Influencer: The Power to Change Anything
By Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, et al
Copyright 2007
8.5 hours on audio
Read by Eric Conger
Make the undesirable desirable. Use social motivation. Change the environment to achieve results.
These were some of the ideas touted by the authors of this book. They set out to help you become a person who institutes change, even within yourself.
We all have ingrained behavior, some of which, it seems, will never be changed. The authors suggest we constantly ask ourselves two questions before we set about making a change:
"Can I make the change?" and "Is it worth the effort?"
Those answers, of course, vary from person to person, and change for one person may not be worth it to another. So how do you turn around an entire group of people?
The book uses a variety of studies from psychology, organizational theory, history, and sociology to make its point and to illustrate what makes people behave like they do.
One thing this book made apparent is that constructive change takes a lot of time, effort, and money. Constructive change does not happen over night. One must identify the problem, look for positive deviants (people in the group who are already performing as desired), and then create and implement a plan to target one or two behaviors at time. You cannot change the herd en mass.
I listened to the book while I was driving in the car, so I could not take notes. There were a few things that I thought were noteworthy, but much of the book seemed out of my reach. I am not, for instance, in any sort of position where I can influence a huge group of people. I might be able to influence my immediate family, and perhaps I could influence a few of you, dear blog readers, but I doubt that anything I write is going to move you to do much. I may be able to convince you that such-and-such is a worthy charity, or point out that the the state's House of Representatives is moving to vote on thus-and-so and a call from you would help the yay or nay, but I am not sure what influence I might have beyond that, if that.
It would be nice if I could, say, influence people to stop shooting one another, or if I could influence people to stop and think before they speak. But I don't have any idea how to go about that, not even after listening to this book, and apparently neither does anyone else.
However, I learned a lot while listening to this book, especially about specific social changes in the world, and how we all really could have a decent and good life for everyone if people cared enough about one another and their goals to take the time to make the effort.
One thing I learned about was something called guinea worm disease. This is a parasite that once was rampant in Asia and Africa, but it has virtually been eliminated through humanitarian efforts promoted by the Carter Center (as in Jimmy). Experts predict it will be the first parasite to ever be completely eradicated in humans in the near future.
Another thing I learned about was Grameen Bank in Africa. This bank was established specifically to help the poor and disadvantaged through an ingenious network of support. Today Grameen Bank is owned by the rural poor whom it serves. Borrowers of the Bank own 90% of its shares, while the remaining 10% is owned by the government (from the website). I had never heard of this and couldn't help but wonder, what if OUR banks loaned out money to people with ideas, to help them get started, instead of denying them because they weren't already rich? What an amazing idea! I have to wonder why we don't have banks like that. The answer, of course, is that is not in the capitalism code. Too much like socialism, I guess.
I also learned that one reason families have become less structured is because of the microwave oven, which allowed for single-preparation of meals, and that one level of influence - societal pressure - has lessened in part because of the "action hero" in movies, who never needs anyone. You know, Iron Man is more popular than the Fantastic Four, that sort of thing. We don't need no stinkin' team players in our lives, right? We pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and do it ourselves (wasn't that part of the screams and moans during the most recent presidential campaign?). And while the authors never once mentioned this, it was obvious to me that workers have suffered and are suffering because of the loss of influence of the labor unions.
The book attempted to bring massive social change initiatives back around to a person level by using someone trying to lose weight as their subject matter. I do not think the authors were overly successful in that effort. A person would need to change their environment, create a support system - in other words, pretty much change their life - if they have a weight problem. Most of us fat people already know that. So the book told us what we were supposed to do, like most of them do, but just like my doctor who says, "go on a diet" there isn't much advice as to how exactly one does that, other than "don't buy junk food" and "put the treadmill in the TV room."
At the end, the book touted a website with additional resources. But that website doesn't exist anymore and instead it takes you to what I presume is the authors' website. There is an offer there for some free stuff if you give your name and email, but I haven't signed up for it.
In case you were wondering, the blub on the back is what enticed me to pick this up. It says, "robust strategies for making change inevitable in your personal life, your business, and your world."
I see they have a more recent book out called Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success and I think I will add that one to my list of books to read in the very near future. Maybe it will address the "how to change" issue a little better.
*The link at the picture of the book above goes to the Kindle edition, which is the cheapest way to obtain this book.*
Showing posts with label Books: Nonfiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books: Nonfiction. Show all posts
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Books: Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Behind the Beautiful Forevers
By Katherine Boo
Copyright 2012
290 pages
The Awesome but Humble Women's Book Club to which I belong read this for our March selection; I read it on my Nook. (See, I do do the electronic reading thing sometimes.)
The book is called narrative nonfiction though I think perhaps creative narrative nonfiction might be more appropriate. The author, Katherine Boo, is a journalist who once worked for The Washington Post and who now is a staff writer for The New Yorker.
She embedded herself for three years in a slum near the airport in Mumbai, India, and this book is the result.
The story has a loose plot that follows Abdul, a young man who has been accused of a crime he did not commit. Abdul makes his living by buying and sorting trash. Apparently picking up trash and selling and reselling it is big business in India.
Abdul and his family live in Annawadi, the slum area. The book follows Abdul and several others. Apparently the slum area operates a bit like a small town, complete with corruption and a political process. As in the United States, money and influence leads to power and corruption.
The story was difficult to read. I had a hard time with the author's style, for she jumped around a lot. I wasn't sure if that was the book or me trying to adjust to reading on the Nook, though.
My book club group had many questions about this story. For one, we wondered about the author, who reported on tragedies such as seeing a man run over by a car but left alone and ignored by others while he lay dying. We had to wonder if the author actually witnessed this, why did she not do something for this man? The same with the young fellow accused of a crime. If she was there, and witnessed the incident, how was it that she did not become involved enough to help him, especially when she reported that he was badly beaten at the police station.
As a newspaper reporter I understand that the job entails standing back and witnessing, but I have never hesitated to step in and intervene when I saw someone being hurt or wronged, even if it meant I could no longer write the story. The story is not more important than my morality, ever.
My book club group is generally a fairly progressive group, so most of us read the book as a denouncement of poverty, corruption, religion, etc., all of those things that hold society and people back. However, thanks to a comment I'd had via an email from a friend of mine in England, I asked if this type of story has a downside - in other words, did it allow us in the US to stand back and say "our poor aren't that bad off, so capitalism must be the grandest thing ever."
At first the majority dismissed that notion, but one of our number teaches life skills to poor people through her church, and also teaches middle-class people a course on poverty. She indicated that ultra-conservative groups do tend to look at stories like this as an example of the "goodness" of capitalism. Something along the lines of "our poor in the USA sleep in broken down VWs while India's poor sleep under boxes, hence capitalism must be great."
Which is like saying a rotten apple is better than a rotten peach; they both still stink.
Socio-economic practices all have their problems, capitalism included, and I do not think any one of the identified economic theories is the best. I think a blend of capitalism and socialism - sort of what we had after World War II until Reagan in the 1980s - worked well and was a fairer system than what is currently in place in the US. We need a social safety net so that people have a survivable standard of living. I do not particularly want to live in a world where the only thing that matters is how much is in your bank account. Life is more than that, and we have diminished ourselves as human beings by chasing after material wealth instead of choosing to better our selves in more ethereal ways.
Behind the Beautiful Forevers has its problems as a book - the story line is rather weak, and the author took liberties with thoughts and character that cross the line from journalism into creative thinking that makes the work less reputable than it might otherwise be. Her methodology might have been sound but I had concerns about the writing style.
Even so, it's an important story, one that likely wouldn't have been told otherwise. Americans on the whole do not travel, nor do they explore other cultures, and I think any endeavor, however ultimately misused, that opens minds and creates discussion has value.
By Katherine Boo
Copyright 2012
290 pages
The Awesome but Humble Women's Book Club to which I belong read this for our March selection; I read it on my Nook. (See, I do do the electronic reading thing sometimes.)
The book is called narrative nonfiction though I think perhaps creative narrative nonfiction might be more appropriate. The author, Katherine Boo, is a journalist who once worked for The Washington Post and who now is a staff writer for The New Yorker.
She embedded herself for three years in a slum near the airport in Mumbai, India, and this book is the result.
The story has a loose plot that follows Abdul, a young man who has been accused of a crime he did not commit. Abdul makes his living by buying and sorting trash. Apparently picking up trash and selling and reselling it is big business in India.
Abdul and his family live in Annawadi, the slum area. The book follows Abdul and several others. Apparently the slum area operates a bit like a small town, complete with corruption and a political process. As in the United States, money and influence leads to power and corruption.
The story was difficult to read. I had a hard time with the author's style, for she jumped around a lot. I wasn't sure if that was the book or me trying to adjust to reading on the Nook, though.
My book club group had many questions about this story. For one, we wondered about the author, who reported on tragedies such as seeing a man run over by a car but left alone and ignored by others while he lay dying. We had to wonder if the author actually witnessed this, why did she not do something for this man? The same with the young fellow accused of a crime. If she was there, and witnessed the incident, how was it that she did not become involved enough to help him, especially when she reported that he was badly beaten at the police station.
As a newspaper reporter I understand that the job entails standing back and witnessing, but I have never hesitated to step in and intervene when I saw someone being hurt or wronged, even if it meant I could no longer write the story. The story is not more important than my morality, ever.
My book club group is generally a fairly progressive group, so most of us read the book as a denouncement of poverty, corruption, religion, etc., all of those things that hold society and people back. However, thanks to a comment I'd had via an email from a friend of mine in England, I asked if this type of story has a downside - in other words, did it allow us in the US to stand back and say "our poor aren't that bad off, so capitalism must be the grandest thing ever."
At first the majority dismissed that notion, but one of our number teaches life skills to poor people through her church, and also teaches middle-class people a course on poverty. She indicated that ultra-conservative groups do tend to look at stories like this as an example of the "goodness" of capitalism. Something along the lines of "our poor in the USA sleep in broken down VWs while India's poor sleep under boxes, hence capitalism must be great."
Which is like saying a rotten apple is better than a rotten peach; they both still stink.
Socio-economic practices all have their problems, capitalism included, and I do not think any one of the identified economic theories is the best. I think a blend of capitalism and socialism - sort of what we had after World War II until Reagan in the 1980s - worked well and was a fairer system than what is currently in place in the US. We need a social safety net so that people have a survivable standard of living. I do not particularly want to live in a world where the only thing that matters is how much is in your bank account. Life is more than that, and we have diminished ourselves as human beings by chasing after material wealth instead of choosing to better our selves in more ethereal ways.
Behind the Beautiful Forevers has its problems as a book - the story line is rather weak, and the author took liberties with thoughts and character that cross the line from journalism into creative thinking that makes the work less reputable than it might otherwise be. Her methodology might have been sound but I had concerns about the writing style.
Even so, it's an important story, one that likely wouldn't have been told otherwise. Americans on the whole do not travel, nor do they explore other cultures, and I think any endeavor, however ultimately misused, that opens minds and creates discussion has value.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Bye Bye BAM
This morning as I was slowly reading the Sunday paper, an advertisement in the main section caught my eye.
Books-A-Million in Roanoke is shutting its doors.
The bookstores are dropping like flies that have passed through a cloud of Raid. Soon not even the chains will have bricks and mortar stores, and we'll all be ordering off Amazon.
This is not the first major bookstore closing recently. Ram's Head Bookstore, the area's largest and most interesting independent book dealer. The owners retired, closing the doors. Printer's Ink also closed its doors. Also, while it affected fewer people, Hollins University's bookstore stopped stocking textbooks.
Soon we'll be left with only Barnes & Noble in this area, which according to reports is teetering financially.
