Monday November 07, 2005

Books I Love, Part I
I love books.  And I love Places for Books, too.  Here are some of my recent favorites. Part I.

  Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell.
A fascinating book that I will definitely read again.  About trusting your instincts.  About the power of what a mind can calculate - subconsciously - in the blink of an eye.  And, ultimately, about how some people's instincts are flawed and biased. If your job involves exercising good judgement, as most do, this book is a must-read.  It's also an eye opener as to how pervasive discrimination is in our society, even to those who would like to believe they are not biased.  And, if you read the Acknowledgements section at the end of the book, you'll see that Mr. Gladwell's encounter with a police van in downtown Manhattan (the police had mistaken him for a rapist) was the genesis for this book.  I have to say that I'm glad for that case of mistaken identity.  This thought-provoking book seems worth the misunderstanding.

  Swimming to Antarctica, by Lynne Cox. 
An entrancing tale of how swimming wove itself into Lynne Cox's DNA.  It starts off in New Hampshire, a state that I'm partial to, with the lines, "Please. Please. Please, Coach, let us out of the pool, we're freezing," pleaded three purple-lipped eight-year-olds in lane two..."  Even though this book was written by an adult for adults, my children also became entranced with the story - and my 8 year old read it cover to cover.  Lynne starts off as the slowest swimmer in her pool-based swim team only to find that her real talent was in rough water swimming - and cold water swimming.   My favorite part - the power of suggestion - the magical whisper to a 9 year old girl that "Someday, Lynne, you're going to swim across the English Channel."  Lynne did, at the age of 15, and broke the world record for all age groups at the same time.  A well-told story about achievement and commitment.  Definitely worth reading.

  Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life, by Michael Lewis.
A short, short book, more like a hardcover essay, by a favorite author.  Recommended by Hal Stern.  About a fabulous, never to be forgotten baseball coach that Michael Lewis has, in fact, never forgotten.  (I had such a coach growing up - mine was a math teacher, though, and not a baseball coach.)  The kind of person that pushes you, and infuriates you, and challenges you.  How much easier it is to go to your parents and complain about your mistreatment rather than step up to the plate and see if you can meet the coach's expectations?  Do you take the easy path?  Will you give your children the easy path?  Or help them grow?  Worth the quick read, by the author of Moneyball.

(2005-11-07 08:47:00.0) Permalink