On Time Management for Mortals, Being Younger Next Year, and a Brief History of Humankind
On Time Management for Mortals, Being Younger Next Year, and a Brief History of Humankind
Books that changed my life
Hello all!
This week’s Three Book Thursday is quite thought-provoking. You know who can benefit from thought-provoking books? High school students about to graduate. Here are all of the Three Book Thursday posts since starting. Any one of them will make a great graduation gift.
And now…your weekly dose of books that changed my life.
1. Personal development
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
Summary
Loved this book. I listened to it on audio and then read the hardcopy. While the title mentions time management, its focus is on life time management. This book gets you thinking and provides the spark to shift your mindset and turn inward to question your priorities. This is not a self-help book, rather it is a self-reflection book. And we can all benefit from self-reflection from time-to-time.
Principle: I'd put my energy into clearing the decks, cranking through the smaller stuff to get it out of the way-only to discover that doing so tool the whole day, that the decks filled up again overnight anyway, and that the moment for responding to the [meaningful] email or for researching the milestone article never arrived. One can waste years this way, systematically postponing precisely the things one cares most about.
Insight: Social media turns you into an angrier, less empathetic, more anxious, more numbed-out version of yourself.
Quote: Attention is the beginning of devotion.
Author: Oliver Burkeman
Themes: Personal development, Living a full life, Human psychology, Leadership, management
My personal notes from the book
2. Health and wellness
Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You're 80 and Beyond
Summary
If you are looking for something to inspire physical change in your life, this book is it. Another two reader for me, once on audio and once hardcopy. I recommended this book to my friend Barry Kanczucker and he said it changed his life. I think his Peloton streak is now more than 1,000 days and he is fitter than ever! We are learning that exercise is truly the key to healthspan. It’s so simple, yet so few do it. This book may be just the right spark.
Insight: The message from thousands of studies, over decades of medical research, is clear: Never go on a diet again. The only way to lose weight is to embark on a program of steady, vigorous exercise, avoiding the worst foods being thrust upon you in our national diet and eating less of everything.
Insight: People with arthritis often see it as a barrier to strength training. But arthritis is not a contraindication. Quite the contrary. The combination of strong muscles and improved proprioception protects the joints from further damage and lets them heal.
Insight: Exercise changes all this because if, and only if, you exercise regularly, the chemistry of your blood changes. The chronic inflammatory signals of sedentary life get replaced by signals to grow, to heal, to recover. The bottom line. Exercise reverses the chemistry of decay.
Author: Chris Cowley and Henry Lodge
Themes: Health and wellness, Living a full life
My personal notes from the book
3. History
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Summary
Get ready to be blown away by this book. It explores the history of humans and the way biology and evolution has influenced our species. It is one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read in the last decade. It’s dense and takes a commitment to read. So if you are looking for something to keep you occupied (and keep surprising you), this is a good one. Consider the audio book, too.
Principle: One of history’s few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations.
Insight: How do you cause people to believe in an imagined order such as Christianity, democracy or capitalism? First, you never admit that the order is imagined.
Insight: You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
Themes: History, Evolution
My personal notes from the book
That’s a wrap. Thanks for reading!
Please continue to share with me the books that changed your life!
Best,
Adam
Previous Three Book Thursday editions
All Three Book Thursday Book Links
All Three Book Thursday Personal Notes