This scares me. It also makes me very sad.
It scares me because Amazon has already shown, in at least a few instances, that it won't hesitate to reach into your Kindle and pull your purchase back. And the fact that it can do that is frightening. Why should this company have the final say over what you read, what you learn, and what you think?
What if, say, the government decides that you shouldn't be reading 1984, because it might give you ideas? And you bought it on your e-reader, not as a hard copy? And then poof, it's not there anymore, so you can't go back and revisit that again. In part that's because you're not buying the actual book, you're buying a license to read the book. While the model may eventually change (thanks to litigation, necessity, and money (but not morality)), that's how things are at the moment. E-readers are also moving from their own stand-alone units to being on apps on mobile phones and tablets.
I don't know about you, but my eyes are not too happy about trying to read a long work on an e-reader, let alone on a phone screen. I have an e-reader and still prefer a real book. I don't have to plug up a real book. And a real book doesn't access my email or Facebook or have other distractions.
So I guess I'm a dinosaur. I like paper.
The loss of yet another bookstore in my area means I will have one less place to go and feel at home. One less place to browse to find things I might not otherwise read. One less way to enlarge my world. One less place to get away from it all.
It seems like everything I care about - reading, liberal arts, art, English, morality - all of that stuff has gone by the wayside. There are enclaves of writers and readers still, but more and more they are being cast aside like so much rubbish. All that matters anymore are tech inventions - being able to code is so much more desired than being able to write a strong sentence.
We are losing so much in this headlong dash to destroy ourselves that I am starting to think it will be a good thing when we are all gone. Mother Nature must be throwing up every time she looks at humanity.
I used to embrace technology but I eventually realized it was an insidious beast that eats its young. I stopped trying to keep up with the new and improved in the race to the bottom. I refuse to go there though I know now that is where I will end up in this topsy-turvey world we have created.
Books-A-Million opened its chain store in Roanoke in the late 1990s. I thought it was great. Rams Head was over on the other side of town for me, and while BAM didn't have the same stock of poetry and writing books, it carried some. When WaldenBooks closed it was nice to know there were other choices.
I frequented them all and alternated purchases between them. Each offered a unique selection, a different feel. And now they're gone.
Bye Bye BAM. I guess B&N will be next.
Books-A-Million in Roanoke is shutting its doors.
The bookstores are dropping like flies that have passed through a cloud of Raid. Soon not even the chains will have bricks and mortar stores, and we'll all be ordering off Amazon.
This is not the first major bookstore closing recently. Ram's Head Bookstore, the area's largest and most interesting independent book dealer. The owners retired, closing the doors. Printer's Ink also closed its doors. Also, while it affected fewer people, Hollins University's bookstore stopped stocking textbooks.
Soon we'll be left with only Barnes & Noble in this area, which according to reports is teetering financially.
This scares me. It also makes me very sad.
It scares me because Amazon has already shown, in at least a few instances, that it won't hesitate to reach into your Kindle and pull your purchase back. And the fact that it can do that is frightening. Why should this company have the final say over what you read, what you learn, and what you think?
What if, say, the government decides that you shouldn't be reading 1984, because it might give you ideas? And you bought it on your e-reader, not as a hard copy? And then poof, it's not there anymore, so you can't go back and revisit that again. In part that's because you're not buying the actual book, you're buying a license to read the book. While the model may eventually change (thanks to litigation, necessity, and money (but not morality)), that's how things are at the moment. E-readers are also moving from their own stand-alone units to being on apps on mobile phones and tablets.
I don't know about you, but my eyes are not too happy about trying to read a long work on an e-reader, let alone on a phone screen. I have an e-reader and still prefer a real book. I don't have to plug up a real book. And a real book doesn't access my email or Facebook or have other distractions.
So I guess I'm a dinosaur. I like paper.
The loss of yet another bookstore in my area means I will have one less place to go and feel at home. One less place to browse to find things I might not otherwise read. One less way to enlarge my world. One less place to get away from it all.
It seems like everything I care about - reading, liberal arts, art, English, morality - all of that stuff has gone by the wayside. There are enclaves of writers and readers still, but more and more they are being cast aside like so much rubbish. All that matters anymore are tech inventions - being able to code is so much more desired than being able to write a strong sentence.
We are losing so much in this headlong dash to destroy ourselves that I am starting to think it will be a good thing when we are all gone. Mother Nature must be throwing up every time she looks at humanity.
I used to embrace technology but I eventually realized it was an insidious beast that eats its young. I stopped trying to keep up with the new and improved in the race to the bottom. I refuse to go there though I know now that is where I will end up in this topsy-turvey world we have created.
Books-A-Million opened its chain store in Roanoke in the late 1990s. I thought it was great. Rams Head was over on the other side of town for me, and while BAM didn't have the same stock of poetry and writing books, it carried some. When WaldenBooks closed it was nice to know there were other choices.
I frequented them all and alternated purchases between them. Each offered a unique selection, a different feel. And now they're gone.
Bye Bye BAM. I guess B&N will be next.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Books: This Year You Write Your Novel
This Year You Write Your Novel
By Walter Mosley
Copyright 2007
115 pages
Walter Mosley is the author of nearly 40 books, most of them mysteries of some sort. He is most famous for Devil in the Blue Dress, which was made into a movie. He writes the Easy Rawlins series.
This book on writing is a slim little volume packed with information. As a primer on writing, I don't know that I have read any better. I think I will read this book at least annually if only to remind me of what I am supposed to be doing.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book was Mosley's emphasis on poetry and the music of language. "Poetry is the fount of all writing. Without a deep understanding of poetry and its practices, any power the writer might have is greatly diminished," he writes (62).
The other thing Mosley advocates is rewriting. And rewriting. And rewriting again. He suggests going through your novel about 25 times (!) before you even think of it as done. The rewriting process comes across as a sacred modality to this author, and I appreciated this honesty about process. It's something you see but it is not encouraged to this degree.
To rewrite, he suggests sitting down and reading through the novel, then reading it again to rewrite it. You should also read the entire thing aloud, preferably into a recorder, and then play it all back and listen to it. This is the hard work of writing.
Definitely a keeper.
By Walter Mosley
Copyright 2007
115 pages
Walter Mosley is the author of nearly 40 books, most of them mysteries of some sort. He is most famous for Devil in the Blue Dress, which was made into a movie. He writes the Easy Rawlins series.
This book on writing is a slim little volume packed with information. As a primer on writing, I don't know that I have read any better. I think I will read this book at least annually if only to remind me of what I am supposed to be doing.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book was Mosley's emphasis on poetry and the music of language. "Poetry is the fount of all writing. Without a deep understanding of poetry and its practices, any power the writer might have is greatly diminished," he writes (62).
The other thing Mosley advocates is rewriting. And rewriting. And rewriting again. He suggests going through your novel about 25 times (!) before you even think of it as done. The rewriting process comes across as a sacred modality to this author, and I appreciated this honesty about process. It's something you see but it is not encouraged to this degree.
To rewrite, he suggests sitting down and reading through the novel, then reading it again to rewrite it. You should also read the entire thing aloud, preferably into a recorder, and then play it all back and listen to it. This is the hard work of writing.
Definitely a keeper.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Books: Her Way
Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton
By Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta, Jr.
Copyright 2008
Audiobook 6 hours
Read by Erik Singer
I like Hillary Clinton. I preferred her as the 2008 Democratic candidate for the office of President of the United States over Barack Obama.
That said, I could not say that I know much about her as a person, much like none of us really know what any of the people who make up the public life of America are like. We know what we see and we judge on that. But we don't get to sit down and have coffee with these people.
And we still don't get to have coffee with Clinton in this book. She speaks in here only through public records.
This book came out in April 2008 as Clinton was working toward the Democratic nomination for president. I don't know if the book had any bearing on her loss. However, this unauthorized biography does not paint a flattering portrait of the former First Lady.
There is a lot of information here, along with many names an avid newshound such as myself would recognize from the 1980s and 1990s. From the perspective of taking a look back to see how things reached the point they are today, the book offers up some interesting points.
For one thing, while the book does not vilify the Clintons as the people who have corrupted the Democratic party, I certainly took that from the reading. The Clintons worked to create a more moderate, watered-down party and thus are somewhat responsible for the partisanship we have today. At least, that is one way to take in the information. It works particularly well to see it that way, I suppose, if, like me, you think the Democratic Party is no longer left, but moderate right. Realistically, there is no true "left" in government in this country anymore.
The book is also very hard on Hillary Clinton in that it portrays her as the force behind the throne at all times. She wanted to be president and had set that as her goal as early as the late 1970s. According to this book, she and Bill had determined that far back that he would be president, and then she would be president. It was a big dream.
I applaud big dreams.
The authors of this book do not appear to be Clinton fans. The book was slanted that way; it also was obviously written by men. There is an obvious "male gaze" in this book that I found eyebrow raising at times. The book took hits and made something of nothing so many times that it was apparent that this was two males observing a female, not people observing a person. And as two males observing a woman, I had the distinct impression they were hell-bent on browbeating her to death, simply because she was a woman. She didn't follow the prescribed female patterns: she didn't stay home barefoot and pregnant, and these two men appeared not to forgive her for that. How dare she put the v-jay-jay in politics!
I think the same information, put together by a woman (unless she was that Coulter creature), whether or not she was sympathetic to Hillary Clinton, would have created a very different book.
In any event, I do not think that Hillary Clinton will ever be president. I do not think she will run in 2016. I could be wrong about that, but she will be 69 years old. I think the country wants a younger president, a dynamic front person. I think that if there is a female candidate for president in 2016 from the Democrats, it will be Elizabeth Warren. But that's a long time away, plenty of time for a new star to appear on the horizon.
Hillary Clinton should be proud to have been Secretary of State, as well as a senator. She has done well for herself and helped women move forward through this molasses of the patriarchy that pervades the American way.
I give the book 3 stars because the information seemed well-documented, accurate to the public portrayal and persona of Hillary Clinton, and it was interesting to me. However, I think it works better as propaganda than biography.
By Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta, Jr.
Copyright 2008
Audiobook 6 hours
Read by Erik Singer
I like Hillary Clinton. I preferred her as the 2008 Democratic candidate for the office of President of the United States over Barack Obama.
That said, I could not say that I know much about her as a person, much like none of us really know what any of the people who make up the public life of America are like. We know what we see and we judge on that. But we don't get to sit down and have coffee with these people.
And we still don't get to have coffee with Clinton in this book. She speaks in here only through public records.
This book came out in April 2008 as Clinton was working toward the Democratic nomination for president. I don't know if the book had any bearing on her loss. However, this unauthorized biography does not paint a flattering portrait of the former First Lady.
There is a lot of information here, along with many names an avid newshound such as myself would recognize from the 1980s and 1990s. From the perspective of taking a look back to see how things reached the point they are today, the book offers up some interesting points.
For one thing, while the book does not vilify the Clintons as the people who have corrupted the Democratic party, I certainly took that from the reading. The Clintons worked to create a more moderate, watered-down party and thus are somewhat responsible for the partisanship we have today. At least, that is one way to take in the information. It works particularly well to see it that way, I suppose, if, like me, you think the Democratic Party is no longer left, but moderate right. Realistically, there is no true "left" in government in this country anymore.
The book is also very hard on Hillary Clinton in that it portrays her as the force behind the throne at all times. She wanted to be president and had set that as her goal as early as the late 1970s. According to this book, she and Bill had determined that far back that he would be president, and then she would be president. It was a big dream.
I applaud big dreams.
