Tips

This week I finished: Gulag: A History, by Anne Applebaum: I read, listened, and watched a lot on the gulag system while reading Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago. This book came up a lot, after all it won a Pulitzer. Compared to Solzhenitsyn, it's more scholarly and researched, less personal and biting. I think only survivors could include humor like his. Applebaum said she was prompted to write this book in part based on seeing USSR memorabilia sold to tourists in Eastern Europe, noting that no one would consider buying and wearing Nazi memorabilia. She commented what many have and what these works have led me to conclude: Americans don't know or understand enough about what happened in the USSR. Many people consider The Gulag Archipelago essential…

This week I finished: Thoughts on Government, Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies, by John Adams: This pamphlet is shorter than some blog posts, but covers a major part of what became the Constitution. Adams wrote it in the spring of 1776, after Common Sense and before the Declaration of Independence, which Adams helped write. I understand that Adams was mailing people his ideas of how a republic could work and endure. He wasn't the first. Colonists up and down the coast were taking on that challenge. He promoted three branches with two legislative bodies, checks and balances, limited terms, and more that found its way into the Constitution. If you're curious how the Constitution formed, this document shows how people thought…

This week I finished: The Arcadian, by podcast guest Steven Pressfield: The book's cover describes it as genre-bending and it is. I'm scheduled to record a second episode with Steven this week, so look for the recording soon. I found it hard to put down. Steven makes the details vivid---of one character's toes gripping the grass or the size of the splinters of a piece of wood being broken. I kept imagining how to make it visual if made into a movie. After a while, it becomes clear that the main characters are in a cycle of rebirth. That concept would seem to me Hindu or Buddhist, but it's western: Christian, Roman, Pagan, a bit of Jewish. I'm not sure the meaning or value of…

This week I finished: How To Know Your Self: The Art and Science of Discovering Who You Really Are, by soon-to-be podcast guest J. Eric Oliver: I'm scheduled to record an episode with Oliver. He is a professor at the University of Chicago. He teaches in the political science department, but has also taught a course for undergraduates that is apparently popular on knowing yourself. As I understand, this book is based on that course. People had asked him for years if he could recommend a book on knowing yourself. He could recommend hundreds, but not a single one, so he wrote it. The book overlaps with my leadership classes and my book Leadership Step by Step, though mine is more experiential. His covers a…

This week I finished: Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants, by H. W. Brands: The following words go through my mind a lot these days: We learn about Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Douglass, Lincoln, Gandhi, Mandela, and MLK because we want to be like them. Learning about role models helps us learn to live like them. But if we want to learn about who we are, we should learn about people like John C. Calhoun and Benedict Arnold. It's uncomfortable to accept, but the people in the first list are so important because they had to overcome so much resistance, which came from everyone else, which most of us resemble. We…

This week I finished: How to Get What You Want: Mastering the Art and Science of Persuasion, by podcast guest Josh Bandoch: This book compiles many essential building blocks of persuasion and influence into one place. Josh B. and I talk about it at length in podcast episode 849. I wish I'd had this book decades ago. It handles myths many people hold about persuasion that hold people back, then builds up the skills and theory to influence and persuade people effectively. I recommend it, and would if I didn't know Josh B. In fact, our shared passion for learning, teaching, and coaching how to lead is a major piece of what connects us. This Is Spinal Tap, directed by Rob Reiner: After watching The…

This week I finished: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, by Isabel Wilkerson: I don't know if or when I'll meet Isabel Wilkerson, but I can't wait. Her book begins and ends with significant talk about sustainability. I think she sees her work on caste, race, and racism as relevant, but I suspect it's far more relevant than she expects. I think we'd enjoy learning from each other. I think she'd see new ways to apply her work and inspiration to make that application. That said, this book approaches caste from a historical approach I consider too limited. That is, the caste system it describes starting in historical times existed long before. I took notes while finishing the book. I'm going to take the prerogative…

I generally don't just repost other people's material and try to put media I finished each week on my Sunday posts, but I saw two short videos I thought you might like that were too short to mention there. I recommend them. The first is from Not Just Bikes by podcast guest Jason Slaughter. I recommend all his videos and I have watched them all. This one summarizes them. It also mentions the work of three other podcast guests: Climate Town Life After Cars / The War on Cars Strong Towns It's fun to be an active part of this community promoting living together without hurting each other. I recommend listening to their episodes with me and watching all their work. But start with the…

This week I finished: Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840-1920, by Akhil Reed Amar: I came across Amar almost a year ago, learning about US Founders and Lincoln. By then I had finished biographies on Lincoln, Jefferson, and others, and was moving on to Madison. Here are the first videos I watched of him. My most important message on Amar and this book: The Constitution, Declaration, people who wrote them and ratified them, and their histories are relevant today to your and my life. In particular, they are relevant to how we as a nation handle pollution and depletion, though the book doesn't cover them. The book and Amar's work show how to apply it to daily life where people interact with each other. Since…

This week I finished: Ulysses S. Grant---A documentary on the 18th President, part 1: Grant plays a big role in my new book as a role model. He was a broke farmer recovering from malaria. His wife's family owned slaves, giving him an easy way to recover if he chose it. Meanwhile, his father refused to help him as long as he stayed with slaveholders. He had acquired a slave from his wife's family. He could have sold the slave or let the slave buy his freedom. Instead he granted the slave freedom. Then helped win the Civil War and became president. Yes, to have owned the slave violated his values, but could he have done everything that followed had he not repented and freed…

