Interesting short book about career/life. Very similar concepts to Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The author has a very simple, “back of paper napkin” concept of a 2×2 grid of ability and enjoyment. He argues that the highest career/life satisfaction comes in Q2 and one should try to stay in that quadrant as long as possible….
I come back to this book every few years and find a new, refreshing message within it each time. It is a book about following one’s dreams, seeking them outside one’s self and ultimately finding them within. The world was huge and inexhaustible; he had only to allow his sheep to set the route for…
Very inspiring. I’m going to start using my dumb phone after reading this book. Digital Minimalism – A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things that you value, and then happily miss out on everything else. Some…
There are few things humans are more dedicated to than unhappiness. Feeling suddenly attached to life when we realize the imminence of death suggests that it was perhaps not life itself which we had lost the taste for so long as there was no end in sight, but our quotidian version of it, that our…
Like all good books, this is short and to the point. The War of Art starts with the premise that most of us have 2 lives – the life we live and the unlived life within us. What prevents us from living the unlived life is Resistance. Pressfield defines Resistance, gives us techniques to overcome…
Weird book even by Murakami standards. But charming and difficult to put down. The stories are impossible for me to summarize. Here are 2 excerpts from the dust jacket and the book itself: Across seven dazzling tales, Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways,…
Perfect reading for the day before I participate in “Walk with a Doc“in Superior, CO. I have always been a passionate fan of walking. I advise my patients to walk – this is an activity that they can do well into their nineties, without any special equipment required. If walking sounds too pedestrian :-), use…
Erling Kagge was the first person to surmount the “three poles” North Pole, South Pole and Mount Everest. His next book on my list is “Walking”, one of my favorite activities, but first, “Silence in the age of noise”. He may not be a writer with the best flourish, but the message is succinct and…
Seth Godin writes short books. Not much bull, gets right to the point. Check out his blog and podcast. Here is a graph of “the dip” You have to get through the dip to become number one. The important part is to be able to differentiate the dip from the cul-de-sac or the cliff. A…
A book of Chinese wisdom. 2 examples: Breathing to the Heels The True Person of the ancient times slept without dreaming and awoke without care. Their food was plain. Their breathing was deep. The True Person breathed to their heels. Most people breathe to their throats. Bent and tight, they quarrel and vomit words. Their…