Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman

Richard Feynman is possibly the most famous physicist and popularizer of physics of the 20^th Century. He was involved in the Manhattan Project, won a Nobel Prize, served on the Rogers Commission, which investigated the disaster of the space shuttle Challenger, and wrote several popular books on physics in addition to his scientific contributions.

One of those popular books was Six Easy Pieces. It is a collection of lectures prepared by Feynman for freshman and sophomore classes at California Institute of Technology (part of the larger collection Lectures on Physics).

It is also one of Feynman’s most popular books, possibly because of its breadth and simplicity. The book covers a wide range of physics from basic ideas about the structure of matter to physics in relation to other sciences, classical mechanics (Newton’s physics) and quantum mechanics.

It is easy in the sense that Feynman assumes his audience has a background in math and science typical of a high school graduate in 1962. There is very little math. Instead, Feynman takes an approach that focuses on commonly known facts, observation and reasoning. Readers won’t need a semester of calculus to follow this book.

Possibly the best thing about Six Easy Pieces is that it offers a view into the way a physicist thinks that is accessible to many people, even people with minimal scientific education. It is easy to think of science as an overwhelming pile of facts. Feynman’s book illustrates that science is also, and more importantly, a method of applying reason and experimentation to learn about the world we live in. The scientific understanding we have now was built on centuries of consideration, study, experimentation and evaluation that is often iterative, challenging, reconsidering and modifying scientific knowledge that was once widely accepted.

The book holds up well after more than 50 years. I might recommended it to a high schooler who is considering a career in science, especially physics, or anyone who is looking for an introduction or re-introduction to physics from someone who knew the subject well enough to not overcomplicate it.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Einstein’s Clocks, Poincare’s Maps: Empires of Time by Peter Galison 

Newton and the Counterfeiter by Thomas Levenson

The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios

Planck by Brandon R. Brown

A fictional version of Feynman appears in The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown by Paul Malmont (235).

Feynman, Richard P. Six Easy Pieces. New York: Basic Books, 1963.

Be All You Can Be! by John C. Maxwell

Maxell, John C.  Be All You Can Be!  Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 1987.

I’ve read several of John C. Maxwell’s books.  He has become almost an industry in himself for the production of leadership books.  It started while he was still a pastor.  Be All You Can Be! draws from leadership lessons he gave his staff at a church where he was pastor.

Maxwell sounds more like a pastor in this book than he does in some of his later works.  It is full of homiletical mnemonics.  As a kid, I thought these methods were mainly intended to help the hearers remember the message.  Nowadays, I think it is equally intended to help pastor remember their sermons.

It is probably best to take the book as a set of lessons.  Each chapter has a focused theme on some aspect of leadership.  These themes recur in Maxwell’s other books, and entire leadership books are built around any one of them.

The downside of the focused chapters is that it is difficult to find the thread that ties them together, other than leadership.  It might be that leadership is a costly endeavor.  The potential leader will face obstacles, resistance and distractions in abundance.  Much is demanded of a successful leader, and he will need a vision, character, and commitment to carry him through.

The upside of the book is that it covers a lot of ground in relatively few pages.  Each chapter can be read at convenient intervals without much concern over the order in which you read them.  If you looking for a basic leadership book, especially one that draws on a Christian or ministry context, this may be the one.

Having said that, I think it is worth a paragraph to discuss Maxwell in a wider context.  I’ve heard evangelicals lament that recently the books most read by pastors relate to leadership rather than their faith.  Many of those leadership books are probably Maxwell products.  Be All You Can Be! is more explicitly related to a church setting than his other books, but that isn’t an especially important matter.  Maxwell draw examples from the Bible, but he might have found adequate examples from other sources.  Even the selection of an author for the forward is telling.  Zig Ziglar is a prominent Christian, but millions have read his self-help and sales books without any concern, or possibly even knowledge, of his religion.  This book might be found in the Christian section of some bookstores, but it there is little that would keep it out of the business or self-help aisles.

