The Proud Tower

The Guns of August/The Proud Tower by Barbara W. Tuchman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This volume includes two books by Barbara Tuchman: The Guns of August and The Proud Tower. The first book; The Guns of August is a detailed account of World War I. The Proud Tower is an in depth look at all aspects of society leading up to WW1; social structures, economics, politics, socialism, anarchy in Britain, Europe, Russia, and the U.S. Consider the whole volume a chronicle of Western civilization right before and through Season 1 of Downtown Abbey.

I read The Proud Tower first since it concerns the time before WW1: 1890 - 1914. Do not be put off by detail heavy long paragraphs leading to longer chapters. Ms. Tuchman tells history as a story and tells each story in an easy to follow, chronological, cause and effect narration that relates detail effortlessly while giving the reader a sense of the big picture.

I especially enjoyed the part about the English aristocracy and how the same forces shaped and were changed in America. I also loved the detailed account of politics in the U.S. at that time. Reading about the machinations of the different parties in Congress and how they're not that different than today. They didn't have the filibuster but they had other rules and ways to block progress they didn't like. Unlike now there was a very strong Leader of the House who brilliantly made things happen despite the other parties obstructionism.

I didn't try to remember all of the names and dates. I just kept reading and the really important ones kept appearing making them easy to remember, and the dates fell easily into place due to the authors clear narration.

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

 But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see
through his bars of rage
his wings are clipped
and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks
of another breeze
and the trade winds soft
through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting
on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands
on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts
on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped
and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou

Quote: Dalai Lama

“We need to understand the inadequacy of an educational system so slanted towards material values. The solution is not to give an occasional lecture, but to integrate ethics into the educational curriculum. To do this effectively requires a secular ethics, free of religious influence, based on common sense, a realistic view and scientific findings.”

 Dalai Lamia

The Martian Child: A Novel About A Single Father Adopting A Son by David Gerrold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book after watching the film based on this book starring John Cusak and his sister Joan Cusak playing his sister in the story. The movie is a wonderful film I fell in love with instantly. The movie tells the story in a very straight forward, chronological format focusing on David's son's coping with his feeling of disconnect by believing he's from Mars. The book spends more time in David's head explaining his, David's, creative thought process and how he comes to understand his son. The plot is basically the same; most of the events in the movie are in the book, just not featured the same way. But they both are wonderful stories and both have equally rewarding endings.

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TED Talks: Adam Sadowsky engineers a viral music video

Life lessons plus OK Go!

TED Talk: The Power of Disconnection or Going Dune Blasting with Yoda

Make every day your first day.
Who're you letting live rent free in your head?
Why do you matter?
Only hurt people hurt others.
The most extraordinary people don't care about winning as much as they care about being successful.
 

Word of the Day: Interstitial

Interstitial; something in between, eg. interstitial music between segments, interstitial page between regular text, interstitial fluid or fiber between internal organs. Interstitial.

Quote: Abraham

“You are magnificent beings, in the perfect place at the perfect time, unfolding perfectly, never getting it done, and never getting it wrong. Be more playful about all of it. "Today, no matter where I'm going, no matter what I am doing, and no matter who I'm doing it with — it is my dominant intent to look for that which I'm wanting to see. I'm wanting to find thoughts and words and actions that feel good while I'm finding them. For in doing so, I am, in the moment, practicing the art of allowing all that I've been telling the Universe I'm wanting, for all of the days of my existence.”

 — Abraham

 It occurs to me that this is also what people who are their own worst enemies are doing. People who never had any love, safety, food, or positive role models in their life; who never learned how to be a force for good in their own life. They're also looking for that which they want to see. Looking for thoughts, words, and actions that feel good while looking for them, living in the moment, telling the universe who they are and what they want. And they're not going to look for anything different or tell the universe anything different until someone comes into their life in a way that they recognize and respect and shows them a different way.

Brene Brown: Shame and Vulerability

“When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible.

Your raise can be on the table, your promotion can be on the table, your title can be on the table, your grades can be on the table. But keep your worthiness for love and belonging off the table. And then ironically everything else just takes care of itself.”

