This audio book is an excellent companion to the Founding Brothers book. Each 25 - 30 minute lecture introduces the listener to a new member of the brotherhood. Many of members of the brotherhood knew they were making history and their saved correspondence were often written for the benefit of future generations.
Professor Ellis attempts to offer a clear eyed view from the perspective of the people directly involved in the revolution. He provides information about the process used to produce both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He noted that one of the reasons the US won the revolutionary war was George Washington's insistence that the Continental Army be vaccinated against smallpox. The lecture series provides a solid introduction to this period in American history.
Joseph Ellis - Can the US Export Democracy - 3 min.
Bill O'Hanlon offers solution oriented approaches to dealing with life's problems. He is a prolific author and provides help on writing nonfiction books in the videos below. The author focus not so much on the why something occurred but on what can be done to change the situation and how a different approach may make things better. Focusing on why something happens often involves paralysis by analysis. Recognize what happened in the past but focus attention and action on the present and the future.
The author provides a toolkit for breaking cycles of failed behavior. This often involves doing things that change perspective or the environment. For example he advised one couple with arguments that went out of control to have their next argument in the bathroom with the man sitting in the bathtub. The absurd location allowed the couple to break the pattern of prolonged arguments.
He specifically suggests altering the focus from the problem to actions that result in a solution. When requesting a change from a partner don't waste time with character descriptions. For example: you are a slob. Instead state: Pick your clothes and pizza boxes off the floor in the living room.
He also focuses on the importance of ritual in two circumstances. The first involves a symbolic break from a painful chapter in a person's life. One woman painted a picture of the pain an abusive man caused her family. She then burned the painting in a ritual ceremony. Other rituals involve a family meal or doing other things together such as attending church, celebrating birthdays or family events. My daily lunch date with my wife is something I look forward to each week.
Breaking the patterns of a bad relationship has helped many of his patients save their marriages and allowed them to live better lives and shift their focus from: "why does this keep happening to me?" to "how can I change this to make it better?"
Bill O'Hanlon (author 29+ books) Write the proposal before writing the whole non fiction book.
Many women I know are fans of detective fiction and I wanted to learn more about the genre. Professor Alexander provides a separate 30 minute lecture for each detective category discussing the first authors to develop the sub category of fiction.
I appreciated the evolution of women's roles over time. Starting out as a domestic or the victim and evolving through the femme fatale in the hard boiled detective to becoming a hard boiled regional sleuth in the Janet Evanovich series. The methods they use to solve crimes also evolved from relying on relationship knowledge and intuition to doing a cold methodical analysis of the facts and piecing together the puzzle.
Most of the successful authors had a separate careers that gave them special knowledge to write accurately about the subject. Agatha Christie worked extensively with pharmaceuticals, John Grisham was a lawyer, Ian Fleming was a spy. The day job allowed these people to create much more realistic fiction.
A trip to the local library allowed me to listen to this book. For a fee you can also listen to an online audio download of Detective Fiction a Modern Scholar Lecture by M. Lee Alexander. M. Lee Alexander is a professor of English literature at the college of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Adam Grant categorizes people into three categories, givers, takers and matchers. In the short term, takers usually are the most successful. In the long term according to his researcher givers who can move beyond being doormats are the most successful. In this highly connected world it is also much more difficult to be successful as a taker as a person's past history is much more transparent.
Medical students who are givers are much less successful in the highly competitive first few years of medical school as they help others to succeed. They are much more successful during the later part of their schooling where cooperation and ability to empathize with patients is very important.
He gives examples of some fakers attempting to appear like givers. Kenneth Lay of Enron is an example. His outward charitable donations masked his taking behavior in the company. He treated the corporate jet like personal property. On the annual corporate report he had a full page photo of himself. Most executives have no photo or a small wallet sized photo on the report.
When a giver is attempting to bargain for a raise it helps to adopt an otherish attitude. Consider that you are not just bargaining for yourself but on behalf of your family. If a giver is interacting with a taker it is useful to switch to a matching attitude to avoid being taken to the cleaners.
Mark Twain describes his 1878 trip to Europe with Joseph H. Twichell (referred to as Harris) in a style similar to his travel adventure Roughing it. He travels through Germany, Switzerland and France. The book blends fact and fiction to good effect.
He describes the German club duels with no bloody details omitted. Participants duel for 15 minutes and have their wounds attended to on site. They wear eye protection but no face shields and wear their facial scars as badges of honor. He later describes a fictitious French duel with very humorous results. His offer of a Gatling gun as a weapon of choice is immediately rejected.
He describes the scenery, local customs and local legends. Upon noticing that the size of a manure pile on a farm is roughly correlated to the wealth of the owner he offers a melodrama about a daughter who is forced to marry for a man's ill gotten manure. There is the usual twist at the end where the formerly manure deficient hero discovers a vast undiscovered chamber of hidden manure and secures the woman's hand in marriage.
The beauty and danger of the alps are described in great detail. Locations where people die are noted and the discovery of the well preserved bodies of people trapped in glaciers are predicted by knowledge of the movement of glaciers. Mr. Twain also embarks on a less than dangerous journey to locations on the alps employing excessive safety precautions to humorous effect.
The book succeeds as a humorous travelogue and an interesting glimpse into the late 18th century Europe.
