Category: Reviews

Thoughts on: “The Denial of Death” by Ernest Becker

~ poorbjorn ~ 2 Comments

We know we are going to die someday. This is the unique problem of the conscious animal. We know it but we don’t feel it because we need to repress this truth in order to function.

So what to do? It’s really hard to accept that we are just worms in the dirt. Especially when our nature is so paradoxical; the body being so animalistic and limited yet our minds so godlike and boundless. We are gods with anuses.

What we need is a lie. A vital and grand one that we can always rely on. We need something that transcends us, some system of ideas and powers that embed us, whether it’s a flag, the proletariat, a guru or religion.

Kierkegaard, Freud, Jung, Maslow and Fromm are some of the characters you’ll get to familiarize with during this journey. I felt like each chapter demanded a following period of reflection. I was absolutely taken aback by this book.

freud meme

Some notes:

📝 “I believe that those who speculate that a full apprehension of man’s condition would drive him insane are right, quite literally right.” Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. 😨

📝 Man is beaten down by life and the world; “beaten because he fails to face up to the existential truth of his situation— the truth that he is an inner symbolic self, which signifies a certain freedom, and that he is bound by a finite body, which limits that freedom.”

📝 How much of experience do we let in?The schizophrenic allow for too much; the depressed too little.

📝 Anxiety is the possibility of freedom.

📝 Ideally man is “…fully in the world on its terms and wholly beyond the world in his trust in the invisible dimension.”

⭐️ TAKEAWAY:

If life is an insurmountable problem, and we can’t live with the truth of our situation then the question is on what level of illusion to live our lives on.

This book really checks all the boxes for me:

✅It’s complex and nuanced – yet I don’t feel totally lost (expect that fu*king castration complex.. I just do get it…🤷‍♂️ ✂️ )

✅ I started the book being one person, came out of it as another. (SWIPE for example 😉)

✅ Checked one book of my reading list – added a dozen!

Loved it!

5/5

Find more fantastic books in my Reading Lists or get this at Amazon

Thoughts on: “Martin Luther” by Eric Metaxas

~ poorbjorn ~ Leave a comment

Luther rejected the practices of the Roman Catholic Church and the practice of selling indulgences (get out-of-jail-free cards for purgatory, basically.) in particular. Thereby he started the era known to us as the Reformation.

Let’s jump right into the notes:

📝 He was about to become a law student when he got trapped in a lighting storm. Praying for his life he uttered: “Ich will ein Munk werden” (“I will become a monk”). The storm calmed and it was so.

📝 1476 the market for indulgences where expanded beyond the living. Now you could pay for the sins of the dead too!

📝 Luther heroically posting his truths on the wooden church door in Wittenberg is fiction made in hindsight. What Luther actually posted was an invitation to debate….which no one attended.

📝 Two things fueled the Reformation: the printing press and Luther writing in German (instead of Latin). Luther’s writing spread like wildfire which was unintentional. It was as if a hastily written email to a friend was accidentally forwarded to a major news corporation.

📝 “A simple layman armed with scripture is to be believed above a Pope or council without it.”

📝 “This life is the shithouse compared to the glories of heaven” – Luther 😎

📝 FUNNY STORY: A nobleman asked if he could buy indulgences for a future sin and a preacher named Tetzel said he could. When the peacher was about to leave town the nobleman robbed and beat him up and left with the comment: “this was the future sin I had in mind!”. 😂😂

Overall solid, VERY solid book. I enjoyed it far more than I ever thought I would. Also it felt good to fill another gap in my history education; the Reformation.

What biographies have you planned for this year? 🤔

I would like to do another political leader (a president or Churchill) or a Nietzsche bio 💪🏻

4/5

Check out my Reading Lists for more great reads!

Thoughts on: “The Power of Moments” by Chip & Dan Heath

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The book does what it sets out to do and does it competently; It want to show how powerful moments- the moments that defines us and we remember for a long time – can change and elevate us. The Heaths breaks down why this is and how we can create more of powerful moments.

📝 The years between 15 – 30 has the most Moments. Probably due to novelty.

📝 Peak/End rule: Experiences are judged by two key moments; The peak and the end. Think about your last vacation. What do you remember from it?

📝 The Oddball Effect: Surprise stretches time. Novel moments are experiences as 36% longer than routine ones.

📝 “What did you fail at today?” A question for the family at the dinner table. Encourage to push yourself to stretch. An attempt to normalize failure.

