Sabbaticals have broken free of the academic world, and they’re good for everyone, helping us keep better perspective of whether we live to work, or work to live. If you need a bit more convincing, the authors of this book have done a great job at reframing sabbaticals for us into the more modern notion of a “reboot break” covering 7 different types that have become evidence of its mainstream appeal, and its wisdom.
I’d picked this up fully expecting it would well complement my recent urging that we managers consider the 20-hour work week as a wholesale societal rebooting of our normal workweek, a reinvention which is the silver lining of our Great Recession — and it does. The subject of a reboot break is covered thoroughly — there is much more content within this book than I’d expected to find — and I’d sum it up in these two parts: Convincing you of the benefits and possibilities (including good discussion of how to broach the subject with your employer), and then coaching you in making it count once you take the leap.
I’ve been able to take a 6-week sabbatical annually since purposely designing it into my business models back in 2004. My family, friends, and MWA clients know it as Ho‘omaha, the holiday hiatus given to all in my ‘Ohana in Business: We close for 3 weeks in December, and another 3 weeks in January. It now feels very natural and right to us, and best of all, it’s totally guilt-free; it feels smart, and it’s become quite strategic. I know we’re fortunate, now taking our Ho‘omaha holidays as matter-of-course as we do. So I also hoped the book would help me be more empathetic to those without the same freedoms we enjoy and capitalize on. Rebooting of some kind is often a transition which comes up in the Ho‘ohana coaching I do, so I can help managers bring more of ‘Imi ola into their lives as a value of lifestyle inventiveness and creativity.
The authors do not speak of values explicitly, but as they read The Reboot Break, MWA practitioners will make their value alignment connections often, and make them easily. For instance, the authors offer this as a common pattern of the Reboot Breaks which are most successful:
1. Creating Space - putting your life in order (MWA’s Mālama, Ho‘okipa, Kuleana)
2. Reconnection - revitalizing connections to people, places, activities, and self (MWA’s Lōkahi, Kākou, ‘Ohana)
3. Exploration - learning new things, especially through travel (MWA’s ‘Ike loa, Ha‘aha‘a, Nānā i ke kumu)
4. Reentry - starting a new chapter of your life (MWA’s Aloha, Mahalo, Pono)
I found the authors covered their subject well, offering substantial testimony over ‘what if’ supposition, but I still think the reader will have to be predisposed to the idea first if they’re to take the plunge and use this book as their roadmap. How badly do you want your own break, and how brave and determined are you?
Your best strategy might be the team approach: Get your work team and your family to read this with you.
From my own experience I can assure you: Do it once, and you’ll never go back to a life without it.(less)
Well, at least I now know what all the hoopla has been about. Borrowed this paperback from my daughter after we sat to watch the first two films over ...moreWell, at least I now know what all the hoopla has been about. Borrowed this paperback from my daughter after we sat to watch the first two films over the Christmas holiday (those DVDs had become $3.99 stocking stuffers).
I think the films are pretty well done when I think about the book-to-screenplay transitions needed, and I liked Meyer's imagining of vampires as myth-free (the Cullens are the best part of the story), but my challenge in both book and film was my struggle to like these characters; Bella in particular seems to be so shallow. It's been a while since I was a 17-year old girl, but I don't think my empathy is the problem; Bella doesn't represent today's teenagers well at all. Since I started with the films, I expected way more detail and complexity from the book, and it really fell short for me.
Still, I love that stories like these are getting our youth to read books beyond those assigned in school, and I wish more success to Meyer now that she has the reputation with drawing in an audience.(less)
An imaginative, hilarious yarn very loosely based on American history and the culture of the Ozarks’ more remote reaches, The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks is a thoroughly entertaining saga, allowing us to witness the stories of five generations of Ingledew men, and those who chose to make the town of Stay More their homestead along with them.
Loved this, and would recommend this book to nearly everyone I know (the only possible exceptions being those easily affronted by promiscuity and sexual innuendo). It’s obvious how much the author loved his characters, and wanted them to relish their lives, and thus, I loved them too, each quirk they displayed making them seem more human, and all the more endearing.