The authors of this book do not appear to be Clinton fans. The book was slanted that way; it also was obviously written by men. There is an obvious "male gaze" in this book that I found eyebrow raising at times. The book took hits and made something of nothing so many times that it was apparent that this was two males observing a female, not people observing a person. And as two males observing a woman, I had the distinct impression they were hell-bent on browbeating her to death, simply because she was a woman. She didn't follow the prescribed female patterns: she didn't stay home barefoot and pregnant, and these two men appeared not to forgive her for that. How dare she put the v-jay-jay in politics!
I think the same information, put together by a woman (unless she was that Coulter creature), whether or not she was sympathetic to Hillary Clinton, would have created a very different book.
In any event, I do not think that Hillary Clinton will ever be president. I do not think she will run in 2016. I could be wrong about that, but she will be 69 years old. I think the country wants a younger president, a dynamic front person. I think that if there is a female candidate for president in 2016 from the Democrats, it will be Elizabeth Warren. But that's a long time away, plenty of time for a new star to appear on the horizon.
Hillary Clinton should be proud to have been Secretary of State, as well as a senator. She has done well for herself and helped women move forward through this molasses of the patriarchy that pervades the American way.
I give the book 3 stars because the information seemed well-documented, accurate to the public portrayal and persona of Hillary Clinton, and it was interesting to me. However, I think it works better as propaganda than biography.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Thursday Thirteen #255
Today I'm listing books. However, I haven't read these, so these are not recommendations, except in that something about the blurb on them made me think I would find the work interesting.
That there are 13 of these says something about my reading habits of late. I need to get busy. Or maybe it says something about my spending habits, although I will say that a majority of these books came from a remainder sale up the valley, (thank you Green Valley Book Fair) and so I paid little or nothing for them.
Anyway, here are thirteen books about writing that are in my "read this" pile:
1. Old Friend From Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir, by Natalie Goldberg (copyright 2007). "A celebration of the memoir form . . . an impassioned call to write . . . "
2. What Would Your Character Do? Personality Quizzes for Analyzing Your Characters, by Eric Maisel, Ph.D. and Ann Maisel. Copyright 2006. "Test yourself - and your characters - 30 interactive pop quizzes designed to help you discover exactly what makes your characters tick." Doesn't that sound like fun?
3. The Writer's Devotional: 365 Inspirational Exercises, Ideas, Tips & Motivations on Writing, By Amy Peters. Copyright 2012. ". . . this invaluable volume will get your creative juices flowing."
4. Writing Creative Nonfiction, edited by Carolyn Forche & Philip Gerard. Copyright 2001. ". . . more than thirty essays examining every key element of the craft . . . " I think I bought this one because of the essay by Annie Dillard, mostly.
5. Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively, by Rebecca McClanahan. Copyright 1999. ". . . an inspiring examination of description in its many forms."
6. You Don't Have To Be Famous: How To Write Your Life Story, by Steve Zousmer. Copyright 2007."Writing can be intimidating, but with the help of (this book), you can successfully start and finish your most important story."
7. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. Copyright 1995. "A warm, generous and hilarious guide through the writer's world and its treacherous swamps."
8. What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. Copyright 2005. " . . .one of the most useful and provocative methods for mastering the art of writing fiction."
9. Writing from the Inner Self, by Elaine Farris Hughes. Copyright 1991. ". . . a revolutionary new way to provide writers access to a supply of unique and creative material . . ."
10. A Cup of Comfort for Writers, edited by Colleen Sell. Copyright 2007. " . . . a little writer's TLC." Also, one of my friends and a fellow bloggers, Becky Mushko over at Peevish Pen, has a story in this. I *have* read her essay, but not the rest.
11. Writing & Selling Your Memoir, by Paula Balzer. Copyright 2011. ". . . gives you the knowledge and skills you need to turn your most important personal stories into compelling and meaningful reading experiences for others."
12. Writing A Woman's Life, by Carolyn G. Heilbrun. Copyright 1988. " . . . an eloquent argument demonstrating that writers conform all too often to society's expectations of what women should be like at the expense of the truth of the female experience."
13. Breathing Life Into Your Characters: How to Give Your Characters Emotional and Psychological Depth, by Rachel Ballon, Ph.D. Copyright 2003. " . . . shows you how to get in touch with the thoughts and feelings necessary to truly understand your characters . . . "
Oh my gosh, there are actually more than 13 here in the pile. Maybe I am now collecting books on writing rather than reading them? Good grief. I think I could bring the list up to 20!
That there are 13 of these says something about my reading habits of late. I need to get busy. Or maybe it says something about my spending habits, although I will say that a majority of these books came from a remainder sale up the valley, (thank you Green Valley Book Fair) and so I paid little or nothing for them.
Anyway, here are thirteen books about writing that are in my "read this" pile:
1. Old Friend From Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir, by Natalie Goldberg (copyright 2007). "A celebration of the memoir form . . . an impassioned call to write . . . "
2. What Would Your Character Do? Personality Quizzes for Analyzing Your Characters, by Eric Maisel, Ph.D. and Ann Maisel. Copyright 2006. "Test yourself - and your characters - 30 interactive pop quizzes designed to help you discover exactly what makes your characters tick." Doesn't that sound like fun?
3. The Writer's Devotional: 365 Inspirational Exercises, Ideas, Tips & Motivations on Writing, By Amy Peters. Copyright 2012. ". . . this invaluable volume will get your creative juices flowing."
4. Writing Creative Nonfiction, edited by Carolyn Forche & Philip Gerard. Copyright 2001. ". . . more than thirty essays examining every key element of the craft . . . " I think I bought this one because of the essay by Annie Dillard, mostly.
5. Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively, by Rebecca McClanahan. Copyright 1999. ". . . an inspiring examination of description in its many forms."
6. You Don't Have To Be Famous: How To Write Your Life Story, by Steve Zousmer. Copyright 2007."Writing can be intimidating, but with the help of (this book), you can successfully start and finish your most important story."
7. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. Copyright 1995. "A warm, generous and hilarious guide through the writer's world and its treacherous swamps."
8. What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. Copyright 2005. " . . .one of the most useful and provocative methods for mastering the art of writing fiction."
9. Writing from the Inner Self, by Elaine Farris Hughes. Copyright 1991. ". . . a revolutionary new way to provide writers access to a supply of unique and creative material . . ."
10. A Cup of Comfort for Writers, edited by Colleen Sell. Copyright 2007. " . . . a little writer's TLC." Also, one of my friends and a fellow bloggers, Becky Mushko over at Peevish Pen, has a story in this. I *have* read her essay, but not the rest.
11. Writing & Selling Your Memoir, by Paula Balzer. Copyright 2011. ". . . gives you the knowledge and skills you need to turn your most important personal stories into compelling and meaningful reading experiences for others."
12. Writing A Woman's Life, by Carolyn G. Heilbrun. Copyright 1988. " . . . an eloquent argument demonstrating that writers conform all too often to society's expectations of what women should be like at the expense of the truth of the female experience."
13. Breathing Life Into Your Characters: How to Give Your Characters Emotional and Psychological Depth, by Rachel Ballon, Ph.D. Copyright 2003. " . . . shows you how to get in touch with the thoughts and feelings necessary to truly understand your characters . . . "
Oh my gosh, there are actually more than 13 here in the pile. Maybe I am now collecting books on writing rather than reading them? Good grief. I think I could bring the list up to 20!
Thursday Thirteen is
played by lots of people; there is a list here.
I've been playing for a while and this is my 255th time to do a list of 13 on a
Thursday.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Books: Voices: Words From Wise Women
Voices: Words From Wise Women
(Leadership Tools for Work and Life)
By Kathryn L. Jordan, PhD
142 pages
Copyright 2011
It is no secret to me that the workplace experience is different for women than it is for men, and often not in a good way. But finding books that deal with the gender gap and that speak directly to women is often difficult.
Local author Kathryn Jordan, a professor at Radford University, has filled in some of that gap with her new book.
Each chapter addresses various issues or methods of being a more upwardly focused employee. If you are looking to make a lateral move in your employment, or seeking a promotion, or just looking for work in general, this book will help.
The chapters discuss the need to be positive and embrace change, how to build various skills, and how to understand workplace dynamics, particularly with regards to money, among other things.
In particular, most women will find the chapters on finding balance helpful. How do you balance your career, your personal life, and taking care of yourself? It is a hard juggle sometimes.
The author, who is also an executive career coach, advocates an annual review of your resume, and a review of your life goals no less than every two years. I think that is very good advice.
A series of worksheets in the back of the book, which I plan to utilize, should also be helpful in finding focus and creating a plan.
Dr. Jordan has a website, The Success Associates, with information about her work in helping women find good career matches. The website offers a few links to youtube videos with job-hunting tips.
The site offers a list of job-hunting resources at this link.
She also has a blog but it is not updated very often, only about once a month. In my opinion this is not often enough to be useful; I tend to forget about sites if I visit and do not find new information.
I was disappointed that I wasn't able to find a .pdf of the worksheets on her website. That would be a good and valuable addition for her readers, and, given that the book is a little on the expensive side for its small size, a nice tip of the hat. If she didn't want to give it away to the masses, she could make it accessible with a key in the back of the book or something.
As it is, I don't like to write in my books so I will be hunting up a photocopier for about 30 pages of worksheets.
I think any woman with ambition and a little drive, regardless of where she works, will find this book useful, but it is directed more at the educational and large corporate fields. I don't think she had small entrepreneurs or grocery check-out clerks in mind when she wrote it, but there is enough useful information in the book regarding the work world and working relationships that I feel comfortable recommending it to nearly any woman who is looking for a change in her working environment.
(Leadership Tools for Work and Life)
By Kathryn L. Jordan, PhD
142 pages
Copyright 2011
It is no secret to me that the workplace experience is different for women than it is for men, and often not in a good way. But finding books that deal with the gender gap and that speak directly to women is often difficult.
Local author Kathryn Jordan, a professor at Radford University, has filled in some of that gap with her new book.
Each chapter addresses various issues or methods of being a more upwardly focused employee. If you are looking to make a lateral move in your employment, or seeking a promotion, or just looking for work in general, this book will help.
The chapters discuss the need to be positive and embrace change, how to build various skills, and how to understand workplace dynamics, particularly with regards to money, among other things.
In particular, most women will find the chapters on finding balance helpful. How do you balance your career, your personal life, and taking care of yourself? It is a hard juggle sometimes.
The author, who is also an executive career coach, advocates an annual review of your resume, and a review of your life goals no less than every two years. I think that is very good advice.
A series of worksheets in the back of the book, which I plan to utilize, should also be helpful in finding focus and creating a plan.
Dr. Jordan has a website, The Success Associates, with information about her work in helping women find good career matches. The website offers a few links to youtube videos with job-hunting tips.
The site offers a list of job-hunting resources at this link.
She also has a blog but it is not updated very often, only about once a month. In my opinion this is not often enough to be useful; I tend to forget about sites if I visit and do not find new information.
I was disappointed that I wasn't able to find a .pdf of the worksheets on her website. That would be a good and valuable addition for her readers, and, given that the book is a little on the expensive side for its small size, a nice tip of the hat. If she didn't want to give it away to the masses, she could make it accessible with a key in the back of the book or something.
As it is, I don't like to write in my books so I will be hunting up a photocopier for about 30 pages of worksheets.
I think any woman with ambition and a little drive, regardless of where she works, will find this book useful, but it is directed more at the educational and large corporate fields. I don't think she had small entrepreneurs or grocery check-out clerks in mind when she wrote it, but there is enough useful information in the book regarding the work world and working relationships that I feel comfortable recommending it to nearly any woman who is looking for a change in her working environment.
