In
an unpretentious and funny tone, Burkeman communicates a wealth of profound
insights about how humans might want to consider using their time on this
earth.
I particularly appreciated the suggestion that we all try to slow down a
little after the shock of COVID-19 to decide what we care about and to put our
energy towards our higher purposes. Helped motivate me to buckle down and
dedicate more time to writing about history in the most accessible way I can
pull off!
"Provocative and appealing . . . well worth your extremely limited time." ―Barbara Spindel, The Wall Street Journal
The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks.
Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of…
I tend to listen to audiobooks before bed, but I had
to switch over to listening while walking my dog with Big Magic—just as
I did with Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks—because both were so full of
wise reflections on how to channel one’s life purpose.
Gilbert includes lots of
interesting anecdotes to get the message across that if we try a little less,
letting go of our ego and relaxing into flow, our creativity will help us
dance, sing, or write whatever the universe wants us to share.
Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration from Elizabeth Gilbert's books for years. Now, this beloved author shares her wisdom and unique understanding of creativity, shattering the perceptions of mystery and suffering that surround the process - and showing us all just how easy it can be.
By sharing stories from her own life, as well as those from her friends and the people that have inspired her, Elizabeth Gilbert challenges us to embrace our curiosity, tackle what we most love and face down what we most fear.
Whether you long to write a book, create…
I love books and
movies that communicate the history and experience of humble people with
empathy, respect, and interest, rather than preachiness.
This beautifully
written novel reminded me of one of my favorite movies of all time, Stephen
Frears’ Dirty Pretty Things. Forna brings to life a cast of characters
that includes very sympathetic undocumented immigrants in present-day London, a
taciturn US scientist trying to track and protect urban foxes, and the man she
crosses on London’s Waterloo Bridge, a Ghanian psychiatrist named Attila—also
featured in Forna’s other amazing novel The Memory of Love.
So glad
the Georgetown Alumni book club got me reading again, starting with Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie’s incredible Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah. Reading
good fiction inspires me to try to write compelling history, and I love novels
like these that casually weave in the histories of different parts of the
world.
'Forna's voice is relentlessly compelling, her ability to summon atmosphere extraordinary ... A thing of lasting beauty' OBSERVER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2019
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PRIZE 2019
A breathtaking novel from Orange Prize-shortlisted and Commonwealth Writers' Prize-winning author Aminatta Forna
Waterloo Bridge, London. Two strangers collide. Attila, a Ghanaian psychiatrist, and Jean, an American studying the habits of urban foxes. From this chance encounter in the midst of the rush of a great city, numerous moments of connections span out and interweave, bringing disparate lives together.
Attila has arrived in London with two tasks: to deliver…
Blazing Cane shows how industrialists, cane farmers, and workers linked to the
sugar industry forged classes that worked like lobby groups to build and
transform the Cuban state, from the first revolution for independence in 1868
through the 1959 Revolution.
Cane burning became a powerful way for farmers,
workers, and revolutionaries to commit sabotage, take control of the harvest
season, improve working conditions, protest political repression, attack
colonialism and imperialism, nationalize sugar mills, and, ultimately, acquire
greater political and economic power.
Twentieth-century Cuba suffered from
extreme levels of US interference, but its history reflects broader patterns in
the Western Hemisphere, from paternalism to populism and Cold War repression.
