Just finished reading the Great Gatsby. It is a tragedy. Gatsby was a tragic person.
He so wanted to be loved and with Daisy, and he felt like the onlyJust finished reading the Great Gatsby. It is a tragedy. Gatsby was a tragic person.
He so wanted to be loved and with Daisy, and he felt like the only thing separating him and her was his lack of money. She waited around for him, but in the end he waited just a little too long and she did what so many of us do in life, she settled for someone else.
Daisy’s life was tragic as well. Born into a higher class family. Her only occupation was going on date after date and dancing and talking. She lived safely within the confines of her protective class, where women just need to look pretty and not cause too much commition.
The whole period, set in the mid 1920’s was a tragic time as well. The war had ended in recent memory, and little was talked about it in the book. People were consumed with getting what they wanted and having it now.
Not so much is different between that era, and today. I wonder if they, society's engineers have noticed this trend for the easy life after war. I definitely do not long for a time of war. But it does seem like there is more meaning in life when you have to work for it, and there is resistance. Where things don’t come as lightly as they did the characters in The Great Gatsby. Something was deeply tragic about the emptiness the characters felt. They had everything they could ever want. Tom had Daisy, and still he wanted other women, and took them as well. Daisy, was not happy with her life and was willing to throw it away because a better option appeared to present itself. Only later did she retreat into the safety of her higher status and her status quo, when life became a little to real and she was momentarily faced with consequences of her bad choices. Daiy had no character and though she was pleasing to the eye, and nice to be around. She was an empty person.
The emptiness in Gatsby was disillusioned by the emptiness in her. He believed that he wanted Daisy and that she would make him happy. But I believe the emptiness in him recognized how well she concealed the emptiness in herself, and he wanted that. He did aim to become a more interesting person to complete his emptiness. He pursued all the trappings and the illusions in order to get her. But what she was was nothing of his imagination.
Gatsby never figured it out either. F.Scott Fitzgerald did though. He paints the picture of perfect loneliness and seemingly haunting solitude in the end. The close sections of the book take a poetic turn and he begins to describe what Nick Carraway imagines what must have been Gatsby last thoughts were, before he was shot to death. He describes this imagined perspective in the most ethereal way. The picture he paints transcends the body and he takes us to the reader to a place of sad hope, but he takes us there in a beautiful way. You can feel the sadness and grasping for what could have been and the timelessness and tranquility of life.
But I don’t imagine that Gatsby had any great insight before he was shot, or any deep contemplation. He did not lie in the pool and look contemplatively up through the trees and consider what a “grotesque thing a rose is�. He had no deep internal dialogue except his overwhelming desire to be loved by what he imagined was a beautiful person.
I imagine Gatsby felt it was his obligation to enjoy the pool one time before summer was over because that is what you do when you have a beautiful estate with nice things. You enjoy them and then you find meaning and purpose in enjoying the,
The only beautiful person we should imagine ourselves being loved by is the person we should seek to become. Not to impress or to elevate ourselves in society. But to find ourselves interesting and to limit the longing to become something we are not to have someone else love us. It is a wonderful thing to be loved, but it is infinitely more wonderful to love oneself and love others. ...more
A good book. Well written and deeply researched. To be honest, at first I thought it was merely a clone of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. The main premiA good book. Well written and deeply researched. To be honest, at first I thought it was merely a clone of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. The main premise of the book being that expertise is not derived from genetics or innate ability, but rather from practice and lots of it. In fact 10,000 hours of it. I was happy to see rather quickly that the author quickly and thoroughly acknowledges Gladwell's work. This story I thought took a rather different direction and added to the conversation of what separates experts from the ordinary. And I thought the distinctions were communicated clearly and concisely. In fact I find myself judging a book's ability to communicate an essential idea to me by how easy I can narrate what I learned from it to someone else. I took great pleasure in sharing the stories, anecdotes and lessons learned from this book with others.
I was surprised to find that the idea of innate ability is a myth. It was also helpful and insightful to read why world class athletes choke and why a novice can’t choke.
This book explores the gap between the innate and the acquired talent. It should be required for anyone who hopes to separate themselves from the pack and be wondering how to do so.
Four and stars, because it got a little boring at the end and seemed to venture into a somewhat political and biased and unnecessary social commentary. Would have been useful and insightful in 1950. ...more
I am literally a fan now of Arnold. To be honest I did not like him very much before I read this book. He has an amazing memory of the extraordinary eI am literally a fan now of Arnold. To be honest I did not like him very much before I read this book. He has an amazing memory of the extraordinary events that make up his fantastic life.
If you consider yourself a serious student of success then this is a MUST READ. Put partisan politics aside, humble yourself and get this book. It is worth the investment of time and money.
One of the biggest things I took from reading this was exaclty easy success comes to those who work diligently, and work their ass off. We live in an amazing country that gives us great opportunities to work hard and become more. This is a great story of an immigrant from Austria who came to America, become the worlds greatest bodybuilder, world class actor, and effective governor of California.
