Halbs – Page 35 – Cannonball Read 17

An OK Thriller from a Very Good Comics Writer

The Oracle Year by Charles Soule

May 10, 2019 by Halbs Leave a Comment

Charles Soule ranks highly on my list of comics writers because (1) he’s a fellow attorney and (2) he wrote the criminally underrated “She-Hulk” run of a few years ago. I’m not the only Soule fan – Marvel had enough faith in the guy to let him write Wolverine’s death. His creator-owned series “Letter 44” is an interesting blend of politics and sci-fi, sort of like Brian K Vaughan’s genre-bending Ex Machina. A Kindle deal popped up in my inbox with Soule’s book, so of […]

Co-Creating a Better Future Together

Narrative Mediation : A New Approach to Conflict Resolution by John Winslade, Gerald D. Monk

May 7, 2019 by Halbs Leave a Comment

This book, as the title suggests, is about a kind of mediation. (Mediation can be thought of as facilitated conflict resolution, or facilitated decision making. It’s more informal than court and the parties decide the outcome, unlike having a judge or arbitrator decide for them.) While mediation as a concept isn’t new, the professional development of mediation is pretty new – really around 50 years old. Most mediators are “facilitative” mediators, meaning that they try to facilitate a process in which they get at the […]

Eat Your Vegetables! Also, Relax!

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

May 6, 2019 by Halbs Leave a Comment

In the last few years, I slowly gained and somewhat rapidly lost a lot of weight (about 50 pounds). While extra weigh certainly did some damage to me physically, the psychic trauma of worrying about everything I was putting into (or not putting into) my body was the worst part of the whole thing. Food just…wasn’t fun. It became terror. I’m sure you’ve been there. In this book, the author mentions a survey in which the French associated with chocolate cake words like celebration , […]

Solid Advice for New Managers and Leaders

HBR Guide to Coaching Employees by Harvard Business Review

May 6, 2019 by Halbs Leave a Comment

Mitch Hedberg had a great joke about how weird being promoted is. He said that even though he was a comedian, people always wanted him to write. That’s like going to a chef and asking Hey, can you farm? If you’ve been thrust in a management role because you were good at something that wasn’t management, you can probably relate. HBR’s Guide to Coaching Employees is a helpful, accessible read designed to help you understand how to manage people. Some of the most helpful advice for me […]

The First Time that Willie Nelson Steered Me Wrong (Maybe)

The Mystery Religions and Christianity by Samuel Angus

April 30, 2019 by Halbs Leave a Comment

A few years ago I read Willie Nelson’s It’s a Long Story: My Life. Of course, the background of his music and influences is great. Additionally, I was very interested in my fellow Texan’s take on growing up in a Texas church and on religion in general. In that books he says: I’ve never doubted the genius of Christ’s moral message or the truth of the miracles he performed. I see his presence on earth and resurrection as perfect man as a moment that altered human […]

Pretty Poems from a Local Artist

Nature's Secrecy: Collected Poems by Amiyo Basu

April 20, 2019 by Halbs Leave a Comment

Several years ago I reviewed David Byrne’s How Music Works. One of the most interesting things in Byrne’s book is how differently we experience music today than we did prior to the phonograph. Until that time, music was localized and live by necessity. Every version of a song you heard was likely an interpretation, a cover; there was no “definitive” album version of a song. Additionally, musical styles were also more local because it wasn’t feasible to keep up with artists or a favorite genre outside […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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