Unbodied by Books

I am unbodied by thy books, and thee, and in thy papers find my ecstasy.

— Henry Cornelius Agrippa

Your worldview—your set of beliefs and assumptions about reality—is bred in your teens, according to psychologists.

Mine were filled with the usual distractions—schoolwork, buddies, rock music, substances, girls, urban adventures—and books.

The four that more than any other formed my worldview were all written by men, and all in the 20th century. I can't say precisely why they made such a mark on me, but I'll describe the mark they made.

Portnoy's Complaint (Philip Roth, 1969). I was born in Newark, New Jersey (the novel's setting), so I just had to read what The New Yorker was labeling in 1969 "one of the dirtiest books ever published." Roth blew my 16-year-old mind. I learned from the novel the adult world wasn't too different than my own. Everyone felt childish. Everyone felt inadequate. Everyone felt guilty. Everyone felt trapped. If he didn't, he was a schmuck.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller, 1961). A high-school English teacher assigned this novel. I still remember he called it "an existential picaresque." The novel showed me the system was a racket run by preening half-wits; the rules were cruel and absurd and made up by self-serving hustlers; and the good died young. I was 17, a year from the draft and a possible tour in Vietnam.

The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner, 1929). Another English teacher assigned Faulkner's family saga, considered by the author his personal favorite and by many other writers as the best American novel of the 20th century. The Sound and the Fury showed me at age 18 that myths, secrets and "family politics" can condemn you.

Being and Time (Martin Heidegger, 1927). I encountered Heidegger's masterwork in college. From it I learned in painstaking detail why we're so crazy, fragile and nervous: we're all bozos on this bus, and it's heading for a cliff. Being is time and time is finite, Heidegger makes clear. Or, as Samuel Beckett wrote, "They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more."

Which books formed your worldview?

Reading is Fungible

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. 

— Benjamin Franklin

According to Pew Research Center, 47% of adult Americans read every day keep up with current events; 35%, for pleasure; 31%, for work or school; and 29%, to research topics.

The majority who don't read every day—for whatever reason—represent tomorrow's economic losers.

When their jobs are automated, they'll be tossed out on the street, unable to compete even for scut work against their robotic replacements.

It's a simple fact: most highly compensated people read—many for hours at a sitting (Warren Buffet reads five hours a day). They know knowledge—not effort—is the world's new currency.

Not many years from now, knowledge will be the human's value; effort, the robot's. 

People will be paid for their grasp of reality, their foresight, their vocabularies, and their empathy, while robots produce all the products, stock all the shelves, drive all the vehicles, and serve all the coffee. Their effort will be demonetized.

If you want to help someone this holiday season, give him a book. If you're at a loss for titles, check out these bookworms' picks:

• Maria Popova
• Oprah Winfrey
• Barack Obama
• Bill Gates
• Stephen King
• Phillip Roth
• Don Draper

Things Worth Reading

The things worth writing about, and the things worth reading about, are the things that feel almost beyond description at the start and are, because of that, frightening. 

— Douglas Coupland

Andy Crestodina's annual survey of bloggers is out. It shows 2 of 3 bloggers focus on SEO, up from 1 of 2 three years ago.

Given people's content shock, why bother?

Why write for robots, when you could write things worth reading?

Fat, Dumb and Happy Revisited

I guessed eleven months ago American Society of Association Executives wouldn't contact me after I'd enrolled—even once—until it wanted me to renew my membership. I guessed correctly.

Associations need to do better than that, to stay in business. 

Perhaps ASAE should consult the FBI. It would learn the Bureau frowns on advance fee schemes.

This Land

It is difficult for the common good to prevail against
the intense concentration of those who have a special interest.

— Jimmy Carter

Healthcare, housing and education—while increasing in cost, but declining in value—have a stranglehold on the US economy that will eventually plunge most Americans into near-poverty, says a recent report from Gallup.

Now accounting for almost 40 cents of every US dollar spent, the inflationary price tags on healthcare, housing and education mean most Americans will never, as previous generations liked to say, "get ahead."

Ironically, white Americans are sicker than they were 40 years ago; live in older, smaller homes farther from their workplaces; and don't know what the Constitution is, or that the earth orbits the sun.

Other things are amiss in this land, too, according to the report. 

High healthcare costs are not only hammering businesses' profit margins, but dampening entrepreneurship and full-time hiring. And in industries where hiring is brisk, employers can't find Americans who are well enough, or smart enough, to perform the new jobs. Employers are forced to favor foreign-educated workers.

What's behind our downward spiral? Special interest groups, Gallup says.

• In healthcare, paperwork, "defensive" medicine, and doctors' excessive salaries are driving up healthcare costs. Patients spend more for less, as a result. Trade groups like the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians are to blame.

• In housing, zoning is distorting housing markets. Localities in demand allow only a fraction of their land to be used for high-density housing, which drives builders to start single-family homes in faraway places, at a pace that lags demand. The resulting undersupply drives up prices. Groups like neighborhood associations and The Sierra Club are to blame.


• In education, runaway administrator costs and unaccountable teachers are making education unaffordable and ineffective. From pre-school to grad school, the system rewards foolish initiatives. Unions like the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers are to blame.