John C. Maxwell also wrote

Developing the Leader Within
The Difference Maker
Winning with People

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Tested by Time by James L. Garlow

On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis

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The Last Self-Help Book You'll Ever Need by Paul Pearsall

Self-help books are baloney. Psychologist Paul Pearsall didn’t go that far, but he encouraged readers of his book The Last Self-Help Book You’ll Ever Need to have a healthy skepticism about the advice and claims of self-help books. Much of the standard advice in the genre is unsupported by research and sometimes just wrong.

Pearsall’s chief criticism of self-help is its focus on the personal and individual. He argued that there is more joy and fulfillment, along with better solutions to our problems, to be found in the interpersonal and relational aspects of life.

Good relationships are largely a matter of the value you place in them. If you want to others to like you, find ways to like them first. To get love, give love. To find a partner, become someone who would be a good partner. Look for the best in others and overlook their faults. Lasting, loving relationships are based on commitment, not passing, emotional passion.

Another important aspect of Pearsall’s perspective is that there is much to be said for accepting life as it is, good and bad, instead of buying into self-help’s striving for the perfect life.

Life is never going to be perfect anyway. There is no reason to make yourself crazy trying. Instead, aim for a good life of deep enjoyment and engagement. Life is chaotic. Remain calm and learn to enjoy the messy reality. Practice mindfulness; accept the facts of life as it is, but do not passively accept the interpretation you may receive from others. You find the great pleasures and great challenges of living in thinking for yourself.

The themes of relationships and mindful acceptance run through all the chapters of the book. In addition to those areas already mentioned, Pearsall address health and work.

If you’ve read a lot of self-help, you may feel burdened by the gap between where you are and where self-help authors say you can be. Pearsall’s book may be an antidote for that. At the very least, reading it may put things in perspective and help you give yourself a break.

Paul Pearsall also wrote

The Beethoven Factor

Toxic Success

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck

Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat

Pearsall, Paul. The Last Self-Help Book You’ll Ever Need. New York: Basic Books, 2006.

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

Have you ever wondered about those people who can remember names, phone numbers, birthdays and odd facts with ease? Some people have prodigious memories. How do they do it?

Joshua Foer began to ask these questions when he covered the 2005 U.S. Memory Championship for Slate. Within a few minutes, the mental athletes at this event could memorize a poem, a deck of cards or a thousand random numbers. A year later, he returned to that event as a competitor, and he won. Walking with Einstein is Foer’s recounting of his year of training in memory techniques and his exploration of the meaning of memory.

This book is not a manual on memory techniques, though Foer briefly describes them. You can find them described in more detail elsewhere. Many of the techniques are ancient, or elaborations on ancient techniques. The discovery of the primary technique is attributed to Simonides, a Greek poet who lived about 500 years before Christ. After the collapse of a banquet hall, which he narrowly escaped because he stepped out to greet a messenger, he discovered he could picture in his mind where every guest had been seated, and was able to identify the location of the bodies. Later authors built upon this idea of a “memory palace,” and it was widely used before the invention of printing.

The basic idea is simple. We have amazing capacities to remember locations and images, so just tie things we want to remember to an image and place. First, pay attention to what you want to remember (it may only take a second). Next, form a memorable image that will remind you of the thing you want to remember. The more outrageous the image is the better it will work. Serious mnemonists develop systems of images. Finally, “place” those images in a memory palace, preferably some real place you know very well. It turns out that the main thing may be the attentiveness all of this technique requires and the multiple paths to remembering you create.

Like Foer, I was disappointed that feats mental athletes perform are not things I want to do. I’d like to be better at remembering names, but all I may need to do to improve is pay attention. I’d like to be able to remember passages of text, but this is very difficult even using mnemonics.

