Posts

Showing posts from December, 2018

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain (2010)

Image
TL;DR: A memoir of a time in Anthony Bourdain's life well into the fame and prominence, and a look on a point in time when celebrity chefs roamed the land, including critiques when food is disrespected . This started out dark, very dark. Knowing what happens to Anthony Bourdain, and him describing nights holed out in the Caribbean, I got an eerie sense of AB's tendencies. That what he'd written down as being unsuccessfully suicidal for nights on end, a chill ran down my spine.

12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson (2018)

Image
TL;DR: 12 Rules to improve life based on mythologies, philosophy, psychology, science and religion. Jordan Peterson is a controversial figure. Maybe because of the rhetoric different groups are interpreting as attacks. And maybe that's simply the purpose of a discussion. It seems he's become a voice, where none used to be around. Like a forest with burnt wood, and the first spark creates a ripple that lights up the area.  This book is a good read. Stripped of all the arguments, it's basically like a self-help/personal development book. What makes it different from what one can usually read is it pulls from different sources, The Bible, Fairy Tales, Greek Mythology, Lessons from World War II, essentially from Myths, History, Psychology, Religion etc.

The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (2018)

Image
TL;DR: Girl dies and meets five people in heaven; along the way she learn five lessons and then something else. <Spoiler Alert!>

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek (2014)

Image
TL;DR: Real leaders make people feel safe. I n times of danger, they put themselves in harm's way to protect another, and would no sooner give up what they have for their people to live on. The book opens that people have a fundamental need for security. Safety. Simon Sinek describes this Circe of Safety, where feelings of belonging, of shared values and a deep sense of empathy fosters trust and cooperation.

When by Daniel Pink (2018)

Image
TL;DR:  There are certain hours of the day when we are most effective. There is a science to starting and ending things, and in synchronizing a group. For a moment, I thought I was reading Clive Cussler. Daniel Pink opened with the sinking of the Lusitania; a grand hypothesis that maybe the Lusitania sank because its captain made a crucial decision in the afternoon. It seems odd if an argument about time would hold water in a court of law. Can a person be absolved simply because the event happened in a person's less optimal hours? I honestly don't know.