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Books: Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl
Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl
By Susan McCorkindale
Copyright 2008
349 pages
I wanted to like this book. I dislike giving bad reviews.
But I hated this book. I could not even finish it. I made it to page 115 and gave up.
I wanted my money back, actually.
There are people, I am sure, who would love this book. This book makes fun of southerners, finds people who are different stupid, and thinks the worst in people is good for a laugh. I know there are people who like that sort of thing.
I am not one of them.
I bought the book because it is a memoir about living on a cattle farm in Virginia. I live on a cattle farm in Virginia, and when I made the purchase back in January, I was finishing up my thesis, which is about living on a farm in Virginia.
You can see why I was interested.
After I bought the book, but before I read it, I checked out the author's website and learned her husband had passed way of pancreatic cancer. My mother died of that, too, so I thought, wow. I really want to read this book now.
I even subscribed to the author's Facebook feed. Which I quickly had to switch to "important only" because so much BS was coming across my newsfeed that I couldn't stand it. That should have warned me, I suppose. (I have since unsubscribed completely.)
In the book, the author uses a lot of foot notes - apparently she has many semi-related thoughts that she doesn't place within the text. The footnotes are annoying.
She used to be a marketing director at for a women's magazine; she lived in New Jersey, she is wealthy. Her husband's family lives in Virginia in a mansion. Money is not an issue.
But in the book she complains about everything. She complains about her job, and gloats (really!) about how she managed to screw over those who worked for her (I was glad I wasn't in that company). The family moves to Virginia, and she has to endure living in the mansion while their house on 500 acres is renovated. She has to endure a bad hairdresser. She can't figure out the dress code for the south. She has to put up with people who ride horses. These damn backwards southerners. Yuck yuck. A laugh a minute.
Not.
And heaven help us, there is no Starbucks close and she is apparently helpless without her latte. I think she mentions on every page that there is no Starbucks within 20 miles of her.
That's about as far as I got. For me not to finish a book says a lot. I usually can wade through the worst of them, but not this one.
What's really sad is there was a sequel to this book.
I won't be buying it.
By Susan McCorkindale
Copyright 2008
349 pages
I wanted to like this book. I dislike giving bad reviews.
But I hated this book. I could not even finish it. I made it to page 115 and gave up.
I wanted my money back, actually.
There are people, I am sure, who would love this book. This book makes fun of southerners, finds people who are different stupid, and thinks the worst in people is good for a laugh. I know there are people who like that sort of thing.
I am not one of them.
I bought the book because it is a memoir about living on a cattle farm in Virginia. I live on a cattle farm in Virginia, and when I made the purchase back in January, I was finishing up my thesis, which is about living on a farm in Virginia.
You can see why I was interested.
After I bought the book, but before I read it, I checked out the author's website and learned her husband had passed way of pancreatic cancer. My mother died of that, too, so I thought, wow. I really want to read this book now.
I even subscribed to the author's Facebook feed. Which I quickly had to switch to "important only" because so much BS was coming across my newsfeed that I couldn't stand it. That should have warned me, I suppose. (I have since unsubscribed completely.)
In the book, the author uses a lot of foot notes - apparently she has many semi-related thoughts that she doesn't place within the text. The footnotes are annoying.
She used to be a marketing director at for a women's magazine; she lived in New Jersey, she is wealthy. Her husband's family lives in Virginia in a mansion. Money is not an issue.
But in the book she complains about everything. She complains about her job, and gloats (really!) about how she managed to screw over those who worked for her (I was glad I wasn't in that company). The family moves to Virginia, and she has to endure living in the mansion while their house on 500 acres is renovated. She has to endure a bad hairdresser. She can't figure out the dress code for the south. She has to put up with people who ride horses. These damn backwards southerners. Yuck yuck. A laugh a minute.
Not.
And heaven help us, there is no Starbucks close and she is apparently helpless without her latte. I think she mentions on every page that there is no Starbucks within 20 miles of her.
That's about as far as I got. For me not to finish a book says a lot. I usually can wade through the worst of them, but not this one.
What's really sad is there was a sequel to this book.
I won't be buying it.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Thursday Thirteen
Today, I bring you 13 ways to tell your fortune, based on bodily indications.* Everybody get a mirror!
1. Weakness of body is distinguished by a small, ill-proportioned head, narrow shoulders, soft skin, and melancholy complexion.
2. Signs of long life are strong teeth, a sanguine temperament, middle size, large deep and ruddy lines in the hand, large muscles, stooping shoulders, full chest, firm flesh, clear complexion, slow growth, , wide ears, and large eyelids. (I wonder if you have to have all of that, or just some?)
3. A short life is inferred from a thick tongue, the appearance of grinders before puberty, thin, straggling, and uneven teeth, confused lines in the hand, of a quick but small growth.
4. A good Genius may be expected from a thin skin, middle stature, blue bright eyes, fair complexion, straight and pretty strong hair, an affable aspect, the eyebrows joined, moderate in mirth, a cheerful countenance, and the temples a little concave.
5. A dunce may be known by a swollen neck, plump arms, sides, and loins, a round head, concave behind, a large fleshy forehead, pale eyes, a dull heavy look, small joints, snuffing nostrils, proneness to laughter, little hands, an ill proportioned head, either too big or too little, blubber lips, short fingers, and thick legs.
6. A good memory is commonly attached to those persons who are smaller, yet better formed in the upper than the lower parts, not fat, but fleshy, of a fair delicate skin, with the poll of the head uncovered, crooked nose, teeth thick set, large ears, with plenty of cartilage.
7. A bad memory is observable in persons who are larger in their superior than inferior parts, fleshy, though dry and bald. This is contrary to the opinion of Aristotle, who says, that the superior parts being larger than the inferior, signify good memory, and vice versa.
8. A good imagination and thoughtful disposition is distinguished by a large prominent forehead, a fixed and attentive look, slow respiration, and an inclination of the head.
9. Irascibility is accompanied by erect posture, clear skin, solemn voice, open nostrils, moist temples, displaying superficial veins, thick neck, equal use of both hands, quick pace, blood-shot eyes, large, unequal, ill-ranged teeth, and choleric disposition.
10. Melancholy is denoted by a wrinkled countenance, dejected eyes, meeting eyebrows, slow pace, fixed look, and deliberate respiration.
11. Gaiety attends a serene open forehead, rosy agreeable countenance, a sweet musical tone of voice, an agile body, and soft flesh.
12. Envy appears with a wrinkled forehead, frowning, dejected and squinting look, a pale melancholy countenance, and a dry rough skin.
13. Bashfulness by moist eyes, never wide open, eyebrows frequently lowered, blushing cheeks, moderate pace, slow and submissive speech, bent body, and glowing ears of a purple hue.
*All of this information was taken from A Handbook of Dreams and Fortune-Telling, by Zadkiel and Sibly, originally published in 1888. A 2005 reprint is available on Amazon.
When I was nine years old, I purchased for 35 cents a little Dell Purse Book called The Book of Dreams: a guide to the mystic meaning of your dreams. I've used the thing for all of these years (I am quite a vivid dreamer). A while back I noticed that it said it was abridged from Zadkiel's Book of Dreams & Fortune Telling so I looked up the book. I was surprised to find the book above available and ordered it. The fortune-telling part has been most interesting.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 239th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
1. Weakness of body is distinguished by a small, ill-proportioned head, narrow shoulders, soft skin, and melancholy complexion.
2. Signs of long life are strong teeth, a sanguine temperament, middle size, large deep and ruddy lines in the hand, large muscles, stooping shoulders, full chest, firm flesh, clear complexion, slow growth, , wide ears, and large eyelids. (I wonder if you have to have all of that, or just some?)
3. A short life is inferred from a thick tongue, the appearance of grinders before puberty, thin, straggling, and uneven teeth, confused lines in the hand, of a quick but small growth.
4. A good Genius may be expected from a thin skin, middle stature, blue bright eyes, fair complexion, straight and pretty strong hair, an affable aspect, the eyebrows joined, moderate in mirth, a cheerful countenance, and the temples a little concave.
5. A dunce may be known by a swollen neck, plump arms, sides, and loins, a round head, concave behind, a large fleshy forehead, pale eyes, a dull heavy look, small joints, snuffing nostrils, proneness to laughter, little hands, an ill proportioned head, either too big or too little, blubber lips, short fingers, and thick legs.
6. A good memory is commonly attached to those persons who are smaller, yet better formed in the upper than the lower parts, not fat, but fleshy, of a fair delicate skin, with the poll of the head uncovered, crooked nose, teeth thick set, large ears, with plenty of cartilage.
7. A bad memory is observable in persons who are larger in their superior than inferior parts, fleshy, though dry and bald. This is contrary to the opinion of Aristotle, who says, that the superior parts being larger than the inferior, signify good memory, and vice versa.
8. A good imagination and thoughtful disposition is distinguished by a large prominent forehead, a fixed and attentive look, slow respiration, and an inclination of the head.
9. Irascibility is accompanied by erect posture, clear skin, solemn voice, open nostrils, moist temples, displaying superficial veins, thick neck, equal use of both hands, quick pace, blood-shot eyes, large, unequal, ill-ranged teeth, and choleric disposition.
10. Melancholy is denoted by a wrinkled countenance, dejected eyes, meeting eyebrows, slow pace, fixed look, and deliberate respiration.
11. Gaiety attends a serene open forehead, rosy agreeable countenance, a sweet musical tone of voice, an agile body, and soft flesh.
12. Envy appears with a wrinkled forehead, frowning, dejected and squinting look, a pale melancholy countenance, and a dry rough skin.
13. Bashfulness by moist eyes, never wide open, eyebrows frequently lowered, blushing cheeks, moderate pace, slow and submissive speech, bent body, and glowing ears of a purple hue.
*All of this information was taken from A Handbook of Dreams and Fortune-Telling, by Zadkiel and Sibly, originally published in 1888. A 2005 reprint is available on Amazon.
When I was nine years old, I purchased for 35 cents a little Dell Purse Book called The Book of Dreams: a guide to the mystic meaning of your dreams. I've used the thing for all of these years (I am quite a vivid dreamer). A while back I noticed that it said it was abridged from Zadkiel's Book of Dreams & Fortune Telling so I looked up the book. I was surprised to find the book above available and ordered it. The fortune-telling part has been most interesting.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 239th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Books: A Short Guide to a Happy Life
A Short Guide to a Happy Life
By Anna Quindlen
Copyright 2000
50 pages
I ran across this little book while I was cleaning out a bookcase the other day.
Did I buy it? Was it a gift? Have I had it a long time? Had I read it? I could not answer those questions. I didn't remember the book, and I thought for a time to pitch it with the others that I was sending to the library for their book sale.
On a whim, I dug it out of the pile and set it aside.
I am glad I did.
This is a wonderful little book. I highly recommend it as a gift for a friend, as a little something for someone who is not feeling well, or perhaps for someone who has lost a loved one.
The book has wonderful black and white photos on every other page to illustrate the text. The pictures are of young friends, bicycles on the beach, winter, the moon, etc.
The text is brief. The author talks about her life as split into two times: before her mother passed away (the author was 19 when that happened), and after that milestone event.
She lives her life knowing we are mortal, and that the end is always just around the corner. She believes this makes a difference in the life experience, given when people tend to care about.
Get a life, she says. One that, every day, looks at the view.
Enjoy the simple things. The sunset, the flower, the snowfall. Learn to live, to appreciate the joys of the world.
It is excellent advice.
By Anna Quindlen
Copyright 2000
50 pages
I ran across this little book while I was cleaning out a bookcase the other day.
Did I buy it? Was it a gift? Have I had it a long time? Had I read it? I could not answer those questions. I didn't remember the book, and I thought for a time to pitch it with the others that I was sending to the library for their book sale.
