Worth Reading
359 articles filed under Worth Reading.
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Worth Reading
The Sea, The Sea
The Sea, The Sea By Iris Murdoch 528 pages Published in 1978 by Penguin Classics After a successful but sometimes scandalous career as a playwright and director, Charles Arrowby retires from the hubbub of…
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Piranesi
Piranesi By Susanna Clarke 272 pages Published September 15, 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing I was surprised by how much I liked Piranesi, considering that it is a genre book, fantasy fiction, which I rarely…
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Essays of E.B. White
Essays of E.B. White 384 pages Published 1977 by Harper Perennial/Modern Classics It was the third book in a small stack of old books that sat on the corner of my writing desk. I have three writing surfaces…
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Blow-Up: And Other Stories
Blow-Up: And Other Stories By Julio Cortázar 288 Pages Published 1985 by Pantheon Books Interesting Fact: In addition to his stories, poetry, and novels, Cortázar published a graphic novel in 1975 titled…
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The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon By Dashiell Hammett 224 pages Published 1929 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. I read this as a book club selection about a dozen years ago and returned to it this weekend because it is so damned…
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Steinbeck: A Life in Letters
Steinbeck: A Life in Letters Edited by Elaine Steinbeck and Robert Wallsten Paperback, 928 pages Published April 1, 1989 by Penguin Books John Steinbeck was an important writer and an interesting character. As…
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Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe
by Bill Bryson Paperback, 254 pages Published March 28, 1993 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published 1991) I was in a shallow, prompted in part by the decision to trash an essay I’d spent half a day on…
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Economics in One Lesson
by Henry Hazlitt The first book on economics I ever read was Das Kapital, by Karl Marx, when I was in high school. I didn’t read it cover to cover. I was using it rather than reading it, using it to confirm…
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A Halloween Tradition: Reading Poe's The Raven
It’s Halloween! I’m going trick or treating today with my four grandkids. We don’t know if any of their neighbors will be opening doors or setting out candy on their porches, but the kids want to observe the…
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Book of the Week
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean, by Susan Casey I’m sure I would not have ordered this book had I not just finished watching “Octopus Teacher.” (See above.) I was deep in…
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The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer — October 9, 2020
In this issue: * What Writers Want Right Now to Get Through 2020 and Thrive Beyond * Life-Size Ace in Your Back Pocket * How to Stay Motivated in a World of Weirdness * Caples’ Kickoff Strategy for…
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The latest issue of Independent Healing — October 5, 2020
In this issue: “Discover the Ancient Health Practice That Researchers Believe May Offer a ‘Ray of Hope’ in the Fight Against COVID-19.” Click here to read the October issue
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Warren Buffett's Essential Employee Qualities
“What Does Warren Buffett Look For in an Employee?” – Click here to read the article.
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The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer — September 11, 2020
In this issue: * “The Whole Game Has Changed” * How to Propel Your Reader Forward With Sentences That “Look Back Early” * This Writing Skill Recently Skyrocketed to the Top Tier of All Income-Generating…
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One Page a Day Might Save Your Life” by James Altucher
Click here to read this inspirational story about the inventor of Pringles.
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The latest issue of Independent Healing — September 4, 2020
In this issue: “Breakthrough Research Reveals the Single Most Important Factor for a Long, Healthy Life” Researchers with the Framingham Study had a simple but ambitious goal: They wanted to know what factor…
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How Automation Can Reshape Work, Not Replace It
Reinventing Jobs: A 4-Step Approach for Applying Automation to Work by Ravin Jesuthasan and John W. Boudreau The Robots Are Coming!: The Future of Jobs in the Age of Automation by Andres Oppenheimer
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The Ancient Greeks
This is the reading list that I assigned to myself several years ago – an introduction to the greatest thinkers of all time… The Ancient Greeks * Selections from The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer * One or two…
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Two Things to Consider Before Hiring Your Family or Friends” by Joel Salatin
In reply to an essay I wrote about the danger of hiring family and friends, a fellow essayist wrote this, which I thought was quite good. Click here to read it.
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Escape Residences: Panama City Or Medellin?
“Panama City vs. Medellin” – I’ve spent time in both. If you’re thinking of getting an escape residence overseas, this is a good comparison of the pros and cons.
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The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer — August 12, 2020
In this issue: * The Money Parachute That Transports Writers From Crisis to Opportunity * How to Get Unstuck and Find Your Real Success * Is Your Chief Writing Tool Slowly Killing You? * Trading Joy for Joy…
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The latest issue of Independent Healing — August 10, 2020
In this issue: How physicians are protecting themselves and their families during the pandemic. Click here to read the August issue.
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Developer Reflects On Nicaragua Resort Community Project
I’ve done a fair number of things in my career that I’m proud of. I’ve also done a few that I’m trying to forget – but developing Rancho Santana, a resort community on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, is not…
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Sensible advice from James Clear: “How to Automate a Habit and Never Think About It Again
Read this on JamesClear.com
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How to Bleed in the First Line” by James Altucher
“I like to study first lines,” James writes. “They have to be powerful: a few simple words that compel us to read the next 300 pages. How do the authors do it? How can I do it?” He goes on to give us 12 of his…
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The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer — July 13, 2020
In this issue: * Write About Real-Life “Happy Endings” and Get Paid $1500 to $2000 per Project * Celebrating the “Anti-Goal” Could Bring You Bigger Writing Wins More Often * The Writer’s Freedom Ladder for…
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Nostalgia And Struggle In Modern Times
“An Uphill Battle” – a nostalgic essay from Taki’s Magazine. To read it, click here.
