tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62282912024-03-14T01:17:12.988-05:00Word....it's all we have to go on...Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.comBlogger431125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-49695999115093914342021-03-26T13:56:00.005-05:002021-03-26T13:56:55.602-05:00RIP Larry McMurtryhttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/books/larry-mcmurtry-dead.html
Uva uvam vivendo varia fit.
-tfTim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-53488514582172102642018-06-03T11:13:00.004-05:002018-06-03T11:17:38.064-05:00Blankets by Craig Thompson<b>Blankets by Craig Thompson</b><br />
<br />
Blankets is a charming, innocent, long format graphic novel. My friend Molyx gave this one to me for my birthday. With the exception of Moore’s The Watchman, this is the first graphic novel I’ve read that had designs on being considered serious fiction. <br />
<br />
Blankets tells us the story of a young man from the American Midwest. He and his brother grow up in a highly religious household, obsessed by “the torments of Christ.” At church camp he falls in love with a young woman. They correspond, have a two week visit during her family’s implosion. Everyone grows up. <br />
<br />
Thompson beautifully captures the magic and tenderness and heartache of first love, adolescent grappling with religion, set against the snow-becoming-summer thaw of a Midwest spring. The writing and the artwork are both lovely. I quite enjoyed the novel, which certainly elevates the form. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-52165400879890743232017-12-24T20:13:00.000-06:002017-12-24T20:13:02.461-06:00The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon<b>The Yiddish Policeman’s Union</b> by <b>Michael Chabon</b><br />
A junkie is murdered. His next door neighbor in the flophouse motel is down-and-out police detective Landsman, who wakes up beside “the shotglass he’s been dating recently.” Turns out the junkie was shot in the back of the head execution style by a small caliber automatic. And since all of the jews who live in Sitka, Alaska only have another few months before they are exiled into a world that will not take them, Landsman has to move fast. <br />
<br />
Thus begins The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, a fascinating alternate history noir detective novel which ends up being a meditation on some of the concepts of judiasm and the self-made traps people and peoples find themselves unable to escape. <br />
<br />
As a noir detective novel, this is high quality stuff, which embraces some cliché while defying others. As science fiction alternative history, the novel works well. As a piece of prose, the novel is beautifully written, with more great sentences packed into many paragraphs than many writers achieve in a lifetime. As a truly great novel wrestling with huge themes… Well, it tries quite hard. I’d be curious to know what others think, particular any jewish friends. <br />
<br />
I suspect that Chabon may have been seen as a race traitor or an anti-semite by some; I did not find that to be the case, but then, I don’t actually know much about Jewish orthodoxy, and finding fault in one of the world’s major religions isn’t something I’m bothered by. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-67835924729509293932017-12-24T20:12:00.000-06:002017-12-24T20:12:01.401-06:00Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance<b>Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future</b> by <b>Ashlee Vance</b><br />
Elon Musk is a polarizing figure. His efforts at making fundamental changes to the way humanity approaches space travel, transportation, and energy are having a profound impact on our world. He’s the closest thing to an Ayn Randian hero that I’ve ever seen in real life. As I write this, the recent Falcon launch above Los Angeles is the subject of numerous Facebook posts, and the talk of the new Tesla’s phenomenal acceleration abilities is probably the most interesting thing to happen with cars in a long time. He has also recently offered to help Puerto Rico rebuild a new type of power grid, and announced a fleet of Tesla trucks to take on the economics of the modern long haul trucking industry. <br />
<br />
This biography was inspiring. Musk’s life is interesting, atypical, and filled with a drive to transform the world in positive ways at almost any cost which make him nearly a literary hero in my mind. In a time when “the best lack all conviction”, this book paints a portrait of one who does not. <br />
<br />
Vance attempts to be neutral, though it seems clear that he too has succumbed to some level of Elon worship. The guy is full of faults; he’s not very tolerant of failure and probably pretty hard to be married to. His efforts to craft himself in the image of Tony Stark could come across as silly hubris, except…. It’s working. <br />