On a whim, I dug it out of the pile and set it aside.
I am glad I did.
This is a wonderful little book. I highly recommend it as a gift for a friend, as a little something for someone who is not feeling well, or perhaps for someone who has lost a loved one.
The book has wonderful black and white photos on every other page to illustrate the text. The pictures are of young friends, bicycles on the beach, winter, the moon, etc.
The text is brief. The author talks about her life as split into two times: before her mother passed away (the author was 19 when that happened), and after that milestone event.
She lives her life knowing we are mortal, and that the end is always just around the corner. She believes this makes a difference in the life experience, given when people tend to care about.
Get a life, she says. One that, every day, looks at the view.
Enjoy the simple things. The sunset, the flower, the snowfall. Learn to live, to appreciate the joys of the world.
It is excellent advice.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Books: Reversing Asthma
Reversing Asthma
By Richard N. Firshein, DO
Copyright 1996
370 pages
This book is out of print and available through used book sellers. Alas, I don't buy used books because I am allergic to book dust and old books tend to set off my asthma, ironically. It is not available on my Nook, either.
I checked this out of the local library. I wish it was still available as a new book purchase.
Dr. Firshein is an asthma sufferer himself, and he has an interesting take on the health care system and its treatment of this issue.
He is not in favor of drugs and advocates for vitamins, breathing exercises, dietary changes, and exercise in order to keep the condition under control.
In fact, he hypothesizes that asthma treatments are causing as much problems as they are solving. This has certainly been my experience. The drugs make me sicker than the asthma.
If you have asthma and have been searching for a way to control it without drugs, or at least as many pharmaceuticals as you might take, then this book should be helpful to you. I have started with the vitamins he suggests and have initiated the breathing exercises. I am hopeful that this will be a big help.
Asthma can be a very dangerous condition, leading to death. It is very frightening, too, when you can't breath, and there can be scarring of the lungs. It is the major chronic illness among children, and the numbers of asthmatics in the United States are growing every day. At least 20 million people suffer from asthma.
Medical doctors still aren't sure what causes asthma and why some people have it and others don't. However, it seems likely that air pollution, dust mites, cockroach remains and other allergens play a role in the condition.
Allergic reactions to food are also a likely culprit. The major foods that cause allergies seem to be nuts, peanuts, eggs, shellfish and fish. Other foods that might cause problems include artificial food colorings, wheat, citrus fruits, milk, chocolate and wheat products.
One of the several vitamins Dr. Firshein recommends is magnesium sulfate, which opens up air passages. He also recommends vitamins C, a B Complex, zinc, and Vitamin A.
For diet, he suggests an elimination diet to figure out the problem foods. He says to eat a lot of onions and garlic, as they help with asthma, too.
The breathing exercises are similar to yoga breaths. I suspect just making an effort to breathe through the diaphragm instead of shallow breathing in the upper chest can make a big difference for many people, myself included.
By Richard N. Firshein, DO
Copyright 1996
370 pages
This book is out of print and available through used book sellers. Alas, I don't buy used books because I am allergic to book dust and old books tend to set off my asthma, ironically. It is not available on my Nook, either.
I checked this out of the local library. I wish it was still available as a new book purchase.
Dr. Firshein is an asthma sufferer himself, and he has an interesting take on the health care system and its treatment of this issue.
He is not in favor of drugs and advocates for vitamins, breathing exercises, dietary changes, and exercise in order to keep the condition under control.
In fact, he hypothesizes that asthma treatments are causing as much problems as they are solving. This has certainly been my experience. The drugs make me sicker than the asthma.
If you have asthma and have been searching for a way to control it without drugs, or at least as many pharmaceuticals as you might take, then this book should be helpful to you. I have started with the vitamins he suggests and have initiated the breathing exercises. I am hopeful that this will be a big help.
Asthma can be a very dangerous condition, leading to death. It is very frightening, too, when you can't breath, and there can be scarring of the lungs. It is the major chronic illness among children, and the numbers of asthmatics in the United States are growing every day. At least 20 million people suffer from asthma.
Medical doctors still aren't sure what causes asthma and why some people have it and others don't. However, it seems likely that air pollution, dust mites, cockroach remains and other allergens play a role in the condition.
Allergic reactions to food are also a likely culprit. The major foods that cause allergies seem to be nuts, peanuts, eggs, shellfish and fish. Other foods that might cause problems include artificial food colorings, wheat, citrus fruits, milk, chocolate and wheat products.
One of the several vitamins Dr. Firshein recommends is magnesium sulfate, which opens up air passages. He also recommends vitamins C, a B Complex, zinc, and Vitamin A.
For diet, he suggests an elimination diet to figure out the problem foods. He says to eat a lot of onions and garlic, as they help with asthma, too.
The breathing exercises are similar to yoga breaths. I suspect just making an effort to breathe through the diaphragm instead of shallow breathing in the upper chest can make a big difference for many people, myself included.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Books: The Forest for the Trees
The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers
By Betsy Lerner
285 pages
Copyright 2000, 2010
This is an advice book for writers. That said, I was a little disappointed in that, while the first pages described me perfectly, in the end I came away without really knowing how to get over and around myself in order to move forward. It's long been a problem and I guess I was looking for a magic bullet. Apparently, there isn't one.
The first chapter of the book, titled "The Ambivalent Writer," is me. The chapter starts out like this:
The author goes on in this same vein for most of the first page of the first chapter and into the second page of the first chapter, ending with, "How is that some no-talent you went to high school with is being published everywhere you look? Or how some suck-up from graduate school is racking up prizes and being interviewed in the Arts section of The New York Times?" I have asked myself that question more than once. I think most writers have at some point.
She also writes this in the first chapter:
All of this struck a mighty chord with me, and I read on eagerly, hoping that at last someone would tell me how to get out of my own way. Alas, that was not the case. The book validated me in that I am not alone, but it did not really offer a solution, unless finding an editor who will hold my hand and support me while I try to find my words is the answer. However, being an introvert who scarcely leaves the farm for groceries, I don't really see how I might go about finding this person.
Anyway, I enjoyed the book and I do recommend it to any writer who has self-doubts or who flagellates herself on a nightly basis because she's not where she thinks she ought to be at this point in her career. If nothing else, it will enforce the message that you're not alone in the struggle, and perhaps this will make a difference.
The author has a blog at the link above where I first listed her name, and while I have looked at it briefly I haven't studied it. Maybe the answer to my quandary is there, but from what I see on the page today, I am thinking not. Obviously it's a personality issue shared by many.
Other personality types also have issues with their writing, and she has chapters for those folks, too.
The second half of the book talks about the publishing industry, explaining what editors want, why books are rejected, and how to make contact with agents. If you've written a book or novella or something and are ready to take it to the next level, that is, out of your drawer, you might find this very interesting. It's an intriguing back-door look at the process.
The author, Betsy Lerner, was a book editor for a long time before becoming an agent. She knows what she's talking about.
But she didn't have the answers for me.
By Betsy Lerner
285 pages
Copyright 2000, 2010
This is an advice book for writers. That said, I was a little disappointed in that, while the first pages described me perfectly, in the end I came away without really knowing how to get over and around myself in order to move forward. It's long been a problem and I guess I was looking for a magic bullet. Apparently, there isn't one.
The first chapter of the book, titled "The Ambivalent Writer," is me. The chapter starts out like this:
Do you have a new idea almost every day for a writing project? [yes]Do you either start them all and don't see them to fruition or think about starting but never actually get going? [yes]Are you a short-story writer one day and a novelist the next? [maybe not so much but I haven't yet found any other genre than newspaper article writing that fits like a good shoe]
The author goes on in this same vein for most of the first page of the first chapter and into the second page of the first chapter, ending with, "How is that some no-talent you went to high school with is being published everywhere you look? Or how some suck-up from graduate school is racking up prizes and being interviewed in the Arts section of The New York Times?" I have asked myself that question more than once. I think most writers have at some point.
She also writes this in the first chapter:
You have something to say, something you may feel desperate to express, but you have no idea how to go about it. As a result, you are highly impressionable; everything strikes you but nothing sticks. You are volatile and vulnerable, but the energy it takes to quiet the voices leaves you depressed and listless. Every time you hear an author exchange barbs with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, or browse you local bookstore, you think: I could do that. You are both omnipotent and impotent.
All of this struck a mighty chord with me, and I read on eagerly, hoping that at last someone would tell me how to get out of my own way. Alas, that was not the case. The book validated me in that I am not alone, but it did not really offer a solution, unless finding an editor who will hold my hand and support me while I try to find my words is the answer. However, being an introvert who scarcely leaves the farm for groceries, I don't really see how I might go about finding this person.
Anyway, I enjoyed the book and I do recommend it to any writer who has self-doubts or who flagellates herself on a nightly basis because she's not where she thinks she ought to be at this point in her career. If nothing else, it will enforce the message that you're not alone in the struggle, and perhaps this will make a difference.
The author has a blog at the link above where I first listed her name, and while I have looked at it briefly I haven't studied it. Maybe the answer to my quandary is there, but from what I see on the page today, I am thinking not. Obviously it's a personality issue shared by many.
Other personality types also have issues with their writing, and she has chapters for those folks, too.
The second half of the book talks about the publishing industry, explaining what editors want, why books are rejected, and how to make contact with agents. If you've written a book or novella or something and are ready to take it to the next level, that is, out of your drawer, you might find this very interesting. It's an intriguing back-door look at the process.
The author, Betsy Lerner, was a book editor for a long time before becoming an agent. She knows what she's talking about.
But she didn't have the answers for me.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Books: The Writing Diet
The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size
by Julia Cameron
Copyright 2008
234 pages
Julia Cameron is most famous as the author of The Artist's Way, a terrific book about creativity and listening to your inner voice.
She also, apparently, has a little problem with her weight.
Interestingly enough, I picked this book up at the Green Valley Book Fair back in May, just before I started on Weight Watchers. I was with a friend and I had been talking to her on the drive up about how I needed some kind of replacement activity for eating, preferably something to do with writing. When I ran across this book, it seemed like an answer to a prayer and of course I bought it. I put the book in my "to read" pile and it stayed there until after I finished the summer semester at Hollins.
I read it all except the last few chapters, then a client gave me some work and then school started again. I ran across it while I was cleaning my office yesterday and I plopped down and finished it so I could move it to my "done" pile.
Cameron writes that she noticed that many of her students grew slimmer throughout the weeks they worked with her, writing in their journals and working on their creative projects. She determined that this might be a way for some folks to lose weight.
Her system boils down to seven things:
1) Write three "morning pages" every morning. If you're familiar with The Artist's Way, you know what those are. Here is a little video about on Cameron's website, if you're interested.
2) Journal every day. This is different from the morning pages, though they could be combined, I suppose. Essentially, you're writing in a journal twice a day. Whether or not you use different notebooks or platforms is up to you.
3) Walk every day. These can be short walks, or long, but walk. Outdoor walks are preferable.
4) Before you eat something, ask yourself these four questions when you have the munchies: Am I hungry? Is this what I feel like eating? Is this what I feel like eating NOW? Is there something else I could eat instead?
5) Make a food date with yourself. That is, give yourself permission one day a month to visit your favorite restaurant, or to go somewhere new. Give yourself some kind of culinary treat.
6) HALT: Don't get to Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. The book was worth its price just for this acronym.
7) Have a body buddy, someone you can call and discuss your weight loss regimen with on a weekly basis.
She advocates a system of what she calls "clean eating," that is, your basic meats and veggies without added sugar and few processed foods. You know, the healthy stuff we're supposed to be doing anyway.