The more interesting thing in the book turns out to be Foer’s exploration of the place of memory in our history and culture. In an age before books, and especially before indexed books, it was very difficult to store information anywhere outside of memory. Even if you read something on a scroll, it would not be easy to find it again. If you wanted quick access to something, you needed to memorize it. People would intensely study the few texts they had and got to know them very well, possibly memorizing them entirely.

Books made accessing information much easier and therefore remembering less important. The Internet has made tons of information accessible in an instant. We have shifted away from valuing intensive study to valuing extensive study, or being widely read. We don’t know as deeply, but we know how to access information for a variety of places.

Memory is not a valueless art in our age. Memorizing techniques engage the imagination to create memorable images. In reverse, our memories are the feedstock of our imaginations. Our creativity, innovation, and invention draws upon the things we remember and the many connections we form between memories. For a creative mind to invent, it needs to be stocked with useful memories.

Similarly, memory has value in defining ourselves. Who we are as an individual is largely defined by our habits and memories. In a sense, the more we remember, the fuller are our lives. Shared memories are part of how we relate to others, and shared knowledge is important to culture.

I started reading this book with an interest in improving memory. My takeaway ends up being that I want to be more attentive to life. I want to form the most vivid memories I can of the people and events that are important to me.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk

How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read by Pierre Bayard

Idea Mapping by Jamie Nast

Your Intelligence Makeover by Edward F. Droge, Jr.

If you want to improve you memory, you may also be interested in a fish oil supplement.

Foer, Joshua. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. New York: Penguin, 2011.

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Men of Tomorrow by Gerard Jones

Jones, Gerard.  Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book.  New York: Basic Books, 2004.

Reviewing Gerard Jones’ history of the comic book industry makes me feel like I’m pitching a new show to the cable networks.  It’s a little like Mad Men.  There is less suavity, but plenty of smoking, drinking, and womanizing.  There is room for some gratuitous nudity.  Many of the comics publishers came from got started in spicy pulps and nudie mags.  They were hustlers from the street, too, many with mob connections.  So we can have a touch of Boardwalk Jungle, though the violence is contained to the muscular fantasies of young men wanting to overcome a sense of powerlessness.  Of course, there may be comparisono to The Big Bang Theory, especially when you have scenes of young men working side-by-side at typewriters and drawing boards, helping and competing with each other.  Most aren’t geniuses, but plenty are awkward and pretentious.  It even has a great name: Men of Tomorrow.

The book is a mostly chronological look at the development of comics.  It starts with the pulp publishers.  As the pulps declined for various reasons of economics and taste, the comics rose their peak in World War II.  Patriotic superheroes were depicted punching Hitler in the face before America entered the war.  Superhero comics declined after the war, especially due to competition from television, though other genres did well.  Some of them, especially crime and horror, attracted the attention of reformers who wanted a clean and upright media safe for children and a culture longing for conformity and peace.  Comics found a new life as baby boomers came of age, partly because of interest in new dysfunctional heroes of Stan Lee and his collaborators and partly because cheap underground comics were exploring the youth counterculture.  Finally, comics became an almost mainstream medium, especially superheroes who successfully moved into film and other media.

There are almost too many people discussed in this book to mention.  Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz built a shady distributor of sex stories and porn into a pillar of a major media corporation.  Along the way, their conflict with Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster became the stuff of comics legend that occasionally broke into mainstream consciousness.  In many retellings of this story, Donenfeld and Liebowitz are demonized and Siegel and Shuster lionized.  Jones mostly resists this urge, treating the New York publishers with some fairness and showing how the cartoonists from Cleveland were the cause of some of their own trouble.  There is a host of other notables from trash publishing (Hugo Gernsback and Bernarr McFadden), organized crime (Frank Costello and Mayer Lansky), failed teachers and academics (Charlie Gaines and William Moulton Marston), and finally from comics (Charlie Biro, Bob Kane, Jack Cole, Jack Kirby, and many more).

