“When we renounce our dreams we find peace and enjoy a brief period of tranquility, but the dead dreams begin to rot inside us and infect the whole atmosphere in which we live.

What we hoped to avoid in the Good Fight – disappointment and defeat- become the sole legacy of our cowardice.

In love lies the seed of our growth. The more we love, the closer we are to the spiritual experience

The warrior of light

knows that intuition is God’s alphabet

and so he continues listening to the wind

and talking to the stars”. – Paulo Coelho

I liked The Achemist but there is nothing more masturbatory, more pseudo-intellectual or more disingenuous than a good Paulo Coelho quote.

What happens is that in trying to create this grand self-narrative, people ignore the reality of their senses and the life that’s right there next to them. What they end up creating is a simulacrum, an inferior, false world that only they inhabit. It’s sad too because it feels like you’re doing something special. There’s a reason all those quotes blurred together, because it’s not special. It is a joke.

Delusion doesn’t inspire me. Neither does the same recycled fortune cookie philosophy posted around by people who’ve yet to stop and think: Does sticking feathers up my butt really make me a chicken?

The reality of it all is less lofty but tangible and achievable and honest. Do what you enjoy and be a good person. It’s not that hard, most people won’t notice and that means you’re doing it right.

Is this the person you want to be? Or do you want to be humble and credible and self-aware?

Radical Reconstruction by Lebbeus Woods (this book is stunning and mind-blowing way of looking at architecture. his ideas for rebuilding Kosovo seem…human but aspirational at the same time. Great NYT article on Lebbeus)

Built for Show: Four Body-Changing Workouts for Looking Good Enough to Hook Up by Nate Green (first book I’ve been asked to blurb)

The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet by Daniel J. Solove (decent, mainly cliche anecdotes)

The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis

How Judges Think by Richard Posner (frankly, this book was disappointing. i put it in my strategy section because it ultimately had a few redeeming parts)

Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men by Michael Kimmel (Kimmel was the only gender sociologist i remembered respecting in college – decent so far, like a male Unhooked. )

Five Ways to Use Social Media to Reach People Who Don’t Use Social Media (I can’t say enough how important the thinking behind this post is. I used it last week for something that ended up directly touching the mayor, a government agency and hopefully a few thousand employees who deserved some results)

Some ridiculous article about the illegal tiger trade

BBC: Cattle align North/South (proof that we have such a small understanding of even the most basic things)