And yes, it was a good story. Mitch Albom was a 37-year-old workaholic sportswriter seeking happiness through increasing his paycheck when he saw his favorite professor from college on Nightline dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease. He sought out his professor, and began a dialogue on life and death.

Ife’s greatest lesson seems to be that only when you learn how to die do you learn how to live. That point probably could have been made by simply repeating one sentence a few times, but there’s much more to the story. In many ways, Tuesdays with Morrie is similar to On Writing, in that they both tell personal stories of lessons learned, and the view of the process experienced by the authors (and their subjects) is at least as valuable as the points made.

I don’t know how to die, and simply saying “live each day as if it’s your last” doesn’t resonate with me all that much, but Tuesdays with Morrie did.

The Tommyknockers might be the only Stephen King book I’ve ever read, although I have seen The Shining and The Green Mile. I don’t remember the story, but I remember finding it on the shelf in Nancy Parcifal’s classroom during Writing Quest, our seventh grade writing course. I probably enjoyed The Tommyknockers, but apparently not enough to induce me to read any other Stephen King books. I bought On Writing because I wanted to have something to read on the road, and because I’d seen it referred to and quoted online, and it sounded interesting.

Maybe there’s something wrong with me, because I seem to have enjoyed every book I’ve picked up over the past couple of months. In On Writing, King tells his story of developing as a writer, shares his thoughts on the process of writing, and finishes with thoughts on life and writing through the lens of his being hit by a truck in 1999 (the book was published in 2000). The title is On Writing because King is a writer, but many of the stories and lessons are applicable to any profession and any life. The importance of nurturing discipline, doing what one loves, having a support system, and working through challenges may seem obvious, but King’s personal examples offer fresh reminders and a unique perspective.

Now… I think I’m going to read The Stand first, and then maybe Misery.

So I was surprised and excited to find myself becoming engrossed in the story of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as told by Catherine Drinker Brown. Brown (or should it be Drinker Brown?) tied together primary sources in a way that brought the characters, debates and times to life. As all great history books should, Miracle at Philadelphia made me want to travel back in time to experience the events it described. I suppose that in a way it allowed me to come close to experiencing the events even without the benefit of a time machine.

One of the great pleasures of the book was learning about small facts or anecdotes that I might have learned in high school but since forgotten.

• Benjamin Franklin, at 81 years old, was the oldest member of the convention.
• Thomas Jefferson was in Europe at the time
• George Washington was the chair of the convention, and it was considered a virtual certainty that he would be president at the head of the resulting government; in fact, some wondered if members of the convention were willing to give more power of the executive branch simply because they knew that Washington would be President.
• When the question of whether to hold a ratifying convention came before the Pennsylvania legislature, it became clear that the convention would be approved, and opponents of the constitution locked themselves in their lodgings to prevent a vote. A mob broke into the hotel and dragged two members to the convention in order to reach a quorum, whereupon the Constitution was ratified. Didn’t something similar just happen in Texas?

Another fascinating aspect of the book was the collection of sources that Brown used. James Madison took the most complete notes of the convention, but the book weaves together notes and journals from several attendees of the convention, the official record, and letters sent before and after the convention. The clarity of thought exhibited by these men both inspires me and leaves me with an odd feeling of shame. I hope that the inspiration/shame leads me to keep a better journal and write more letters. I know that this book leaves me wanting to read a lot more about this period of US history.

First of all, the book is a great read. It’s organized into broadly-titled chapters such as “Values”, “Politics”, “Race”, “The World Beyond Our Borders”, and “Family”, which, despite sounding a bit cheesy, end up being a great way for Obama to present his values and ideas. Most chapters begin with a short vignette from his own experience, and many end by returning to the same vignette or presenting a related one. It probably says something about the way I feel about the current state of politics in the US that I got goose-bumps at the end of quite a few chapters.

What I found so refreshing about this book was Obama’s honesty and, yes, his hope. He writes frankly about the temptations of politics, and how lobbyists and interest groups do get special access to politicians, if not always special consideration. He describes the difficulties facing many minority communities in US cities, admits that the problems can seem intractable, and presents specific steps that he believes can improve the situation. He admits that the reputation of the United States has been damaged, and he outlines steps to improve it.

Perhaps most importantly to me, he comes across as someone who is open about his values, thinks deeply about issues and decisions, and is respectful of the values of others.

My least favorite part of the book was the subtitle. I think “Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” sounds sort of silly to me, even if may be rather apt.

Wikipedia never ceases to amaze me. The article on Jin Yong links to an article on The Book and the Sword, which–in addition to having a fairly complete plot summary–links to the official site of a recently published English translation (complete with the complete text of the first chapter), and even an English-language “Wuxiapedia” article that details changes made in the third edition of the book (“wuxia” 武侠 means something like “martial arts heroes”). The changes listed in the wuxiapedia are actually pretty major: a major character runs off instead of committing suicide, one of the main antagonists shows a sign of a heart before dying, and an extra chapter is added at the end. I must have read the second edition!

This book is based on the folk legend that Emperor Qianlong was actually a Han Chinese, a story that I’ve heard from numerous taxi drivers in Beijing, but that probably isn’t true. Famous historical characters often play key roles in Jin Yong’s novels–Ghengis Khan plays a major role in The Legend of the Condor Heroes 射雕英雄传, and Kublai Khan shows up in The Return of the Condor Heroes 神雕侠侣 (both of which I’ve only seen TV versions of). My favorite so far, though, is Kangxi in The Deer and the Cauldron 鹿鼎记.

