Do Nothing (Celeste Headlee)

 

I had no idea who Celeste Headlee was before reading this book. I like her! She's done a lot and written a lot. 

Bertrand Russell (in 1932!): It will be said that, while a little leisure is pleasant, men would not know how to fill their days if they had only four hours of work out of the twenty-four. In so far s this is true in the modern world, it is a condemnation of our civilization; it would not have been true at any earlier period. There was formerly a capacity for light-heartedness and play which has been to some extent inhibited by the cult of efficiency. The modern man thinks that everything out to be done for the sake of something else, and never for it's own sake. (In Praise of Idleness)

The beginning of the book could be summed up with the idea that working hard actually does not get you ahead - so cut it out. Also, "what are you working so hard for?! Your Puritan upbringing that taught you that idleness is sinful." 

I have a hard time giving up the concept of working hard. The second half of the book was more about how to analyze how you're really spending your time - which leads to the idea that you do have time to relax if you just quit scrolling or doing other time-wasters - which I can buy into.

Goodreads says:

Despite our constant search for new ways to 'hack' our bodies and minds for peak performance, human beings are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. We strive for the absolute best in every aspect of our lives, ignoring what we do well naturally. Why do we measure our time in terms of efficiency instead of meaning? Why can't we just take a break?

In Do Nothing, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside and start living instead of doing.

The key lies in embracing what makes us human: our creativity, our social connections (Instagram doesn't count), our ability for reflective thought, and our capacity for joy. Celeste's strategies will allow you to regain control over your life and break your addiction to false efficiency, including:

-Increase your time perception and determine how your hours are being spent.
-Stop comparing yourself to others.
-Invest in quality idle time. Take a hot bath and listen to music.
-Spend face-to-face time with friends and family

It's time to recover our leisure time and reverse the trend that's making us all sadder, sicker, and less productive.

The Power of Mindful Learning (Ellen J Langer)

 

If it wasn't Spring Break, I likely would not have read this book. However, it wasn't a long one so I soldiered on. I am very interested in mindfulness and so was curious about her take. The preface started on about the problems with assessment, which is what caused me to not want to continue. However, in the space of mindfulness, I can see what the author was saying. Sometimes it was light and easy reading and sometimes I got quite bogged down in the details of studies she cites and my interest would wane. Overall, I can see that this would be a good topic for an education degree and she had some good things to consider. Many times, however, I disagreed with some of her assertions because of experiences I've had with good teaching....for example: Wrote learning. I have found that my students can learn math facts by repeated practice and a bit of searching for patterns, which is a small leap from wrote memory. If I can get them to do that prior to doing our multiplication unit which focuses a lot on the why's of multiplication and methods for figuring it out, they learn it much quicker. If they have those facts already in their head, suddenly the why makes sense.

There were many other topics in here I had a "Ya but...." comment that would be interesting to discuss with the author. However, time to move on to something that will absorb my interest as a reader! 

Goodreads says:
Radical in its implications, this original and important work may change forever the views we hold about the nature of learning. In The Power of Mindful Learning, Ellen Langer uses her innovative theory of mindulness, introduced in her influential earlier book, to dramatically enhance the way we learn. In business, sports, laboratories, or at home, our learning is hobbled by certain antiquated and pervasive misconceptions. In this pithy, liberating, and delightful book she gives us a fresh, new view of learning in the broadest sense. Such familiar notions as delayed gratification, ”the basics”, or even ”right answers”, are all incapacitating myths which Langer explodes one by one. She replaces them with her concept of mindful or conditional learning which she demonstrates, with fascinating examples from her research, to be extraordinarily effective. Mindful learning takes place with an awareness of context and of the ever-changing nature of information. Learning without this awareness, as Langer shows convincingly, has severely limited uses and often sets on up for failure.With stunning applications to skills as diverse as paying attention, CPR, investment analysis, psychotherapy, or playing a musical instrument, The Power of Mindful Learning is for all who are curious and intellectually adventurous.

Discipline is Destiny (Ryan Holiday)

 

I read another of his books called The Obstacle Is the Way and I said that was one of the best books I've read. So is this one!! This kind of thing is totally my jam. I love the inspiring stories. This is the kind of book you could read a chapter of every day all year long to make your life better. It's also one that would be great for finding inspiring stories to share when you have to speak to a crowd. 

I got it from the library but I plan to buy it. 

Goodreads says:

In his New York Times bestselling book Courage is Calling, author Ryan Holiday made the Stoic case for a bold and brave life. In this much-anticipated second book of his Stoic Virtue series, Holiday celebrates the awesome power of self-discipline and those who have seized it.

To master anything, one must first master themselves–one’s emotions, one’s thoughts, one’s actions. Eisenhower famously said that freedom is really the opportunity to practice self-discipline. Cicero called the virtue of temperance the polish of life. Without boundaries and restraint, we risk not only failing to meet our full potential and jeopardizing what we have achieved, but we ensure misery and shame. In a world of temptation and excess, this ancient idea is more urgent than ever.

