Making Waves, the story of a successful maverick

I was impressed that Robert Reich and the Dalai Lama both wrote forewords for this book. How common is that?

Making Waves and Riding the Currents, Activism and the Practice of Wisdom, is Charles Halpern’s story of how he used the ultra conservative world of Yale, Harvard, and the legal profession as launch pads to become a social activist and launch the concept of the public interest law firm. He tells the story of his struggle with the conflicts inherent in asking arch conservative people and organizations to sponsor and endorse risky experiments as his own sense of self hung in the balance.

Mr. Halpern is far more candid about his errors and fears than most CEOs are in their autobiographies, and that alone would be enough to make this a good read. But there is more. His chronicle of his  transition from conformist to innovator, and being able to accomplish that without alienating the establishment, is truly remarkable.

In addition, he recounts his discovery of the value of meditation and its effects on his composure and confidence. Considering that he was a privileged man from the beginning, his composure and confidence might be taken for granted. For a person in his position to discover reverence is another remarkable event.

This autobiography therefore provides a rare combination of an establishment man stepping into the sea of risk for the benefit of helpless people, and then anchoring his achievements in a solid practice of introspection. It is a rare story.

My rating: Four √√√√ checkmarks for an interesting story told with candor and courage.

 

Paul Hawken’s “Blessed Unrest” is a winner

Paul Hawken sees a forest where many people only see trees. His ‘trees’ are groups working for the wellbeing of Earth and all the life forms that live on it. The forest is something he calls a movement, a mostly unconnected constellation of groups that share a common concern for the quality of life on our planet.

The complete title of his book is Blessed Unrest, How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. Before I say anything more, I want to compliment him for using the word ‘unrest’ correctly in the title. Journalists use the same word to describe murder in the streets, as in “there was more unrest today in Darfur.”

This is a remarkable book, both for its extraordinarily relevant theme and for the thoroughness and breadth of its content. Mr. Hawken speculates that there are millions of groups of varying sizes and levels of effectiveness working on problems large and small around the world. With great enthusiasm he marvels at this, and he works hard to describe, define, and characterize this activity.

In the course of this book he provides pointers to sources of information and activity that could keep you and me busy for the rest of our lives. I came across this book while researching my plan for world peace, and it is an exceptionally valuable resource. I highly recommend this book to everyone. You may choose to skim some of his minor digressions into scientific minutae, but taken as a whole this book is fascinating, exciting, and compelling.

You might remember Paul Hawken as co-founder of Smith & Hawken, the tool company. He has gone on to greater things, such a saving the livability of the planet.

My rating: An enthusiastic √√√√√ five checks!

 

An overlooked classic on management

There is a very handy little graphic known as the Blake and Mouton managerial grid that is used to characterize a manager’s priorities relative to people and tasks. I have been using the grid for years, but only recently did I discover that they wrote a book about it! It is named for the grid, and has been through 19 printings, and it is excellent. The complete title is The Managerial Grid: Key Orientations for Achieving Production Through People.

The managerial grid is visually represented by a quadrant with “task orientation” on the X axis and “social orientation” on the Y axis. A person might be in the lower right quadrant indicating an obsession with getting the job done and indifference to people and relationships–the command-and-control mentality.

Or he might be in the upper left quadrant indicating that he considers relationships indispensable and productivity expendable–the country club mentality.

 

I’ve been busy!

I have been neglecting this blog because I am working on two other projects. I’m working on my plan for world peace. It’s coming along nicely, and I will be publishing it fairly soon.

A second project is preparing books using the blurb.com publishing software. I sent in a small book as a test, and it came back looking great! The paper is heavy enough and a semi-matte finish, the color rendering is excellent, and the binding is solid! So I’m working on a couple more books. It does take some time to lay them out and to write the text.

Soon I’ll be back to blogging. Thanks!

 

How to publish 1 copy of a book

You might enjoy knowing, if you don’t already, that you can, rather affordably, publish a single copy of a book. I published the book shown here using blurb.com software. I didn’t find it on my own. My photographer friend, Richard Ruthsatz showed it to me.

He had not tried their service himself, so I was anxious about the print quality, especially the photos. The book arrived today, and the print quality is excellent.

The book I put together is a memento for Richard and his wife Trisha. It’s chock full of photos I have taken over the years. The title is The Cricklewood Cat House. Cricklewood is the name of their street, and they have three cats that live very well.

But back to the story. The software downloads for free, it’s pretty simple to use, surprisingly versatile, and the prices are appealing. My book cost about $35 counting postage.

