Books: October Update (Part 2)
Here is Part 2 of my October book reviews (only two months late).
The Fellowship of the Ring:
I'm not sure why I put off reading The Lord of the Rings so long when I thoroughly enjoyed the movies. Although the action is at times slow, the story was never boring. Tolkein fills the pages with fascinating descriptions of the various lands in Middle Earth and their histories, giving the reader just enough back-story to be curious but never enough to quell the mystery of the historied land. For example, what is a barrow-wight? Where did Tom Bombadil come from and why was he excluded from the movie? What are the details of the dwarves' and elves' long-standing hatred of one another?
What surprised me most about The Fellowship is that the hobbits don't even reach Rivendell until halfway through the book; it is a while longer still before the council of Elrond is over and the party begins their quest in earnest. It has been a while since I have seen the movies, but based on my recollection of them I agree with Brock's assessment from years ago: the last half of the movie covers only the last 50 pages of the book, meaning many the events in the first ~300 pages are skipped over in the film.
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary:
A light-hearted funny book from David Sedaris (whose writing I love). The short stories are a mix between parable and comedy; animals behave and speak in a decidedly human manner while going about their animal lives. Each time a cheesy moral lesson seems to be just around the corner, Sedaris' animals provide comic relief by saying word-for-word a common human comment that makes the reader laugh at what would otherwise (if the characters were humans) be a serious situation. Very funny and very quick.
Sharp Objects:
A very enjoyable thriller; not as good as Gone Girl, but better than Dark Places.
Kitchen Confidential:
I loved reading Bourdain's account of his life in the cooking industry. His numerous jobs that span the whole range of available kitchen positions were entertaining and enlightening to learn about. I have not worked in the restaurant industry and had little inside knowledge of what really goes on behind the kitchen doors before picking up this wonderful book. Bourdain lays bare the eccentric cast of characters he worked with over the years, all the drugs he did as a young cook, why he never orders fish on a Monday, his drunken escapades in numerous kitchens, and what it really takes to be a chef. My favorite chapter was called "A Day in the Life" where Bourdain describes, from his waking up to his falling asleep, every detail and decision of an average day as executive chef of Brasserie Les Halles. Many times throughout Kitchen Confidential (published in 2000), Bourdain emphasizes that he loves the life of a chef and is happy with his life. He also describes how the demanding lifestyle could easily lead someone to suicide or other horrible crimes. These passages, when read after Bourdain's 2018 suicide, have a much different tone than I imagine they would have back when the book was published. If you want to learn some great stuff about the restaurant industry, pick this one up. You won't be able to put it down easily.
Can't Hurt Me:
David Goggins' fascinating and unbelievable account of how he overcame numerous seemingly insurmountable obstacles in his life to become the "toughest athlete on the planet." Goggins had a very difficult childhood and an impossible road ahead of him, yet by hardening his mind over years of physical training, he was able to become a Navy SEAL, complete Army Ranger School, and finish Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. He ran his first 100-mile ultra-marathon on zero training. His legs were literally broken afterwards, but he ran another brutal race (the Badwater 135) shortly thereafter. Goggins does not believe in motivation as a tool to improve your life, only the development of a hardened mind. It is a continual process that will never end. There is no finish line. In his book, Goggins chronicles his life and provides a step-by-step process for how to harden your mind like he has done. I highly recommend this book and listening to his interviews (with Rich Roll, Joe Rogan, Michael Gervais, etc.). I have listened to and read a lot of what David Goggins has put out into the world; check him out in whatever form you want, but don't miss out on his amazing story.
Peace is Every Step:
A wonderful basic primer on what mindfulness is, how to practice it, and how to incorporate it into your daily life. Hanh writes about how mindfulness relates to individuals and the world as a whole. He discusses mindfulness in connection with emotions and daily life; he also discusses how it is related to wars, trash, and other global issues. I recommend this book for anyone interested in a simple look at how mindfulness can be a positive addition to your life.
Range:
David Epstein's fantastic book about why having a range of knowledge, interests, and experiences throughout your life tends to lead to greater success than early specialization. Despite the rampant trends toward early specialization in present society--Tiger Woods learning how to putt when he was two, parents forcing their kids to start playing violin at age four, scientific fields such as chemistry, biology, and medicine splitting into sub-sub-specializations--having a shallow, wide pool of knowledge and experience will yield better results. Having a variety of experiences makes it more likely that you will have a higher "match quality" in your career, more likely that you will find the right job that fits your unique interests and skills.
In Range, Epstein dives deep into how we learn and make connections to justify why a range of knowledge and experiences is the best path. He provides evidence showing how learning things slowly and painfully with experimentation and exploration is much more effective in the long-term than learning specific procedures to solve certain types of problems. This type of problem-solving mindset allows one to make connections across disciplines, a key to innovation. Epstein illuminates numerous examples of people who "stumbled into a job" or "didn't really know what they wanted to do" or "took a roundabout path" and went on to become great leaders, athletes, and innovators. The world needs specialists too, but without the broad thinkers to make connections between the specialists' work, many answers to today's most pressing questions will never be found. This was a great book that I highly recommend if you are looking for some nonfiction.