This is one of those books I wish every would-be fiction novelist would read before they publish any novel of their own. We need more fiction like this, which takes enough fanciful liberties to fire up our imaginations yet stays within the realm of the possible, as it pokes good-natured fun at us. The episode of the flood, and how it led to Noah Ingledew building his treehouse had me laughing out loud with delight: I hadn’t seen that coming when I advanced the Kindle page and saw the illustration.
Other surprises abound: This is a must-read for those who love a good story.(less)
A Life in Stitches is pleasant, and as comforting as you imagine the author’s knit cables to be. It’s a quick read, easy to pick up and put down becau...moreA Life in Stitches is pleasant, and as comforting as you imagine the author’s knit cables to be. It’s a quick read, easy to pick up and put down because of its essay format, but the essays don’t linger much and stay with you. Perhaps they would have if I was one of her blog readers, but this was my first introduction to Herron, and she had a hard act to follow: I read this off and on at the same time I was reading The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball, which I loved, and the two memoirs are quite different.
I think Herron knows her audience quite well though, and her book is a feast of craft sensory perception if you are of like-minded persuasion (count me among those who prefer to crochet, but I admire knitting and wish I loved it equally). I enjoyed the first half about her early life history much more than the second, which seems to be written as a thank you tribute to her blog community, and thus falls short if you aren't part of it. Therefore the book also seems to end abruptly as if to say, "I can't write more for you until I live it and experience it." Knowing that Herron is a novelist too, I had hoped for more than that.(less)
Look no further if you want to read a well-written story about finding yourself, and learning to live in your own skin, while making room for someone ...moreLook no further if you want to read a well-written story about finding yourself, and learning to live in your own skin, while making room for someone else to share the road less traveled with you.
"The word home could make me cry. I wanted one... Some people wish for world peace or an end to homelessness. I wish every woman could have as a lover at some point in her life a man who never smoked or drank too much or became jaded from kissing too many girls or looking at porn, someone with the gracious muscles that come from honest work and not from the gym, someone unashamed of the animal side of human nature."
I’m quite sure I would’ve enjoyed reading The Dirty Life whenever I happened to do so, but now was heavenly — perfect timing as I contemplate the turn my own life will surely take: We’re moving from suburbia to farm-possible acreage within the coming year’s time. Our circumstances are quite different in several ways, and Kimball’s book got me to think about how large and varied the word ‘farm’ actually is. Still, she’s helped me sharpen some of the fuzzy edges about my own farmland vision with a renewed confidence and steady, no-nonsense decisiveness, and for that I’m very grateful.
"A farm is a manipulative creature. There is no such thing as finished. Work comes in a stream and has no end. There are only the things that must be done now and things that can be done later. The threat the farm has got on you, the one that keeps you running from can until can’t, is this: do it now, or some living thing will wilt or suffer or die. It’s blackmail, really."
There is a generosity of humor in her story as well; there is a balance of honesty that takes its turn between stripped bare hubris and humility.
Kimball writes in a way that embraces the reader within the pictures her words craft. Thankfully, she doesn’t overdo it by waxing eloquent; time and time again, her descriptions would be “just enough” for me, and the story moved on with a smooth rhythm. Delicious, in a feeding-all-your-senses kind of way.
"I was the newcomer, the know-nothing, but I had never cared so much about anything in my life. I was in love with the work, too, despite its overabundance. The world had always seemed disturbingly chaotic to me, my choices too bewildering. I was fundamentally happier, I found, with my focus on the ground. For the first time, I could clearly see the connection between my actions and their consequences. I knew why I was doing what I was doing, and I believed in it. I felt the gap between who I thought I was and how I behaved begin to close, growing slowly closer to authentic. I felt my body changing to accommodate what I was asking of it."
This was a book I didn’t want to end, yet its realness is very comforting, for in reaching the final pages I was left with the reassuring certainty that all the goodness of Essex Farm continues.(less)
This was a 2011 Christmas gift from the family :) It’s the perfect book for the person who wants to live greener, and is ready to move beyond what’s b...moreThis was a 2011 Christmas gift from the family :) It’s the perfect book for the person who wants to live greener, and is ready to move beyond what’s become relatively mainstream knowledge, getting serious about their personal actions. The author pitches his content as the easier basics, but I must admit that my first reaction was the quick realization that I don’t know as much as I thought I did.
