Note- I published this one using my original blog title on
February 29, 2016.
I've retained the entire post as it went up on that
day save one adjustment- I formatted the footnotes to the style I started using
in the following post. No real reason except that I liked the new method
a lot better.
Here is the link to the original post.
Here is the link to the original post.
I also re-published it when I move from that link to a new one, within the same site. Here is the link- note that the content is identical to what I have replicated below.
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Hi everyone,
I suppose today is the grand opening here on A Full Blog (until I get around to blog post number two). Thanks for dropping by and I hope all three of you who end up reading today enjoy the post as much as I did in writing it.
Picking out a first post was a tricky assignment. So, how did I end up with this topic? I thought about it very briefly and decided that writing about what I tend to get asked about frequently made as much sense as any other criteria. I read quite a bit and get asked a lot about these books as a result so I figured I should start with something in that neighborhood and see where things went from there.
Most of the questions I get asked about books- what are you reading now, what was the best book you read recently, what do you recommend I read, what are you going to read next, etc- are kind of tricky to answer 'correctly' (*). I chose to avoid these types of questions, at least for post #1, because my answers tend to vary based on the person raising the question.
*I use correctly here because I tend to think of a better/different answer to the question about five minutes after the conversation ends. I guess it does not make my original answer wrong but I do end up feeling somewhat foolish.
I ended up going with 'what books have changed your life' despite not being able to actually recall being asked this question in a normal conversation (*). It made some sense to me as a blog post, though, because I do think about stuff like this from time to time and allowed me to really mull over the question of how to define a book as 'life changing'.
*This question seems to be the type of thing that comes up in 'conversations' where there is an obligation to speak and a general mix of politeness/friendliness but where there is a lack of personal familiarity. I could see this question coming up in my next job interview, for instance (but I am not sure if hearing this question- or pretending to come up with an answer on the spot while I just recite this post from memory- would make me more or less excited to work for that company).My approach was simple- I went to my reading list (*) and I asked myself for each book on that list- did reading the book lead me to change something about how I was living my life? I asked that question literally- so books that inspired me/made me laugh/renewed my spirit/recharged my batteries/gave me 'perspective'- were out. If (hypothetically) I read an atrocious book about how commuting to work by walking on your hands was good for preventing carpal tunnel syndrome and I went ahead and implemented did change into my life- then that book would be in this list.
*I started keeping track of every book I finished reading at the start of 2011- title, author, and date I got my hands on it (literally, since I have never read a book electronically). Sometime around 2014, I switched to keeping track of the date I finished the book.
If yes- it went on the list. If not- and most of them were 'not'- then I will not write about it here (*).
*This approach did lead me to cross off quite a few really good reads but I maybe I will just blog about those at a future date! Anything seems possible when you are sitting at a public computer in the Cambridge Main Library. Some of the 'books I really liked in 2011 but will not appear on this list' are Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (Wells Tower), The New New Thing (Michael Lewis), The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God (Etgar Keret), The Undercover Economist (Tim Harford), and The Game (Ken Dryden).
OK- without any further syllables and in no particular order, here two of the four books I read in 2011 that led me to make some kind of change in my life:
*Keep The Change by Steve Dublanica
I guess it would not be my blog if we could not start with a bad pun, or at least some silly wordplay (tip to new readers- there will be puns around here...).
This book is anyone who receives tips as part of their compensation. This book led me to a very simple change- I just started tipping more. Over five years, in fact, it has probably led me to spend several hundred/thousand dollars more than I otherwise would have through increased tipping.
The book itself was not all that memorable but I do remember one general idea which could serve as the one-line summary of the book: people who have worked for tips tend to tip well. That argument made a great deal of sense to me at the time. I can even speculate that it influenced me to seek simpler arguments in my own thought process over these past five years- I cannot find an earlier example on my book list where I can recall such a simple message that makes an important point.
The other idea I can tie back to this book is more of a thought on just how peculiar tipping is. I'll use a hypothetical to make my point.