Many of these people grew up in Jewish immigrant families.  Their successes and failures in the 1920s and 1930s, their readiness for war in the 1940s, and their search for an identity both American and Jewish in the postwar year reflects the journey of a larger community.  In addition to being a story of comics, it is a story of how Jews, immigrants, science fiction, and geeks moved from the edges of American society toward the mainstream—or maybe the mainstream widened to encompass them.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

American Splendor (Film)

Stan Lee by Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon

The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu

Will Eisner by Michael Schumacher

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The Computers of Star Trek by Lois Gresh & Robert Weinberg

Star Trek fans, I’m one of them, have praised the show for the way it has anticipated technology. It used to be quite the thing to compare a flip phone to the Trek communicator.

However, have you ever watched a rerun of the show and seen something that now seems quaint, even ridiculous, especially when it comes to computers? Back in 1999, Lois Gresh and Robert Weinberg published observations like this, along with a few kudos for the shows, in The Computers of Star Trek.

The book covers episodes from the original series (TOS), The Next Generation (TNG), Deep Space Nine, Voyager and the films through Insurrection. While all the series, even the more recent prequel series Enterprise, depict a technologically advance future, none are focused on technology. They are more focused on telling stories that deal with the social issues in the periods in which they were made.

Gresh and Weinberg note this: Trek computers are mainly supersized versions of the computers of the time the show is made. In some ways, the Federation computers in the show are throwbacks to 1970s and earlier era mainframes, even though smaller, networked computers were becoming the dominant model when the revival series started in the late 1980s. This continued even as the Internet emerged and became part of the popular culture.

Of course the producers of the show aren’t especially interested in how computers actually work; they want to make an entertaining TV show and sometimes explore what is going on the society around them through the lens of a fictional future. Trek is interesting in this regard because it shows the attitudes of people about computers over time. In TOS computers are regarded with skepticism: computers break down, Spock is a hacker who takes over the ship, artificial intelligences take over planets but get fried by the illogic of emotions. By the time of TNG, computers are ubiquitous and acceptable—everyone uses them—but the threat of the Borg show concerns that computers might take over our lives and cause us to be depersonalized, destroying our individual identities.

An almost 20 year old book can’t help to be out of date, and the authors inevitably miss on some predictions. For instance, in their criticism of Trek’s take on medicine (not very advanced at all except when it is practically magic), the mention Army research into smart shirts that will monitor wearers for vital signs and injuries. It was a tee shirt with sewn in sensors that could be made for $30 (in 1998 dollars). Though we now have a lot of wearable technology, hospitals, soldiers and health nuts aren’t making use of cheap tees that keep track of their status moment by moment.

I don’t bring this up to knock the authors’ predictions. It’s hard to predict the future, especially by projecting from the current state of the art. Trek writers arguably haven’t tried very hard, but the show really isn’t about technology anyway.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in:

A Little History of Science by William Bynum

Ada's Algorithm by James Essinger

How to Build an Android by David F. Dufty

I Am Spock by Leonard Nimoy

The Numerati by Stephen Baker

Gresh, Lois, & Robert Weinberg. The Computers of Star Trek. New York: Basic Books, 1999.

Power in Praise by Merlin R. Carothers

Carothers, Merlin R. Power in Praise. Escondido, CA: Merlin R. Carothers, 1972.

I bought a copy of Power in Praise by Merlin R. Carothers at a library book sale. It sat on my shelf for months. I have more appetite for books than time. I was surprised to find it listed in bibliography of Melody Beattie’s last self-help book, Make Miracles in Forty Days. Because reviewing books is inherently about comparing and contrasting books, I made reading Power in Praise a priority.

At a very basic level, Beattie and Carothers have a similar message. Be grateful for everything. Carothers would say praise God in everything.

Our thanks and praise, especially for those things we for which we don’t necessarily feel grateful, brings about in us a peace, contentment, and new perspective on our situation. It often leads to a change in our circumstances, too.

