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Book Club... And Then Some!
Mojo: How to get it, how to keep it, how to get it back if you lose it
by Marshall Goldsmith
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
“Mojo” is, “That positive spirit toward what we are doing now, that starts from the inside and radiates to the outside.”
In this book, Goldsmith gives readers examples from both business and personal life.
There are four sections in the book: 1) You and your mojo, 2) The building blocks of mojo, 3) Your mojo tool kit, and 4) Connecting inside to outside.
The second section is the most theoretical of these four sections.
I found the third section most useful and practical. In this section, Goldsmith discusses 14 tools that are both simple and profound: 1) Establish criteria that matter to you, 2) Find out where you are ‘living.’ 3) Be the optimist in the room, 4) Take away one thing, 5) Rebuild one brick at a time, 6) Live your mission in the small moments, too, 7) Swim in the blue water, 8) When to stay, when to go, 9) Hello, good-bye, 10) Adopt a metrics system, 11) Reduce this number, 12) Influence up as well as down, 13) Name it, frame it, claim it, and 14) Give your friends a lifetime pass.
The book is clearly written and Goldsmith uses an accessible verbal style, the examples come often and are engaging, valuable, and to the point, the concrete recommendations and tools are solid and alone are worth the price of the book, the simple exercises for improving the workplace (both behavior and productivity) are key elements, and he offers anyone (not just those in business) who wants to be successful—anyone who wants to live a good and happy life—novel, useful, and valuable tools and lessons to achieve their life goals.
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This book is available from Amazon.com: Mojo: How to get it, how to keep it, how to get it back if you lose it.
Book Club... And Then Some!
The Dreaded Feast: Writers on Enduring the Holidays
Edited by Michele Clarke and Taylor Plimpton
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
I am not a regular reader of any of these writers (John Waters, Calvin Trillin, Chris Radant, Jonathan Ames, Corey Ford, Jay McInerney, Billy Collins, Mark Twain, Robert C. Benchley, S. J. Perelman, Roy Blunt Jr., Lewis Lapham, Daniel Blythe, Scott Horton, Dave Barry, George Plimpton, James Thurber, John Cheever, Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Simic, David Rakoff, Charles Bukowski, Greg Kotis, P.J. O’Rourke, Fiona Maazel, Augusten Burroughs, Alysia Gray Painter, or David Sedaris), although I was familiar with the writing of some of them—whether or not they are some of today’s best humorists or classic writers. Thus, it wasn’t because of my familiarity that I picked up The Dreaded Feast.
If you are looking for a short book (only 208 pages in 5 1/2 by 7 1/2-inch format) that is well-written and highly entertaining, this is a great choice. Makes a great gift as well.
Although every story in the book can be found elsewhere, it is highly unlikely anyone would have found most of them, even if they were searching for them. I found the choices excellent, and even if you did not agree, each is short; thus, that problem can be easily and quickly surmounted. Writing styles vary, writers from different genres are mixed, and topics, too, vary, but, overall, this is a quick read.
Our family (all 18 of us) get together for all the big holiday celebrations, and we all enjoy (seemingly) getting together, sharing stories, eating food, and playing with the kids. I’m not saying that ours is an ideal family situation; however, I think it comes pretty close. But, you don’t have to have the “ideal” to appreciate the stories found here. As-a-matter-of-fact, if you have something less than the “ideal,” you are likely to find the insights and revelations in this book sufficient enough to make you feel better regarding your own celebrations.
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Get this book at Amazon.com The Dreaded Feast: Writers on Enduring the Holidays
Book Club... And Then Some!
You are not a gadget: A manifesto
by Jaron Lanier
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
There are at least two characteristics of this book (and Lanier’s approach) of which you should be aware before selecting this as one to read. First, it is a philosophical rant (a manifesto) (which I enjoyed immensely!) That celebrates humanity by contrasting technology (in all its various forms) with personhood and the limitations that “automatically” take place. One reviewer at Amazon.com wrote, “Lanier eloquently and passionately refutes this entire mindset [that technology can produce better results than individual perspectives] while demonstrating the subtle, often unforeseen, yet pernicious effects this software design choices have in restricting the ways we are able to think about our relationships to information, the world around us and, most importantly, other people.”
The second characteristic of this book results from Lanier’s technology-driven background. This book is full of computerese. One unfamiliar with technology will find this book difficult to comprehend. One reviewer wrote that the book is “a compilation of jargon filled columns and short bits written for other outlets mashed into a book.”