<br />
This man and the teams of engineers and marketers he has surrounded himself with are transforming the world. <br />
<br />
An inspiring book, and a good reminder: “There are no laws or rules other than physics that you must adhere to.” <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-16295003761810966422017-12-24T20:07:00.002-06:002017-12-24T20:07:42.193-06:00Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne<b>Blue Ocean Strategy</b> by <b>W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne</b><br />
“To search for a Blue Ocean” has become a Silicon Valley, West Coast cliché. I was resistant to read this one as a result. <br />
<br />
But overt the summer, on the way to a fascinating course at the Singapore Insead school, I read it and learned a lot. It turns out that knowing businesses should seek less-crowded spaces in order to thrive and knowing some very practical ways to accomplish this are not the same thing at all. And this book is filled with case studies and some terrific, lightweight ways of ideating and measuring this topic. <br />
<br />
I stole a few of the case studies here on how to graph the customer proposition relative to the competition, added a little bit of futurism borrowed from Kurzweil, and created a game I called Blue Ocean that a bunch of innovative thinkers and I used to spend some delightful hours on whiteboards. Over the last three months the result has been ten to fifteen entrepreneurial ideas which – while not all completely practical – are at least deeply innovative and have not been seen before in this world. That’s not an easy thing to do in the modern age, and I give a lot of credit to Kim and Mauborgne for clearly communicating a framework for how to think about competition and the open spaces where it may not exist. <br />
<br />
Very useful and interesting book. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-77910243473208384732017-12-24T20:06:00.001-06:002017-12-24T20:06:46.287-06:00The Girls by Emma Cline<b>The Girls</b> by <b>Emma Cline</b><br />
Disturbing and patient portrait of a young woman who falls prey to a Manson-style cult in Califoria in the late sixties. She is exonerated of any murder charges, but becomes a minor public figure. In the novel, she reminisces about the steps in life that took her to the Ranch and got her ensnared in the cult. <br />
<br />
The novel was well written, gripping, just lurid enough to be mildly titillating and deeply sad. <br />
<br />
I read in the Times that Ms. Cline has been engaged in a fairly nasty series of lawsuits against an ex-boyfriend, with whom she lived while writing this novel. He has alleged that she cribbed some of the material in this novel from his work and that she “hacked his email.” While I know nothing about this case, I will say that I’d be absolutely shocked if this novel had been written by a man. It just rings too true with the awkward experiences that I suspect characterize girlhood. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-67532226114143598902017-12-24T20:02:00.002-06:002017-12-24T20:02:59.405-06:00Mindset by Carol Dweck<b>Mindset</b> by <b>Carol Dweck</b><br />
There are two ways of approaching a problem: The “fixed” mindset suggests that ability to succeed is implicit, fixed at birth or based on innate ability. The “growth” mindset suggests that people can succeed based on hard work, incremental improvements, training and perseverance. <br />
<br />
Dweck argues that those who approach life and work with a growth mindset are more successful in the long run; they work harder even in the face of setbacks. They are also happier, she argues. <br />
<br />
This notion is now somewhat ingrained in our culture (at least in North America high tech business culture.) But at the time she wrote it, in 2006, this was a novel way of framing the difference in perspective. <br />
<br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-33945391537502029682017-12-24T19:57:00.002-06:002017-12-24T19:57:32.561-06:00Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee<b>Primal Leadership</b> by <b>Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee</b><br />
This trio addresses the role of Emotional Intelligence in leadership. There are some very useful discussions here on how to build organizations that grow leaders as a nearly automatic function of their structure and cultural values.<br />
<br />
Sections on how to increase positivity as a cultural force in the workplace, how to grow leaders who grow more leaders, minimize control and pacesetting values are all valuable. A section on various different styles of leaderships and how they can be effectively employed in different situations was also valuable. <br />
<br />
There’s a lot of practical advice here. (“Cultivating special relationships whose sole purpose is to help you along your path, is crucial to continuing development. Mentors and coaches help you understand your strengths…”) etc. Most of us is presented in an unadorned style that seldom gets in the way of the message. <br />
