I often think about the maxim that the most interesting findings occur at the intersections of fields. I recently discovered a book that lands at the intersection of literature, psychiatry, and neuroscience. It was a fabulous read. I discovered this book in a tiny, one-paragraph blurb in the New Yorker; the book wasn’t even featured in an article. But it...
But the heart of the novel The Indian Lawyer, by James Welch, is not the prisoner Jack Harwood. It is, of course, the Indian lawyer, Sylvester Yellow Calf. Reading about his life is powerfully interesting and thrilling and sad, a human drama you won’t want to miss. The predicament Yellow Calf faces is strongly existent, long before Harwood steps into...
At the beginning of a novel, the reader needs to be curious about something. Otherwise, the reader will probably stop reading. At the beginning of The Indian Lawyer, James Welch masterfully sparks the reader’s curiosity. How? By sparking curiosity within the minds of his characters. The word why appears, prominently, twice in chapter one. Both why’s are directed at Jack...
The ending of the novel slayed me. It continues to slay me, every time I think of it. It’s a jab inside the stomach, a sick, wrenching feeling that can never disperse, but only be masked by other thoughts, until, inevitably, I think of the ending again and get jabbed once more. In the LizaAchilles universe of literary greats, there’s...
I’ve been writing blog posts about habits and how to foster good ones in your life, . . . but why is this important in the first place? As usual, James Clear has the answer. Here’s another tidbit of wisdom from his book Atomic Habits: “Habit formation is incredibly useful because the conscious mind is the bottleneck of the brain....
I’ve seen this piece of advice over and over in my years of reading books. And I tried it, and it works. I see so many people not doing this that it amazes me, as the advice is everywhere (though I haven’t seen it stated so succinctly and broadly as by James Clear in his book Atomic Habits). So in...
Self-help books are a dime a dozen—sometimes literally—but this one is special. James Clear has written a book that, true to his last name, is remarkably clear, in the senses of well written and insightful. If you’ve been wanting to make a change, and you’re wondering how to get what you want, this book is for you. There are so...
Many of us were raised to believe that virtue is the pinnacle of goodness. If you can climb high enough, morally speaking, you can reach the apex that is virtue. But is that what virtue really is? What is virtue? What Is Virtue, Aristotle? In his lengthy and comprehensive work The History of Philosophy, A. C. Grayling explicates Aristotle’s ideas...
One thing that stood out to me while reading The History of Philosophy, by A. C. Grayling, is the modern feel of so much ancient thought. The metaphor Grayling uses to define the field of philosophy alludes to both ancient thought (Plato’s allegory of the cave) and modern thought (alternate universes). Similarly, other aspects of ancient thought can be readily...
When I was an undergraduate, I did not know what philosophy was. My ignorant assumption was that the role of a philosopher is to prove the existence of the Judeo-Christian God through specious reasoning. I steered clear of those courses; but now I wish I hadn’t. Because that’s not what philosophy is at all. Having missed a college education in...
This one is very important and very beautiful. Here is an interesting paragraph, plopped seemingly on a random page, in the book Dusk, Night, Dawn by Anne Lamott: “My friends are the low note that hold me. Love is the whisper of wire drum-brushes. And while everyone has to make a living and show up for family, listening is optional:...
Large and small tragedies abound. Some are unimaginably horrific, putting the tiny ones in perspective. Anne Lamott, in her beautiful book Dusk, Night, Dawn, writes about a horrific tragedy that occurred in the life of a woman named Ali. Ali might have been a person who drank too much alcohol. Ali was definitely a person who did a very terrible...
This one is for me and everyone out there going through major life struggles right now. I have featured Anne Lamott on this blog before, and I’m doing it again. I’ll probably do it again and again. In a blog about seeking wisdom from books, how could I do otherwise? She is the queen of wisdom writing. Unsurpassed, unsurpassable. Anne...
This is something of a convoluted story. The famous 1968 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick has an unusual title. It’s quite long for a book title, and it ends with a question mark. What’s more, there are few clues within the book itself as to why it’s titled as it is. And so, the question of the hour...
You may have experienced depression. But have you ever experienced the wish to experience depression? What a strange wish! In his endlessly creative novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick imagines a futuristic world (oddly enough, set in 2021) in which a character chooses voluntarily to be depressed. She chooses voluntarily to be depressed! What could cause...
It’s the year 2021. . . . It’s THE FUTURE!!!! Imagine. . . . Humans have created fake humans with machine parts so sophisticated that they are all but indistinguishable from real humans. . . . Imagine. . . . It’s 2021, and yet gender roles in America have, for some unknown reason, not progressed beyond the mid-1960s. . ....
We’re all human. And when you pan out, and pan out, and pan out the view, we’re all the same. Yet each one of us is unique. We’re all the same, and we’re all different. Obvious? Yes. Maybe. Actually, not at all, when you’re just trying to survive your day. Now check out this lovely passage from the novel Nothing...
Here’s a line from the fabulous novel Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson, that I could relate to on a deep level: “When I was a kid, I’d been so angry that I was a girl and couldn’t dunk, . . .” The protagonist loves basketball. Basketball hoops are set at certain heights. As a girl of a certain...
They said the book was weird. And then, they said, the book got really weird. This is the kind of book talk that is sure to intrigue a weirdo like me. So, upon hearing this talk at a meeting of my Silent Book Club, I read the 2019 novel Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson. My bookish friends were...
So far in previewing the book Change: How to Make Big Things Happen, I’ve stuck to Damon Centola’s main thesis about creating social networks that can foster major social changes. But that’s not the only thing social networks can do. In his book, he also discusses creating networks that can foster innovation. Interestingly, an optimized social network for societal change...
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Books previewed
Projections Karl Deisseroth
The Indian Lawyer James Welch
Atomic Habits James Clear
The History of Philosophy A. C. Grayling
Dusk, Night, Dawn Anne Lamott
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf
The Indian Lawyer James Welch
Atomic Habits James Clear
The History of Philosophy A. C. Grayling
Dusk, Night, Dawn Anne Lamott
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf
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