From psychological, historical, and inspirational standpoints, I thoroughly enjoyed recently reading Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl. The book is divided into two parts: the author's story of surviving a concentration camp and the resulting foundation for the psychiatric therapy based on hope and meaning the author created (called logotherapy). I enjoyed all the details of the stories, even if much of it has already been displayed in numerous movies and museums (the lessons are still relevant and cannot be emphasized enough). I found that I truly identified with the author's enthusiasm, sense of purpose, and underlying optimism. Below are my notes on the book, which was a fast, enjoyable, and powerful read. I recommend it for anyone interested in the history of the Holocaust and/or psychology. Preface
Part 2: Logotherapy
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I'm a big fan of Neal Stephenson (he's still my favorite author). Though I didn't enjoy his Baroque series as much as his earlier sci-fi like Cryptonomicon (favorite book) and Diamond Age, I decided to give his newest book (The Mongoliad) a try. (I'm still reading his other new book Reamde in parallel.)
I was a bit surprised that this book had so many co-authors listed, so I'm not sure how much of it Neal actually wrote. I didn't actually enjoy the book very much, and so I'm not sure if this is because it wasn't a lot of Neal's writing or because it was so much a mix of styles and opinions that the overall style got lost (or maybe I just wasn't into the subject matter as much). After reading it, I discovered the book is sort of an experiment in crowd-sourced writing; check out mongoliad.com to see what I mean. I'm not sure if the community's stories were all incorporated or how that worked exactly, but it does seem like an interesting approach. The book is about the era after Genghis Khan and features warriors and hunters and many, many vivid descriptions of fighting sequences (a bit too many for my taste -- might be more fun to watch as a movie). It features Mongolian spies, issues of court manners, and shows how women can often be much more sly and smarter than men in battle and in court. The issues of drunkenness, corruption, respect, and honor in battle played big roles in the book. Also, a lot of attention was given to horses, which played an important part in the story (and in history). If you're into Western Martial Arts, horses, jousting, archery, or Mongolian era history, this book is for you. If you're more sci-fi/tech oriented, I would prioritize Neal's other books ahead of this one. When I was a senior at Stanford, I remember going to an inspirational talk by an entrepreneurship professor named Tina Seelig, and the talk was titled What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20. When I was recently strolling through a bookstore in Hong Kong (!), I randomly caught sight of a book by the same name, and it turned out to be a written version of the talk I had heard. Given that it's been 6 or 7 years since I heard the oral version, I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a written refresher, and the book certainly didn't disappoint.
The book is a quick, entertaining account of the lessons Tina learned throughout her life and from her interactions with the many students she has taught and coached. Most recently, she has been teaching a class together with the d.school (Stanford Design School), and I really liked reading the descriptions of the in-class exercises she runs (I wish I could participate in some of those now!). Though some of the advice in the book seems "obvious," hearing it told through real students' stories makes it much more "sticky," vivid, and fun. Below are my notes on the book. Definitely a fun and inspirational quick read! Ch. 1: Buy one, get 2 free
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