Book of the Week

Last week (or maybe the week before) I tried to sell back some of my old textbooks. At the FTX Bookstore on Baxter, I was grieved to find that one of my books was outdated, and the other they had overstocked. But as I was waiting in line, a table of clearance books caught my eye. After eyeing them over, I found a book called Great Fortune: The Epic of the Rockefeller Center. The hardback book was heavy, and nearly 500 pages in length. My goal was to sell books, not buy more. But, needless to say, I departed from the bookstore with one book more than I had upon arrival.

The book it amazing. And the preface includes a line that I found particularly delightful. It reads,

To Lawrence F.H. Okrent,
who got me interested in
everything that's interesting

The book can be found at, http://www.amazon.com/Great-Fortune-Epic-Rockefeller-Center/dp/0670031690

Today I began to read; it's a slow read, but trendy and elegantly written, though heavy with content. I found myself growing angry at each customer who arrived and forced me to stop mid-sentence to care for their stupid laundry; why must they bother me?

Things I'd Like to Be

Ingenuous, Candid, Artless, Frank...

I used to think I could make everyone happy. I'm not sure what to think now, perhaps I'm more or less apathetic. Pleasing everyone means being adaptable, and being adaptable means changing, compromising; I used to do a lot of that. Some people just say whats on their mind, others are more methodical, calculated in approach. Though I hate to confess it, I'm probably more the latter. What I say depends on who you are, what you believe, etc. Maybe I should get into politics, or not; John Kerry didn't fair too well. I'd probably share his fate. The people I respect most are those who just say what they think, regardless of their audience. You may not like what they say, hell you may not like that person, period. But at least you don't have to double-analyze everything they say to interpret and cross-interpret the actual meaning. So I'm working on being candid. Sure there are advantages and disadvantages. Being candid can backfire on you, but I'd rather people know what I want.

Word of the Day

Sciolism

n. A pretentious attitude of scholarship; superficial knowledgeability. superficial knowledge.

[From Late Latin sciolus, smatterer, diminutive of Latin scius, knowing, from scīre, to know; see skei- in Indo-European roots.]

sci'o·list n., sci'o·lis'tic adj.

Social Innovation

Bill Strickland is my new hero. Seeing him speak was refreshing. His words carried weight, and I listened. Head of both the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and the Bidwell Training Center, Strickland impacts more lives than a John Maxwell speech could ever dream to accomplish. Strickland takes single-mothers and turns them into gourmet chefs, analytical chemists, and pharmacy technicians. His secret, just fresh flowers and sunlight. He takes struggling high-schoolers, and puts them in college. As he explained, "people are a function of environment, a function of hope." Thus, he asserts "we're in the attitude business, not just the training business."

Summer Reading List

The Tipping Point ~ Malcolm Gladwell

Diplomacy ~ Henry Kissinger

The Thinker's Thesaurus ~ Peter E. Meltzer

Einstein's Dreams ~ Alan Lightman

Deception Point ~ Dan Brown

The Chamber ~ John Grisham

Twilight Criterium