Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch

David Lynch's book Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity: 10th Anniversary Edition is a series of short one to a few page compact life lessons and remembrances about the topics of meditation, consciousness, and creativity. I heard him interviewed on NPR and found his ideas to be helpful.

In order to be creative you have to understand suffering but it is not necessary to live it. Pain and suffering will reduce the ability to be creative. Sleep, meditation and self care is necessary for optimal creativity.

David is a big proponent of transcendental meditation. He needs to do it as part of his daily practice. It is the source of his ideas and ability to be creative.

If you have a desire to be creative and to accomplish project you need to have time. Try to find a job that provides food, enough time for sleep, and time to work on your creative projects.

Ideas do not come to us fully formed. We desire and search for an idea and we may only get a fragment. If we write down this idea we can use it as bait or a starting point for additional ideas that can build on the initial fragment. Eventually there is an actionable creative piece that will arise.

David Lynch - Suffering - 3 minutes

Where do ideas come from - 2 min. 

Find time to do what you love - 1 min.

Bozo Sapiens by Michael and Ellen Kaplan

Husband and wife authors Michael and Ellen Kaplan wade into the familiar topic of human mental inadequacies with a well researched, uncomfortable, and sometimes tragic book, Bozo Sapiens: Why to Err is Human.

The book is full of wisdom and bears a repeat read. I dog-eared many pages while reading the text. Sample quote: "Marxist historical theory is a usefully simple heuristic if your purpose is to start a dorm-room argument, gain tenure at a minor college, or establish a peasant insurgency." The authors state history is much more interesting if we seek to understand the biographies of the people, the many waves of changes, and the unanswerable questions.

A good approach to make sure thinking is well thought out is to forcefully argue for the opposite position. It is easy for all of us to be confident that we've received wisdom that is unassailable and ignore the rest of the inconvenient evidence. To illustrate the dangers of "motivated reasoning," the authors relayed the WWI story of a dying French general who spent 4 months planning a bold charge into the teeth of a well fortified German position.  The Germans got wind of the plan and they were well prepared with machine guns and ammunition. The French knew this but ignored the information. By the time the attack was finished, 1/6th of the French Army was dead.

In order for some really bad things to happen "the holes in the slices of Swiss cheese need to line up." Most of us are only aware of one slice and do not know of the existence of the other slices. We should not take comfort that an event is rare. It only takes ten days for a 1 in a million failure to happen in a company with a 100,000 people. It's why holding on to the handrail going up and down stairs is a good idea. Given enough attempts eventually a step will be missed and an injury will result.

You can also visit Michael Kaplan at his Bozo Sapiens Blog where you will find a daily calendar with historical examples of bozo sapiens in action. 

Biz Buzz with Gary Brown - Three lessons from Bozo Sapiens - 3 min. 

The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim by Scott Alan Roberts

While I was taking a backgrounds to literature class at the University, I did a brief paper on Genesis 6: relating the transition from the creation stories to the flood story. Mr. Roberts takes a much deeper dive with his The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim: The Untold Story of Fallen Angels, Giants on the Earth, and Their Extraterrestrial Origins than I did. The author attended divinity school and has a knowledge of ancient Hebrew which helps in understanding the text. The author has great enthusiasm for the topic but does approach it with some humility recognizing that sorting out the wide array of opinions on the ancient scriptures is daunting.

I would suggest approaching this topic from one of pure curiosity rather than from a position of justifying specific dogma. It is an entertaining and enlightening journey in a quest to explore differing views as to who these people are. Many cultures share a story about a great flood and some of these also have varying versions of stories about the Nephilim.

The apocryphal Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilee also provide source material fill in the gaps of Genesis and to determine more about these people and a possible second group referred to as the Watchers in the Book of Enoch.

The author wisely spends a significant portion of the book providing background information to allow some understanding the world of these Nephilim. Without the background information the terrain would be very unfamiliar similar to a Martian landscape.

While I was reading this book, I also listened to the Great Courses lectures on Myth in Human History by Professor Grant L. Voth. Occasionally the information from the book and the course would cover similar ground and provide a deeper understanding of the topic. As a prelude to this book and the course on Myth, I would recommend reading or listening to a translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Exposed and Classified Scott Alan Roberts - 74 min.

Chapter one  from the Rise and Fall of the Nephilim - 75 min. 

Radio interview with Scott Alan Roberts - 44 min. 

Churchill Rufus J. Fears

I am in awe of the late Rufus J. Fears ability to deliver well crafted informative talks on history. In the Great Courses lecture Churchill. He describes Churchill as a statesman with remarkable foresight and bedrock principles. He differentiates that from a politician who focuses not on doing the right thing but to do what is necessary to get reelected.

The remarkable career of Churchill shows that failure in high school academics is not a prediction of future success in life. People pick up learning at their own pace and not that of a regimented society focused on turning out well rounded employable people. Churchill found success in the military as a soldier and a correspondent. His military success is similar to Harry S. Truman.