Green Made Easy is a very fast read when you continue through it page to page (I read most of it on a trans-Pacific flight), but it’s also packed with web resources that can push you forward to learn more, or wring out the details of the overview Prelitz provides. Do expect some link aging though: the book was published in 2009, and the author’s own website was a disappointment for me, though it appears he’s progressed significantly.
Each section of the book (20 categories, a chapter each: “Green what you eat” “Green your kids” “Green your furnishings” “Green your mobility and travel” etc.) is prefaced with a short story as introduction, and I enjoyed Prelitz’s writing style. There is a highly efficient brevity about the book, but he covers a lot in total, and Prelitz does deliver on his promise to illustrate how we can “save money and help the environment — at the same time.”
Green Made Easy will continue to be a reference and resource guide for me as I learn more, and do more: The book inspires you to take action, and I can foresee turning this paperback into an annotated journal of my own living green progress.(less)
I greatly appreciate authors like Johnson who are ‘slow hunch’ cultivators, thorough researchers, and articulate ex...moreIn a word, exceptional.
I greatly appreciate authors like Johnson who are ‘slow hunch’ cultivators, thorough researchers, and articulate explainers.
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation is a focused celebration of the phrase “hindsight is 20/20.” The scientific history of innovation is curated to support Johnson’s thesis, which is his answer to this question: What kind of environment creates good ideas?
There is another, more subtle question which lurks throughout the book as well: Are you open to sharing your ideas before they’ve fully formed? (...for here are the reasons why.) From his Introduction:
“The poet and the engineer (and the coral reef) may seem a million miles apart in their particular forms of expertise, but when they bring good ideas into the world, similar patterns of development and collaboration shape that process. If there is a single maxim that runs through this book’s arguments, it is that we are often better served by connecting ideas than we are by protecting them. Like the free market itself, the case for restricting the flow of innovation has long been buttressed by appeals to the “natural” order of things. But the truth is, when one looks at innovation in nature and in culture, environments that build walls around good ideas tend to be less innovative in the long run than more open-ended environments. Good ideas may not want to be free, but they do want to connect, fuse, recombine. They want to reinvent themselves by crossing conceptual borders. They want to complete each other as much as they want to compete.”
He then proceeds to cover 7 different qualities he’s discerned about the nature of ideas, with very meaty chapters on each, all illustrated by the scientific stories of innovation:
Ch 1 — The Adjacent Possible
Ch 2 — Liquid Networks
Ch 3 — The Slow Hunch
Ch 4 — Serendipity
Ch 5 — Error
Ch 6 — Exaptation
Ch 7 — Platforms
After reading each one, you can’t help but put the book aside for a moment, and ask yourself, “where do I sit with this, given my own habits?” and, “how must I further shape the environment my ideas will percolate in?”
Johnson’s book is the perfect candidate for the workplace book club. Two reasons immediately came to mind:
1. It is hugely conducive to company adaptation, and would be a marvelous trigger for in depth, “what about us?” discussion on a number of different questions which are kin to his central one [What kind of environment creates good ideas?] — Who is our Darwin in this company? (or a number of others he profiles) — What are the important stories of our own scientific, or innovative history? How were they sequential stories and not singular events? — Where are the different rooms of our ‘adjacent possible,’ and who, among our own people, are already working in them? — We say mistakes are cool, and that we have to ‘fail forward’ in our experimentation, but how well do we actually understand error? Have we built on any errors? … and so forth.
2. It will add to your Language of Intention in culture-building. I love books like these, which teach you new words or phrases, and then treat you like the like-minded insider you become as those words and phrases get built upon in each successive chapter and proposition. Your own vocabulary becomes enriched.
For someone like me, strong proponent of aligning our values, Johnson’s exceptionally well written book is a good reminder about the wealth of possibility that diversity contributes to the healthy and inventive mindset. He hasn’t changed my mind about value alignment, and how necessary it is to culture-building; he zooms me forward. Okay, you have a healthy, MWA-infused culture. Now what will it take to innovate and grow?
