DAILY PHOTO: Qatari Ministry of the Interior
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PROMPT: Best
I’m not big on tabulating the “best” this or that. It feels like it hamstrings experience and puts one in a comparison mode in which one is always living half in the past. If it looks good, eat it, and then move on to the next experience — giving that experience your presence.
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DAILY PHOTO: Bridges of Jurong Lake Gardens, Singapore
PROMPT: Schools
It’d be nice if schools taught people how to NOT be docile, unquestioning worker-bees.
One can come through today’s education system with a PhD without emotional intelligence, self-confidence (beyond one’s silo,) a capacity to think soundly about a range of topics outside one’s discipline such that one recognizes potential unintended consequences and counter-intuitive influences, with an intolerance of competing worldviews, and with a lack of humility about what one knows and what humanity as a whole knows.
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Stone Bridge [Haiku]
in the forest,
an old stone bridge;
the sole work of man.
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DAILY PHOTO: Reflection
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DAILY PHOTO: Riverfront Property, Bratislava
PROMPT: Advice
The best advice I ever got was, “Don’t give unsolicited advice!” It surprised me a little because I wasn’t even talking to the guy. A stranger just came up to me out of the blue and shouted it in my face… but it is wise advice.
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BOOK: “The Rum Diary” by Hunter S. Thompson
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. ThompsonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Simon & Schuster
Thompson wrote this novel in the early 60’s but did nothing with it until the late 90’s when — apparently — he needed the money. That doesn’t sound like it would bode well for a work of literature, but it grew on me. The story follows a roughly six-month period from the time a journalist, Paul Kemp, arrives in Puerto Rico to start work at an English language newspaper in San Juan to the time he departs in the wake of the paper’s demise.
The plot is loose and late — by that I mean the most emotionally resonant events are clustered toward the book’s end. This doesn’t mean that it’s a slow-burn through the beginning and middle, per se. There is a lot of decadence and merriment going on among the protagonist and his colleagues that makes for an amusing read. Also, there is a bit of sexual tension as Kemp arrives on the island on the same plane as a pretty blonde who turns out to be the girlfriend of one of his co-workers (and thus verboten,) a girl who’s bad news, yet still the object of simmering obsession.
I found this to be a fun read and would recommend it for those curious about the hedonistic lifestyles of tropically based journalists in the 1950’s. Thompson apparently did spend some time in San Juan in 1960’s and the book is said to be loosely influenced by journalists he met and events that happened there.
Note: There is a movie. I have not seen it. Judging by the trailer, however, I would say it’s a quite loose adaptation beyond the setting and some of the characters in broad strokes.
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BOOK: “How to Know a Person” by David Brooks
How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David BrooksMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher – Penguin Random House
This book’s subtitle, “The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen,” gets pretty well to the crux, and among that mouthful the word that repeats, “Deeply,” is not to be overlooked. Brooks noticed that while on some level we are more readily connected than ever, there is also an epidemic of loneliness and personal dissatisfaction in the world the likes of which has never before been seen (and so that level on which we are hyper-connected must in some way be defective.) Brooks argues that most of us would benefit from a sea change in our approach to conversation, from asking more and better questions, from listening more carefully, from understanding how the other person’s world framing is different from one’s own, and from changing our conversational objectives (from things like making oneself look good or meeting societal conventions to making our interlocutor feel seen and worthing of one’s time and one’s interest.) In short, we should strive to be what Brooks calls “illuminators.”
The book devotes some special attention in its middle section to negotiating conversations that are difficult — how one can do a better job showing acknowledgment of one’s interlocuter’s perspective while in the same interaction expressing one’s own feelings and ideas.
I found this book to be highly engaging and perspective changing. Brooks uses fascinating and emotionally salient stories from the world, from his own life, and even from fiction. He also uses humor, anecdotes, and quotations to great effect. I learned a great deal from reading this book and would highly recommend it for anyone interested in being a better friend and conversationalist.
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