📝 Try this! Next time you have a conversation, push intentionally beyond small talk. Make yourself vulnerable and be surprised by the results. Relationships don’t deepen naturally.

📝 Struggle together and strong bonds will be created. I just came off a challenging work project. Making RAGE2 (a video game) was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. The experience turned mere collages into brothers and sisters.

⭐️ TAKEAWAY:

I got the recipe. Now I need to create more moments and better moments for myself and others.

⚖️ VERDICT:

I did not like this book, and I think it’s my fault. I have read to much about the subjects covered in this book already which makes a lot of the conclusions feel like common sense. BUT they probably aren’t if you are new to books on positive psychology, communication, leadership.

If you’re a new reader and want to create better relationships and be a better leader than this is a good starting point!

3/5

Photo credit: @kanoilab

Are you too suffering from diminishing return when reading certain genres? 🤔

Find the best books I’ve ever read in my Reading Lists.

Thoughts on: “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” by Edmund Morris

~ poorbjorn ~ 2 Comments

Theodore Roosevelt was a force of nature. I have never heard of a man of such industry before. The book covers his early years, from birth to becoming President of the United States. Whether you are into politics or not, this book is truly fascinating. Building himself up from a weak, sick-looking boy with terrible asthma to a force to be reckoned with.

He had a relentless passion for learning (the guy read all the time and at insane speeds). This is a more exciting origin story than anything Marvel or DC comics ever produced.

⭐️ TAKEAWAY: My takeaway from this book is that life is long. Long enough to accomplish great things if you use your time well.

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5/5

For more insightful read, check out my Reading Lists

Thoughts on: “The Sell” by Fredrik Eklund

~ poorbjorn ~ Leave a comment

Top ranking real estate broker Fredrik Eklund reveals all his secrets on how to sell you, your product and how to achieve success in life. Written as a guide to greatness mixed with autobiographical snippets it hooked me instantly. Mostly because of Fredrik’s colorful personality.

I truly enjoyed his personal stories and his positive outlook on life. .

The experienced reader of personal development books will recognize a lot of the concepts Fredrik writes about, but it is a great introduction for someone new to the genre.

As always, I have to pick something for immediate implementation in my own life from the books I read…because applied knowledge is power! 💪. This time it will be to find my own trademark or “gimmick”. Though, I might pick something more discrete than Fredrik “high kick” 😄👍

3/5

Find more book worth reading in my reading lists

Mini Review – Our Oriental Heritage by Will Durant (Part 3) – India and it’s Neighbors

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I’m 35 hours (50 in total) into this beast of a book and it’s a good time for another mini review. This part tackles the history of India and it’s a good one!

📝Gandhi: “What the eyes are for the outer world, fasts are for the inner.” I have never fasted. Have you? Maybe this will be my next experiment. 🧪

📝 It’s hard to overestimate the importance and impact and the cast system on India. I want to read more about it. 🤓

📝 The dominating fact in India is heat, Durant argues. ☀️ “It weakened the youth and shortened them. It also gave way to the most quiet of religions and philosophy”. “The only relief of this heat is to sit still and do nothing and desire nothing”…”When the monsoon fails to blow, India starves, and dreams of Nirvana.” 🧐🤔

📝 Mohenjo-daro was as old as the civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

📝 “In the whole world, said Schopenhauer, there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as the of the Upanishads. It’s been the solace of my life. It will be the solice of my death”. This Schopenhauer guy show up a lot in the Laws of Human Nature too. I need to read his work.

📝 ”Unlike most saints, Buddha had a sense of humor and knew that metaphysic without laughter is immodesty”.

📝 The oldest and ever reoccurring theme of Hindu thought: “individual separateness is an illusion.” “All life is one”.

⭐️TAKEAWAY: “Nothing should more deeply shameful to the modern student than the recency and Inadequacy of his acquaintance with India.” 🙋‍♂️🤦‍♂️ 🇮🇳. Ive been quite oblivious, but reading this is a part of the cure. I also want to read more about the cast system, Brahmins and maybe even take a closer look at the Upanishads. Let me know if you have book recommendations?

The books goes into traditional yogic practices (hardcore stuff.😨), the life of the Buddha, and the story of Buddhism and Hinduism and a short biography about Gandhi. And you know me by know; I LOVE that stuff!

4/5

What are you reading this week?