In Discipline is Destiny, Holiday draws on the stories of historical figures we can emulate as pillars of self-discipline, including Lou Gehrig, Queen Elizabeth II, boxer Floyd Patterson, Marcus Aurelius and writer Toni Morrison, as well as the cautionary tales of Napoleon, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Babe Ruth. Through these engaging examples, Holiday teaches readers the power of self-discipline and balance, and cautions against the perils of extravagance and hedonism.

At the heart of Stoicism are four simple virtues: courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. Everything else, the Stoics believed, flows from them. Discipline is Destiny will guide readers down the path to self-mastery, upon which all the other virtues depend. Discipline is predictive. You cannot succeed without it. And if you lose it, you cannot help but bring yourself failure and unhappiness.

The Wild Robot Escapes (Peter Brown)

Who would think a J fiction book could pull such emotions out and be so entertaining! This book is a beauty. After I finished The Wild Robot, I went to the library that day and got the second book. I had to find out what happened to Roz. I think there could even be a third book. I hope there will be! In this book, Roz meets her maker (like her real maker...the person who made her) and they are very different from each other. Roz is soft hearted and loves her child (a goose), but her maker has spent her entire life alone. I loved how Roz got to know her and didn't judge her.

The author's story of writing the book is a thrill to read as well.

March 2, 2020:

I read The Wild Robot to my class this year and really didn't intend on reading book two. I thought I'd inspire them to go off and find the book themselves - but no. There was no talking them out of it. We HAD to read The Wild Robot Escapes together. 

This really is an amazing book and reading it aloud brought all sorts of new emotions (who cries in a robot book?! Me!) and they loved it. This book would make a GREAT movie and we sure would LOVE to read a book three. 

Roz on how she survived: p. 240 "Although I could speak to the animals, they still do not trust me," said Roz. "So I tried to win them over with kindness. Animals ran frm me and laughed at me and attacked me, and I always responded with kindness. It was a good strategy. But the real key to my survival came in the form of a gosling. When I adopted Brightbull everything changed. I was finally accepted by the animals. I was surrounded by friends and families. I was home."

p. 241: "Every problem has a peaceful solution. Violence is unnecessary."

p. 242: While talking to Dr Molovo, Roz discusses her purpose:
..."I have to imagine everything that could possibly go wrong. But all my decisions are guided by a single question: What is the robot's purpose?"
Quietly, Roz asked her Designer, "What is my purpose?"
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Roz, but you don't have some grand purpose. Like all the other ROZZUM robots, you were designed to work for robots. That's it."
The robot thought for a moment, then she said, "I once suggested to a group of wild animals that my purpose might simply be to help others."
The Designer thought for a moment. Then she said, "When you put it that way, your purpose does sound rather grand, doesn't it?"

Reread October 2023

p. 243 The robot thought for a moment. Then she said, "I once suggested to a group of wild animals that my purpose might simply be to help others."

If only everyone realized that that is perhaps everyone's purpose! 

Goodreads says:

Shipwrecked on a remote, wild island, Robot Roz learned from the unwelcoming animal inhabitants and adapted to her surroundings--but can she survive the challenges of the civilized world and find her way home to Brightbill and the island?

The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Muriel Barbery)

My goodness. I started this book in April and it took me until July to finish it. I had a hard time getting into it. One of the problems was the words. oh the words in this book!! There were so many words I'm just unfamiliar with. Is all the wordiness really necessary??

page 1 There he stood, the most recent eructation of the ruling corporate elite-a class that reproduces itself solely by means of virtuous and proper hiccups....
eruct (verb) to belch forth, as gas from a stomach or to emit or issue violently, as matter from a volcano
"You ought to read The German Ideology," I told him. Little cretin in his confer green duffle coat.
cretin (noun) a stupid, obtuse or mentally defective person

Then there was the rambling. It rambles on and on and seems to not be about anything. One of the great readers I admire and follow in Goodreads is Donalyn Miller. She abandoned the book and said:

Abandoned on page 145. I could not connect to the characters at all and did not care what happened to them. Perhaps, I would have liked it better if I was French-- the book was originally published in France.

However, this is one of those books that makes me glad I"m in a book club. I did finally finish it. I had to re-start it a number of times and it took a deadline to get me to finish it. And in the end, I'm glad I did.

The story is set in France and I have a great love affair with everything French. Despite their social awkwardness and preference to be invisible, I really did enjoy getting to know Renee ( "a widow, short, ugly, chubby", with "bunions on my feet and, on certain difficult mornings, it seems, the breath of a mammoth") and Paloma. There's something about those two that we all live.

You have to be really smart to read this book, I think. I'm glad I have my book club to help me get more out of it than I could ever get on my own.

Goodreads says:

We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence.

Then there's Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.

Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma's trust and to see through Renée's timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.