Churchill experienced first hand the awfulness but the occasional necessity of war. A country must have the will to fight. France lost it after WWI. Churchill did his best to instill the will to fight in his British countryman fighting against politicians who wanted negotiated peace with Hitler.

Churchill's vision was more interventionist than passive acceptance. He fought vigorously against the passive acquiescence to Communism in the eastern block of the Soviet Union. Soviet communism resulted in more deaths than Hitler caused in WWII. Harry Truman previewed his iron curtain speech and approved it before Churchill delivered it. However, when the press questioned him after the speech, Truman caved and left Churchill out to dry. Truman disavowed prior knowledge of the speech. 

This pattern of hanging Churchill out to dry for a wide range of incidents including the Dardanelles in WWI made his success in life even more remarkable.  He made millions off of his books receiving the Nobel Prize for literature. He was an accomplished painter. He was in charge of the British Treasury, the British Navy, twice Prime Minister. He received the iron cross for bravery in combat. He did all this while the people he thought were his friends continually set him up for what they hoped would be his failure.

True friends celebrate the success of others. Mediocre people live to bring others down to their level of misery. The legions of biographers and academics who view all of Churchill's accomplishments in the most negative light possible fall into this category. Paraphrasing the general thinking of Nassim Nicholas Taleb - If success is based on acceptance by peers and not by measurable accomplishment than this success is built on sand. The long view of history will judge these people harshly while the daily newspapers praise them.

Heritage and Destiny Churchill - 31 minutes.

Churchill - 2 minutes.

Caesar's Last Breath by Sam Kean

After reading the Disappearing Spoon and The Violinist Thumb, the latest book by Sam Kean,
Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us filled me with the expectation of another good read about the world of science. I was not disappointed.

This time Sam Kean tackles the chemistry of gases. To introduce each chapter, he lists the level of gas in the outside air in parts per million then give the number of molecules that each of us breath in with each breath. That number impressed me. It is amazing how many molecules of a chemical are contained in concentrations of less than a part per million.

The story of the people involved with discovering and developing uses for the chemical reminds me of Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story radio show.  Alfred Nobel's work to develop dynamite to stabilize nitroglycerin and gun powder resulted in many deaths during development and other uses. These chemicals produce energy by the rapid liberation of gas molecules liberated when the chemical solids react.

The chapter on Joseph Pujol (Le Petomane -wikipedia) describes unique ability of the early 20th century star of Mulan Rouge to pull in air through his backside and produce auditory vocalizations on the way out.

The author clearly explains the gases that regulate temperatures on earth and nearby planets. He is pessimistic that people will engage in behaviors to reduce greenhouse gas emission but optimism that we will engage in the difficult task of "coming up with a technological fix for the problem... [that]...exploits what humans do well - rally around a cause when things get desperate, then start building sh*t."

Sam Kean - Caesar's Last Breath - 50 minutes

The 30 Greatest Orchestral Works by Robert Greenberg

The 30 Greatest Orchestral Works by Robert Greenberg takes you into the life of each composer. He breaks down the section of the orchestral work into the components.  Many of the orchestral works are concertos, a solo instrument accompanied by and orchestra.

Beethoven worked to get the most out of his piano, which was a relatively new instrument at the time. His strong playing resulted in the physical destruction of the instrument. Piano wires breaking, pads wedged among the wires. His page turner worked hard, repairing the piano on the fly, racing back to turn the page and then back to the instrument.

After Beethoven died Professor Greenberg asks the question: "What do you do with the 400 pound silver back Gorilla sitting in your living room?"  This was his way of asking - How would later composers react to Beethoven's style of music, would they ignore it, imitate it, or integrate it?

The information on each symphony covers the technical details and the history behind it. The experience is edifying and enjoyable. I'll be taking more of his courses.

30 Greatest Orchestral Works - 2 minutes

Robert Greenberg Stravinski - 6 min. 

Robert Greenberg - The Planets - 8 min. 

The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

I stopped by a thrift store and purchased The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. This book was on my bucket list and there are many cultural references to it.

The current wellness and mindfulness focus owes a debt to the ideas put forward in this book. For example his advice to control anger, let your body go limp, unclench your fist, relax your muscles. Anger is felt by the whole body. Relaxing the body reduces the intensity of anger and allows for control.

Take your worries and your troubles of the day and toss them in a file or wastebasket before you go home. If it has been a bad day consider tossing it into an imaginary dumpster fire. Some days are like that. There is a temptation to hold onto the bad experience and take it home to stew over it. This negatively affect everyone. Holding onto this anger produces self destructive effects on the body.

The book has a strong Christian focus. This may offer comfort to those with that religious background. Individuals of other faiths or no faith can still gain from the wisdom in this book. It was published in the middle of the 20th century but the advice applies to our current situation.

Summary of the Power of Positive Thinking - 45 minutes

Decide to be happy - 4 minutes

Famous Quotes from Norman Vincent Peale - 4 minutes