I think it's a great idea. However, I have never been successful with the "morning pages." I have tried them many times before. I can do them for a little while but I quickly forget the first time I oversleep and have to bound from the bed and head out. And once I skip, I'm done, because I haven't stuck with it long enough to be a habit. I guess I need to just keep trying until it really is a habit.
Journaling used to be something I did every day, but I stopped, and I am finding that it is difficult to get back in the habit. To be honest, I think the computer zaps so much out of me that it is part of the problem. Too much Facebook and email. I am sure social networking is the biggest creativity killer out there.
Anyway, I recommend this book if you're a writer and you're weight conscious. Or if you're weight conscious and are just looking for another way to think about it. I think you will come away with some valuable thoughts.
by Julia Cameron
Copyright 2008
234 pages
Julia Cameron is most famous as the author of The Artist's Way, a terrific book about creativity and listening to your inner voice.
She also, apparently, has a little problem with her weight.
Interestingly enough, I picked this book up at the Green Valley Book Fair back in May, just before I started on Weight Watchers. I was with a friend and I had been talking to her on the drive up about how I needed some kind of replacement activity for eating, preferably something to do with writing. When I ran across this book, it seemed like an answer to a prayer and of course I bought it. I put the book in my "to read" pile and it stayed there until after I finished the summer semester at Hollins.
I read it all except the last few chapters, then a client gave me some work and then school started again. I ran across it while I was cleaning my office yesterday and I plopped down and finished it so I could move it to my "done" pile.
Cameron writes that she noticed that many of her students grew slimmer throughout the weeks they worked with her, writing in their journals and working on their creative projects. She determined that this might be a way for some folks to lose weight.
Her system boils down to seven things:
1) Write three "morning pages" every morning. If you're familiar with The Artist's Way, you know what those are. Here is a little video about on Cameron's website, if you're interested.
2) Journal every day. This is different from the morning pages, though they could be combined, I suppose. Essentially, you're writing in a journal twice a day. Whether or not you use different notebooks or platforms is up to you.
3) Walk every day. These can be short walks, or long, but walk. Outdoor walks are preferable.
4) Before you eat something, ask yourself these four questions when you have the munchies: Am I hungry? Is this what I feel like eating? Is this what I feel like eating NOW? Is there something else I could eat instead?
5) Make a food date with yourself. That is, give yourself permission one day a month to visit your favorite restaurant, or to go somewhere new. Give yourself some kind of culinary treat.
6) HALT: Don't get to Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. The book was worth its price just for this acronym.
7) Have a body buddy, someone you can call and discuss your weight loss regimen with on a weekly basis.
She advocates a system of what she calls "clean eating," that is, your basic meats and veggies without added sugar and few processed foods. You know, the healthy stuff we're supposed to be doing anyway.
I think it's a great idea. However, I have never been successful with the "morning pages." I have tried them many times before. I can do them for a little while but I quickly forget the first time I oversleep and have to bound from the bed and head out. And once I skip, I'm done, because I haven't stuck with it long enough to be a habit. I guess I need to just keep trying until it really is a habit.
Journaling used to be something I did every day, but I stopped, and I am finding that it is difficult to get back in the habit. To be honest, I think the computer zaps so much out of me that it is part of the problem. Too much Facebook and email. I am sure social networking is the biggest creativity killer out there.
Anyway, I recommend this book if you're a writer and you're weight conscious. Or if you're weight conscious and are just looking for another way to think about it. I think you will come away with some valuable thoughts.
Monday, October 03, 2011
Books: Portrait of a Killer
Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed
By Patricia Cornwell
Copyright 2002
522 VERY LONG pages
For my Detectives in Film and Literature class we are reading detective books, of course.
This is one of those books.
I hated it.
Patricia Cornwell is a good writer, don't get me wrong. But I am not a fan of the content of her novels. I don't like blood and gore. I like my entrails inside the body, and I'm not keen on reading about the mutilation of women's genital areas.
And that's just the first few pages of this particular book.
I will have nightmares for weeks.
Anyway, Patricia Cornwell "applied the rigorous discipline of twenty-first-century police investigation" to all the material she could find about Jack the Ripper. She offers up a zillion reasons why she thinks a man named Walter Sickert was the psychopathic nut who went around cutting women's throats and mutilating their bodies in the last decades of the 19th century in London, England.
I know there are people who enjoy this type of thing, and if you are one of them, then I highly recommend this book to you.
If instead, you prefer a lot less blood and gore, then this is not the book for you.
For those who don't know, Jack the Ripper is the name given to the unidentified person who killed these unfortunate women way back when. The criminal was never caught.
Many other books offer up theories as to the identity of Jack the Ripper. Those theories include medical students, mentally ill persons, and a member of the royal family.
Walter Sickert was a London artist of some note at the turn of the century.
Did Cornwell prove her case? I don't know. She had a lot of circumstantial evidence, some DNA stuff, and much speculation. Does the fact that someone painted a picture of a murdered person make him a murderer?
She did prove to me that Sickert was most likely mentally ill and that he could have been Jack the Ripper.
Somebody give me a handi-wipe for my poor brain. It will never be the same.
By Patricia Cornwell
Copyright 2002
522 VERY LONG pages
For my Detectives in Film and Literature class we are reading detective books, of course.
This is one of those books.
I hated it.
Patricia Cornwell is a good writer, don't get me wrong. But I am not a fan of the content of her novels. I don't like blood and gore. I like my entrails inside the body, and I'm not keen on reading about the mutilation of women's genital areas.
And that's just the first few pages of this particular book.
I will have nightmares for weeks.
Anyway, Patricia Cornwell "applied the rigorous discipline of twenty-first-century police investigation" to all the material she could find about Jack the Ripper. She offers up a zillion reasons why she thinks a man named Walter Sickert was the psychopathic nut who went around cutting women's throats and mutilating their bodies in the last decades of the 19th century in London, England.
I know there are people who enjoy this type of thing, and if you are one of them, then I highly recommend this book to you.
If instead, you prefer a lot less blood and gore, then this is not the book for you.
For those who don't know, Jack the Ripper is the name given to the unidentified person who killed these unfortunate women way back when. The criminal was never caught.
Many other books offer up theories as to the identity of Jack the Ripper. Those theories include medical students, mentally ill persons, and a member of the royal family.
Walter Sickert was a London artist of some note at the turn of the century.
Did Cornwell prove her case? I don't know. She had a lot of circumstantial evidence, some DNA stuff, and much speculation. Does the fact that someone painted a picture of a murdered person make him a murderer?
She did prove to me that Sickert was most likely mentally ill and that he could have been Jack the Ripper.
Somebody give me a handi-wipe for my poor brain. It will never be the same.
Friday, March 04, 2011
Books: War on the Middle Class
War on the Middle Class
By Lou Dobbs
Read by the Author
Abridged
Copyright 2006
I grabbed this audiobook in desperation the other day when I was in the local library and couldn't find anything I wanted to listen to in the car. Now that I am in school, I have an additional two hours of driving time every week that requires something in the audiobook line.
Lou Dobbs, at the time of this writing, had a show on CNN. He is now on FOX, or will be soon, with a show debuting at March 14. That is not an endorsement or even a suggestion to watch: I don't watch anything at all if it appears on FOX as I refuse to support the network and its corporate heads. It's just information.
In the War on the Middle Class, Dobbs calls himself a liberal conservative. I strongly suspect he is now tea partier but since I don't listen to his radio show or read his other books or have anything else to do with him, I cannot say for certain. This book sounds like early tea party idealogy, however, in many respects. Late in the book Dobbs declares himself an Independent and suggests everyone should change their voting affiliation to Independent in order to get the attention of the politicians. So maybe he's just a right-leaning moderate, much as I consider myself to be a left-leaning moderate.
In this book, which is admittedly old now though it maintains some relevance, Dobbs advocates for the middle class. He explains how trade imbalances have sent jobs overseas, how the corporate sector has taken over the government, how public education is failing (he does, however, believe in public education, not private school vouchers, or did at the time he wrote this book), and how illegal immigration is over taxing the public sector and is the result of corporate greed. He also advocates for a universal health care system, one which would cover everyone and include catastrophic health care to keep people from going bankrupt simply because they are ill. I have no idea what he thinks now that we actually are headed in that direction.
These opinions and information, of course, are all from 2006, before we had a change of presidency and the political climate grew even nastier than it already was. I can't say where he stands on any of these issues now.
I do believe there is a war on the middle class, and I believe it is being waged by corporations and the politicians, on both sides, who only believe in capitalism and not in democracy. DEMOCRACY AND CAPITALISM ARE NOT THE SAME THING, and one day maybe people will realize that. I doubt it happens in my lifetime, though. (Go to the links at Merriam-Webster above and read the definitions. Neither one refers back to the other.)
This book offers an interesting historic perspective and I really could see the beginnings of some of the tea party ideas in these writings, thanks to hindsight. That and a quarter will buy me next to nothing.
I don't see that he has anything out that is current. That's too bad, because even if he is now on FOX, he seems to have a grasp of some of the issues and is good at explaining.
By Lou Dobbs
Read by the Author
Abridged
Copyright 2006
I grabbed this audiobook in desperation the other day when I was in the local library and couldn't find anything I wanted to listen to in the car. Now that I am in school, I have an additional two hours of driving time every week that requires something in the audiobook line.
Lou Dobbs, at the time of this writing, had a show on CNN. He is now on FOX, or will be soon, with a show debuting at March 14. That is not an endorsement or even a suggestion to watch: I don't watch anything at all if it appears on FOX as I refuse to support the network and its corporate heads. It's just information.
In the War on the Middle Class, Dobbs calls himself a liberal conservative. I strongly suspect he is now tea partier but since I don't listen to his radio show or read his other books or have anything else to do with him, I cannot say for certain. This book sounds like early tea party idealogy, however, in many respects. Late in the book Dobbs declares himself an Independent and suggests everyone should change their voting affiliation to Independent in order to get the attention of the politicians. So maybe he's just a right-leaning moderate, much as I consider myself to be a left-leaning moderate.
In this book, which is admittedly old now though it maintains some relevance, Dobbs advocates for the middle class. He explains how trade imbalances have sent jobs overseas, how the corporate sector has taken over the government, how public education is failing (he does, however, believe in public education, not private school vouchers, or did at the time he wrote this book), and how illegal immigration is over taxing the public sector and is the result of corporate greed. He also advocates for a universal health care system, one which would cover everyone and include catastrophic health care to keep people from going bankrupt simply because they are ill. I have no idea what he thinks now that we actually are headed in that direction.
These opinions and information, of course, are all from 2006, before we had a change of presidency and the political climate grew even nastier than it already was. I can't say where he stands on any of these issues now.
I do believe there is a war on the middle class, and I believe it is being waged by corporations and the politicians, on both sides, who only believe in capitalism and not in democracy. DEMOCRACY AND CAPITALISM ARE NOT THE SAME THING, and one day maybe people will realize that. I doubt it happens in my lifetime, though. (Go to the links at Merriam-Webster above and read the definitions. Neither one refers back to the other.)
This book offers an interesting historic perspective and I really could see the beginnings of some of the tea party ideas in these writings, thanks to hindsight. That and a quarter will buy me next to nothing.
I don't see that he has anything out that is current. That's too bad, because even if he is now on FOX, he seems to have a grasp of some of the issues and is good at explaining.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
Books: Still Procrastinating
Still Procrastinating?
the no-regrets guide to getting it done
By Joseph R. Ferrari, Ph.D.
Copyright 2010
237 pages
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
It is no secret that I have trouble with certain projects, most particularly some of my own work such as book writing, querying, etc. You know, the things I am supposed to be doing as a writer.