Johnson takes his time with his book’s concluding remarks (more stories!) introducing a final filtering concept he calls “the fourth quadrant” to help us better sit with our own conclusions about what we’ve learned. I’m not one of those cynics he need worry about, but I appreciated his patience and attempt to be so open-minded and thorough. I think Johnson was very smart in including his environmental exploration with a “what if” treatise on governmental systems; it’s an arena where cultural innovation is chronically necessary, and any reformation efforts will be complex, and will take time, keeping Johnson’s book relevant for years to come.
I admit to feeling personally challenged by this book still, wondering if I understood everything, and if I took it all in completely — there is so much covered! This will therefore be a book I gladly read again (and now, not later) moving it from a 1st read appetizer and overview to a more complete meal I can savor. A certain degree of reading restraint is called for; I want to read this again before picking up any other non-fiction book.
I’d decided that my reading of Where Good Ideas Come From was long overdue because I’ve been a fan of Johnson’s blog, and reading it is a good way to get a preview of what you’ll read in his book. You can be assured the book will be better, for his blog posts are his own “slow hunches,” made public to simmer and cook with some early feedback.
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This was a fortunate find for me: I’d set about loading up my Kindle with new reads before our Christmas vacation, and The Misremembered Man was on $0...moreThis was a fortunate find for me: I’d set about loading up my Kindle with new reads before our Christmas vacation, and The Misremembered Man was on $0.99 special at the time, for a dose of fiction mixed into my usual choices.
If you aren’t a habitual reader, this book is one which can remind you of the simple pleasures a good story can bless your time with. I’m usually bothered by having to read English written in another country’s dialect, but McKenna’s main characters are all so likeable (and the more disagreeable ones are interesting) that it became easy to put aside my preferences, be a good reader and not skim over them, and get willingly immersed in the ‘cawntry’ culture she illustrates.
The story itself takes a surprising twist, but you aren’t teased for too long: I seemed to sense exactly what would happen in several spots, and they’d then play out within just a few of the coming pages. It’s kind of cool initially — I’d think, “how about that!” and be quite pleased with myself, but by the time I finished the book I was giving much more credit to the author for being so skillful, and so generous with her readers, remembering her earlier clues.
The Misremembered Man keeps you reading from start to finish, and you long for a happy ending because to have it any other way would be simply unacceptable; you feel the characters deserve it, and should rightfully have happiness bestowed upon them, even while knowing they aren’t real people.
As other reviewers have said, the stories within the story about the orphanage is stark contrast to all of what I’ve said so far: They’re hard to read, and I would visibly wince in spots, but they’re carefully measured in their addition to the whole.(less)
Excellent. Chock full of ideas - a book which can be an entertaining romp-through to read, but you take your time with it in order to get the most out...moreExcellent. Chock full of ideas - a book which can be an entertaining romp-through to read, but you take your time with it in order to get the most out of it. Will review more fully on the blog after some additional study time.(less)
Florida’s The Great Reset is a terrific Sense of Place book: It explains in an urbanist’s economic language why life as we know it is changing, and ho...moreFlorida’s The Great Reset is a terrific Sense of Place book: It explains in an urbanist’s economic language why life as we know it is changing, and how that can be a good thing looking forward — so come on people, let’s make it happen!
The current events of the day largely swirl around us steeped in negativity, further gloom-and-doomed by political polarity and ideology hopelessly stalled at its extremes. Thus I wanted to read a book backed by credible research which would help me better understand the economics of it all, while written with a generous dose of healthier, yet realistic optimism. Florida satisfied on both counts, and he’s caused me to ask much better questions of my own lifestyle choices, for I’ve been contemplating a move — as a result, I can’t wait to make it happen.