<br />
Generally, this is a valuable book for leaders. I wish I had all of these lessons implanted on a microchip in my brain; as it is, it’s challenging to always stop and use them in the head of the moment. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-56498041861222974422017-12-24T19:53:00.000-06:002017-12-24T19:53:14.398-06:00Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek<b>Leaders Eat Last</b> by <b>Simon Sinek</b><br />
Mr. Sinek uses the metaphor of the Marine Corps chow line to discuss how leaders should run their businesses. He preaches the need to make people feel safe and happy in their jobs, to give them a sense of autonomy, mastery, and purpose. His writing is conversational to the point of being sloppy at times, but certainly accessible. He tries to tie lessons about leadership into an overarching thesis that humans’ biochemistry – as a result of evolution through natural selection – dictates how they perceive and respond to threats, camaraderie, and other social dynamics in the workplace. <br />
<br />
When he dives into attempting to describe the way various neurotransmitters work in various office settings the work suffers. There's a lot of sloppy thinking masquerading as soft science. Indeed, Sinek will regularly offer a few sentences that are facty, if devoid of actual facts, then jump to a conclusion that is little more than metaphorical conjecture.<br />
<br />
Example: "Oxytocin really is magical stuff. Mother Nature wants the ones who give to others to keep their genes in the gene pool." What? I thought we were talking about neurotransmitters, not magic. And I'm unsure of the role of Mother Nature in the evolutionary process. Unfortunately, language like this blunts the message Sinek is trying to deliver. And he is barely able to write a page without some of this kind of nonsense talk. <br />
<br />
This isn't to say that there's not a valuable lecture here; this text would work great as a TED talk (which it started as) or as a series of lectures for undergrad business students. It's a decent, if shallow attempt to tie a basic understanding of the role of neurotransmitters in human motivation into hoary platitudes about the workplace. Dilbert meets Jared Diamond meets Malcom Gladwell. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-88078509560660882472017-12-24T19:46:00.000-06:002017-12-24T19:51:09.656-06:00Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation by Idris Mootee<b>Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation</b> by <b>Idris Mootee</b><br />
I didn’t love this book.<br />
<br />
The author had a half of a book here, very little of it fresh. And he stretched this lackluster content for 202 pages by publishing lots of poorly edited photos of boring business scenes, weak formatting, and excessive verbosity. <br />
<br />
Consider, for example: “Within dynamic environments, foresight helps organizations better understand the variables influencing the pace, nature and possible impacts of change.” Well… Sure. But that’s hardly news. And the language is so tortured and poorly massaged that what little content there is here feels like it has been run through a Grad School Speak version of Google Translate. <br />
<br />
Few of the ideas were wrong, and many of the little exercise suggestions in the book would be a good ice breaker at a strategic offsite… But that's about the best I can say.<br />
<br />
Still, there were some good quotes in here from people like Warren Buffett. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-62001981818392973562017-12-24T19:44:00.000-06:002017-12-24T19:44:03.290-06:00The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes & Barry Posner<b>The Leadership Challenge</b> by <b>James Kouzes & Barry Posner</b><br />
Another Monicat gift, The Leadership Challenge is a sprawling 300+ pages on how to be a better leader. It covers topics like credibility, values, establishing a shared vision, how to empower others, how to encourage people to do their best, how to give feedback that is constructive, etc. There are a lot of very valuable lessons in this book, if nothing that feels particularly new. Still, anyone in a leadership role anywhere would likely be well served to pick this book up each morning, flip to a random page, then make sure they tried to follow the advice therein that day. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-40574891861491469842017-12-24T19:43:00.002-06:002017-12-24T19:43:11.616-06:00Pulp by Charles Bukowski<b>Pulp</b> by <b>Charles Bukowski</b><br />
I’d never read any Bukowski, and he is certainly well known and referenced by everyone from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Modest Mouse. For my birthday, the Professor got me a signed first edition of his take on the noir detective genre! <br />
