TWIC [This week in consumption]
Lord of the Flies; YouTube shortcuts; Make Your Bed
Revisiting the classics: Lord of the Flies.
After finishing Rework and the Definitive Drucker, I began another business related book, read three pages and threw in the towel. Not into it.
I googled ‘best books you didn’t read in high school’ and, of course, there was a Buzzfeed article. The 23 Books You Didn’t Read in High School But Actually Should.
I narrowed it down to a handful of options. 1984 seemed a little too close to home for our current political climate; To Kill A Mockingbird, I actually somewhat remembered but it is entirely possible I am confusing it with A Time To Kill, the sweaty Matthew McConaughey legal drama from the mid-90s; Brave New World; Of Mice and Men; Lord of the Flies and I ultimately settled on Catcher in the Rye.
After 150 pages of Holden Caulfield wandering around New York City, I realized I did not like this character at all and had zero interest in what was going to happen to him in the final ~120 pages.
Catcher in the Rye went back to the Library.
Enter Lord of the Flies.
I was hooked from the first chapter. It felt so good to not be reading the inner-monologue of a bratty prep school student.
Instead, I was reading about bratty prep-school kids. But this time with a competent narrator.
I had a vague recollection of this book from middle school. [SPOILER ALERT] I remembered several of the key characters dying and once I got to the final page, their eventual rescue by the naval office seemed suspiciously familiar.
My guess is I read the first chapter, fell behind, skimmed the cliff’s notes and then read the last page once the class finally caught up to me.
The 260 pages in-between were a blur in my memory and this time around I was completely captivated. There is a lot of insightful [and all too relevant] commentary on human nature.
Because old habits die hard. From LitCharts [by the creators of SparkNotes]
Golding creates a kind of human nature laboratory in order to examine what happens when the constraints of civilization vanish and raw human nature takes over. In Lord of the Flies, Golding argues that human nature, free from the constraints of society, draws people away from reason toward savagery.
I loved revisiting Lord of the Flies.
Although it was not on the Buzzfeed list, I think the next classic I’d like to tackle is Murder on the Orient Express.
Tim Ferris 5-bullet Friday and game-changing YouTube keyboard shortcuts.
Each week, Tim Ferris (of 4-Hour Work Week, among other things) sends his weekly newsletter with a few things he has been up to.
Below is his post on Tech Shortcut I’m Enjoying —
I just learned about the following YouTube keyboard shortcuts: press J to rewind 10 seconds, press K to pause, press L to fast forward 10 seconds. All three keys are alongside one another, so it’s easy to do without looking. This might not seem like much, but it’s incredibly helpful when moving around in longer videos (or audio on YT) or trying to repeat what you just saw/heard, as clicking on the progress bar itself can lead to jumping around in 4–5-minute increments.
…Press J to rewind 10 seconds…
This is game-changing for learning rock songs from the mid-90s.
I can’t believe I didn’t know about this.
Make Your Bed: Little things that can change your life …and maybe the world.
My mom snuck this one in as a Christmas gift. Read the whole book in about an hour.
Admiral William H. McRaven (Ret.) gave a commencement speech in May of 2014 to a group of 8,000 students at the University of Texas. These remarks referenced the 10 lessons that he learned at Navy SEAL training.
This short book [only 130 pages] discusses the 10 lessons and goes into more detail with anecdotes from his time in SEAL Training and throughout his career in the military.
In reading his description of the Navy SEAL training [and my memory of the classic Demi Moore film, GI Jane] I cannot begin to imagine the discomfort, challenge and fatigue these SEAL trainees endured.
The title lesson in Make Your Bed has to do with starting the day with a completed task.
It demonstrated my discipline. it showed my attention to detail, and at the end of the day it would be a reminder that I had done something well, something to be proud of, no matter how small the task.
The discipline, mental strength and perseverance demonstrated throughout this book in his tales of SEAL training are motivating in the ‘your life is such cake, you can always do more’ type of way.
This was a powerful read.
My one complaint of Make Your Bed?
For a bad ass Navy SEAL, he was quite liberal with his exclamation point usage. I don’t mind. It just felt out of place.
