Philosophy

I didn’t really intend to spend so much time investigating Buddhism. Mark Epstein was recommended reading for me as I tried to integrate Western thoughts on positive attachment and Buddhist beliefs that attachment is the root of suffering. As I read Advice No...

Reading The Anatomy of Peace  completes the trifecta of books from the Arbinger Institute . I’ve already written reviews from Bonds that Make Us Free  and Leadership and Self-Deception . All of these books are really a continuation of the thoughts of Mart...

I’m no stranger to the Dalai Lama’s writings and conversations. An Appeal to the World: The Way of Peace in a Time of Division  didn’t fundamentally shift my understanding of his point of view. However, it did give me a chance to reflect on some of the ...

I read and reviewed Schools without Failure  where I was introduced to Dr. Galsser’s work on Reality Therapy  and the subject of this book review Choice Theory . Fundamental to Choice theory is that we all make choices that we’re not victims and we h...

I think, therefore I am. Reason never had a stronger advocate than Descartes. However, Descartes encapsulated all that is human into our rational thought, and in doing so separated the inseparable connection between reason and emotion – at least, that’s Ant...

I mentioned during my review of Emotional Intelligence  that I had listened to an audio book version of Destructive Emotions  – a conversation with the Dalai Lama  and Daniel Goleman . Emotional Awareness  is a similar book – in fact Paul Ekman , this ...

The question is simple enough. It seems like a question that I’ve answered before. However, somehow the meaning question – How Will You Measure Your Life?  – is one that I, like others, thought I had answered but somewhere got interrupted. I was in ...

I can’t remember when I first heard about The Last Lecture  (as the lecture ). It’s been years ago now. However, I do know that it was Jeffrey Barnes’ retelling of a story in Beyond the Wisdom of Walt  that brought me back to it. It was one of many si...

I read Theory U  and became aware of another book by Otto Scharmer, Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies  and I didn’t immediately read it. In fact, I didn’t read it until it became part of the coursework for an ...

It’s odd to think that the secret to finding meaning in our lives might have come from a senseless situation. In the midst of the holocaust a man by the name of Viktor Frankl found the secret to surviving impossible circumstances and in the process d...

Whom should we care about?  Whom should we hold accountable, and whom should we defend?  The answer lies at the heart of The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels, and Why It Matters .  If you’re concerned about how people manipulate others towards geno...

When it comes to reading – and reviewing books – there aren’t many folks I know who read more than I do – at least readers of non-fiction works. However, Brian Johnson has me beat hands down. The list of books that he’s reviewed are impressive to say th...

Morality isn’t a place where most people stumble – or rather, it’s not a place where most people stumble into their reading. Plenty of people struggle with other people’s morality while quietly sweeping their own under the rug. The Righteous Mind: Wh...

Every once in a while, it’s good to read the work of people with whom you expect to disagree.  Such is The Science Delusion: Freeing the Spirit of Enquiry by Rupert Sheldrake.  Sheldrake’s world is not that of mainstream science.  He prefers places...

I think if we dig deep enough we’ll all find a defining moment in our lives. It’s a moment when our past and our future seems to have hit an inflection point. At this point things changed for the better or the worse. Sometimes the change was immediate and...

This post is a bit odd in that it’s not a book review – but it’s about a book and more broadly about a theory. This post is about Otto Scharmer’s Theory U. The book Theory U   expresses the ideas from a personal context, and Otto’s subsequent book Leadin...

I think everyone wants the easy life. We'd love for things to be effortless. We'd all love to be powerful. These things are at the heart of Trying Not to Try: Ancient China, Modern Science, and the Power of Spontaneity . Though we all want to get to...

Why do we believe what we believe?  How do we know that the beliefs we hold are true – or that they’re held by others?  This fundamental philosophical problem of our existence is the one that’s addressed in Understanding Beliefs .  It’s a walk throu...

I started 2017 off with my review of Motivational Interviewing , which serves as a structure for how to communicate with those who are struggling to help them be more successful. It’s foundationally based on active listening, which is attributed to Th...

Did you hear the one about the Zen Buddhist who ordered from a hot dog vendor?  He said, “Make me one with everything.”  All (bad) jokes aside, Zen is something that many people have heard about but few understand.  The Way of Zen is a classic book (...

We’ve all had that song we couldn’t get out of our head or that situation we kept playing over and over in our minds.  We’ve had the mental Groundhog Day that some thoughts seem to generate.  White Bears and Other Unwanted Thoughts is a thoughtful walk th...