<br />
Except, this novel is a parody send up of the genre, and more of a meta-spoof on Bukowski’s impending death from leukemia. This was the last novel he wrote and he died shortly after completing it. The main character, Belane, is a dark-complected parody of Bukowski himself – a drunk, a misogynist, a layabout – and he does little but bum around making mistakes and waiting for “Lady Death” or “The Red Sparrow” to find them. <br />
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Cynical, short, and unsatisfying unless you’re a Bukowski fan or scholar, I should think. <br />
<br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-25947359205479889622017-12-24T19:42:00.000-06:002017-12-24T19:42:00.144-06:00I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid<b>I’m Thinking of Ending Things</b> by <b>Iain Reid</b><br />
What starts as an interesting sketch of a relationship sparling towards conclusion takes a turn for the Shutter Island and becomes a nightmarish dream sequence before falling apart completely by the end. Great tone in the first third, descent into the mind of a non-character by the end left me irritated. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-90679613166653738162017-12-24T19:41:00.000-06:002017-12-24T19:41:09.910-06:00Black Swan Green by David Mitchell <b>Black Swan Green</b> by <b>David Mitchell </b><br />
What a beautiful coming of age novel, told with Mitchell’s pateience, keen sense of observation, obsession with the dialect of different ages, and his not-quite-in-focus-while-passing-through-the-background supernatural influence. <br />
<br />
Black Swan Green tells us of a year in the life of a teenage boy in the small British Hamlet of Black Swan Green. He has a strange encounter with a Baba Yaga, probably dies, his dad leaves his mom, he deals with bullies and class and learns about girls and money and generally gets a year older. There’s just so much good stuff here, even wrapped in a fairly traditional bildungsroman. <br />
<br />
I’m eager for David Mitchell to write more, because he is really quite good. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-9699517652944745892017-12-24T19:37:00.004-06:002017-12-24T19:37:58.391-06:00Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You by Alice Munroe<b>Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You</b> by <b>Alice Munroe</b><br />
<br />
Alice Munroe has a terrific ear for the quiet emotions that motivate average people. This collection of thirteen short stories about the relationships between Canadian women speaks volumes in just over two hundred pages. Their secret fears and hopes and misdeeds large and (mostly) small are laid bare here if you’re patient enough to just listen; they’ll tell you all about their lives, and reading about them will enrich yours. <br />
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I’ll happily read everything Mrs. Munroe has written, and I only hope that it’ll help me get a little closer to being able to listen as carefully as she does to all the things people don’t say. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-71360682243346072582017-12-23T19:38:00.001-06:002017-12-23T19:38:37.269-06:00Christmas 2017It's time! <br />
<br />
After an incredible, but incredibly busy year, I've finally got a little down time to update Word. <br />
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I'm writing this from a lovely little village in the mountains of Laos. Dr. Stout is here and we're enjoying breakfast. Coffee and an omlet laced with thai chilis. <br />
<br />
While my reading has probably been a little slower than some years, and my writing has been almost nil, it has been a great year. I've learned a ton, we've travelled to some wonderful places, and have unlocked a few achievements professionally. The people I love all seem to be doing well. <br />
<br />
Merry Christmas, all. <br />
<br />
Here are the books that will be posted in the next day or two:<br />
<b><br />
Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You by Alice Munroe<br />
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell <br />
I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid<br />
Pulp by Charles Bukowski<br />
The Leadership Challenge James Kouzes & Barry Posner<br />
Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation by Idris Mootee<br />
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek<br />
Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee<br />
Mindset by Carol Dweck<br />
The Girls by Emma Cline<br />
Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne<br />
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance<br />
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon</b><br />
<br />
-tfTim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-4934965721167502562016-12-31T02:14:00.002-06:002016-12-31T02:14:12.052-06:00Good to Great by Jim Collins<b>Good to Great by Jim Collins</b><br />
