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Hey everyone,
I hope you’re surprising yourself with how much you’re able to do just as often as you’re forgiving yourself when you’re not able to do much.
If you’re looking to put your mind elsewhere, the past two chapters of my award-winning podcast 3 Booksshare the story of a Korean twin adoptee searching for a sense of self in a white community across the world (listen here) and a trans artist exploring how masculinity was imposed on her as a boy and continues to haunt her as a girl while discussing the evolution of gender (listen here).
1. In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speedby Carl Honoré. I bought this book years ago and never found time to read it. Quelle surprise! (The most common reply I get to this book club is “How do you find time to read?” My answer in HBR articles here and here.) I believe this book is the balm or mirror we all need right now. If you’re feeling slow or sluggish already this book will smile at you warmly, pat you on the back, and help you settle deeper into that slower, wiser, more meandering self. In fact, you’ll feel positively virtuous for doing so! And if you’re the opposite, if you feel like the treadmill you’re on was just cranked to 10, then this book will offer you a little reflection to encourage you to pause and take pulse. Chock full of research and wonderfully narrated by Carl Honoré in that “sitting beside you on the bus” vein of Quiet or So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, I felt like this was the book I have needed for years. “There’s only us, there’s only this, forget regret, or life is yours to miss.” Yes! Forget regret. There’s only this. Slow it down. And read this wonderful book.
2. The Alchemistby Paulo Coelho. Do you read horoscopes? I remember skimming them in my hometown paper when I was a kid. I couldn’t understand how a couple pithy sentences might apply on any given day to one twelfth of all people. Then I realized that, of course, they’re just super vague. “Trouble is brewing at home. A wander helps focus the path ahead.” Yes! That’s me! They nailed it! Why do I mention this? Because this entire book is written something like that. What happens? Well, as Paulo Coelho writes in the introduction: “A man sets out on a journey, dreaming of a beautiful or magical place, in pursuit of some unknown treasure.” Does that sound like you? I bet it will as you read it. I don’t mean to sound sarcastic. It is an astounding feat to pull this off in the form of a 200 page parable. While reading it you’ll fall right into a wonderfully first person journey like I did. Perfect before bed book.
3. Sparkle Stories –Audio Stories for Children. Have your kids completely merged into the Netflix algorithm by now? I think we’re all there! Sparkle Stories offers a wonderful reprieve in the form of gentle, slowly narrated stories feeding kindness, respect, and wonder for our world. It works through a freemium model that we have just properly bought into after years of listening for free. Our kids love the stories and it’s actually a bit mind-blowing that this small, virtual mom and pop shop has quietly put together a library of 1300 (!) stories for kids aged 3 – 12. Highly recommended. (Sidenote: I get paid nothing for telling you about Sparkle Stories or any book ever on my list. As I like to say, nobody can buy their way on and nobody can buy their way off.)
4. The Old Manby Sarah V & Claude K. Dubois. When schools were still open my son went to the shelter with his class. They made food, brought it there, and talked about the experience. My wife Leslie went looking for some children’s books to open up the conversation at home about homelessness. She found this! A simple tale, with many wordless pages, of a day in the life of a man living on the street and how his day is changed through a simple kindness from a little girl. Fantastic way to open up the conversation.
5. The Stopwatch Gangby Greg Weston. Have you ever dreamed of robbing a bank? It’s okay. You can tell me. I’m pretty sure most of us have at least thought about it! Don’t pretend it’s just me. Well, in Ottawa, Canada, in 1980, three seemingly well-adjusted, gregarious everyday guys hatched a plan to really pull it off. So began one of the most electric bank robbing sprees in history. The Stopwatch Gang, as they came to be known, moved around the US for a decade, and this book is a step by step account of what happened written by a veteran true crime journalist. Thank you to Shane Parrish of Farnam Street for this book. (Check out my chat with Shane on his podcast The Knowledge Project here.)
6. Bill Peet: An Autobiography by Bill Peet. Critics uniformly predicted that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would be a bomb. Makes sense! It was 1937 and was the first feature-length animated film ever. Who would really sit through a cartoon that long? Well, behind the scenes at the small outfit Walt Disney was a guy named Bill Peet, a plucky young art student who got the job through a newspaper ad and worked for decades on films like Fantasia, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book. He also wrote a litany of children’s books “on the side” so this autobiography is created in the fashion of one. The best part in this quick read is the up close view into Walt Disney himself and what it looked like on the inside of Disney through the middle of the twentieth century. (For a fun romp check out BillPeet.net. I love old websites like this so much. Shoutout to GeoCities!)
7. Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art by Madeleine L’Engle. I admit whenever I hear a book described as “a meditation on…” I sort of hear it as “a bunch of loose, semi-coherent rambles on…” How myopic of me! Because this book is indeed a meditation on faith and art and it is the furthest thing from loose and semi-coherent. With the powerful highbeamed mind of Madeleine L’Engle it dives down into the deeper, colder, darker waters far below other well-structured or well-researched or well-organized books to explore, to really meaningfully explore, the murky depths underpinning the massive overlapping circles of faith and art. As you read the book you’ll feel connected to a wise, patient, enlightened guide calmly showing you the meaning of all things. Absolutely mandatory reading for anyone creating art in any way. So, most people! Closest book I can compare it to would be The War of Art by Steven Pressfield but this gets a lot deeper in my view. Good book to pair with Chapter 43 of 3 Books with the wild Lisa Labute.
8. Becoming Better Grownups by Brad Montague. Do you remember the viral Kid President videos? They were created by Brad Montague. He has a butterfly soul of warmth, creativity, and kindness. Years ago when I was working at Walmart it was popular for the executives to go on listening tours. We’d pile into the company jet, which was essentially a rusty Dodge Caravan with wings, and then fly to remote towns to sit in the back of Walmart after Walmart and simply listen. Listen to who? Everyone! A group of cashiers. A group of assistant managers. A group of maintenance workers. “Tell us what’s on your mind”, “What’s frustrating about your job?”, “What isn’t working from the head office?” For the largest company in the world this was a remarkably nimble way to feed the top dogs with front line feedback. Why do I mention this? Because that’s exactly what Brad did to feed this book. He went on a 50-state listening tour to elementary school classrooms and asked them what they wanted from grownups. He then did the same with elders. And he compiled the lessons into this wonderfully written, beautifully illustrated guide to being a better grownup. Written in his whimsical, evocative style, it’s a great read full of life lessons and stories. Perfect gift for any new parent-to-be, too. (Sidenote: Check out Brad’s Instagram for daily inspiration.)
