This week I finished: The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, by Philip Zimbardo: Many of us know something of the Stanford Prison Experiment. It was a psychology experiment in 1971 where a Stanford psychologist led a team that turned the basement of a building into a temporary prison-like space. They recruited two dozen local people whom they randomly assigned to play guards and prisoners for twelve days.[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: A Faith Undefeated, about Corrie ten Boom: I learned about Corrie ten Boom from Edith Eger’s The Choice. Eger only mentioned ten Boom’s name. Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch woman who lived with her family in Haarlem, Holland. The family ran a watchmaking and repair store that had operated over a century. They were devout Christians and when the Nazis took over, they helped Jews[…] Keep reading →

The paragraph and three questions below appeared in a recent post about learning from people whose ideas and views I don’t know enough to agree or disagree with. After writing them, I thought they deserved their own post. Part of why I’m posting and practicing these things is how clear disagreements become when one seeks to understand everyone independently of taking a side. Have you heard of the trend to[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, by Jon Meacham: I’d been seeing lately how much the pattern today of repeats how Thomas Jefferson lived. Today, people recognize his flaws. We wish that on slavery he had acted differently. We wish he had, as a politician, acted more to end slavery. We wish he had freed his slaves. We recognize that his personal actions caused internal conflict[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: The Choice: Embrace the Possible, by Dr. Edith Eger: At one point listening to this book, I started feeling choked up. Tears started welling up in my eyes. I asked myself, “When has a book made me cry?” “Has a book ever led me to cry?” I continued to ask myself. As the book continued, I started full-on bawling at the experience of the author, how[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others, by Adam Galinsky: Adam teaches leadership at Columbia Business School, where I learned there were classes in leadership and took them. In them, I learned that I could learn social and emotional skills. I eventually wrote a book on leadership, Leadership Step by Step, with a chapter called Inspire. I also recently met Adam in person at[…] Keep reading →

I’ve written before that if you do something that kills people and you don’t want to kill people, you have to stop doing that thing, even if you like it. That sentence seems about as matter of fact as you can get. It’s not designed to make anyone feel guilty. That polluting and depleting kill people isn’t an open question. We all pollute and deplete. Come to think of it,[…] Keep reading →

I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but in New York, people talk about psychedelic drugs a lot. Everyone is talking about microdosing (probably not as much as in California), going to shamans in Peru for ayahuasca, and so on. People describe the value of the experiences as life changing. I’m prompted by a recent New Yorker piece This Is Your Priest on Drugs: Dozens of religious leaders[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: The Way Home: Tales From a Life Without Technology, by Mark Boyle: I learned of Mark Boyle probably years ago and I think watched his TEDx talk. Recently a guest suggested I connect with an Australian woman, Jo Nemeth, who is living with no money. I connected with Jo, which led to engaging conversations. Jo describes Mark as a hero, which prompted me to read this[…] Keep reading →