This is about the betrayal of the author Jonah Lehrer. This may sound strange, but the thing I may miss the most from preaching every Sunday (I left that profession years ago), is reading Scripture aloud. I loved reading Scripture aloud. I’m not sure why. But I did – and I miss it. Maybe it… Read More Jonah Lehrer Lied to Us All, and this is Why that Matters
At the end of each of my book synopsis presentations, I give a few of my takeaways for the books I present. For Imagine: How Creativity Works, I had a much longer list than usual – sixteen takeaways. So, here they are. If you want to be more creative, then take a good look, and… Read More Imagine by Jonah Lehrer – My Takeaways
I have now read enough about creativity to know that we have our work cut out for us. What we think, what we wish, is that creative ideas just fall from the sky in blinding moments of inspiration. That does happen, but… But, just as Twyla Tharp says in The Creative Habit, and Jonah Lehrer… Read More Creativity is a Verb, and feels like Hard Work – insight from Jonah Lehrer, Imagine
You might not realize it, but you are a creature of an imaginative realm called Neverland. Neverland is your home, and before you die, you will spend decades there. Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human If you say, “The queen died, and the king died,” that is a chronicle. If you… Read More We Need More Good Stories, with Fewer Simple Chronicles
I’ve finished reading Imagine by Jonah Lehrer. It is a treasure, with story after story worth pondering. One of his exemplars of creativity is Yo-Yo Ma. Here is a brief excerpt. For Ma, the tedium of the flawless performance taught him that there is often a tradeoff between perfection and expression. “If you are only… Read More From Yo-Yo Ma, Your Communication Tip of the Day – “Make People Care What Happens Next”
Recently, a sharp entrepreneur told me that she consistently hears that the First Friday Book Synopsis is one of the top 5 networking events in the Dallas area. I believe this is true, and you can sense it whenever you walk into the room at one of our monthly sessions. The quality of the people,… Read More Coming for the May 4 First Friday Book Synopsis – Imagine: How Creativity Works & Take the Stairs
“People listen to Top 40 because they want to hear their favorite songs or songs that sound like their favorite songs. When something different comes on, they’re offended. They don’t want anything unfamiliar.” Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit Here’s a tidbit from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. The issue is how a… Read More From Celine Dion to OutKast – Melding the Brand New with the Familiar (insight from Charles Duhigg and Jonah Lehrer)
On April 6, we began our 15th year of the First Friday Book Synopsis. We have presented two synopses, two books a month, every month, for now over 14 years. A woman recently told me that in her circles, our event is described as one of the premiere networking events in Dallas, because of its… Read More Coming for the May First Friday Book Synopsis – Imagine by Jonah Lehrer & Take the Stairs by Rory Valden
I thought the article by Jonah Lehrer in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Why You Didn’t Hit Reply: Online, Friends Still Get Premium Treatment” (December 10-11, 2011, p. C32) was very interesting. You can read the entire article by clicking here. He says, “an easy way to see how you feel about a person: How… Read More When You Hit Reply in e-Mail: Interesting Results
Nicholas Carr is the author of the new book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, which is now on my “to think about for the First Friday Book Synopsis” list. In today’s New York Times book section, Jonah Lehrer reviews his new book in a review entitled Our Cluttered Minds. The… Read More A Quote for the Day – from Nicholas Carr
First Friday Book Synopsis 