I am not late for appointments or meetings (unless there is an emergency), I return phone calls, and don't miss deadlines on assignments. I always turned in my schoolwork on time, too. Still, I consider procrastination a problem for me because of my inability to stay focused on my personal tasks.
I have read a number of time management books and other ways to boost productivity and end procrastination. A few have helped but nothing has been a full-scale saving grace. That goes for this book, too.
Here is a Guidepost article which quotes the author of this book. If you have any interest in this topic at all, I suggest reading this just as an FYI.
Still Procrastinating, written by a "distinguished professor of psychology at DePaul University," was the first book on procrastination that I actually found insulting. The author's writing reminded me of the attitude Jillian has on The Biggest Losers; i.e., she absolutely loathes obese people and has made it her life's work to eradicate them from the world in whatever mean way she possibly can. The author of Still Procrastinating apparently feels the same way about people who are late for meetings.
Additionally, I had a lot of trouble getting past a single sentence: "I try never to be late (eg., I leave my house at 5:15 a.m. for an 8 a.m. class, and it is only a thirty-five minute ride from home to campus - but you never know how bad the traffic will be, which could prevent you from getting to Chicago.). Okay then.
Maybe that is normal for you, but leaving three hours early for an appointment that is 35 minutes away seems like some other kind of personality issue to me - unless the appointment really is 2.5 hours away.
Anyway, the author uses words like "maladaptive" to describe procrastinators and blames this segment of society for most of the ills of the world, right down to the Christmas holiday sales and the way the government runs. Wow. I had no idea.
Additionally, he finds absolutely no validity in procrastination, even though his studies have determined that fully 1/5 of the world population has a serious procrastination problem, and that everyone procrastinates at some point in his or her life. He dismissed notions that procrastination is a part of the creative process although he did concede that many people in the arts are procrastinators.
I had a difficult time getting past the author's attitude but read the entire book hoping for some kind of hint that would help me with what I perceive as my procrastination problem. Unfortunately, while there were one or two good ideas in this book, the main message was "just do it," as if we all are Nike commercials waiting to happen. I do believe I've gotten more out of a good time management book.
One of his discussions talked about "minding the gap" and this was one I liked but he offered little in the way of solutions. The idea is there is a problem between intention and action; i.e., I set about to write something but never complete the action, or even move into performing the action. I have this trouble with longer creative works in particular, and according to this author, this is because I see the whole and not the parts. The whole is scary but the parts are doable, but the breaking down of the project, or the inability to do so, is the issue. While the author acknowledged and accurately described all of this, his only solution was to break it into parts and "do it." Well, I am pretty sure that anyone who acknowledges they have an issue knows that this is what needs to be done; there is still a gap there that went unaddressed, and inaction to action for some people takes a little something more. Or at least, it does for me on some things.
The author writes that people who claim to be night owls really are procrastinating, that people really do not work best under deadline pressures - pretty much every belief or myth one may hold about procrastination he considers an excuse not to perform. Perfectionists are really procrastinators in disguise, by the way. Perfectionists need to get real and go for 80 percent perfect or right; anything more is overkill, according to this author.
Procrastinators also have as much time as everybody else; their perception of it is different, though.
Basically, procrastination boils down to a self-esteem issue. Doesn't everything?
Some of the information in this book sounded correct and I readily concede that procrastination is a problem for me and many others. I am not arguing with the correctness of the information. I do take issue with the tone in which it is delivered, though. If you wish to learn about procrastination from the point of view that it's a terrible problem and maybe gain a little understanding about that, then I recommend this book. If you don't like being called "maladaptive" for being human, and obviously I took offense at this, then I recommend you leave this one on the shelf.
Here are some of his tips for getting organized:
Create a sense of time urgency for the tasks you need to get done.
Figure out how long the task will take
Jot down a to-do list
Hold yourself accountable for getting things done
Keep your desk and workplace decluttered
Throw away the trash
Recognize the times in your work plan when you must focus on other tasks
For unpleasant tasks, give yourself 15 minute blocks of time to accomplish them
Prioritize
Don't be a "people pleaser".
Reward yourself if you accomplish 80 percent or more of your to-do list. (107-109)
Here are a few other quotes from the book:
"Popular theories would have us believe that procrastinators are unable to engage in strong self-control or to delay their gratification. In other words, they experience a failure to self-regulate." (86)
"do the difficult tasks before the easy ones" (86)
"Knowing the difference between what is important to get right and what is less important may save you lots of time and countless headaches." (94)
"...procrastinators delay just about any task - it doesn't matter what it is. They perceive the tasks that they delay, however, as unpleasant and possibly revealing of their level of skills and abilities." (133)
"learning to deal with procrastination means taking ownership of your strengths and your weaknesses. Change occurs when you realize that you must conquer your challenges. . . . Don't blame others, don't blame yourself - just take ownership of your life and move forward." (158) (Just Do It, damnit!)
"Prevention, not procrastination, is the message I am asking Americans to adopt. Let's postpone procrastination as a nation! ... As a culture, as a society, we need to focus on getting things done. We need to have new systems to promote people's meeting deadlines. Incentives need to be created for folks to act." (215-216) (I thought we were human beings, not human doings; guess I was wrong.)
the no-regrets guide to getting it done
By Joseph R. Ferrari, Ph.D.
Copyright 2010
237 pages
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
It is no secret that I have trouble with certain projects, most particularly some of my own work such as book writing, querying, etc. You know, the things I am supposed to be doing as a writer.
I am not late for appointments or meetings (unless there is an emergency), I return phone calls, and don't miss deadlines on assignments. I always turned in my schoolwork on time, too. Still, I consider procrastination a problem for me because of my inability to stay focused on my personal tasks.
I have read a number of time management books and other ways to boost productivity and end procrastination. A few have helped but nothing has been a full-scale saving grace. That goes for this book, too.
Here is a Guidepost article which quotes the author of this book. If you have any interest in this topic at all, I suggest reading this just as an FYI.
Still Procrastinating, written by a "distinguished professor of psychology at DePaul University," was the first book on procrastination that I actually found insulting. The author's writing reminded me of the attitude Jillian has on The Biggest Losers; i.e., she absolutely loathes obese people and has made it her life's work to eradicate them from the world in whatever mean way she possibly can. The author of Still Procrastinating apparently feels the same way about people who are late for meetings.
Additionally, I had a lot of trouble getting past a single sentence: "I try never to be late (eg., I leave my house at 5:15 a.m. for an 8 a.m. class, and it is only a thirty-five minute ride from home to campus - but you never know how bad the traffic will be, which could prevent you from getting to Chicago.). Okay then.
Maybe that is normal for you, but leaving three hours early for an appointment that is 35 minutes away seems like some other kind of personality issue to me - unless the appointment really is 2.5 hours away.
Anyway, the author uses words like "maladaptive" to describe procrastinators and blames this segment of society for most of the ills of the world, right down to the Christmas holiday sales and the way the government runs. Wow. I had no idea.
Additionally, he finds absolutely no validity in procrastination, even though his studies have determined that fully 1/5 of the world population has a serious procrastination problem, and that everyone procrastinates at some point in his or her life. He dismissed notions that procrastination is a part of the creative process although he did concede that many people in the arts are procrastinators.
I had a difficult time getting past the author's attitude but read the entire book hoping for some kind of hint that would help me with what I perceive as my procrastination problem. Unfortunately, while there were one or two good ideas in this book, the main message was "just do it," as if we all are Nike commercials waiting to happen. I do believe I've gotten more out of a good time management book.
One of his discussions talked about "minding the gap" and this was one I liked but he offered little in the way of solutions. The idea is there is a problem between intention and action; i.e., I set about to write something but never complete the action, or even move into performing the action. I have this trouble with longer creative works in particular, and according to this author, this is because I see the whole and not the parts. The whole is scary but the parts are doable, but the breaking down of the project, or the inability to do so, is the issue. While the author acknowledged and accurately described all of this, his only solution was to break it into parts and "do it." Well, I am pretty sure that anyone who acknowledges they have an issue knows that this is what needs to be done; there is still a gap there that went unaddressed, and inaction to action for some people takes a little something more. Or at least, it does for me on some things.
The author writes that people who claim to be night owls really are procrastinating, that people really do not work best under deadline pressures - pretty much every belief or myth one may hold about procrastination he considers an excuse not to perform. Perfectionists are really procrastinators in disguise, by the way. Perfectionists need to get real and go for 80 percent perfect or right; anything more is overkill, according to this author.
Procrastinators also have as much time as everybody else; their perception of it is different, though.
Basically, procrastination boils down to a self-esteem issue. Doesn't everything?
Some of the information in this book sounded correct and I readily concede that procrastination is a problem for me and many others. I am not arguing with the correctness of the information. I do take issue with the tone in which it is delivered, though. If you wish to learn about procrastination from the point of view that it's a terrible problem and maybe gain a little understanding about that, then I recommend this book. If you don't like being called "maladaptive" for being human, and obviously I took offense at this, then I recommend you leave this one on the shelf.
Here are some of his tips for getting organized:
Create a sense of time urgency for the tasks you need to get done.
Figure out how long the task will take
Jot down a to-do list
Hold yourself accountable for getting things done
Keep your desk and workplace decluttered
Throw away the trash
Recognize the times in your work plan when you must focus on other tasks
For unpleasant tasks, give yourself 15 minute blocks of time to accomplish them
Prioritize
Don't be a "people pleaser".
Reward yourself if you accomplish 80 percent or more of your to-do list. (107-109)
Here are a few other quotes from the book:
"Popular theories would have us believe that procrastinators are unable to engage in strong self-control or to delay their gratification. In other words, they experience a failure to self-regulate." (86)
"do the difficult tasks before the easy ones" (86)
"Knowing the difference between what is important to get right and what is less important may save you lots of time and countless headaches." (94)
"...procrastinators delay just about any task - it doesn't matter what it is. They perceive the tasks that they delay, however, as unpleasant and possibly revealing of their level of skills and abilities." (133)
"learning to deal with procrastination means taking ownership of your strengths and your weaknesses. Change occurs when you realize that you must conquer your challenges. . . . Don't blame others, don't blame yourself - just take ownership of your life and move forward." (158) (Just Do It, damnit!)
"Prevention, not procrastination, is the message I am asking Americans to adopt. Let's postpone procrastination as a nation! ... As a culture, as a society, we need to focus on getting things done. We need to have new systems to promote people's meeting deadlines. Incentives need to be created for folks to act." (215-216) (I thought we were human beings, not human doings; guess I was wrong.)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Thursday Thirteen
Thirteen books I've read this year (but I've read many more than 13). The links on the books either take you to my full review of the book or to the author's page if it is available and I have not put a review on this blog.
1. The Christmas Train, by David Baldacci. This was my first Baldacci book and so far of the three I've listened to on audio tape it is my favorite. Aging war reporter Tom takes train trip across US and runs into old flame.
2. America's Women, by Gail Collins. My favorite nonfiction book so far this year. A wonderful synopsis of the struggles of women as well as an explanation of where we are today. I was left inspired and amazed.
3. The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, by Heidi Durrow. A biracial coming of age story with a hint of a mystery. Excellent characterization and a heartbreaking story.
4. Through Wolf's Eyes, by Janet Linkskold. Orphaned wolf-girl with magical powers returns to culture to fix majestic problems. First in a series; I read two others before giving out and taking a break from this line. I thought the first book was the best.
5. Wildwood Dancing, by Juliet Marillier. I love Marillier's books and this was no exception. Young girls go through a magic door to a magic kingdom. There are always consequences.