Florida wrote The Great Reset a year ago, and having read it, I now see his predictions playing out quite clearly. In his latest blog post specific to the book, he says,
“We need to break with the past and engage with the future that is already upon us. There is no stopping this ongoing Great Reset. But left to its own devices it will unfold in a stop-and-start, trial-and- error fashion over the course of the next two, maybe three decades. My hope is that this book can help us move more quickly down the path to real recovery, minimizing the pain and suffering faced by too many, and ushering in a new era of sustainable prosperity for everyone.”
I wanted to like this, and bought it without bothering to sample it first, but it was disappointing, and I think Rhone's editors let him down. Moving ...moreI wanted to like this, and bought it without bothering to sample it first, but it was disappointing, and I think Rhone's editors let him down. Moving from blogging to book-writing is quite a stretch: Perhaps friendships got in the way of push-toward-better critique pre-publishing?
Rhone writes with a great deal of warmth and sincerity, and I did feel this was a from-the-heart effort. I knew that Keeping it Straight was largely a collection of previously published blog posts, but I had not read them, and was hoping for something much more seasoned, along the lines of Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones. That would turn out to be much too large an expectation.
I enjoyed The Gated City, and I will be recommending it to others.
I’m planning to write a longer review for Talking Story, my blog, so bri...moreI enjoyed The Gated City, and I will be recommending it to others.
I’m planning to write a longer review for Talking Story, my blog, so briefly for now:
I can understand the feelings of the two previous reviewers now here, for both seem to be much more learned and familiar with the subjects at hand (urban planning, density economics etc.), however I greatly appreciated what Mr. Avent set out to do, in releasing his essay to the world-at-large as a very affordable Kindle Single. I was happy it wasn’t free, for we do pay more attention to what we pay for, and we’re more immediate in our reading, and our responding.
I agree that it’s “a decent book to inform the general public” and am glad it is — in fact, I think the ‘plain English’ of The Gated City (good title) may be its strength in light of the author’s honest intentions in writing it — for my feeling is that the public needs to be better informed, and is befuddled by the current state of the American economy, to the point of losing hope prematurely, when there are answers we can work on as a better informed citizenry. Even the “ton of throat clearing” one reviewer mentioned was fine for me as a reader, and I didn’t feel there was that much of it. As a small businesswoman who has worked with the ULI in the past (Urban Land Institute) and continues to follow urban planning and green sustainability with great interest, I’m familiar with the factors Mr. Avent covers, but his writing style actually proved to be a fresh reframing for me, for he describes them differently than in the discussions I’ve been accustomed to participating in.
I did reach the end hoping for more suggested solutions, but again, The Gated City is a Kindle Single on purpose, and not a full-throttled book: He’s written it for our awareness, and he’s asking for our involvement and our help. As I reached the last page, the next thing I did was send the author a message via Twitter saying, “thank you for writing [this]. Your message of more inclusive thinking is sorely needed” — for it is: We must do something about NIMBYism and the growing class/wealth divisions of America, and this discussion within The Gated City could help interject more economic logic where now exists a high degree of emotional selfishness.(less)
A quick and enjoyable read these past few evenings. Much of Honolulu’s history blended into the storyline was long known and familiar to me, as someon...moreA quick and enjoyable read these past few evenings. Much of Honolulu’s history blended into the storyline was long known and familiar to me, as someone born and raised in Hawai‘i, and thus the author’s selective story weaving was interesting, as was Jin’s tale and the strength of her character. It was the Korean angle to the book I enjoyed most of all, not knowing very much of the Japanese conflict that affected them so severely.
There were times I felt the author’s research was too easily slipped into the whole and contrived to fit, such as with the name dropping of Gem’s of Honolulu at the end, but mostly I felt that Brennert was very respectful of his readers, wanting to give us a good story throughout.(less)
Picked this up in my local Border’s going out of business sale, knowing nothing about author Gregory Maguire, and figuring the paperback would do as l...morePicked this up in my local Border’s going out of business sale, knowing nothing about author Gregory Maguire, and figuring the paperback would do as light-hearted entertainment on one of my upcoming plane trips across the Pacific. I was a little nostalgic for one of those pleasures Kindle has robbed me of: Finishing a paperback on a trip and being happy to leave it behind as a surprise for the next guest to inherit your hotel room ...or for the housekeeper, or the barista making my coffee each morning.