Also read part 1 and part 2 in this review series. Plus find other awesome books here!

Thoughts on: ”Outwitting the Devil” by Napoleon Hill

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In an interview with the Devil himself, Napoleon Hill finds out how he keeps us from living extraordinarily lives and what it is that cause us to “drift”. 2 out of 100 are “non-drifters” and live lives of definiteness of purpose. These are the thinking men/women and the builders of the modern world.

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Most effective of the Devils tools of is fear.

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The book was released in 2011 even though it was written in 1938, but was said to be too controversial to be published during that time.

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It is a personal development gem. Even though many concepts are well known and have been written about elsewhere, there is a certain clarity to way the ideas are presented that really makes me think reevaluate my attitude towards life. One of many takeaways from this book, for me, will be to work on eliminating my fear of criticism, which is one of many obstacles for becoming a “non-drifter”.

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5/5

Thoughts on: “Abundance” Diamandis & Kotler

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Exponential technology has the potential to create a world of abundance. Did you know that aluminum was the most valuable of metals back in the day? Now we use it for disposable cans. This book covers exponentials that will shape the near future. Including computing power, nano science, microbiology and 3D printing to name a few. It’s written to get people aware and excited about the future in a world where mass media predicts the end of the world. My main takeaway is to try to recognize how quality of life for almost everyone is steadily improving with the help of human ingenuity–and try to battle some of my tendencies towards a “scarcity” thinking.

5/5

Find other fascinating reads in my reading lists!

Thoughts on: “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau

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Thoreau was not only a occasional hermit and nature lover, but also had a word or two to say about the state and politics.

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True patriots, according to Thoreau, is not the ones who blindly follows the administration but instead their own consciousness and the principle of reason. This went contrary to the then held belief the minority should shut up and respect administration the majority had selected.

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📝 “We should be men first and subjects afterward.”

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📝“The more money the less virtue” and “The best thing a man can do for his culture when he is rich is to endeavor to carry out those schemes which he entertained when he was poor”. I should remember this once the Benjamin’s start rolling in! 💵 😎

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📝 “In an unjust society the only place for a virtuous man is in prison.” Thoreau spent one night in jail for not paying his to poll tax. He is quite proud of this. Almost childishly so. 😂

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📝 “Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law.”

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A quick and thought provoking read, but If you have limited time for Thoreau indulgence then you can skip this one and focus on Walden which is more of a timeless classic.

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⭐️ Takeaway: A persons character should be determined by his\her actions rather words.

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3/5

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When did you take action for a cause instead of just talking?? 🤔

Find other fascinating books in my reading lists!

Thoughts on: “The Laws of Human Nature” by Robert Greene

~ poorbjorn ~ 2 Comments

Robert Greene puts a lifetime of studies of human nature into one huge and important volume.

This book covers: character, toxic personality types, narcissism, cognitive biases, archetypes, childhood trauma, desirability, shortsightedness, the Shadow, attitude, group dynamics, leadership, persistence, fearlessness, purpose. The list goes on…

📝 You are more like than Louise XVI than you think!

📝 What you and me try tell ourselves: “I’m different. I’m more rational than others, more ethical as well.”

📝 ”If possible, avoid deep contact with those whose time frame is narrow, who are in continual react mode, and strive to associate with those with an expanded awareness of time”

📝 Keep in mind that your expectations of people are communicated nonverbally. Teachers expecting greater things from their students, without saying anything, have positive effects on their work.

📝 People with negative attitudes uses this world view to narrow their experience. It give a sense of control in a world of uncertainty.

📝 Cynicism as Purpose: “Man would rather have the void as purpose than be void of purpose”. Behind this false purpose is the great fear of trying and failing, of standing out and being ridiculed… Cynicism acts as consolidation for lack of accomplishment.

📝 Self-doubt makes us surrender inwardly before we surrender outwardly. Remember this: almost nothing in the world can resist persistent human energy.

💪🏻 ACTION:

The last chapter talks about the importance of mediating on our mortality. This prompted me to commit to a new experiment; to pretend it’s my last day in life. More info coming I separate post!💀 ⚰️

🎲 VERDICT:

This book is great (Book of the Year?)! And practical; I almost don’t want you to read it since I want my newly found super powers for myself. It has already helped me wrap my head around what’s really been going on in situations with people that, until now, had left me dumbfounded.

5/5

Find other fascinating books in my reading lists!