6. Hearts on a String, by Kris Radish. Five very different women are stranded in the same room in a five-star hotel. Laughter and a bit of a mystery ensues.
7. Sea Glass, by Anita Shreve. A thoughtful book set in the early 1900s and the Great Depression. Exquisitely written with wonderful characters and terrific setting. Multiple themes of life, death, hope, love. This is a brilliant book, solid and sturdy as a New Hampshire fishing village.
8. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. A book that every southern woman should read. This is a story of race relations and the art of being a neighbor, among other things.
9. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, by JRR Tolkien. Frodo saves the world and Aragorn becomes king. In between there is a lot of world-building and things to discover. The father of fantasy.
10. All Over the Map, by Laura Fraser. This memoir takes the reader to many different countries as the writer embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
11. The Blueberry Years, by Jim Minick. Memoir of a local blueberry farmer. Poetic prose and lots to think about.
12. Dune Road, by Jane Green. Okay beach read; a lot of redundancy in the writing.
13. Finger Lickin' Fifteen, by Janet Evanovich. I hadn't read a Stephanie Plum book in a few years, having tired of them. It was nice to revisit familiar character.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a number of years and this is my 157th time to do a list 13 on a Thursday.
1. The Christmas Train, by David Baldacci. This was my first Baldacci book and so far of the three I've listened to on audio tape it is my favorite. Aging war reporter Tom takes train trip across US and runs into old flame.
2. America's Women, by Gail Collins. My favorite nonfiction book so far this year. A wonderful synopsis of the struggles of women as well as an explanation of where we are today. I was left inspired and amazed.
3. The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, by Heidi Durrow. A biracial coming of age story with a hint of a mystery. Excellent characterization and a heartbreaking story.
4. Through Wolf's Eyes, by Janet Linkskold. Orphaned wolf-girl with magical powers returns to culture to fix majestic problems. First in a series; I read two others before giving out and taking a break from this line. I thought the first book was the best.
5. Wildwood Dancing, by Juliet Marillier. I love Marillier's books and this was no exception. Young girls go through a magic door to a magic kingdom. There are always consequences.
6. Hearts on a String, by Kris Radish. Five very different women are stranded in the same room in a five-star hotel. Laughter and a bit of a mystery ensues.
7. Sea Glass, by Anita Shreve. A thoughtful book set in the early 1900s and the Great Depression. Exquisitely written with wonderful characters and terrific setting. Multiple themes of life, death, hope, love. This is a brilliant book, solid and sturdy as a New Hampshire fishing village.
8. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. A book that every southern woman should read. This is a story of race relations and the art of being a neighbor, among other things.
9. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, by JRR Tolkien. Frodo saves the world and Aragorn becomes king. In between there is a lot of world-building and things to discover. The father of fantasy.
10. All Over the Map, by Laura Fraser. This memoir takes the reader to many different countries as the writer embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
11. The Blueberry Years, by Jim Minick. Memoir of a local blueberry farmer. Poetic prose and lots to think about.
12. Dune Road, by Jane Green. Okay beach read; a lot of redundancy in the writing.
13. Finger Lickin' Fifteen, by Janet Evanovich. I hadn't read a Stephanie Plum book in a few years, having tired of them. It was nice to revisit familiar character.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a number of years and this is my 157th time to do a list 13 on a Thursday.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Books: The Blueberry Years
My review of Jim Minick's The Blueberry Years, printed in The Roanoke Times today, can be viewed here. Copyright issues keep me from printing it in its entirety but please go and read it if you like.
The nonfiction book is about growing blueberries in nearby Floyd County.
Minick, a Radford University professor, also wrote a column for the Roanoke Times' New River Valley edition. His last column, printed in August of this year, is located here.
Minick's website is here.
It's a very interesting book.
The nonfiction book is about growing blueberries in nearby Floyd County.
Minick, a Radford University professor, also wrote a column for the Roanoke Times' New River Valley edition. His last column, printed in August of this year, is located here.
Minick's website is here.
It's a very interesting book.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Books: The Tao of Writing
The Tao of Writing
by Ralph L. Wahlstrom
Copyright 2006
210 pages
The title of this book grabbed me when I saw it on the shelf. I don't know a lot about Eastern philosophy but I like what I do know. This book is taglined "Imagine. Create. Flow." What could be better?
The book goes into the Tao and offers some of the sayings for which that philosophy is known. The book then applies it to writing. For example, "The Taoist writer must write with compassion, balance, humility, and firm adherence to truth." (130).
There was not a lot of preaching in here, although toward the end the author did admonish writers to write for peace. "All peace is local and begins within ourselves and our lives." (136). That's a great line.
Additionally, the book covers a little Feng Shui for writers. Rid thyself of clutter, says the author (yes, I'm guilty of that!). Clutter is distraction, and distraction is something else one must be aware of. Distractions can be TV, radio, the computer and Internet, your friends, the laundry - all of the things that take a writer away from the words.
As far as room arrangement, he recommends that for good Feng Shui one should not have her back to the door (which I do). The entry should be free of clutter and barriers. This is to allow the energy to flow in. If you must sit with your back to the door, put up a mirror so you can see the entrance.
The room should have a view (mine does, thank goodness). It should be well-lit. The desk should not be in a corner; instead, your back should be the corner or wall.
Throw out the stuff you aren't using.
He recommends a nice dark blue rug in the middle of the room.
As far as other colors, he gives a list of what the colors may mean but does not make recommendations, other than to keep it light.
At the end of the book, the author offers up 70 ideas for "writing the Tao." These range from writing about hope (No. 49) to writing haiku (No. 56). There is also a nice bibliography at the end (but no index and in this day and age every nonfiction book should have an index).
One word of caution: I did find this to be somewhat difficult reading. The author likes long sentences and long lists that go on and on without breaking them up. It took me two weeks to get through this book, and I read two others during the same time period. This is the book I carried around with me to read while I was at the doctor's office or during other waits.
I also recommend this for mostly for really serious writers, or students of the Tao philosophy who are writers.
by Ralph L. Wahlstrom
Copyright 2006
210 pages
The title of this book grabbed me when I saw it on the shelf. I don't know a lot about Eastern philosophy but I like what I do know. This book is taglined "Imagine. Create. Flow." What could be better?
The book goes into the Tao and offers some of the sayings for which that philosophy is known. The book then applies it to writing. For example, "The Taoist writer must write with compassion, balance, humility, and firm adherence to truth." (130).
There was not a lot of preaching in here, although toward the end the author did admonish writers to write for peace. "All peace is local and begins within ourselves and our lives." (136). That's a great line.
Additionally, the book covers a little Feng Shui for writers. Rid thyself of clutter, says the author (yes, I'm guilty of that!). Clutter is distraction, and distraction is something else one must be aware of. Distractions can be TV, radio, the computer and Internet, your friends, the laundry - all of the things that take a writer away from the words.
As far as room arrangement, he recommends that for good Feng Shui one should not have her back to the door (which I do). The entry should be free of clutter and barriers. This is to allow the energy to flow in. If you must sit with your back to the door, put up a mirror so you can see the entrance.
The room should have a view (mine does, thank goodness). It should be well-lit. The desk should not be in a corner; instead, your back should be the corner or wall.
Throw out the stuff you aren't using.
He recommends a nice dark blue rug in the middle of the room.
As far as other colors, he gives a list of what the colors may mean but does not make recommendations, other than to keep it light.
At the end of the book, the author offers up 70 ideas for "writing the Tao." These range from writing about hope (No. 49) to writing haiku (No. 56). There is also a nice bibliography at the end (but no index and in this day and age every nonfiction book should have an index).
One word of caution: I did find this to be somewhat difficult reading. The author likes long sentences and long lists that go on and on without breaking them up. It took me two weeks to get through this book, and I read two others during the same time period. This is the book I carried around with me to read while I was at the doctor's office or during other waits.
I also recommend this for mostly for really serious writers, or students of the Tao philosophy who are writers.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Motivational Books & Tapes
Feel the Fear & Do It Anyway
By Susan Jeffers, Ph.D.
Copyright 1988
Audiobook. 60 minutes
How to Put More Time in Your Life
By Dru Scott, Ph.D.
Copyright 1988
Audiobook. 60 minutes
(Apparently out of print)
The Procrastination Cure (Putting an End to Putting it Off)
By Jane B. Burka, Ph.D. & Lenora M. Yuen, Ph.D.
Copyright 1989
Audiobook. 60 minutes
(Apparently out of print)
Relieve Stress
By Dr. Marlene E. Hunter, M.D.
Copyright ???
Audiobook. 60 minutes
(Apparently out of print)
The Power of Optimism
By Alan Loy McGinnis
Copyright 1993
Audiobook. 60 minutes
(Apparently out of print)
So, why tell you about a bunch of motivational tapes that are almost all out of print? Well, if you live in the Roanoke Valley you can check them out from the library, like I did, if you are interested.
I saw these on the shelf at the Blue Ridge Library a while back and on impulse took them all.
Pop psychology, I think these are called, and once they were the big thing in the motivational fields and in self-help circuits.
These tapes offer up ways to beat pessimism, find more time, overcome your fears, feel better about your life, and how to get moving if you're stuck in a rut.
They all say the same thing in different ways: you are what you think, and your thoughts control how you feel, so if you can gain control over your thoughts you can move forward and onward and be happy and live a great life.
They are very cheerful things to listen to, and who knows, you may learn a technique from one of them that you have not tried and find it to be just the thing to stimulate positive change.
I actually plan to listen to them all again before I turn them in to the library, maybe this time in the house instead of the car. That way I can have a pencil ready to jot down a few ideas that I liked.
I wonder where to find today's equivalent to these things - podcasts, maybe?
Feel the Fear, by the way, is a good book. I read it about four years ago and found it helpful. It is still on my shelf. The audiobook is an early version of the print book, I think.
By Susan Jeffers, Ph.D.
Copyright 1988
Audiobook. 60 minutes
How to Put More Time in Your Life
By Dru Scott, Ph.D.
Copyright 1988
Audiobook. 60 minutes
(Apparently out of print)
The Procrastination Cure (Putting an End to Putting it Off)
By Jane B. Burka, Ph.D. & Lenora M. Yuen, Ph.D.
Copyright 1989
Audiobook. 60 minutes
(Apparently out of print)
Relieve Stress
By Dr. Marlene E. Hunter, M.D.
Copyright ???
Audiobook. 60 minutes
(Apparently out of print)
The Power of Optimism
By Alan Loy McGinnis
Copyright 1993
Audiobook. 60 minutes
(Apparently out of print)
So, why tell you about a bunch of motivational tapes that are almost all out of print? Well, if you live in the Roanoke Valley you can check them out from the library, like I did, if you are interested.
I saw these on the shelf at the Blue Ridge Library a while back and on impulse took them all.
Pop psychology, I think these are called, and once they were the big thing in the motivational fields and in self-help circuits.
These tapes offer up ways to beat pessimism, find more time, overcome your fears, feel better about your life, and how to get moving if you're stuck in a rut.
They all say the same thing in different ways: you are what you think, and your thoughts control how you feel, so if you can gain control over your thoughts you can move forward and onward and be happy and live a great life.
They are very cheerful things to listen to, and who knows, you may learn a technique from one of them that you have not tried and find it to be just the thing to stimulate positive change.
I actually plan to listen to them all again before I turn them in to the library, maybe this time in the house instead of the car. That way I can have a pencil ready to jot down a few ideas that I liked.
I wonder where to find today's equivalent to these things - podcasts, maybe?
Feel the Fear, by the way, is a good book. I read it about four years ago and found it helpful. It is still on my shelf. The audiobook is an early version of the print book, I think.
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