What Grit Is and How to Have More of It
Reading Charles Portis’s excellent little book, “True Grit,” you will likely be entertained. Personally, I did not find it to be as […]
Propagating Success
Someone recently asked if I was actually a plant person or if I just pretended for my blog. An interesting query. Plants […]
Sentimentalizing Mothers and Mothers Who Are Not Overly Sentimental
Used book sales are a treasure trove of cast-off volumes, unwanted and unlooked for by most. Gorgeous old tomes sell for a […]
A Word from Charlie Munger on Luck
This year, as with every rotation around the sun, the world lost many lights. Jimmy Buffett and the other Buffett’s long-time business […]
Patricia Polacco’s “The Butterfly”: A Story of Hope in Cruel Times
Patricia Polacco’s picture book “The Butterfly” strikes a rare balance: grim and gritty and yet hopeful. The story is based on real-life […]
A Resource for Curating Books that are True, Good, and Beautiful
As “classical education” becomes more of a buzzword, there is yet more discussion of “the good, the true, and the beautiful.” As […]
Ken Guidroz’s “Letters for my Son in Prison”: A Father’s Love Shared Through Stories
We tend to think of reading to children in utilitarian terms: better SAT scores and verbal skills, improved abstract thinking and reading […]
When Raising Kids, Sometimes Less Really is More
Writing at the Federalist recently, I offered some thoughts on a study from earlier this year on the rise of mental disorders […]
Layaway vs. Afterpay: Thinking about How to Effectively Incentivize Ourselves
When was the last time you heard about someone putting something on layaway? It used to be that stores advertised the option […]
Elizabeth Goudge’s “Linnets and Valerians”: Children at Their Most Magical
“Free to go where you like and do what you like.” Such a thing had never been said to them before. If […]