The Fellowship of the Ring:
I'm not sure why I put off reading The Lord of the Rings so long when I thoroughly enjoyed the movies. Although the action is at times slow, the story was never boring. Tolkein fills the pages with fascinating descriptions of the various lands in Middle Earth and their histories, giving the reader just enough back-story to be curious but never enough to quell the mystery of the historied land. For example, what is a barrow-wight? Where did Tom Bombadil come from and why was he excluded from the movie? What are the details of the dwarves' and elves' long-standing hatred of one another?
What surprised me most about The Fellowship is that the hobbits don't even reach Rivendell until halfway through the book; it is a while longer still before the council of Elrond is over and the party begins their quest in earnest. It has been a while since I have seen the movies, but based on my recollection of them I agree with Brock's assessment from years ago: the last half of the movie covers only the last 50 pages of the book, meaning many the events in the first ~300 pages are skipped over in the film.
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary:
A light-hearted funny book from David Sedaris (whose writing I love). The short stories are a mix between parable and comedy; animals behave and speak in a decidedly human manner while going about their animal lives. Each time a cheesy moral lesson seems to be just around the corner, Sedaris' animals provide comic relief by saying word-for-word a common human comment that makes the reader laugh at what would otherwise (if the characters were humans) be a serious situation. Very funny and very quick.
Sharp Objects:
A very enjoyable thriller; not as good as Gone Girl, but better than Dark Places.
Kitchen Confidential:
I loved reading Bourdain's account of his life in the cooking industry. His numerous jobs that span the whole range of available kitchen positions were entertaining and enlightening to learn about. I have not worked in the restaurant industry and had little inside knowledge of what really goes on behind the kitchen doors before picking up this wonderful book. Bourdain lays bare the eccentric cast of characters he worked with over the years, all the drugs he did as a young cook, why he never orders fish on a Monday, his drunken escapades in numerous kitchens, and what it really takes to be a chef. My favorite chapter was called "A Day in the Life" where Bourdain describes, from his waking up to his falling asleep, every detail and decision of an average day as executive chef of Brasserie Les Halles. Many times throughout Kitchen Confidential (published in 2000), Bourdain emphasizes that he loves the life of a chef and is happy with his life. He also describes how the demanding lifestyle could easily lead someone to suicide or other horrible crimes. These passages, when read after Bourdain's 2018 suicide, have a much different tone than I imagine they would have back when the book was published. If you want to learn some great stuff about the restaurant industry, pick this one up. You won't be able to put it down easily.
Can't Hurt Me:
David Goggins' fascinating and unbelievable account of how he overcame numerous seemingly insurmountable obstacles in his life to become the "toughest athlete on the planet." Goggins had a very difficult childhood and an impossible road ahead of him, yet by hardening his mind over years of physical training, he was able to become a Navy SEAL, complete Army Ranger School, and finish Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. He ran his first 100-mile ultra-marathon on zero training. His legs were literally broken afterwards, but he ran another brutal race (the Badwater 135) shortly thereafter. Goggins does not believe in motivation as a tool to improve your life, only the development of a hardened mind. It is a continual process that will never end. There is no finish line. In his book, Goggins chronicles his life and provides a step-by-step process for how to harden your mind like he has done. I highly recommend this book and listening to his interviews (with Rich Roll, Joe Rogan, Michael Gervais, etc.). I have listened to and read a lot of what David Goggins has put out into the world; check him out in whatever form you want, but don't miss out on his amazing story.
Peace is Every Step:
A wonderful basic primer on what mindfulness is, how to practice it, and how to incorporate it into your daily life. Hanh writes about how mindfulness relates to individuals and the world as a whole. He discusses mindfulness in connection with emotions and daily life; he also discusses how it is related to wars, trash, and other global issues. I recommend this book for anyone interested in a simple look at how mindfulness can be a positive addition to your life.
Range:
David Epstein's fantastic book about why having a range of knowledge, interests, and experiences throughout your life tends to lead to greater success than early specialization. Despite the rampant trends toward early specialization in present society--Tiger Woods learning how to putt when he was two, parents forcing their kids to start playing violin at age four, scientific fields such as chemistry, biology, and medicine splitting into sub-sub-specializations--having a shallow, wide pool of knowledge and experience will yield better results. Having a variety of experiences makes it more likely that you will have a higher "match quality" in your career, more likely that you will find the right job that fits your unique interests and skills.
In Range, Epstein dives deep into how we learn and make connections to justify why a range of knowledge and experiences is the best path. He provides evidence showing how learning things slowly and painfully with experimentation and exploration is much more effective in the long-term than learning specific procedures to solve certain types of problems. This type of problem-solving mindset allows one to make connections across disciplines, a key to innovation. Epstein illuminates numerous examples of people who "stumbled into a job" or "didn't really know what they wanted to do" or "took a roundabout path" and went on to become great leaders, athletes, and innovators. The world needs specialists too, but without the broad thinkers to make connections between the specialists' work, many answers to today's most pressing questions will never be found. This was a great book that I highly recommend if you are looking for some nonfiction.
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