📚 Week #25 of 52 of reading in 2024

This week’s theme … question everything you know & stay committed to doing good. Five books finished this week … and they are an eclectic group. Many that pointed to challenging assumptions & the danger of echo chambers. 

“Sludge” by Cass Sunstein 

I learned about this one from reading “The Friction Project” by Bob Sutton 

⁉️ Who are bureaucracies making things harder for?

‼️ There are too many deficit-mindset thinking assumptions about people that cause “sludge.” (Many that harm people.)

⭐️ If you are in the position of power that creates policy, practice and/or process, please consider. 

— Who is impacted by your “sludge” 

— What assumptions do you have about the people impacted? 

— How might you be contributing to systemic inequity?

‼️ Not all sludge is bad … and the reasons outlined need to be used carefully. 

🤔 What if everyone who added an administrative burden had to justify each step? 

———- 

“Utopia for Realists” by Rutger Bregman 

The content of this book connected to many of the inequitable assumptions made about people. 

‼️ Question what you think you “know” about people. 

⭐️ A important reminder of the danger of scarcity mindset. “People behave differently when they perceive a thing to be scarce… scarcity leads to unwise decisions.” 

🤔 There are things that shouldn’t be made “efficient.” 

‼️ Stable & meaningful work plays a crucial part in every life well lived. 

😎 True leisure is vital to our bodies. 

🎓 Teaching shapes the course of human history. What knowledge and skills do we want our children to have in 2030? 

😳 The Internet has made it easier to be consumers of our own opinion. 

‼️ A crisis can provide an opening for new ideas, but it can also shore up all old ideas. Crisis should be a moment of truth, the juncture at which a fundamental choice is made. 

————-

“Don’t Hold Back” by David Platt

He always makes me think about here my focus & energy are. 

⁉️ What might happen if we had the courage to leave our echo chambers and listen to people who believe differently from us? 

‼️ Share life with people not like you. 

❤️ Show radical compassion, especially to those who don’t agree with us. 

⭐️ Speak honestly to and kindly about others, even (or especially) those with whom you disagree. 

————-

“The Age-Proof Brain” by Marc Milstein Ph.D.

My “ah has” include:

✔️ Many resiliency habits are also brain healthy habit. 

⭐️ I’m glad I met my husband, who brought me to much healthier sleep habits. 

‼️ Building healthy habits literally makes your brain (and life) better. 

—————-

“The Lost Bookshop” by Evie Woods

Love books that connect lives through time, teach me something & build empathy. A powerful story of characters surviving hard things &re staying hopeful in the face of challenge. We all need people who believe in us, especially when we don’t believe in ourselves.