I was really tired this weekend (from the week) and didn’t feel like doing anything other than laying on the couch near Amy and reading. She was also tired, as she spent the week in Wellesley at a board meeting and a bunch of other Wellesley related stuff, so even though the Boulder weather was magnificent, we stayed home other than a quick trip to Boulder to get our eyes checked and have sushi with some friends. Oh, and took really long naps both afternoons. ...
Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History was awesome. Given that Sears filed for Chapter 11 today, I’ll start with some perspective from 1976. America is remarkably dynamic. Humans constantly create narratives about things and how they work. Suddenly, popular books are appearing, such as Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind , that challenge the relevance of our narratives. There is so much to reflect on when reading a book like Fantasyland or Sapiens. Pondering the meaning of life is an endless human pastime. ...
This summer I read the page proof version of Scott Belsky’s new book T he Messy Middle . It is excellent and is now out and available. I bought 100 copies and am sending them out to every CEO in our portfolio. If you are a CEO of a fast-growing company, I strongly recommend it. The letter I sent out to the CEOs in our portfolio (with the book) follows: ...
I took last week off the grid for my Q318 vacation. Amy and I were originally going to Alaska to look at polar bears but canceled everything after I got sick and did a staycation in Boulder instead. I got at least 10 hours of sleep each day, did a bunch of self-care things (PT, massage, meditate), ran a few times (to the extent that 14-minute miles can be considered running), and read a half dozen books. ...
I enjoyed Bradley Tusk’s new book, The Fixer: My Adventures Saving Startups from Death by Politics . It’s another memoir, a category which seems to be ending up on the top of my reading list a lot these days . It also was in the pile of books I get sent regularly by publishers hoping I’ll read and review them (as in “Dear Brad Feld, here is a form letter about my book, I hope you like it.”) ...
Over the past few years, I’ve incorporated meditation into my daily routine. I started by using Headspace , shifted to using Insight Timer , and now do whatever I feel like doing. A week ago, while proofreading a draft of Jerry Colonna’s upcoming book, I noticed a few sections where he mentioned Ani Pema Chödrön . When he referenced her book How to Meditate , I went on Amazon and bought a physical copy to read. ...
“How did your book end?” asked Amy from her position reading on the couch across the room. “Perfectly,” I answered. A Gentleman in Moscow was magnificent. While there’s still a chance I’ll read something better in 2018, for now, I’m declaring it the best book I’ve read this year. I started A Gentleman in Moscow earlier this week after finishing Bob Woodward’s Fear: Trump in the White House, which was also excellent, but of a very different nature. Several people had recommended it to me (including, I think Maureen, so this may count as a women’s book club recommendation). According to Amazon, I’ve had it on my Kindle since I purchased it on 9/5/16. After consuming it two years later, it seems fitting that I let it age a little. ...
A few months ago Andy Sack got me a subscription to The Next Big Idea Club . Every quarter, a box with two books in it shows up. These books were chosen by Adam Grant, Susan Cain, Malcolm Gladwell, and Daniel Pink – several of my favorite contemporary writers and thinkers. A box showed up at the end of last week. On Saturday, I read one of the books in the box – Uncensored: My Life and Uncomfortable Conversations at the Intersection of Black and White America by Zachary Wood . I was pleasantly surprised that it landed squarely in the memoir category even though Zachary is only 22. ...
I’ve always included a steady mix of biography (and autobiography) in my reading diet . Recently, I’ve added in memoirs, which I’ve always felt was easily distinguishable from autobiography . “an autobiography is a chronological telling of one’s experience, which should include phases such as childhood, adolescence, adulthood, etc., while a memoir provides a much more specific timeline and a much more intimate relationship to the writer’s own memories, feelings and emotions.” ...
Our longtime friend Lura Vernon wrote a really fun book last year titled Cool Dogs and Crazy Cats . It’s a coffee table book that is a combination of hilarious dog and cat haikus along with epic dog and cat photos. I’m a dog person. During my first marriage in the 1980s, I had a gigantic cat named Tiny. It was evil. You’d be lovingly petting it and it would suddenly sink its teeth into your arm. Actually, when I reflect on it, the cat only attacked me regularly. But then I tossed milk bottle caps across the bathroom which it chased, right into the bathtub, which was full of water. Yeah, I contributed to the dynamic we had. ...