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Fox 8, a novella
Fox 8 is an illustrated (line drawings by Chelsea Cardinal) story whose protagonist is a talking fox. Saunders is a huge favorite of mine. His stories are emotionally compelling, darkly humorous, and…
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The latest issue of Independent Healing — July 1, 2020
What medical care is safe during the pandemic? In this issue, you’ll learn about the 8 kinds of medical appointments you may be able to skip until the coronavirus threat passes… and 4 types of care you should…
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The Bridge Over the River Kwai
First published in French in 1952, then in English translation in 1954, this is a page-turner about British POWs building a bridge for their Japanese captors in Burma in 1942. (The author – who later wrote…
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How Dumb Can Our Experts Be?
A friend tells me that I have to wear a face mask now. Florida, like so many states, has made it mandatory. The reason? The coronavirus is spreading! According to The Washington Post: “Public health officials…
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Tom Dyson on Detroit's Economic Future
A report on Motor City from my colleague Tom Dyson. To read it, click here.
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Words Used by Nabokov Quiz
Vladimir Nabokov is among my favorite writers. Russian born, he wrote in several languages, but his English work astounds me. It is so eloquent and so chock full of wonderful English words that only a Russian…
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The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer — June 14, 2020
In this issue: * 15 Ways to Reshape Your Brain and Propel Your Creativity Into the Stratosphere * Become a Google “Influencer” and Reap Near-Infinite Rewards * Are “Shiny, Flying Squirrels” Sabotaging Your…
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Favorite Essayist Delivers Quick Amusing Read
“Full Bore” – a quick, amusing read by one of my favorite essayists in Taki’s Magazine. Click here.
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How to Change the World by Doing This One Thing Every Day” by James Altucher
A good thought piece. To read it, click here.
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How A Police Station Encounter Changed My Perspective
On Friday, I wrote an essay trying to make sense of the senseless killing of George Floyd. As part of that essay, I told three stories about my personal experience with racism and police brutality. One of…
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The Economics of Murder
(from Bill Bonner’s Diary) “Since the bottom of the Crisis of ’08-’09, the 20% of the population at the bottom of the heap – largely young and/or Black – has lost 25% of its wealth. “The next and biggest…
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The latest issue of Independent Healing — June 3, 2020
In this issue: * Why most people will fail if they try to lose “pandemic pounds” with a traditional diet * The coronavirus risk factor every man needs to know about * 4 ways to stop COVID-somnia * How a…
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CDC's Flawed Coronavirus Testing Data Reporting
The CDC has been remarkably unreliable in terms of reporting and interpreting data on the coronavirus pandemic. The latest example, reported in The Atlantic, is mind-blowing. In reporting the total tests for…
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Rhyme’s Reason: A Guide to English Verse by John Hollander
This is a book my mother gave me when I first began writing poetry in college. I remember having a high opinion of it then. A brief but comprehensive survey of the forms, rhyme schemes, and metric patterns of…
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When Mask-Wearing Rules Faced Resistance
This is an interesting account, on History.com, of the use of face masks during the 1918 “Spanish” Flu pandemic. To read it, click here.
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To prevent the next pandemic, it’s the legal wildlife trade we should worry about…
In this essay from National Geographic, a biologist argues that viruses can spread as easily from the trade of legal wildlife like frogs and monkeys, a multibillion-dollar global business, as they can by bats…
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The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer — May 13, 2020
In this issue: * How to Conquer Your Greatest Creativity Killer * More Than a One-Trick Pony * Connection Crisis Sparks Opportunity Bonanza for Writers * Happiness Recalibrated * Stop Squirming! Market…
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Stephen King Has an Idea for the Story Joe Biden Could Be Telling” in The New York Times
A solid interview with a very good writer. Click here to read it.
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The latest issue of Independent Healing — May 6, 2020
In this issue: One ER doctor says this simple at-home device saved the lives of two of his coronavirus-infected colleagues. You’ll find out how it works… and where you can get it. You’ll also discover… * What…
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My Restaurant Was My Life for 20 Years. Does the World Need It Anymore?” in The New York Times
“On the night before I laid off all 30 of my employees,” Gabrielle Hamilton writes, “I dreamed that my two children had perished, buried alive in dirt, while I dug in the wrong place, just five feet away from…
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A Gaucho Appears in the Distance, Riding Hell for Leather…” by Bill Bonner
“There’s an advantage to spending time in a place like Argentina,” Bill writes. “It’s been through these things [economic, political, and social ruin] before. In fact, it makes a habit of it.” Read the entire…
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Sources Behind COVID-19 Death Rate Analysis
A partial list of the sources I used for today’s essay: “Provisional Death Counts for COVID-19" https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm “COVID-19 risk factors: Age, underlying conditions…
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A Letter From F. Scott Fitzgerald, Quarantined in 1920 in the South of France During the Spanish Influenza Outbreak
The following letter – supposedly from F. Scott Fitzgerald, but actually written by Nick Farriella for the humor site McSweeney’s – recently went viral. It was forwarded to me by several people who didn’t seem…
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