Despite this, and if you haven’t read Lanier’s work before (as I have not), this is, as another writer on Amazon.com said, “This is the most thought-provoking, human and inspiring critique of the computerized world of information that has yet been written.”
I want to add my own evaluation to these: I found the book interesting, if not fascinating, well-written (easy-to-follow) and wonderfully provocative. There is so much meat here to digest and absorb, and although I agree with his essential premise, I don’t think it will make any difference at all in the larger scheme of things. That is, the dehumanization that is occurring and that has taken place already will continue unabated and with complete abandon, and there is nothing that can be done about it except, as Lanier has offered, observe it, detail it, write about it, even rant about it.
Lanier’s reminder is simple, as a reviewer of the book has noted: “ . . . knowledge is much more than information and that being human is something that no machine is meant to approach.”
I highly recommend this book because it forces you to think deeply, and it clearly delineates where the digital world is leading us.
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This book is available from Amazon.com: You are not a gadget: A manifesto.
Book Club... And Then Some!
Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe
by Greg M. Epstein
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
Greg M. Epstein, humanist chaplain at Harvard University, writes in his introduction, “If you identify as an atheist, agnostic, freethinker, rationalist, skeptic, cynic, secular humanist, naturalist, or deist; as spiritual, apathetic, nonreligious, ‘nothing’; or any other irreligious descriptive, you could probably caount yourself what I call a Humanist” (p. xii). If you are any one of these, or, perhaps, call yourself a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, or Jew, and enjoy a challenging, interesting, well-written book, then I recommend this one.
The reason this book is such a refreshing read is because Epstein is not at all concerned with whether or not there is a god. Many other authors have attempted to answer that question. David K. Chivers writes in his review, “Refreshingly, Greg Epstein starts a step further down along the line of debate. His premise, stated simply, is this; However they got there, there is now a significant portion of the population who simply do not believe in God. And yet most of them (including himself) live what would be thought of by most as perfectly "good" lives, raising their children, taking care of their parents, helping out in the community, and the like. They are people you would like to have as neighbors. So if they don't believe in God, why do they act in this way? Why aren't they all out marauding, looting and pillaging? If not God, what do they believe in?”
Epstein adds, “The point is that as a Humanist, you’d be in distinguished company, along with Thomas Jefferson, John Lennon, Winston Churchill, Margaret Sanger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Voltaire, David Hume, Salman Rushie, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Confucius, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Wole Soyinka, Kurt Vonnegut, Zora Neale Hurston, Mark Twain, Margaret Meade, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Einstein, Darwin, and more than a billion people worldwide” (pp. Xii-xiii).
Epstein defines humanism as “being good without God. It is above all,” he writes, “an affirmation of the greatest common value we human beings have: the desire to live with dignity, to be ‘good.’ But Humanism is also a warning that we cannot afford to wait until tomorrow or until the next life to be good, because today—the short journey we get from birth to death, womb to tomb—is all we have. Humanism rejects dependence on faith, the supernatural, divine texts, resurrection, reincarnation, or anything else for which we have no evidence. To put it another way, Humanists believe in life before death” (p. xiii). Now, that is something to celebrate!
So, where does Epstein go from here? There are 225 pages and six chapters; thus, chapters average about 37 pages each. Here are the chapter titles:
Chapter 1: Can We Be Good Without God?
2: A Brief History of Goodness Without God
3: Why Be Good Without a God? Purpose and The Plague
4: Good Without God: A How-To Guide to the Ethics of Humanism
5: Pluralism: Can You Be Good with God?
6: Good Without God in Community: The Heart of Humanism
The book flows well, the ideas are sound, the explanations clear, and challenges to your thinking occur often. If you enjoy a book of substance and strength that offers clear, well-structured arguments this is an excellent choice.
Barbara L. Warren, at Amazon.com, writes, “This is a well-articulated, thought-out, and respectful (of religious people) book. I have read it twice and gained new insights both times. It's comforting to know I'm not alone in my beliefs, while feeling encouraged to act in meaningful ways. The author is a Humanist without animosity or the kind of hatred I so often feel toward those of us who no longer belive in a supernatural, all-powerful being.”
Another reviewer with whom I totally agree, Ryan Rabac, of Orlando, FL, writes, “Epstein provides a refreshing approach to living a nonreligious lifestyle that doesn't target or simply try to defend other beliefs. I especially appreciated his broad cultural and literary knowledge, including that of Camus, my favorite writer. His writing style is clear and emotionally truthful. He is a real inspiration.”
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This book is available from Amazon.com: Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.
