It is a strange feeling to read a book that explains your own life to you. Having watched my own mother bear the brunt of housekeeping and child reariIt is a strange feeling to read a book that explains your own life to you. Having watched my own mother bear the brunt of housekeeping and child rearing while also working a full time job and seeing how frustrated and unhappy she was, I thought, 鈥淗mmm, let me not do that.鈥 (My dad also worked but spent 90% of his free time in his woodshop enjoying his hobbies.) Meeting many 鈥済reat鈥 guys who nevertheless weren鈥檛 conversant with their own emotions (or maybe they were but just wouldn鈥檛 converse with me about them), who insisted I was better at the mental labor of organizing plans and even one who told me I shouldn鈥檛 be on the computer when the floor needed scrubbing, I eventually thought, 鈥淗mmm, let me not do that either.鈥
By the time I read this book, I鈥檇 already gotten where I needed to go, but Ruti鈥檚 perspective has helped me be more comfortable with my choices. This would be an especially great book for younger people wanting to understand the societal forces impacting their professional and romantic choices. Highly recommended....more
This book is a quick and pleasant read. Unlike Mari Kondo, who is prescriptive in a very detailed way, Margareta Magnusson is about motivation. She asThis book is a quick and pleasant read. Unlike Mari Kondo, who is prescriptive in a very detailed way, Margareta Magnusson is about motivation. She asks you to think about the practical legacy of your stuff and to be considerate to whoever is going to have to come behind you and resolve it. She also repeatedly makes the case that you will also be happier passing your final years without excess baggage.
Magnusson鈥檚 theme has great personal appeal to me. Many years of conversations with my father about dealing with his things were blithely answered with, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 what I have you kids for.鈥 He ultimately left an enormous amount of stuff that took my brother and I over a year to disperse. My dad wasn鈥檛 a bad guy, but he definitely lacked the imagination and empathy to understand what he saddled us with. And no, he wasn鈥檛 a hoarder, just an energetic collector.
So I wanted to like this book more. I greatly appreciate the sentiment and there are some good suggestions, but it鈥檚 a bit thin on substance. ...more
This is my fourth year plodding through The Story of Civilization. I found an old copy of Volume 3 in a used book store in maybe 2003 and it sat lonelThis is my fourth year plodding through The Story of Civilization. I found an old copy of Volume 3 in a used book store in maybe 2003 and it sat lonely but in a place of honor for 20 years. But as the world seemed to tilt during the pandemic and I felt lost and confused wondering 鈥渉ow the heck did we get here?鈥, I started to think maybe a journey through history might help.
And, it has. Human history is overloaded with people taking, or trying to take, each other鈥檚 stuff. Sometimes, maybe often, survival was the motivation. Other times, insecurity and too often, just wanting more. Lots of good stuff has happened too. But upheaval seems to be humanity鈥檚 most common situation. So I feel like I can calm down a little. Lots of things are wrong, sure, but lots of things have always been wrong. And we have solved quite a lot of problems along the way. So we need to keep doing that.
Focusing on this volume, Durant gives a lot of credit to the Roman Catholic Church for taming the barbarism of the newish European states. Religion held back technological progress but advanced moral progress鈥攁 journey we鈥檙e still on to this day, though religion isn鈥檛 the prime influencer it once was. Never thought anyone could get this catechism dropout to say anything nice about the church, but here we are.
Durant tries to cover all the bases, not just the wars and the kings, but the state of philosophy, education, art, literature and even music. He gives you a look at the commoner鈥檚 life as well as the luminaries of the age. (That Abelard really had issues!) The book ends with a survey of the Divine Comedy which was worth the investment in this doorstop of a book just on its own.
So far each volume has been more enjoyable than the last, so I will be back next year for the Renaissance....more
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