Someone recommended to me that at least once a year I should read a book that is over fifty years old. What seems so hot and compelling now may be forgotten and rather pointless ten or even five years from now. Dave Barry, for example, describes the 1960s as an era in which “a nation gets high and has amazing insights, many of which later turn out to seem kind of stupid.” That’s kind of like what many bestsellers turn out to be.
Continue reading “The Presence of War”
160 Million
I was with a group of friends recently when another common myth of western civilization was trotted out as if it were gospel. “We all know religion has caused more violence and death than anything else.”
“Well, actually, that’s not true,” I ventured.
Heads turned. Mouths gaped. The planet itself seemed to wobble on its axis. “What facts do you have to support that?” said the historian in the group, eyebrow arched.
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The New Newsweek
For a couple of months now, Newsweek has trotted out its new format–new print design and new organization of its content inside. From my reading of the comments, most (usually die-hard, lifelong Newsweek readers) unequivocally don’t like the new format. I’m not one of them.
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The Art of Saying No
Planning is deciding what you will do. Yes? No, that’s only half right. In planning, whether personal or organizational, some of the most important decisions you can make are what you will say no to, what you decide ahead of time you will not do. It’s all too easy to simply respond to requests or ideas from others, to be reactive. The problem is that others then set your agenda, not you.
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No Surprises
When I was a new manager, and one who avoided conflict like a cliché, I had a very hard time telling people when some aspect of their performance was poor. So I’d delay and delay until the annual review, and then disgorge all the problems at once to the unsuspecting reviewee. Needless to say, the conversations did not go well.
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Behind Every Good Declaration of Independence
John Locke is not just a character on Lost. He’s one of the most important philosophers of the last five hundred years on issues of the self and of political theory. When it comes to identifying how the United States came to be in the first place, Locke’s Two Treatises of Government written in a hundred years beforehand, is a good place to begin.
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Taking Stock
Next week IVP undertakes its annual ritual of taking stock. I don’t mean we will evaluate how well we did or didn’t hit our goals for the end of our fiscal year on June 30. Rather almost all office personnel are commandeered by those in our accounting department and our distribution center to “do inventory.” I and my colleagues will don lightweight grubbies (the forecast is for the high eighties) and partner with our more warehouse-savvy comrades to count books.
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Titlenomics
Rip-off titles are nothing new in publishing. One title of a bestseller begets another title. Patricia Cohen gives us a recent catalog of such efforts, in particular the spawn of the Levitt and Dubner bestseller that are hitting the market now.
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Break Up Google
Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller–American greats and American robber barons of a bygone era. The era may be gone, but American robber barons are as current as Twitter–at least that’s what Daniel Lyons thinks.
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Redeeming the Office
I admit I’m a fan of The Office with it’s all-too-painfully-true portrayal of life in the cubes. One time I found myself yelling at the screen, “But I don’t want to be Michael!” There was nothing to do but admit the truth, of course.
A colleague at work recently drew our attention to a brief parody of The Office from the folks at Rightnow.org. The camerawork and the writing are spot on. No doubt it has a bit more redeeming social value than even the original. So check it out here.