Expanding My Reading List

Now that I am officially a member of the International Positive Psychology Association, an organization intended to studying what makes individuals and communities thrive, I thought I should seek to increase my knowledge by further expanding my reading list.  Hard for me to believe, but as recently as December I was still completely unaware that there was so much written about the search for happiness and had never thought much about the fact that human beings have been searching for this elusive state since ancient times.

This is the first time in my life that I have intentionally studied anything other than History with so much enthusiasm.  I am already reading everything from my previous reading list simultaneously with the positive result is that I am able to synthesize information from many different sources and identify research and strategies that are most helpful to me.  It's also kind of fun to see how so many academics discuss the same research and still manage to put a slightly different spin on it.  Then there is the one author who quite shamelessly lifts whole sentences right out of another writer's book without appropriate citation - since the offending author has written a book that is intellectually light, it is probably a good guess that few of the readers of that particular book will actually have read the original author's more academic work.

Here's what I added today:

Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, Karen Armstrong

This book is not entirely without controversy as Armstrong's personal faith has often been called into question - a former Roman Catholic nun who is now a renowned religious historian, she is the 2009 winner of the TED Prize.  This is not a Christian book, but it seeks to merge the emphasis on compassion that she believes is common to the world's great religions.  I'll let you know what I think, but it is hard to argue against a book that promotes adherence to the Golden Rule, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".  Here's how Armstrong describes the world's need for compassion: 

"There's a mood of despair around, whether we're Easterners or Westerners. And despair is a dangerous thing, because once people lose hope, they can resort to extreme measures."

Walden, Henry David Thoreau
Several of my favourite quotes come from the mind of the great Thoreau.  This book, written in 1854, is considered his masterpiece.  Thoreau wrote it from a little house he built on Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts where less than a hundred years earlier the first shots of the American Revolution rang out (but I digress back to my passion for history!).  Thoreau spent two years living alone at Walden and in contemporary language was trying desperately to "find himself" and to understand the meaning of life and his place in the world.  Years ago, when I was heading off into the great wide world, my grandmother introduced me to what are still my favourite of Thoreau's great words, words that form part of his conclusion in Walden:  

"Let everyone mind his own business, and endeavour to be what he was made.  Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.  Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away".

Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer

This book tells the tragic and true story of Christopher McCandless, who was in many ways much like Thoreau in his quest to shed the trappings of the world and who entered the wilds of Alaska on a voyage of self-discovery that led to his death.  Although this doesn't immediately sound uplifting, Chris McCandless learned much about happiness during his ill-fated wilderness trek and recorded much of his thoughts in his journal.  Having previously read Krakauer's Into Thin Air, I look forward to his unravelling of McCandless' quest.

Great Philosophers Who Have Failed at Love, Andrew Shaffer
Lest I take the writings of great philosophers too seriously!

Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell

I have heard Malcolm Gladwell speak at a conference and to be honest I was distracted by his hair, which I suspect almost everyone would admit is distracting, and consequently completely uninspired and mostly unaware of whatever it was he said.  When he finished though, there was very hearty applause which meant that either I was the only one distracted by his hair or that everyone was as distracted as I was and the thunderous applause was a well conducted piece of conspiratorial theatre.  Nevertheless, I have been meaning to pick up  Outliers for some time and now that it fits completely with my HQ, I am eagerly anticipating my discovery of his "provocative blueprint for making the most of human potential".  Now, as long as I refrain from gazing at the back inner flap, I should be distraction-free...

The Book of Awesome, Neil Pasricha
I actually picked this up earlier in the week and read it cover to cover in less than an hour. Since putting it on my desk at work, several colleagues have sauntered in to flip through it.  It is a great little book that just describes all kinds of experiences which most of us of a certain age would all nostalgically agree are "awesome".  Here's what Gretchen Rubin has to say about it:

"Little things, it turns out, are extremely important to happiness, and The Book of Awesome will remind you of a thousand little things that will make you happier."

 ...and finally...

The Stream Runs Fast: My Own Story, Nellie McClung
Nellie McClung is the one historical Canadian I wish I had known.  I read her book In Times Like These, written in 1915, when I was in my second year of university.  It lit a fire in me like no other book had done.  I cherish my copy of the book as they are not easy to come by.  I have read a biography of Nellie by Charlotte Gray and am eager to read this autobiography. Nellie was a woman with plenty of gumption, plenty of intellect and plenty of wit.  As a professional woman working in a trade vastly dominated by men, I have a warm place in my heart for Nellie who had this to say about women working in a male-dominated culture:

"Never retract, never explain, never apologize.  Get the thing done and let them howl".

Statue of Nellie McClung on Parliament Hill in Ottawa