The two authors differ on their view of how this works. For Beattie, it is a universal law. It works because that is the nature of the universe. You can blend it with whatever religion you like or none. Expressing thanks for the hard things will change your life regardless of your religion.

Carothers, in contrast, sees God as the author of our lives. He is in control of all. The hardships, pain, setbacks, and everything else in our life is under His control.

We can praise God even in the worst situations because we trust Him. God loves us and had a good plan for our life. If He permits difficulties, it is because it will produce good. First is the good of coming to God and acknowledging Jesus Christ as our savior. After that comes the producing of a godly character and preparation for work that shows God’s power, love and grace.



Power in Praise is, in part, a book of stories about people who have put Carothers’ principle to the test. Some of these come from the Bible, especially from Paul, who suffered all manner of calamities, but remained contented, peaceful, and even joyful, because He trusted God in all things. Many of the cases come form his experience as an Army chaplain.

As you might expect, people were reluctant to praise God for disease, accidents, failures and other troubles. Some were willing to try even if they didn’t feel it; Carothers writes that it is a matter of faith and not feeling or understanding. Those that tried discovered a transformation in themselves. For Carothers, this is the main thing. To know God and be closer to Him, trusting Him more, is the best thing. In many cases, these people saw quick changes in their circumstances, too.

Carothers also deals with the flipside of praise and thanksgiving with a chapter on grumbling and complaining. He says that to complain is to make accusations against God. It is an expression of distrust. Arguably, mankind’s fall into sin came from distrusting God and it has caused us a lot of trouble sense. The better stand, the position of power, is to trust God in everything, believing that He has a good plan even when bad things happen.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
365 Thank Yous by John Kralik
Gratitude by Melody Beattie
Into the Depths of God by Calvin Miller
Make Miracles in Forty Days by Melody Beattie
Thanks! by Robert A. Emmons

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The Unfinished Game by Keith Devlin

Devlin, Keith. The Unfinished Game: Pascal, Fermat, and the Seventeenth-Century Letter that Made the World Modern. New York: Basic Books, 2008.

The Unfinished Game is a book about math, history and how ideas can change the way we live. The title refers what is also called the problem of points. When a game of chance is ended prematurely, what is the fairest way to divide the pot?

The prevailing idea before Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat is that it is impossible to tell the future, and that made it hard rightly to divide the potential winnings. These mathematicians didn’t work out a way to predict the future, but they did figure out how to calculate the likelihood of different potential outcomes. The fair way to split the pot was in proportion to each player’s probability of winning.

Settling a debate amongst gamblers isn’t and especially important, but the concept of probability they created, along with its correct calculation, gave birth to something we do all time: manage risk. By estimating the likelihood of various events, we can make decisions generally increase our successes and reduce our losses. The insurance industry is built on understanding probability and decisions we make every day about what investments to make, what activities to undertake, even what to wear, are informed by our estimates of the probability of some future condition.

This concept of probability is common now. It can be daunting to think of how revolutionary it was at the time.

An interesting revealed in the book is how Pascal and Fermat worked out these ideas. It was through friendly correspondence. While much is made of the contentious debates and battles of ideas, much of our increase in knowledge comes from the cooperation of curious and committed colleagues. Both men were brilliant thinkers, but they weren’t haughty or difficult, though Fermat didn’t get along with everyone as well as he did with Pascal. For all the great math they considered in their letters, the correspondence is characterized by humility and grace.

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100 Ways to Happiness by Timothy Sharp

What if happiness is something you could practice? You co do certain things and those actions would lead to and support happiness. I’m simplifying, but that is the basic premise of psychologist Timothy J. Sharp in 100 Ways to Happiness.

Practice and doing are the aim of the book, so Sharp does not dwell on theory. Of course, many people want to bring more happiness into the lives they have. Only a few of them want to delve into psychology, and there are plenty of other books they can read.

The book is divided into five main sections. It seems to me that this is intended to help people get to the area where they want to increase happiness most and pick up the others later. You can read this book out of sequence. Each section stands on its own and so do many of the short chapters.