“Be brave and vulnerable.”

“You can’t raise children who have more shame resilience than you do. Because even if you don’t shame them, and even if you are actively trying to raise them feeling good about who they are, they’re never going to treat themselves better than you treat yourself. If you want to raise a daughter with a really healthy body image, you better love your body as a mother, because that counts way more than looking at your daughter and saying “You’re beautiful and your body is beautiful.” All that matters to her is how she sees you acting with your own body. We can’t give children what we don’t have. We have to be the adults we hope they grow up to be.”

“Connection is why we're here. It's what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.”

“ Vulnerability is the core of shame and fear and our struggle for worthiness, but it is also the birthplace of joy, of creativity, of belonging, and of love.”

“Vulnerability is not weakness.”

“Vulnerability is emotional risk, exposure, uncertainty. It's our most accurate measurement of courage.”

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change.”

We have to talk about shame.

Shame is an epidemic in our courage.

Quote: Theodore Roosevelt

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasm; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”
— Theodore Roosevelt

The Psychology of Evil

He speaks really fast, but it's worthwhile to stay with him.

More about the talk by Mr. Zimbardo is at this link.

Quote: Don Miguel Ruiz

“(This) is why humans resist life. To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive—the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Just being ourself is the biggest fear of humans. We have learned to live our life trying to satisfy other people's demands. We have learned to live our life trying to satisfy other people's point of view because of the fear of not being accepted and of not being good enough for someone else.”

Don Miguel Ruiz

The Four Agreements

Quote: Marc Chernoff

“Making money is pretty easy.  Attaining true wealth is not.  Most people have jobs and bring in an income.  What’s difficult is to earn it by doing something that makes a positive difference. 

Knowing deep down that you counted; that someone else’s life is not as rich without you in it —that’s priceless.  That’s something worth working for.”

  -  Marc Chernoff

Quote: Richard Branson

This isn't about equal rights on paper.

This isn't just about not getting fired or seeing our partner in the hospital or marriage or adoption.  This is about not getting our head bashed in to the pavement.

A witness at the scene with her two teenaged sisters says the violent actions of the officers involved left her younger siblings seriously traumatised. “They were crying while the police bashed the boy’s head into the cement,” she said. “It was horrible, disgusting behaviour.”

Another witness adds: “They picked him up by the throat and slammed him into the ground with his head hitting the ground that hard it sounded like a bowling ball hitting the ground,” she said. “This was while he was in handcuffs.”  - From the news site Same Same.

This video is quite violent. If you aren't disturbed by it have someone check you for a pulse.

Commit to 3

What happens when a neuroscientist gets to experience a stroke from the inside out.

“We have the power to chose moment by moment who and how we want to be in the world.”  -  Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

Fixing Our Broken Systems

TED

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"Rules are like a road map that gets you to the right city, but not to the right street."
  -  Barry Schwartz

We depend on rules, guidelines, and laws to provide structure, order, and function, but too often these systems fail us. These TED speakers propose how to fix our broken systems by looking to trust and practical wisdom as ways to mend education, medicine, and the law. Plus, how games might be our best resources to solve real-world problems.

Listen to the full episode.

Note:  The last part on games is especially fun. It may make you think better of folks who spend so much time on online games. They may even have the key to our most challenging problems.

Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A well-written, intelligent, detailed account of a neurosurgeon's near death experience. Dr. Alexander goes further into his near death experience than other accounts I've heard and tells his tale in an easy-to-follow compelling way.

Reading this book moved me from "I believe in near death experiences but atheists my be right about the brain having a deep self-preservation response" to "yes, NDEs are absolutely real experiences." If I'm to expect everyone to believe and respect me when I tell them I'm gay; and I'm to believe and honor someone when they tell me they're transgender; then I'm compelled to believe Dr. Alexander when he tells me of his experience. Our experiences are most of who we are. Maya Angelou said, "When someone tells you who they are, believe them."

I believe him.

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Different Perspective

It used to be that when a man got a woman pregnant the honorable thing for him to do was to marry her. But now, according to John McCain and Newt Gingrich, when a man cheats on his wife the honorable thing to do is to marry the mistress.