Anything You Want by Derek Sivers My rating: 4 of 5 stars I prefer Sivers in interviews rather than in written word, but this little booklet is still saturated with insight. I could see some of these bite-sized anecdotes-turned-philosophies coming off as facile our hackneyed but, if you’re at all...
Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered by Austin Kleon My rating: 2 of 5 stars Not bad, but it seems to be more a collection of aphorisms and quotes that is strung together by the author’s filler than a coherent philosophy or approach. Useful...
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’m always happy to discover modern science fiction that I can really dig. Neat premise(s), and Taylor takes no time to get to the action. View all my reviews Update: There are a...
Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue by Sam Harris My rating: 5 of 5 stars “No idea is above scrutiny, and no person is beneath dignity.” An exceptional book! Formatted as a dialogue, Harris (a strident and vocal atheist) and Nawaz (a former radical Islamist who is now...
Free Will by Sam Harris My rating: 4 of 5 stars It’s turtles all the way down. A dense-but-quick survey of current arguments for and against (mostly against) the existence of free will (in the conventional sense). It’s a philosophical concept I’ve often gnawed on over the years, and I...
The Magicians by Lev Grossman My rating: 5 of 5 stars I’m a huge fan of this book! For me, reading is very much a cerebral activity (even with SF/F), but the author was somehow able to bypass that. More often than not, I *felt* what the protagonist was feeling...
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold My rating: 5 of 5 stars You know how Dr Larch reads ‘David Copperfield’ to the orphans every night in ‘the Cider House Rules?’ I think, if I were to choose just one book to be read to me every night, ‘A Sand...
Why Men Are the Way They Are by Warren Farrell My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book, while clearly imperfect and a product of its time, is on my very short list of ‘Things I Wish (as a Husband) that My Wife Would Read (and Re-read).’ (Fun aside: as...
The Poetry of Zen by Sam Hamill My rating: 3 of 5 stars Poetry isn’t really my thing, and the alienation is a bit compounded when it’s a form and aesthetic that I’m not fully acquainted with. Still, it’s a nice little collection. In case you’re wondering: – Favorite Poet:...
The Explosive Child by Ross W. Greene My rating: 4 of 5 stars Nothing groundbreaking as far as techniques go. But the author presents a framework for *thinking about* unruly behavior (e.g.- expectations, skills, innate motivation) that I find particularly enlightening. View all my reviews Share:ShareClick to share on Facebook...