Natural History, Volume III, Books 8-11 by Pliny the Elder (8-11 are the books about zoology and animals. it is the funniest book I have read in a long time. good anecdotes on Roman bloodsports. it’s online)

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt (he has the amazing ability to write in the present, even about events that are 50 years old)

The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout (not as good as Gift of Fear but something you should read)

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (meh)

Love, War and Circuses: The Age-Old Relationship Between Elephants and Humans by Eric Scigliano (love elephants)

This lecture on Marcus Aurelius is one of the best lectures I’ve seen in my life. His take is that Marcus is a “standing reproach to our self-indulgence.” You should watch it.

What Are Your Flaws? (I don’t think I’m mature enough yet to answer this question but I am thinking about. )

Voices from the Suburban Blogosphere New York Times (I think this is going to be a very important trend)

Here’s the dirty secret about reporters: they steal from Wikipedia. Shamelessly, in fact. How do I know? Because I see things I wrote for articles magically paraphrased in all sorts of press – collections of facts that did not exist before I collected them.

Bloggers do for their posts. People do it for their opinions. Investors do it for their trading strategies. Reporters do it for their stories. Wikipedia, for all its inaccuracies, is the jumping off point for things we’d never question trusting. And yet, what company do you know that has ever meaningful contributed to community that has the ability to define them?

When you think about influence, think about where it comes from. In other words, it’s not the trendsetting magazines that are important but the places where they find out about trends. That’s where you go because the rest is just too inefficient.

But remember, that’s a very substantial power. Abuse makes it meaningless.

(Also, if I wasn’t physically unable to fit one more thing in my day, I would jump on this opportunity just for fun)

I have this very intense fear of being regular. Of becoming normal. Of being just like everyone else. I have no idea where it comes from or why it colors the way I think about things. But it does.

I think it’s a desire not to be tied down. A deep paranoia of that “quiet desperation.” Not liking what you do, living vicariously through others. To wake up one day and realize that if you really had something to say, there’d be no way you could tell anyone. You know, that day where you reach for your revolver.

Whatever. It’d be real easy to get caught up in that. That being different is better. And if you’re different then you’re better. Here’s the thing I’m starting to realize: It says way more about me than it does about everybody else. It comes from a place of deep insecurity. If it creates anxiousness, it’s probably not coming from self-comfort or assuredness.

It’s not something to be proud of or hold up against other people, because frankly, it has nothing to do with other people. Some amorphous, reactionary fear over something that not only have complete control over but have the ability to define as well is not exactly an improvement.

Like most things, it’s internal and that’s where I need to direct the attention.