<br />
My friend the Monicat pushed this one on me, complete with all of her little notes, handwritten in the most precise script, never giving answers, just asking probing, sphinxlike questions in the effort to make me a better leader. Her timing of this gift was prescient; there are major changes coming in the structure of the company where I work which will push me to expand and extend my responsibilities. This will be great, but will force me to learn a lot quickly. And since I received this a few days before disappearing on a two week (relative) break in which I intended to try to be a little more reflective, particularly on my goals, leadership, and the traits that I wanted to continue and those I wanted to shed… Well, this particular prescription couldn’t have come at a better time. <br />
<br />
Collins and team looked at a bunch of companies who dramatically outperformed their competitors over a sustained period of time, and tried to ask WHY they did. Then they attempted to distill the commonalities from these stories into a guide for how companies went from average performers in their market (Good) to market leaders (Great.) <br />
<br />
I ended up with a deeply marked up book and two or three pages of useful notes from this book. Wish that I could spend two days discussing the lessons here with my fellow leaders at Kabam. But not today. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-85232098044406011542016-12-31T02:12:00.001-06:002016-12-31T02:12:49.479-06:00This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz<b>This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz</b><br />
I enjoyed this novel about a professor from the Dominican Republic and the women he has loved and lost over the years. Diaz writes comfortably, fluidly, lyrically, and with lots of street lingo that feels convincing.<br />
<br />
I really appreciated the gift of this novel. Diaz has a unique voice that I’d not been exposed to before, and I appreciated his inner nerd (Wintermute beach reference, etc.) that shined through from the DR womanizer narrator. <br />
<br />
Will definitely read another of his books. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-2177898606093960152016-12-31T02:09:00.002-06:002016-12-31T02:09:13.800-06:00The Fireman by Joe Hill<b>The Fireman by Joe Hill</b><br />
<br />
Some say the world will end in fire… And in Joe Hill’s long, sometimes bumbling novel, that’s certainly the case. This is a decent thriller and a half-hearted stab at the type of post apocalypse that his father did so fine a job of in The Stand. Unfortunately, we end up bogged down in small-camp politics and end up missing out on any greater theme or lesson. And since I’m using words like bogged and bumbling, I suppose that tells me that we also miss out on a particularly thrilling adventure or story. <br />
<br />
Will still happily read more of Joe Hill’s work, but this was perhaps my least favorite of his so far. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-20127750428126719742016-12-31T02:08:00.002-06:002016-12-31T02:08:37.818-06:00Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts<b>Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts</b><br />
<br />
Shantaram is a lovely sprawling adventure story and romance set in the Indian and Afghan underworld as seen by self-aggrandizing escaped convicted Austrialian heroin addict and thief. The novel I swell written, albeit in something of an over-the-top Pat Conroy style in which music and soul and moonlight and a generalized excessive romanticizing of the Indian subcontinent dominate the prose. <br />
<br />
Our hero escapes to India, falls in with the locals, lives in the slums, is a heroic doctor, becomes a powerful and wealthy gangster, overthrows an evil madam, loves women, smokes a lot of hash, smuggles drugs, goes to prison, falls in with the mujahedeen, fights Russians in Afghanistan, and returns to Bombay. <br />
<br />
There is a lot to like here, and I was happy for the recommendation. This book is alive with the magic and romanticism of India, as seen by Western eyes. This is exactly what Rushdie and Adiga are rebelling against, so in the larger context of literature about the region it suffers a little. But it is a lot of fun, and an enchanting story. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-34831661033527050162016-12-31T02:07:00.000-06:002016-12-31T02:07:13.156-06:00Red Country by Joe Abercrombie<b>Red Country by Joe Abercrombie</b><br />
<br />
So then Joe took his barbarians into the realm of the classic Western, and it was kinda awesome! <br />
<br />
A caravan of merchants, misfits, and those who have lost something important head out into the badlands of wherever. They have a few folks with mysterious pasts along for the ride. After a few adventures they arrive in a depraved town that is caught in the midst of an underworld conflict between two bosses. Our heroes pick sides, get involved in the wild west range war that ensues. Everyone mostly loses, but there are some great heroics along the way. <br />
