Are we really at the end of the month already? Goodness. That month just disappeared.
I’m finishing up Cutting for Stone (reviewed in this post; going nice and slow so that it doesn’t end too soon), but I also found a couple books that I’m loving this week. Completely different too.
In the Lost City of Z, author David Grann has taken me on a trip to the Amazon, to a world full of plants and animals determined to maim and destroy human beings, and to an almost-100 year old mystery of an explorer lost in that jungle. Fawcett, who left in 1925 and was never seen again, was the expert on the Amazon. His disappearance fueled endless speculation and myth about exactly what happened.
From Publishers Weekly,
In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn’t stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann’s vigorous research mirrors Fawcett’s obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale.
Schwartz’s book, The Magic of Thinking Big is not new, but J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly said he was reading this book recently and enjoying it, so I went looking for it on my bookshelf.
Amazon.com writes,
Millions of people throughout the world have improved their lives using The Magic of Thinking Big. Dr. David J. Schwartz, long regarded as one of the foremost experts on motivation, will help you sell better, manage better, earn more money, and — most important of all — find greater happiness and peace of mind.
The Magic of Thinking Big gives you useful methods, not empty promises. Dr. Schwartz presents a carefully designed program for getting the most out of your job, your marriage and family life, and your community. He proves that you don’t need to be an intellectual or have innate talent to attain great success and satisfaction — but you do need to learn and understand the habit of thinking and behaving in ways that will get you there. This book gives you those secrets!
* Believe You Can Succeed and You Will
* Cure Yourself of the Fear of Failure
* Build Confidence and Destroy Fear
* Think and Dream Creatively
* You Are What You Think You Are
* Make Your Attitudes Your Allies
* Learn How to Think Positively
* Turn Defeat into Victory
* Use Goals to Help You Grow
* Think Like a Leader
What do I think
Reading both books at the same time is a bit of a juggle. I’m reminded to “know thyself” while reading City of Z (the ancient Greeks believed that “know thyself” meant to know your limits, that you were human and not a god) and in an entirely different approach in Magic of Thinking Big, to “know thyself,” which in essence means to search inside myself to accomplish great things. The latter belief is also how we all ended up thinking that we should search inside long and deep in order to attain satisfaction. Blech. That’s not really that fun.
I subscribe to the ancient Greek thinking on that phrase, however (it’s a warning to my limitations) and I agree with Elizabeth Gilbert’s fine assessment on the writing process seen in this excellent YouTube video: (it’s worth watching all the way through)
Have a great weekend!
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