read one book each week

This was a very interesting book about a complicated subject. In short, she reviewed the choices women make and looked at the question of what makes people happy. The quick answer is that being single is better than an unhappy marriage, children are a blessing for most people and how important work is to your happiness pretty much depends on your personality, values and situation. I liked it because there were no simple answers, just like life.

중간 중간 책을 손에서 놓지 말것

최대한 빠른 속도로 읽긴하되, 핵심을 놓치진 말것

By Naisbitt – the same author who wrote Megatrends, which was a terrific book. This one was equally good. The one that stuck with me the most was about how we are becoming a visual society. I have even started adding images on my blog on statistics, http://www.thejuliagroup.com/blog/ whether it is pictures of walruses in a post on test for differences in variances or of flamingos in a discussion of nested logit models.

For Christmas, I got a Sony Reader. It’s pretty cool and I downloaded Gladwell’s latest book, Outliers. I really liked the Tipping Point, which he also wrote, so I am really looking forward to reading this one.

I read Affluenza, by Oliver James. I recommend it to anyone who is not living in a box under a bridge (in which case, I assume you have more pressing problems). If you have more money than you ever thought you would as a child, have graduated from college, got a job, had children and still are not satisfied with your life, you have to read this book. In the introduction he asserts that this is not a self-help book but rather a study of why things are so f*cked up.

You should read it. It’s awesome.

I read two books this month – Eragon, which is about a boy who finds a dragon’s egg, epic battle of good and evil, etc. Junk food for the brain. I liked it.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was The Bookseller of Kabul, a true story of the life of a family in Afghanistan. It really made me think and I would highly recommend it to anyone. In particular, the portrayal of the daily lives of women in Afghanistan is particularly chilling.

This week I read the book, “The Four Agreements”. This relates to another good I have that I haven’t got around to adding yet, which is to reduce the clutter in my house. So, I decided to start this goal with reading books I had bought and not read yet. The Four Agreements are:

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don’t take anything personally.
3. Don’t make assumptions
4. Always do your best.

The book was worth buying and reading for those four thoughts. However, it should have been an essay instead of a book. It could have been 1/4 the length.

The first agreement speaks for itself. The second one did warrant a bit more discussion. In brief, the author says that even if I say, “I hate you”, it reflects on me more than you. If you have always kept your word and always done your best, then if someone hates you because you aren’t the same religion as they are or didn’t promote them to some position for which they weren’t qualified, it’s really their problem not yours and there is no reason to take it personally.

Make no assumptions. This third agreement is the only one I could not agree with wholeheartedly. Although it is a good idea, I don’t really believe the author’s contention that you have the right to ask anyone anything just as they have the right to say yes or no. It is true that often our problems are caused by making assumptions about people and if we just ASKED that often we would find out that the truth is different than we had assumed. You can never read another person’s mind or know what is going on in their home. Maybe Joe didn’t call you back because he was dealing with his teenage daughter who had tried to commit suicide, it had absolutely nothing to do with not valuing your contribution to the company. That goes right back to the second agreement, Don’t Take Anything Personally.

I do think that sometimes you have to assume because it is just not appropriate to ask. Let’s say you are friends with someone and you are attracted to that person who is married to someone else. Do you have the right to ask him or her if your feelings are reciprocated? I would say, “No”. It would make the person feel awkward and probably damage your friendship. You’ve put a friend in an uncomfortable position and I don’t think it is okay. In case you are wondering, no I am not speaking from personal experience here, it was just the first example that jumped to mind. I can think of times when if someone asked me a question my response would be, “None of your business.”

So, my conclusion on this book is that it was really important points and the agreements are worth really thinking deeply about. The book itself, however, was too wordy and not particularly well-written. I’d read it if I was on a cruise and didn’t have anything else to read, or maybe if I liked those new age-y type things – which I don’t particularly.

I give it a B-