Life & Perspective
Reflections on how to live, work and learn.
Becoming Who You Are: Carl Rogers and the Therapeutic Self
Carl Rogers' On Becoming a Person: unconditional positive regard, empathy and the curious paradox that we change once we accept ourselves.
Beyond Survival: Maslow and the Heights of Human Need
Abraham Maslow helped found a movement he called humanistic psychology, and his Toward a Psychology of Being is one of its founding texts.
Capitalism vs. Communism: Debunking the Eternal Debate
Capitalism vs communism, written after an economics degree: free markets, social equality, their failures, and the Scandinavian middle ground.
Rise and Grind... or Not? Exploring the 5 AM Club
The 5 AM Club. A movement promising increased productivity, improved focus, and a head start on the day.
Losing Yourself in the Task: The Psychology of "Flow"
Csikszentmihalyi's Flow explained: what the flow state is, how balancing challenge and skill creates it, and why engagement beats pleasure.
Love as a Practice, Not a Feeling: Erich Fromm's "The Art of Loving"
Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving begins by puncturing one of our most cherished assumptions.
The Power of Linking Words: Elevating Your Writing with Coherence and Cohesion
How linking words improve your writing: transitions for addition, contrast, cause, sequence and conclusion that create coherence and cohesion.
The Undiscovered Self: Jung's "Modern Man in Search of a Soul"
Carl Jung's Modern Man in Search of a Soul is a fine entry point into one of the most original minds in the history of psychology.
Unveiling the Machiavellian Mind: Lessons from Niccolò Machiavelli's "The Prince"
Lessons from Machiavelli's The Prince: the nature of power, prudence and realism, fortuna and virtù and the importance of public perception.
Escaping the Tyranny of Time: A Critical Reading of "The Power of Now"
A critical reading of Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now: the useful core about presence and thought, and where the grand claims go too far.
The Rose Garden of Wisdom: Saadi's "Gulistan"
Saadi's Gulistan (The Rose Garden): practical wisdom through stories, the art of speech and silence, contentment and "the children of Adam are one body".
Trust Thyself: Emerson's "Self-Reliance" and the Courage to Be Original
Emerson's Self-Reliance: trust thyself, why conformity is self-betrayal and why a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
The Beginner's Mind: Lessons from Shunryu Suzuki
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is a collection of talks by Shunryu Suzuki, the Japanese Zen master who helped bring Zen practice to the West.
Living Deliberately: What Thoreau's "Walden" Taught Me About Simplicity
What Thoreau's Walden teaches about simplicity: the true cost of things, quiet desperation, living deliberately and learning from nature.
The Art of Being Content: Schopenhauer's "The Wisdom of Life"
Schopenhauer's The Wisdom of Life: why what you are matters more than what you have, wealth as seawater and a pessimist's guide to contentment.
Letting Go of the Ground: Alan Watts' "The Wisdom of Insecurity"
Alan Watts' The Wisdom of Insecurity: why the search for security makes us anxious, the self as process and living fully in the present.
Unlocking the Depths of the Mind: Lessons from Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams"
Lessons from Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams: the unconscious, dreams as wish fulfillment, symbolism and dream work, and their lasting influence.
Knowing the Self, Knowing the Divine: Al-Ghazali's "The Alchemy of Happiness"
Al-Ghazali is one of the towering figures of Islamic thought, a jurist and theologian so influential he was called the Proof of Islam.
Staring Into the Abyss: Tolstoy's "A Confession" and the Search for Faith
When Leo Tolstoy wrote A Confession, he had everything a person could want.
The Lover's Religion: Reflections on the Poetry of Rumi
There is a reason Rumi, a thirteenth-century Persian mystic and jurist, is one of the best-selling poets in the modern world.
Desire, Faith, and the Mind: A Critical Look at "Think and Grow Rich"
A critical look at Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich: what holds up (definite goals, persistence) and what is magical thinking.
On Duty and Friendship: The Quiet Wisdom of Cicero
Cicero was not an original philosopher in the way Plato or Aristotle were, and he knew it.
Winning Without Fighting: Strategy and Self-Knowledge in Sun Tzu's "The Art of War"
Sun Tzu's The Art of War beyond the battlefield: winning without fighting, knowing yourself and your opponent and victory decided before battle.
The Path of the Calm Mind: Walking Through the "Dhammapada"
Lessons from the Dhammapada: the mind shapes experience, hatred ends only through love, craving causes suffering and self-mastery is the greatest victory.