<br />
And yes, Logan is here, if you are an Abercrombie fan. Good times. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-39981310033639119502016-12-31T02:05:00.002-06:002016-12-31T02:05:51.394-06:00Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist<b>Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist</b><br />
<br />
A childless couple finds a little girl on the side of the road. But she turns out to be some kind of a weirdo siren, who, as she gets a little older, ends up leading a bunch of other little girls into a weird American Idol style death-cult. <br />
<br />
I like his writing, and I like some of his stories, but this one was a bit goofy. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-4653749785782857142016-12-31T02:04:00.003-06:002016-12-31T02:04:53.294-06:00Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman<b>Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman<br />
</b><br />
I am fortunate to have a colleague who spends a lot of time thinking about appropriate books for me to read that will help me become a better leader, better executive (which is what I seem to be these days. Gulp!) She thoughtfully annotates these HBR style selections with little notes – questions mostly – and they are almost always very timely and thoughtful. <br />
<br />
Primal Leadership mostly told me that I need to quit being such an aggressive boss and “pacesetting” all the time. This is good advice, and the book had a lot of other good advice too, covering a bunch of types of leaders and common leadership foibles. There’s probably something here for almost everyone who is a manager. The key lesson for me was to quit pushing people so hard. Good advice. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-24968428874942965342016-12-31T02:03:00.003-06:002016-12-31T02:03:51.799-06:00The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy<b>The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy</b><br />
<br />
This wasn’t a very impressive dialog. One guy convinces the other guy that life is shit. That’s basically it. I was unimpressed; just felt like a nihilistic sketch without anything interesting to say or any particularly strong language. Given that McCarthy is such a powerful writer, this one just felt like an exercise that he published to capitalize on the strength of his name. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228291.post-17464229691112731472016-12-31T02:03:00.000-06:002016-12-31T02:03:00.914-06:00Lolita by Vladamir NabokovLolita by Vladamir Nabokov<br />
<br />
“I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita…”<br />
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I read this book for the first time my twentieth year, when I was much closer in age to doomed Dolores Haze than to its protagonist. I recognized it then as a masterpiece and a beautiful, powerful, troubled account. Upon rereading it this summer on an extended trip to China I was struck again by the power, the majesty, the terrible tragedy and love of this story. Lolita is a heartbreaking love story between a terrible Old World Grendel and crass, blossoming overripe adolescent America. This is a heartrending feat of sculpting with language. <br />
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From the opening paragraph to the closing sentences above, Nabokov’s showy florid prose is both electric and elegiac. This is the kind of writing that makes anyone (me at least) want to put down their pen in despair, with the certain knowledge that you will never write a single page as good as what he is able to deliver in the hundreds. <br />
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There isn’t much new to say about this tale that hasn’t been said before. I don’t think I’ll try, except to mention for my own notes that HH’s heartbreak over his inability to achieve any truly lasting immortality with Lolita (who is- at best- destined to grow beyond the transcendent moment of nypmhetism that so captures him) struck me as a reflection on the deep tragedy of any pair of lovers ever to live: None will ever know all the secret languages and moments and passions and conflicts and hopes of a couple but that couple themselves. The full-near-to-bursting emotions and secrets of love that (hopefully) almost everyone is lucky enough to experience at least once in life are doomed to pass, unremarked, unknown and forgotten by everyone else, to disappear, “like teardrops in rain.” Beyond embodying all of that love in offspring – children – then, the creation of inspired art, like this wonderful novel, is the only immortality that lovers may ever share. <br />
Tim Fieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13670795607614707212noreply@blogger.com0