Suppose I met any of you for a drink at a bar and I interrupt our conversation at one point to hand some stranger five dollars. You might note that this curious generosity was a nice gesture but you would also very likely think it was a somewhat odd thing to do. If you did not know me that well, you may (or may not) conclude that I was trying to 'buy' a good impression.
However, if at the same bar I tipped the bartender the same five dollars for pouring a $1 Guinness (*), you would likely conclude that I was 'a good tipper'. It is fairly likely that you would consider this generous Guinness gesture to be genuine.
*Like I said, this is a hypothetical scenario.
In both cases, I have given someone five dollars- but only in the context of tipping is this sure to improve someone's perception of me. In a way, the silliness of the example kind of obscures the main idea- that context can drastically alter how two otherwise identical actions are perceived. In any event, I suppose if you are looking for the fastest way to improve others' perception of you for just $5, get yourself into a tipping situation and go from there.
*Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
One of the things I found memorable in reading Zero To One sometime in early 2015 was an interview question that the author found invaluable in screening potential job candidates. The prompt, more or less, went along the lines of 'talk about something that is true which most people do not agree with you on' (*).
*I ended up 'researching' (using google) to double-check my memory- the actual prompt is 'Tell me something that's true, that almost nobody agrees with you on.' Here is a very short article about the prompt if you still feel like reading on:
http://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-loves-this-interview-question-2014-11
With the caveat that I might have totally misunderstood the prompt or simply paraphrased it in a way that takes this away from the spirit of the question- I think my answer at the time would have something to do with how people gain or lose weight (*). My 'struggles' with weight mostly came in an athletic context from late high school through mid-college. In short, I was trying to gain weight through building muscle but most of my efforts were either failing to lead to weight gain, causing weight gain without adequate muscle buildup, or causing muscle buildup accompanied with undesired additional weight.
*My answer now would almost certainly be different but I think I need more time to sort it out. Apologies, folks.
I believe those results would have been different if I had read the books I read from late 2010 through 2011 about nutrition. This book is one of several from that period which could have filled into this spot. I chose this one because I thought the title of it summarized my point best. I feel, after combining my own experience, my observation of others, and (mostly) the wisdom of the many authors of the books I read, that the concept of weight gain being a basic mathematical formula built around calories consumed being offset by calories burned is a total waste of time.
I would then go on to describe (hypothetically having been given that interview prompt, of course) how most of major weight gain for people tends to occur during periods of time when the body is going through a chemical and/or hormonal change- puberty, pregnancy, etc- and that the impact of what we eat on our body composition is best measured not by caloric totals but by how our bodies react chemically to those foods (*).
*Since I read these books, it does seem like I hear this point of view more frequently and in more varied places. There have been a number of well-publicized books and articles since 2011 that seem to draw on this idea and I do not think the five-year period since I read these books has been a golden age for fast food chains, soda companies, etc.
These books really changed the way I looked at my own diet during these early months out of college. When I signed my first lease, I built my own cooking style that centered around what these books recommended (in short, foods with verbs- if it grew/walked/swam = edible, if not...). I firmly believe that my weight change since June 2011 to now- down from around 190-195 pounds to around 170-175 pounds- was driven by this diet and not from my fairly active lifestyle. If anything, I think I am more active because I feel good about my energy levels and my body more or less cooperates with how I want to move around (*) (**).
*I suppose that could be an alternate answer to that prompt above as I feel the general consensus is that physical activity drives weight loss, not that weight loss enables physical activity.
**I should note that I also had a big advantage coming out of college- I possessed zero culinary skills. This forced me to eat foods that required no cooking- raw vegetables and fruits- and made basic cooking accomplishments such as 'sauteing onions' major improvements on what I was otherwise eating instead of 'the last straw' that forced me back to South Boston Chinese Food for the four appetizer combo plate (with fried rice).
I think that is all I have for today- two down, two to go. Thanks again for stopping by.
Tim