I do not mean to imply that the book is shallow. It is not easy to condense a topic into a few pages; most of the chapters are two pages long. I was impressed that Sharp could provide clear, action-oriented summaries of subjects that other books would take many pages to explain. The point is to do something. Instead of thinking about how to be happy, pick a tip that resonates with you and do it. Work on it until it becomes a habit and then work on another.

Some of Sharps tips that resonated with me are:

-Make time to regularly do something you enjoy.

-Make small changes. When you make a small change stick, you can start another. They add up to big changes.

-Practice gratitude. I’m convinced that a grateful attitude is immensely important for a joyful life.

-Move more and take care of your body. Feeling good, rested and healthy contributes to feeling happy.

-Build good relationships. That means making the best of the intimate relationships you have and making friends with positive people who can encourage you to live a happier life.

-Know your values and take action consistent with them.

-Challenge your thoughts and feelings. Are they true? Are they helpful?

-Use your imagination. Sharp suggest several simple ways you can visualize the life you want.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein

Just Say Thanks! by R. T. Kendall

Little Shifts by Suzanna Beth Stinnet

One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer

Small Move, Big Change by Caroline L. Arnold

Thanks! by Robert A. Emmons

Why Good Things Happen to Good People by Stephen Post and Jill Neimark

Sharp, Timothy J. 100 Ways to Happiness: A Guide for Busy People. New York: MJF Books, 2008.

The First 20 Hours by Josh Kaufman

A lot has been written over the last few years about expertise, often referring to a 10,000-hour rule. Research indicates that the people who exhibit the highest level of expertise, even possibly being a genius, have in their life put in 10,000 hours or more of deliberate practice.

Your response to that bit of knowledge might be like mine: “I’d don’t have 10,000 hours to put into learning something new.” What if you don’t need to be an expert; you just need to be proficient. Maybe you want to learn something for your personal edification, and you do not aspire to be great, but simply to be good enough.

According to Josh Kaufman, gaining a basic proficiency in a new skill is within reach. With an orderly approach, it can be achieved in as little as 20 hours. Kaufman event entitled his book on the subject The First 20 Hours.

Unlike other books on learning I’ve read, Kaufman focuses more on skill than knowledge, more on being able to do something than knowing about something. Acquiring knowledge is important to learning a new skill, and he acknowledges this by making research a part of his program, but he still emphasizes using as much of the 20 hours as you can on deliberate practice.

Kaufman lays out a strategy for rapid skill acquisition. If compressed to a list, it wouldn’t cover the length of a page. Part of what he does is break down his method into parts that are easy, at least conceptually. That is one of the methods: breaking a skill into sub-skills that can be more easily learned and practiced. In this way, his method is simple.

If simple were easy, more things would be simple.  Kaufman’s methods may reduce gaining proficiency in a skill to 20 hours, but they are 20 hours of focused work to which you must commit yourself. You can give yourself some early wins that will make it easier to overcome the discouragement that comes when you become frustrated by difficulties, but The First 20 Hours holds no strategies for overcoming laziness or disinterest.

If Kaufman only described his method, his book would be quite short. He illustrates the methods by showing how he used them to rapidly acquire six different skills. In addition to reiterating the steps to rapid skill acquisition, he demonstrates the variety of skills one can learn. They range from knowledge-intensive, technical skills (programming) to physical skills (yoga), and much in between (playing an instrument).

The skills that interested Kaufman were not skills that were of much interest to me. Even so, it prompted me to think of skill I would like to acquire and how I might apply his strategies to the task.

Kaufman also hints that his method could be used by a proficient person to improve his skill, taking a step closer to expertise. The strategies are aimed at engaging you in deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is the heart of both acquiring and improving a skill.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk

Future Bright by Martin E. Martinez

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer

The Peter Principle by Laurence J. Peter & Raymond Hull

Your Intelligence Makeover by Edward F. Droge, Jr.