Hmmm… the English names of these books sound so ridiculous! The Return of the Condor Heroes! I’d like to write a bit more about what is so appealing to me about Jin Yong’s books… They’re more than just a good read.

My interpretation of Tolle’s basic premise is that “the Now” is really all that we live in. The future and the past exist only in our minds, so they are not real. The Now is also our point of access to Being, which Tolle equates with concepts such as God and the Dao in other spiritual traditions. According to Tolle, enlightenment is achieved by accepting, or surrendering, to the Now, which is done by separating ourselves from our mind by observing our thoughts and feelings. He claims that the thoughts in our mind are separate from who we really are.

Reading the book was a powerful experience for me. I read it in short bits–in the car between filming locations, before I went to bed–and found the practice of observing my thoughts, particularly my negative thought patterns, to be very freeing. I’m not sure if everyone else is like this, but I tend to go off unconsciously on little thought journeys thinking about the future or the past, and sometimes the thoughts tend to spiral out of control. I’ll start to think about house payments, then children, then work, then retirement, then what I really want to do with my life, and on and on. To be honest, I’d never really thought about whether or not these thought patterns were productive. They just sort of were for me, and I let them go, perhaps hoping that they might lead somewhere productive. Tolle’s claim is that these thought patterns are unconscious, lead to negativity, and keep us out of the present moment. He says that observing thoughts can keep them under control. I was amazed at the peace that observing/noticing these thought patterns brought about for me. Because I read the book over a period of about ten days or so, such moments of peace came quite often, as I was reminded to be “conscious” simply by the fact that I was reading the book. I’m curious to see if I’ll be able to keep a similar level of presence now that I’m done with the book.

The book includes a lot more detail about Tolle’s philosophy, and I’m not ready to accept all of it. There is a lot of talk about how the Now is the gateway between the “Manifested” and the “Unmanifested”, about huge coming shifts in human consciousness, and about vibrational frequencies that I tend to find hokey, but am not ready to make a judgment on. I will say, however, that I am very grateful for the enhanced feeling of peace and joy that reading Tolle’s book brought to my life. (I should also say that I’m afraid that the last sentence sounds a little bit hokey, but it’s true for me.)

A disclaimer: It’s quite likely that I’m misinterpreting or misrepresenting some of Tolle’s ideas and concepts. I haven’t looked at the book since reading it, and my interpretations are based on my own experience reading the book.

That was well over a year ago, and since then I’ve often found myself thinking about Cialdini’s work and noticing his principles in action. When I was back in the US over spring festival, I decided to pick up a copy of his book Influence: Science and Practice.

Here are Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion, with a simple example of each in action:

1. Reciprocation
-We feel compelled to return favors. If someone sends us a holiday SMS, we feel compelled to respond.

2. Commitment and Consistency
-We feel compelled to keep our commitments and be consistent. A restaurant was able to greatly reduce no-shows by adding one word to a sentence in phone conversations with guests making reservations. Instead of “Please call us if you won’t be able to make it”, employees were instructed to ask, “Would you please call us if you won’t be able to make it?” Getting people to make the commitment made the difference.

3. Social Proof
-”We view a behavior as correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it” (p. 100). When watching TV, people are more likely to laugh and laugh for longer when there is a laugh track, even thought the laughter is obviously canned.

4. Liking
-We’re more likely to say yes to people that we know and like. Also, we’re more likely to like people who are attractive, who are similar to us, who we have had positive contact with, and who are associated with things we like. For example, people are significantly more likely to respond to a mailed survey if the person mailing the survey has a name similar to theirs.

5. Authority
-People are likely to be influenced by people who are or appear to be in positions of authority, or who are associated with authority. A crowd at a crosswalk is much more likely to follow a man with a suit as he jaywalks through a red light than a main wearing a shirt and khakis.

6. Scarcity
-Things seem more valuable to us when they are or seem scarce, exclusive, or forbidden. Subjects in a test who were given a jar with two cookies rated the cookies as more valuable than subjects given a jar containing ten of the same cookies.

Cialdini describes scores of studies that illustrate his principles, and goes to great lengths to describe how “compliance professionals” such as car salesmen use the various principles to make us say yes. His examples are fascinating, and more often than not a lot of fun.

I found the weakest parts of the book to be the “Defense” sections at the end of each chapter, in which Cialdini describes how to defend oneself against professionals using each principle. While he has evidence to back up the rest of the material presented in the book, the “Defense” ideas seem to be just suggestions, with no research to back up whether they work or not. That said, most of the suggestions probably work.

I was also a bit turned off by his militant attitude towards compliance professionals who use the principles to “trick” us into saying yes. He even suggested not tipping bartenders who make use of the “Social Proof” principle by stuffing a couple of dollar bills into the tip jar before a shift. My opinion is that, as long as they are not outright dishonest, people have the right to make use of these principles to try and get others to comply.

Overall, I loved the book. It’s an engaging read about a topic that affects our daily lives. I’ve enjoyed reading it so much and found the principles so important that I recently purchased several copies of the Chinese version of the book to give to colleagues at New Channel.

Friedman has become very well-known in China with the discussion surrounding his book The World is Flat. The concept seems to resonate with people here, and makes good dinner table conversation.

So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when I was in the bookstore the other day and noticed that the Chinese edition of his The Lexus and the Olive Tree has been renamed The World is Flat: The Perspective of the Lexus and the Olive Tree. Never mind that the whole concept of “the world is flat” came to him after he published “The Lexus and the Olive Tree”. I wonder if he knows about the new title.