Ferenc Máté's Blog, page 4
December 28, 2012
New chapter excerpt from A REAL LIFE
CHAPTER 13
How Do You Hug an Electronic Friend?
A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that kids aged eight to eighteen devote 1,600 minutes per week to watching TV, while the amount of time per week that a child spends in meaningful conversation with his parents is 3 ½ minutes. When I first read these statistics, I was speechless. It took some time to comprehend that if a child sleeps for eight hours, goes to schoo...
December 21, 2012
Vegetable Garden- part 1 (excerpt from A REAL LIFE)
Honor Thy Vegetable Garden
When we landed in Canada we had but our clothes in one small suitcase and a hundred or so dollars my parents had saved by working the winter and spring in Vienna. We lived near Vancouver in a three-room attic with a view of the mountains and a mandarin orange crate hung out the window for a fridge. But we immediately found a treasure in my stepfather’s great uncle, Feribacsi. He had a place nearby that, even in retrospect, seems lik...
Chapter excerpt from A REAL LIFE: Rediscovering the Roots of Our Happiness
CHAPTER 10
Honor Thy Vegetable Garden
When we landed in Canada we had but our clothes in one small suitcase and a hundred or so dollars my parents had saved by working the winter and spring in Vienna. We lived near Vancouver in a three-room attic with a view of the mountains and a mandarin orange crate hung out the window for a fridge. But we immediately found a treasure in my stepfather’s great uncle, Feribacsi. He had a place nearby that, even in retrospect,...
December 12, 2012
Love Thy Neighbor, Live Forever (excerpt from A REAL LIFE)
Love Thy Neighbor, Live Forever
“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”—Woodrow Wilson
You might think that neighborly togetherness and its casual daily exchanges are good for a once-a-year laugh and no more. Well, there is empirical proof that a supportive community goes way beyond being fodder for sitcoms. For decades I have pondered the immeasurable value of friends. I have talked in various books about those childhood days in Vancouver, surrounded by good pal...
Chapter excerpt from A REAL LIFE: Rediscovering the Roots of Our Happiness
CHAPTER 4
Love Thy Neighbor, Live Forever
“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”—Woodrow Wilson
You might think that neighborly togetherness and its casual daily exchanges are good for a once-a-year laugh and no more. Well, there is empirical proof that a supportive community goes way beyond being fodder for sitcoms. For decades I have pondered the immeasurable value of friends. I have talked in various books about those childhood days in Vancouver, surrounded by...
December 6, 2012
Sunday, Lovely Sunday (excerpt from A REAL LIFE)
Sunday, Lovely Sunday
Just how much we have mutated in a mere generation is perhaps best exemplified by what has happened to our Sundays. Not so long ago, our Sundays were devoted to flesh and blood people; the Sunday family drive, family picnic or dinner, and the Sunday visit with neighbors and friends were as American as apple pie. But that all changed. We have replaced people with material goods to such an extent, that the former US President no longer referred to his compatriots as “...
Chapter excerpt from A REAL LIFE: Rediscovering the Roots of Our Happiness
Here is an excerpt from Ferenc Máté's A REAL LIFE: Rediscovering the Roots of Our Happiness which has just appeared in paperback. A REAL LIFE is available through W. W. Norton and Amazon.com or wherever books and ebooks are sold. For more about the author, please visit www.ferencmate.com. Stay tuned for more chapters!
Chapter 3
Sunday, Lovely Sunday
Just how much we have mutated in a mere generation is perhaps best exemplified by what has happened to our Sundays. Not so long ago, our Sunda...
Chapter 3
Sunday, Lovely Sunday
Just how much we have mutated in a mere generation is perhaps best exemplified by what has happened to our Sundays. Not so long ago, our Sunda...
November 28, 2012
The Pursuit of Happiness (excerpt from A REAL LIFE)
The Pursuit of Happiness
“If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.”—Edith Wharton
The most universallyadmired part of the United States Declaration of Independence, penned by the Founding Fathers and adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776, reads:
“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
That noble sen...
Chapter excerpt from A REAL LIFE: Rediscovering the Roots of Our Happiness
Here is an excerpt from Ferenc Máté's A REAL LIFE: Rediscovering the Roots of Our Happiness which has just appeared in paperback. A REAL LIFE is available through W. W. Norton and Amazon.com or wherever books and ebooks are sold. For more about the author, please visit www.ferencmate.com. Stay tuned for more chapters!
CHAPTER 1
The Pursuit of Happiness
“If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.”—Edith Wharton
The mos...
CHAPTER 1
The Pursuit of Happiness
“If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.”—Edith Wharton
The mos...
November 19, 2012
A REAL LIFE: Interview on "Travel with Rick Steves"
Click here to listen to Ferenc Máté's Interview with Rick Steves about A REAL LIFE (also available here)A REAL LIFE: Rediscovering the Roots of Our Happiness
is available wherever books and ebooks are sold.
Order through W. W. Norton
or on Amazon.com