 

One Man’s Meat

E. B. White’s essays are sweet and courageous. It’s a rare and wonderful combination.  They are also, to use that severely abused word, poignant, which means, painfully affecting the feelings. Consider the opening line to the essay, World War I: “I keep forgetting that soldiers are so young.”  He wrote that line in 1939. I think of that every day in the context of Iraq and Afghanistan.

One Man’s Meat, first published in 1942, is the companion volume to the Essays of E. B. White. Both books include his classic, Once More to the Lake, an essay about taking his own son to the lake that made such an impression on him when he was taken there by his own father. There is minimal overlap between the two books.

In 1940 he lamented the effects of the automobile on community life: “Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.” This book also includes the best thing I have ever read about poetry. Poems must be short, he said, because, “Poetry is intensity, and nothing is intense for long.”

One of the things that struck me most in this group of essays was his statement about writers, since I am one. He wrote: “In a free country it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty.” I love this man.

I could rant on for hours about the joy of reading this book, but it’s better that you spend your time reading his work instead of mine.

My rating: √√√√√ An enthusiastic five checks out of five.

 

The Yoga Practice Guide

I’m selective about the books in my yoga library, and Bruce Bowditch’s new book, the Yoga Practice Guide, Dynamic sequencing for home practice and teachers, has an important place there. Bruce is a Tucson yoga teacher, and this is his debut book offering. It is designed for advanced beginners on up.

If you have an interest in yoga I encourage you to read my recent interview with him at either of my other blogs, Tucson Dialog, or This Just In! You can also watch a short video presentation of Bruce doing yoga.

I know from several years of yoga study that the sequence of poses during a class either enhances or detracts from the experience of each pose. Until Bruce published his book I had seen little reference material on the art of creating sequences. Erich Schiffman provides a smattering of information on the subject in his excellent Yoga, but it is little more than an expanded footnote. Bruce’s book fills a hole in the literature.

Having some well practiced sequences has multiple advantages. One is that the sequence enhances the benefits of each pose. Another is that sequences promote order and stability in one’s home practice. Another is that a series of sequences provides a well-rounded experience of many poses so that key ones don’t get left out.

My rating: √√√√√ an enthusiastic five checks out of five. Visit Bruce’s blog for information about purchasing the book. Copies are also available at both locations of Yoga Oasis.

 

My Stroke of Insight

The best introduction to the subject matter of this wonderful book comes by viewing Jill’s 18 minute video. It is posted at The New York Times blog. My Stroke of Insight, A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., contains the same information presented in the video (minus the actual human brain!) and a good amount of additional detail that will reward the reader.

I have studied meditation, psychology, and yoga for a long time, and I found her explanation of brain function extraordinarily helpful. The notion of bliss, or nirvana, or samadhi is no longer so “out there” to me. It’s a function built into my right brain hemisphere. I just have to discipline the left side and learn to pay attention to the right side. That’s not to say it’s easy, but at least it’s in my neighborhood, not in some distant galaxy.

I also learned a lot from her observations on how she wanted to be treated during the time she was incapacitated and could not express herself and could not recognize language. Her rules of kindness are a wonderful guide for all situations, not just when dealing with people with brain damage.

This short book is upbeat, inspiring, and informative.

My rating: √√√√√ Five checks out of five.

 

The Punishment of Virtue

Sarah Chayes worked in Afghanistan as a reporter for National Public Radio (NPR). After they rotated her home, she resigned, and returned to Afghanistan to work for a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). One result is her experiences in that country is an excellent book, The Punishment of Virtue, Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban.

She has an affinity for the nation in spite of its outrageous extremes. She told the Atlantic Monthly:

I felt a perplexing sense of ease in this harsh, impoverished, chauvinistic, explosively independent land.

I personally would be hard pressed to explain to anyone the differences between Al Qaeda and the Taliban, so the rich amount of detail and history in this book made for challenging reading for me. I also struggle with the syntax of Arab names. Having said that, this book is well worth the effort.

The book is not only an incredible personal adventure story, it also reveals much about the complexity of Afghanistan, its relationship with the treacherous Pakistan, and the clumsy and violent efforts of the United States to try to manage both countries to our own advantage.

 

Breaking the Real Axis of Evil

Have you grown weary of war?

I’ve developed a fixation on world peace, and I’m writing a plan for achieving it within 50 years. You may be pleased to know there is a wealth of material on the subject including the book featured in this report.

Central to any plan for peace is eliminating dictators. This book, Breaking the Real Axis of Evil, How to Oust the World’s Last Dictators by 2025, by Mark Palmer, is fundamental to that effort. The central message in this book is that dictators can remain in power only if the great powers-that-be “wink” at their evil doings. We do this all the time with dictators who dominate oil-rich nations, for example. We permit dictators to prosper when we think it’s good for business.