Kaufman, Josh. The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything…Fast.  New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2013.

The Magic Power of Self-Image Psychology

Surgeon Maxwell Maltz proposed that we are powerfully motivated to—actually must—produce in reality our self-image. If one wants to improve his life, he must improve his self-image. Maltz elaborates this theory, along with advice on improving self-image, in The Magic Power of Self-Image Psychology.

In an early chapter, Maltz introduces a though experiment. He encourages you to imagine yourself in a theater. You’ll find that you are also the primary actor in the show. In addition you are the writer and director. This is your self-image and you are in control—if you want to be.

Maltz returns to this concept of watching a film or play throughout the book. You can recall previous successes and bring that sense of confidence and accomplishment into the present moment to help you act with boldness. You can imagine yourself taking on challenges and overcoming them before it happens. You can use your imagination to anticipate problems. People often do this to stir up their fear and talk themselves into withdrawing, but you can also do it to invent solutions and find answers to objections so that you can proceed with reasonable confidence.

After introducing the idea of self-image, Maltz uses the remaining chapters to discuss building a healthy self-image to help you be happier and more successful in various situations or aspects of life. This covers a lot of ground, which is not easily summarized. Some of the advice seemed useful and interesting to me.

For instance, he discusses goals. Goals should be your own (not someone else’s). They should be realistic. Visualize your success (in that theater in your mind).

It’s important to be yourself. Don’t be afraid of being different. Don’t be afraid of seemingly perfect people. Accept yourself as a human being with strength and weaknesses; don’t beat yourself up. Express yourself in positive ways.

It’s natural to experience fear. Be open about it; fears seem less bad when they are brought out into the light. Solve problems as well as you can—imperfect solutions can still make things better. Once you’ve done what you can, think about something else.

Throughout the book, Maltz reiterates the basic theme. Your unconscious mind is working to produce what you want. Give it good and clear instructions by having a good, positive, realistic self-image. Your imagination, Maltz refers to it as your “success mechanism,” will guide you.

Maxwell Maltz also wrote Creative Living for Today.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Succeed by Heidi Grant Halvorson

This Year I Will... by M. J. Ryan

Maltz, Maxwell. The Magic Power of Self-Image Psychology. 1964. New York: Pocket Books, 1970.

You are a Badass by Jen Sincero

Jen Sincero believes you can live the life you really want. She writes about how in You are a Badass.

Much of what you’ll find in Sincero’s book can be found on other self-help works. Sincero admits as much. Her tone, which is often humorous, is skeptical of the religious-tinged “woo-woo” stuff you’ll find in much of the self-help ouvre. Even so, she desparately wanted to change her life and was willing to try things that seemed silly to her. She wanted in badly enough to spend hard-earned money on books, seminars and workshops at which you whack pillows with bats. It worked.

The basic principle is the law of attraction. Your thoughts attract or create from the stuff of the universe by some means the life you have. If you want a better life, you need to change your thinking so that you are clear about what you want, have a willingness for action and keep a positive mindset. This concept has been around for a long time, though it was popularized anew a few years ago by the widely popular book (and related media) The Secret.

Sincero branches off in many directions from this central idea. Each chapter presents a related idea and tools for implementing them.

The good life starts with a decision. Decide what you want and that you’re willing to do what it takes to achieve it.

She encourages readers to love themselves. Appreciate that you are a unique person with a special place in this world and treat yourself with some respect.

She says people should do what they love. You only live so long and it is important that you enjoy life. In addition, don’t get hung up on a single purpose for your whole life. As you grow and you circumstances change, your purpose will change as well.

Your relationships with other are important, too. Surround yourself with people you want to be like. On the other hand, don’t compare yourself to others; it is a recipe for disappointment. Forgive others and yourself so your past doesn’t drag you down.

Even though it can be corny, do some of that old-fashioned self-helpy stuff. Use affirmations. Visualize your ideal life. Make a vision board.

