Laziness Does Not Exist

By Devon Price PhD. 

Part of me wants to love this book, especially the message. The narrative was too stuffed or choppy for me to deeply embrace it. The focus is too much on those who skimp on sleep, work 18 hour days and neglect their health. 

Things to take away...

Laziness Is Not Evil

If someone is acting lazy, then are they really...

• Not taking proper care of themselves?
• Depressed?
• Procrastinating?
• Apathetic?

Is your laziness a sign that you are depressed, procrastinating or apathetic? What is behind that?

Pick your battles.  Life is Messy. You can't do everything. Take care of yourself. Seek inspiration, not shame. You can't save the world. 

The author says the solution to all of this is boundless compassion. If we really want to dismantle the Laziness Lie and set our selves free, then we have to question every judgment of laziness.

 

Slow Productivity

By Cal Newport

Do less.

Work at a natural pace

Obsess over quality.

Newport covers the way genius grow there ideas.

Now, do I want to grow my ideas? Different question. 

Alison Roman

Nothing Fancy and Something From Nothing.

So, these cook books are fancy, and the recipes are not from nothing. Either that or Roman’s pantry is much more exotic than mine.

The recipes are wonderful. The techniques are never complicated, which is nice.

I want to keep them as a reference. 

Five Little Piggies

By Agatha Christie

As alway's, Christie's writing is high quality.

I appreciate her drive to vary the form of her mysteries, clues and characters without lowering quality or bringing in bizarre twists. After one writes dozens murder mysteries, it would be easy to stop caring. 

Feal Free

 by Zadie Smith

Amongst other things, Zadie takes pop culture and applies philosophy to it. 

"To be truly free, we had to rid ourselves of all bitterness and resentment too. How was this possible when bitterness and resentment are generated afresh every day?" -- This is open and unanswered.

"In Britain we are always doing this-- mistaking an esthetic choice for an ethical one"

"People can be too precious about their heritage, about their tradition-- writers especially. Preservation and protection have their place but they shouldn't block freedom or theft." Smith and cultural appropriation, not the theft of objects.

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist though any other medium." --Martha Graham on the drive to create.

"Compassion helps. You may not sleep the deep unruffled sleep of Hero Boy, but in Kaufman's (And Schopenhauer's) that's about as good as it gets. 

"Like so many of us, he remains stuck between those twin poles of want and boredom."  

"One way of dealing with the border of our own needs is to complicate them unnecessarily, so as to always have something new to desire."

World of Wonders

By Robertson Davis

A worthy conclusion to Davis’s Deptford series.

There is a theme in this book about how different people can have different perspectives on the same thing. To one person, a rock is a reminder of how small things may have big consequences. To another that rock is evidence of a grudge harbored over decades. These perspectives color, our choices and actions where the actual facts may suggest the situation is somewhere between the two. 

Davis uses these dueling perspectives to explore various topics, including Canada. Is it the backwaters of a dying empire? A blank canvas, full of new possibilities? 

The Voyager's Handbook: The Essential Guide to Blue Water CruisiNg

By Beth A. Leonard

Sometimes I dream of buying a boat and sailing away from it all.

It is a commitment. This book prepares you for that commitment-- the time, the money, the planning, the execution. 

The reality of that commitment always dampens my dream.