Articles about fiction and non-fiction books and how they can help us live a better life.
“We survive and thrive only in an environment of concern, affection, and warmheartedness,” The Dalai Lama wrote in his reflection on cultivating inner values. Yet almost always this is not what drives our actions when we interact with other people, especially those that question our competence, beliefs, and even sanity. I will be the first … Read more
“One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible,” Henry Brooks Adams famously wrote. For the lucky few, it’s an axiom of life; for the unlucky many, it’s nothing more than a theorem to be proven. So how should we choose friends to swing the fortune in our favor? Is … Read more
“Loss can wound and paralyze,” David Kessler wrote in his meditation on death and the art of living. “But finding meaning in loss empowers us to find a path forward.” If you’ve lived long enough, you’ve encountered loss in one way or another — it could’ve been one of your parents, your spouse, or your … Read more
What is good writing? The Elements of Style, hailed by many as one of the most important books on writing ever published, tries to answer this question. But does it succeed? I believe that the answer will vary depending on your stand in the most heated debate among wordsmiths – whether brevity and succinctness are … Read more