worldly Country - John Ashbery
Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
I love Ashbery's poems - one of my favorites was my comissioned for my city and resides on a bridge I ride underneath every week. Eat, Pray, Love was so different than what I normally read, and there were parts of it that took solipsism to a whole new height (for crying out loud, I read four pages about the author's bladder infection), but there were also true gems of wisdom and revelations about happiness. My favorite quote:
"All the sorrow in the world is caused by unhappy people. Not only in
the big global Hitler'n'Stalin picture, but also on the smallest personal
level. Even in my own life, I can see exactly where my episodes of
unhappiness have brought suffering or distress or at the very least
inconvenience to those aroud me. The search for contentment is, therefore,
not merely a self-preserving and self-benefiting act, but also a generous gift
to the world. Clearing out all your misery gets you out of the way. You
cease being an obstacle, not only to yourself but to everyone else."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
