Hemingway’s Routine
In his book, Daily Rituals, Mason Currey dug into Hemmingway’s 1958 Paris Review interview: When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. …
Books
The Divine Comedy
Is Dante still relevant in our new world? As if to prove this point, the most recent season of Mad Men kicked off with John Ciardi’s 1954 translation of Inferno: Midway in our life’s journey, I …
America’s Food Crisis: The Omnivore’s Dilemma
As a follow up to the Michael Pollan food as culture post (on his new book Cooked), a reader passed along a link to this video on Pollan’s 2006 classic The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History …
Food As Culture
Food is so much more than a label. Food is cultural. As a culture, we’re cooking less and buying more prepared meals. Since the mid-sixties, the amount of time spent preparing meals has fallen …
James T. Mangan: 14 Ways to Acquire Knowledge
Brainpickings put me onto this timeless wisdom from famous eccentric James T. Mangan’s 1936 book You Can Do Anything! PRACTICE Consider the knowledge you already have — the things you really …
“That’s as far as they go. They can’t take it any further. And why not? Because they won’t put in the effort”
A brilliant passage from Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood on talent. There just happen to be people like that. They’re blessed with this marvelous talent, but they can’t make the effort to …
The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves
In his book, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves, Dan Ariely attempts to answer the question: “is dishonesty largely restricted to a few bad apples or is …
Why we Praise Meaningless Jargon and Fail to Realize the Emperor has No Clothes
“The CEO who misleads others in public may eventually mislead himself in private.” — Warren Buffett *** Is there a link between candor and execution? L. J. Rittenhouse thinks so. Rittenhouse is the …
Think Like Sherlock Holmes
When it comes to using our minds, we all want to learn how to think like Sherlock Holmes. This isn’t just a way of solving a crime. It’s a way of thinking. Maria Konnikova’s book, …
Temperament Matters: In Life and Business
I love this excerpt from Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking on Warren Buffett and temperament. Buffett is known for thinking carefully when those around him are …
Competitive Strategy
An organization’s core capabilities are those activities that, when performed at the highest level, enable the organization to bring its where-to-play and how-to-win choices to life. They are best …
The Art of Observation: The Two Types of Observations
Just because you see does not mean you observe. The difference between seeing and observing is fundamental to many aspects of life. Observation is more than simply seeing something, but rather a …
Technology and Intermittent Reinforcement
Recent digital technologies generate a perfect storm of anti-attention, largely because they draw on the tremendous power of what B. F. Skinner called ‘intermittent reinforcement.’ We click the ‘new …
The Revenge of Geography
In The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate, author Robert Kaplan offers a new way in which to view the global upheavals and to understand …
Brain Rules: 12 Ways to Supercharge Brain Power
If workplaces had nap rooms, multitasking was frowned upon, and meetings were held during walks, we’d be vastly more productive. These are just some of the things we know about how to optimize …
Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works
How Strategy Really Works is a book about strategy, written by A.G. Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, and Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management. The book covers the …