The Tree of Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar
A year and a half ago I was ashamed of myself for how much I had let my health decline. I was doing all the things you aren’t supposed to do, and I was not doing anything that I was supposed to do. While I was unhappy with how I looked, the real kick in the pants for me was that I had trouble playing with my young kids. As a result, I have been able to lose a lot of weight and gain a […]
Fox 8 by George Saunders
This short and entertaining tale by the author of the (honestly, so much better) Lincoln on the Bardo goes by at a fast clip. Accompanied by cute fox drawings by Chelsea Cardinal, Fox 8 tells the story of Fox 8, a quick-learning inquisitive fox who learns to speak and read “yuman” by watching a family as they go about their daily business. As civilization begins to encroach on their forest home and the food supply begins to dwindle, Fox 8 (one of many numbered foxes […]
Cheating: Ethics in Everyday Life by Deborah L. Rhode
Best for: People who enjoy the academic rigor of a peer-reviewed book, but actually want to enjoy reading said book. Also, people who find the idea of cheating (in all its forms) fascinating. In a nutshell: Law professor and legal ethicist Rhode examines why people cheat, and what society can do to mitigate those tendencies. Worth quoting: “Totally honest, incorruptible people constitute about 10 percent of the population. Totally dishonest people who will cheat in a wide variety of situations account for about 5 percent. […]
Johnston is a Jungian psychologist who has written a book about being human, yet feeling a duality. Owning your own shadow jumps off from Jungian philosophy. It operates from the notion that as part of our assimilation into society we are forced to leave large parts of ourselves behind, in the shadow. It is not really a self-help book and not quite a philosophical treatise, it is more a loosely formed essay detailing the process of forming the shadow, the need for expression of the […]
My friends often roll their eyes when I hesitate to embrace anything that’s popular. It’s true that I’m wary of popular things. It’s not because I’m a hipster (I’m not – I live in the suburbs and I like Bud Light and Taco Bell). I think the reason I balk at popular things is because I’m afraid of getting swept up in something that I’ll later regret. It’s better to test things on their own merit than to sign my name to something that sours. […]
Best for: Anyone interested in an introduction to ideas from western philosophy, starting with Socrates and Plato. In a nutshell: Philosopher (and podcaster) Nigel Warburton spends 40 chapters exploring the one or two main hallmarks of different western philosophers. Worth quoting: “Philosophers challenge dogma. They ask why people believe what they do, what sorts of evidence they have to support their conclusions.” Why I chose it: I was feeling a little nostalgic about my days studying philosophy. That program was only a year, and pretty […]
