The Return

The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters Emily Esfahani Smith Crown 2017 Smith has put together an interesting array of material to point her reader toward a life that matters, borrowing from her title.   Through her research work she finds several common factors that in the end become necessary to living a life that a person can claim as important in some way whether its feeding giraffes, turning a well-honed illicit drug business into a legitimate business venture, or surviving a concentration camp.   Yes, she covers that much ground in this short book.   And it is all to illustrate how meaning and a satisfying life emerge. The worth of this book isn’t necessarily that Smith has found some new silver bullet approach, but it’s readability.   The ease with which she leads a person through the various discussions helps the reader relax and absorb what she says.   Change doesn’t come easy for any of us so a soft, gentle approach cush...

Review: Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing Jamie Holmes Crown Publishers 2015 I’ll admit it now.   I pick this book for its title and especially its subtitle.   For whoever makes the decisions related to titles, you picked a winner.   The author was unknown to me, but from the rear flap should be better known among the millennial generation.   Don’t let that be the deciding factor for this book though. Holmes has assembled nine chapters plus some extra stuff, and a set of annotated end notes that are worth reading themselves.   Yeah, that’s weird, but I figure if it’s included why not give it a glance.   I’d suggest reading them as you go along through the text.    Each of the chapters looks at different facets of knowing, and how people come to the point of believing they know what’s going on in a particular situation. The chapters were well written discussions that could be standalone articles.   That’s a good thing an...