This story is nearly 3000 years old. I believe it has more than earned it's five stars. What a great story. I hope to read it again and again. OdysseuThis story is nearly 3000 years old. I believe it has more than earned it's five stars. What a great story. I hope to read it again and again. Odysseus is a great hero and I am looking forward to having him join my counsel....more
Being Generous with 3 Stars. This book could have been written in 5 Pages with a supplemental infographic to illustrate which foods/ingredients are "BBeing Generous with 3 Stars. This book could have been written in 5 Pages with a supplemental infographic to illustrate which foods/ingredients are "Bulletproof", "Suspect, and "Kryptonite. These are Dave Asprey's classifications of food, BulletProof foods being the best for you and causing the least inflammation. Pretty much the idea of this book is that certain foods cause increased levels of inflammation and that is the root of most disease.
I would recommend reading this book and getting some of the better points from it. Watch the Joe Rogan video on his opinion of mycotoxins and Dave Asprey's book.
I dug into this idea a little bit that you can only get good quality without mycotoxins from the Bulletproof coffee that Dave Asprey sells, and I have not done enough research either way, in fact I haven't really done any research except for testing it in my personal system. But I have been adding Butter to my Starbucks coffee and cutting out Wheat and I feel great.. so for what it's worth. Read the book, watch the Joe Rogan Video. Email me if you would like a copy of my notes. I will email them to you.
Do not under estimate this book. If you are a manager or in leadership, an entrepreneur of a start up or you want to grow an existing organization, thDo not under estimate this book. If you are a manager or in leadership, an entrepreneur of a start up or you want to grow an existing organization, this is a MUST read. Will keep on my shelf and refer to it for a long time....more
Caught my attention easily in the bookstore, good marketing and placement..pretty much what you'd expect. Top Googlers pontificating how wonderful andCaught my attention easily in the bookstore, good marketing and placement..pretty much what you'd expect. Top Googlers pontificating how wonderful and innovative they are.. Guess some could argue rightfully so. Will read again for organizational anecdotes but it's not a classic. ...more
Powerful. I think we already know this, but this book has some powerful exercises that will help you program your self conscious. You are what you conPowerful. I think we already know this, but this book has some powerful exercises that will help you program your self conscious. You are what you constantly tell yourself....more
Moneyball is well written, a little dry sometimes in the points it makes,and the points are made more than necessary. However the writing was very gooMoneyball is well written, a little dry sometimes in the points it makes,and the points are made more than necessary. However the writing was very good. Michael Lewis does an excellent job breaking this subject down for those of us not familiar with baseball's finer points (me).
Side note: Interesting. I was one of the people who had a negative response to the idea of this book and thought I knew what it was about from the few trailers of the movie I had watched ( I have not even seen the movie). In the Afterward Lewis talks about this phenomenon of people judging this book, most times negatively, without having read it. Baseball is an American TRADITION. Regardless how much you know about baseball or not, we are all effected by the tradition in different ways. I would venture to say we all have some level of respect and fondness for the game. When we perceive that this book is going to attack the tradition we become defensive, hence the phenomenon of people, such as myself, giving this a negative review. I was wrong. It was a powerful reminder for me to read something before I come to a conclusion. That lesson is why I gave it a Fourth Star. This changed my life and how I need to stay open minded.
Well written and informative. I will definitely be looking at the game in a different light and see if I can spot the next undervalued Jason Giambi for my Fantasy League 1st base replacement....more
I enjoyed this book immensely. It is a great story line. Makes you appreciate the transition between childhood and becoming an adult, and how our viewI enjoyed this book immensely. It is a great story line. Makes you appreciate the transition between childhood and becoming an adult, and how our view of the world changes as we get older. ...more
Good Book. Nice Tips. It would have sufficed to read summarized notes of the authors ideas. Great Plan/ Tips. The one thing that I am have a challengeGood Book. Nice Tips. It would have sufficed to read summarized notes of the authors ideas. Great Plan/ Tips. The one thing that I am have a challenge with these kinds of books is they give you so many steps to do while you are reading it. It would take a month to do all the activities. A great book should be able to be condensed into three great ideas. Otherwise it's too much. I enjoyed the beginning and the end most of all. I will review this book in the future....more
Excellent book. This is not a motivational book, it's an actional book. I have really noticed major gains in my time and in my steps towards achievingExcellent book. This is not a motivational book, it's an actional book. I have really noticed major gains in my time and in my steps towards achieving my goals since I allowed myself to listen to Darren Hardy on YouTube.. and to think I almost turned it off!
This book also helped me clearly define my goals and why I want to achieve them
Darren Hardy is a great mentor. Get this book if you are serious about growing and becoming better.
I enjoyed this book. It took me almost a month to read at 1 hour a day, but I got through it. This was a powerful addition to my plan for success. FivI enjoyed this book. It took me almost a month to read at 1 hour a day, but I got through it. This was a powerful addition to my plan for success. Five Stars. ...more
This was a great book. It was full of powerful anecdotes and examples to teach, encourage and remind that we get out of life what we think about and wThis was a great book. It was full of powerful anecdotes and examples to teach, encourage and remind that we get out of life what we think about and what we focus on. Great ideas in this book. Will read again next year....more
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