So much for advance planning at the bargain bin: Started TNQOH at home instead, wanting to read something very different from other recent choices I’ve made, and wanting to read it quickly, as with chomping through a good meal when you know from where your hunger comes. Maguire delivered, but not as I expected, and I’ll have to try reading another one of his ‘normal’ novels, since this one apparently is a bit of a departure for him, or so he says... is he being honestly apologetic or blatantly mischievous in his Author’s Note?
This is one of those books where the back-jacket copy is utterly accurate, while simultaneously proving that truthfulness can be misleading without enough context to prepare you for likely deceptions. You do feel a little deceived at the end, but when you think about it, you realize it would be worse to admit you were such a clueless reader — far better to give the author credit for being a sneaky genius.
I felt almost completely ambivalent about the book nearly half-way through it, even wondering if I’d even bother to finish it, only to read a bit more and find it snuck up on me — couldn’t put it down the final third despite berating myself for reading instead of working (and fiction, really?) I think the hook sunk in for me when introduced to the ancient Sisters of the Sorrowful Mysteries, for I did survive a full 9 years of Catholic School with them, and there are some things you can never escape relating to at some level. Let’s just say that no one can ever accuse us Catholics of not being interesting, at least not us wayward ones who still say “Holy Ghost” precisely because people think “Holy Spirit” has become more p.c. — we know that ship sailed away from us a long time ago.
There were a few unanswered questions for me with this book, but you know what? I am perfectly okay with them. Good job Gregory Maguire!(less)
The Botany of Desire was my trans-Pacific flight companion in good measure of the 5 hours from Hawai‘i to Portland: I read half of the book on the way...moreThe Botany of Desire was my trans-Pacific flight companion in good measure of the 5 hours from Hawai‘i to Portland: I read half of the book on the way there, covering Pollan’s first two stories of desire (the apple/sweetness and tulip/beauty), and then finished it on the trip back home (learning of his connection for marijuana/intoxication and the potato/control in the last two stories). Pollan’s coevolutionary premise, that plants have had a much greater effect on us than we realize, especially given their rooting and apparent immobility, was fascinating to me, and the book did not disappoint — I loved it.
This is a “Made you think!” kind of book, and Pollan stokes the reader’s curiosity very skillfully. I was intrigued with learning more of what botany can teach us, about plants yes, but mostly about ourselves in the coevolutionary connection Pollan explains so well. He writes well, and he’s woven good stories, all boosted with significant personal research (including that within his own garden, a wonderful personal touch) and I wished the book was longer to tell us of even more of them — the botanical connections abound here in the tropics, and the four desires he’s covered simply begin to peel back our complex layers.
Pollan was brilliant in starting with the apple and story of Johnny Appleseed, for we’ve all heard of the legend without knowing the depth of the story, and it’s so easy to take the apple for granted. It’s quite impossible to read this book without changing the way one thinks of plants, and without continuing to wonder just how much more they have affected us; what Pollan has done is awake the reader’s inquisitiveness and respect for botany in very successful way — we can continue our study on our own to a certain degree, the scientific calling unnecessary, and most notably with our own relationship to nature. I would also recommend this book to someone wanting to stretch in their reading with more non-fiction, for it’s a compelling choice in a league of its own.(less)
Do the Work is one of those short, "Here's a helpful kick in the butt, so you won't feel you're all alone" kind of books. You can breeze thr...moreDo the Work is one of those short, "Here's a helpful kick in the butt, so you won't feel you're all alone" kind of books. You can breeze through it in one sitting to know what it's about (as I did yesterday evening), and then keep it on your Kindle to go back to whenever you do need that kick instead of wallowing in any "Woe is me" waste of time. Lord knows we all need that kick sometimes.
This particular kick focuses on giving the reader a how-to push through their own resistance and lack of confidence when facing a work project.
Short books can be the hardest ones to write well, and I think Pressfield did a great job with this one. His coaching can be applied to much more than writing (his area of expertise), however it really is perfect for writing in particular. Very timely for me, since I'm currently within "the belly of the beast" with a writing project of my own.(less)
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