This week I finished: The Gulag Archipelago, volume 2, by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn: I think this book has changed my view of the world as much as it will, then it changes me more. The end of this volume becomes more reflective and introspective. It describes how it changes and corrupts society outside the archipelago. As horrific as the archipelago is on the inside, and how far beyond what I would have imagined, the changes to all of society, even those not in the gulag surprised me more. Everyone lies, which is just the start. I keep seeing more why people call this book essential and how it motivates people to protect freedom. I had plenty reason before, but far more now. A big part of…

This week I finished: Gulag---The Story: A three-part documentary on Gulags made in France and posted on a channel called Free Documentary---History, which looks full of documentaries that look interesting, though I haven't watched any others. I'm about halfway through the second volume of The Gulag Archipelago. I'm curious other views of the Gulag system, the USSR, Stalin, and the system that I knew existed but hadn't learned about. Since I'm learning about how tyranny happens and how to stop it, learning about arguably the most totalitarian and deadly such system is relevant to my next book. So a couple documentaries are giving me alternative views from Solzhenitsyn. It's as awful as he describes, though the documentaries lack his personal inside view. They are more…

This week I finished: The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, volume 1, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: If I weren't reading these books I wouldn't believe they could exist. I understand why people consider them among the greatest and most important books of the twentieth century. First, about the book itself: Solzhenitsyn's writing is simple, clear, and often funny from being sardonic and mocking. He survived the gulag's so he knows what he's writing about. I'm listening to the recording online here and the narrator has prepared himself well. The technical quality of the audio isn't great, but I find the reading very listenable. About the content: I knew something of Stalin's gulag prison system. I knew something about slavery in the US and the…

This week I finished: Many Cine-Files podcast episodes, hosted by Steve Morris and John Rocha: I've been appreciating movies more lately. After each movie I like, I follow up with reviews. Following up Remains of the Day, I found this podcast of two guys in the movie industry talking about it with more depth and thoughtfulness than most reviews. It turns out they did a four-part survey of Scarface too, for about 7 or 8 hours. Normally I don't report on podcast episodes here, but I listened to so much and anticipate listening to more. They've been reviewing movies on this podcast about ten years and I found many I liked. Episodes I listened to or downloaded: Remains of the Day Scarface Spirited Away Chasing…

This week I finished: The Abolition of Man: Reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools, by CS Lewis: I read the Chronicles of Narnia as a kid but don't remember much of them. Then between Hillsdale College courses and other conservative speakers, I hear about CS Lewis all the time. I thought I'd start with a short book I heard mentioned a few times. Well, it's short, but not quick or easy. It started off easy enough to follow, but it didn't take long before I felt like I would have to write here something like: I must not be that smart because this book's writing was too hard for me to understand. I felt…

This week I finished: 8 Billion Angels, directed by Terry Spahr: I've become friends with Terry since first watching his documentary on overpopulation years ago. He recently released it free on YouTube. I recommend it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_XZtF-I7vo Here's the movie's page: https://8billionangels.org. From Scientific American: Eight Billion People in the World Is a Crisis, Not an Achievement The major driver of plant and animal loss is habitat destruction caused primarily by the encroachment of a swelling human population. By Naomi Oreskes The world reached two important milestones toward the end of last year. First, the human population passed eight billion in November, a whopping increase of one billion people since 2011. Then, in December, representatives of 188 governments adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, promising to conserve and…

This week I finished: In the Mood for Love, directed by Wong Kar-Wai: It's hard not to first mention this movie's style in the qipaos, hair, make-up, ties, and music. Each dress and hairdo must have taken hours to get right each time, looked sewn-in. The word I keep coming back to for the style is: perfect. What a beautiful movie. But the movie covers more than style. Who hasn't had their heart broken? Who hasn't been cheated on? Who hasn't had to live with choices we couldn't take back but had to keep living with them? Despite the gravity and emotion of the characters' situation, it felt impersonal to me through most of the movie. That is, until the end, when it became universal.…

This week I finished: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn: I'm sure I read this book before, but long enough ago that this time was almost anew. I've been reading about liberty, freedom, equality, and democracy. I've read and written about slavery and the Holocaust. Soviet / Stalinist gulags are on par, but different, and equally important to understand what a nation, or dominance hierarchy, can devolve into. I won't try to put into words the world that Solzhenitsyn can and did. He lived it for eight years. The book conveys a dystopia human beings created for each other. It's personal and human beyond what history books convey. I'm learning more about the history too. I'm not sure if or…

This week I finished: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended on It, by podcast guest Chris Voss: I read this book before recording the podcast with Chris and liked it, but not enough. This time I loved it. I think last time I compared it with Getting to Yes and thought it didn't add much knowledge. It mostly promoted the value of practice and tactics beyond the more theoretical Harvard book. This time it hit me how much more Chris presents besides the value of rehearsal and practice. Though it teaches specific tactics, they aren't just tips he found that work. They're embedded in strategy, mission, and vision based in more than just one guy trying things out. He developed them…

This week I finished: This America: The Case for the Nation, by Jill Lepore: I've seen Jill Lepore's books at the top of bestseller lists and read pieces she's written in the New Yorker and probably other places. Her work seems to overlap with authors I've found valuable: Akhil Reed Amar and Gordon Wood. Her two big books These Truths and We the People are huge and daunting, though reviews say they're wonderful to read. This book is shorter, so more accessible. It describes the difference between patriotism, which describes liking your country or people, and nationalism, which implies putting down others. I read her as motivated by seeing Trump and other populists gaining support, put off by liberals who fear patriotism, especially after World…