What set’s Sincero apart from others is her tone and humor. She presents herself as a person who is not interested in mysticism. She’s interested in making a better life and she is concentrating on what works. If it works, she doesn’t care if it’s advocates are a little freaky. She sprinkles her book liberally with humor and spices it with a little foul language.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Acres of Diamonds by Russel H. Conwell

How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein

Make Miracles in Forty Days by Melody Beattie

Positive Imaging by Norman Vincent Peale

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

The Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

The Success Principles by Jack Canfield with Janet Switzer

Write It Down, Make It Happen by Henriette Anne Klaus

You Can if You Think You Can by Norman Vincent Peale

Sincero, Jen. You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2013.

Idea Mapping by Jamie Nast

Nast, Jamie. Idea Mapping: How to Access Your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More, and Achieve Success in Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2006.

Idea maps are a means of capturing and organizing ideas using images and words in a way that shows how they are related. Concepts are arranged in blooms that radiate from a central idea or flows that link a string of ideas. The techniques of idea mapping allow you to see how ideas are associated and use simple images, color, and single words to help you recall and organize information.



Nast acknowledges those who have preceded her in developing the concepts of mind mapping. Recent promoters of these techniques include Tony Buzan (Mind Map) and Vanda North (BrainBloom). The concept goes back at least to the 13th Century when Ramon Llull created tree diagrams in which the trunk and branches represented a central theme and the ideas that flowed from it. Except for emphasizing the use of images and color, it reminds me somewhat of the slash method of note taking promoted by Evelyn Wood.

Much of the book is practical instruction on the idea mapping technique. The basic concept of idea mapping is simple. Nast’s advice will give you a head start on putting it to practical use.

Besides being a how-to manual, the book also shows the variety of ways you can use idea mapping. Some of the examples included in the book include a to-do list, outlines for pharmacy classes, books summaries and marketing plans.

I particularly like the examples included in the book. It is very interesting to see how others have used idea maps and how they look. Nast includes several maps from one person to show how they developed their skill over time. These maps transitioned from spiky branches of words to fluid and almost entirely graphical maps. As with most things, you master idea mapping through practice.

Chance by Amir Aczel

Aczel, Amir D. Chance: A Guide to Love, the Stock Market, and Just About Everything Else. New York: MJF Books, 2004.
ISBN-13: 978-1-56731-735-0
ISBN-10: 1-56731-735-9

Chance is an introduction to the basic principles of probability and how they can be applied to understanding real-life activities. The math is not difficult. Someone with a good foundation in arithmetic and algebra should be able to follow it. Where more advanced math might be needed, Aczel presents the gist and moves on.

One of the interesting issues brought up in the book is how probability can give rise to counterintuitive situations. What we sense may be the likelihood of something may be very different than the probability worked out mathematically—the math better fits reality. One of these examples is how random events can, and often do, result in unexpected aggregations. For example, a fair coin has equal chances of coming up heads or tails, but if you flip it enough times, you’ll find times when heads (or tails) may be repeated in hundreds or thousands of sequential flips. Unlike events can be surprisingly likely if given enough trials.

This may be why unlikely things sometimes happen in gambling, because it is so common. Aczel acknowledges the early history of probability as a way to understand gambling problems. He draws several examples from casino games, poker and horseracing. The mathematician’s admonition concerning casino gambling is don’t do it. Most betting games are good examples of probability because the potential risks and payoffs are known. Poker provides and example of dealing with uncertainty. For those who follow the ponies, an appendix by Brad Johnson provides an understandable description of how pari-mutuel betting works.


Not all the examples are drawn from gambling. Aczel also describes how probability relates to polling and polling errors, coincidences, and making choices in life and in games.

A drawback of the edition I read was typographical errors in some of the mathematical formulas and equations. Those familiar with the notation will quickly sort out what was intended, and others can follow the text. In one instance, the formula is made wrong by the typo, but the text describes it correctly.