Book Review: This is Water by David Foster Wallace

There are only a few books that I intentionally have purchased with plans of reading them again. This Is Water is one of them. Originally a keynote from David Foster Wallace to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College (listen to the audio at this link) and put into a short book format with a sentence per page. The audio or video version is excellent as well and adds an element of humor that you may not pick up in the written version. The book does such a good job of bridging the gap between the idealism of the young launching into the world and the realities of the mundanities of adulthood and choosing how to think about them.

There is a lot of wisdom and truth and humor throughout the book but these are some key quotes that stood out to me.

“Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think.”

“If you’re automatically sure that you know what reality is and who and what is really important-if you want to operate on your default setting- then you like me probably will not consider possibilities that aren’t pointless and annoying. But if you’ve really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options.”

“there are all different kinds of freedom and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom.”

“Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual type thing to worship…is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things…then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty… and you will always feel ugly and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you…worship power you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power of others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on. Look the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they’re evil or sinful. It is that they are unconscious. They are default settings.”

(From a content warning perspective, he does reference suicide and given how his life ended, perhaps the speech should be taken as foreshadowing and with a grain of salt.) 

There are countless graduation speeches and some are profound, inspirational, instructive, funny or otherwise entertaining. On the whole, this slice of the graduation speech pie rates up at the top and can help shape a person’s thinking in meaningful and helpful ways if taken to heart. Best of all it can be read in 15-20 minutes at most. I recommend this book to anyone but especially those on the cusp of launching into adulthood or starting probably any endeavor that you’ve not attempted before.

If you'd like to read and review more books with me on on Goodreads, connect with me at this link.

In pursuit of His best,

Andrew

AI Music Creation

I created an AI band and song this week as an illustration for a presentation I did at work. The prompt I gave was create a 90s alternative rock song with the theme of being a steward at a financial planning and investment management company. I went through several iterations to get to a version I liked and was really impressed with the music quality though the lyrics could use a bit of refining.

AI is a good collaboration tool but don’t think it will ever fully replace humans in the music creation process. Music and the arts are subjective and while AI can do a pretty good job of approximating human likes and dislikes, it doesn’t have the lived experience, emotions, and innate cultural understanding for how something will resonate with humans and the context they’re living in. There will always need to be humans to guide the process at some level.

Checkout the song at this link  https://suno.com/song/b2cc71c9-5509-4413-83f5-3ef03dc96623?sh=8OnG18UnyzkaXLtS

Dad Files: I Like Shoes Song

Sometimes when helping toddler friends put on their shoes a fun song can help. Here’s a contribution to the toddler playlist. 

I like shoes, I like shoes, I like shoes, I like shoes,

How bout you?

I like shoes, I like shoes, I like shoes, I like shoes,

How bout you?

So put on your socks put on your shoes 

It’s my favorite thing to do 

Cause I like shoes, I like shoes, I like shoes, I like shoes,

How bout you?

Book Review: Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

 Theo of Golden by Allen Levi is a beautiful story of an elderly man who moves to Golden, Georgia from New York City. When first arriving, he comes across a coffee shop that has portraits hanging on the wall and he is drawn to the skill of the artist and depth of how well he captures each subject. He proceeds to buy them and gift them to the subject of the portraits in deeply meaningful and impactful meetings. 

Everyone carries some sadness, pain, discouragement, and emotional wounds from the hardness and brokenness of the world. Theo, in gifting the portraits to each of the subjects, is able to see through the mistakes in life and heaviness in their soul without judgment and to call out the value and goodness of each person he interacts with and encourages. What a gift of being truly seen and heard that goes far beyond a portrait. 

Theo is a great lover of the arts and uses this love to connect with others through a shared appreciation of drawings, paintings portraits, music, and literature. One of his gifts is in his ability to see to the essence of someone, listen deeply and with genuine interest to them, ask meaningful questions, and connect relationally with them without expectation of receiving anything in return other than a new friend.

He doesn’t seek recognition or attention and skillfully redirects questions about himself so the focus stays on the other person. We learn bits and pieces of Theo’s backstory throughout the book and gather that he was a very successful entrepreneur with connections across the world having grown up in Portugal and lived in many places but with lots of sadness and pain in his story as well. Keep reading to the end and then maybe read the book again, there’s a surprise that will reshape your understanding of the story in a beautiful way.

While the story is purposeful, has multiple layers, and goes somewhere, there is purity of enjoyment throughout the book that we can delight in Theo, his generosity, kindness, and his mission to be present and connect deeply with the subjects of the portraits and other friends and acquaintances he meets along the way. In Theo we see a picture of what it could look like to be the hands and feet of Jesus to others. He shows that even a man late in his life can have great impact on the world. I highly recommend this book as a character study in how to truly see and make people feel valued for who they are and what they have to offer the world. It is one of my favorite recently read books.

The city of Golden is loosely based on Columbus, Georgia where the author was originally from and has lots of local culture and character. When reading the section about the cello concert, check out the songs performed for a nice soundtrack to the book

There are several interviews on YouTube with the author which give a better sense of how he wrote the story and who he is as a person. He seems like a genuine and likable guy that you’d be glad to have as a friend or neighbor.

If you take the time to go to the author’s website at www.allenlevi.com, there is a recording of The Princess of Titalamish which is an elementary age story in the book that Theo shares with a young girl that he befriends.

If you found this review helpful and want like it on Goodreads, I’d be glad to connect at this link.

Dad Files: Climbing Up the Stairs Song

The stairs can be a long tall climb for a toddler. This song has been a fun way to engage our toddler when he’s climbing up and down the stairs.

Climbing climbing climbing up the stairs 

Up up to the top like a big brown bear

Climbing climbing climbing down the stairs 

Down down to the ground like a big brown bear 

Dad Files: Fun Potty Training Song

Potty training can be one of the most challenging and frustrating things you’ll ever teach a child. Consistency is key and if you can make it fun, that certainly helps. I hear about 3 day potty training but seriously doubt the adoption level. I recommend against asking if toddler needs to go potty since the answer is almost always an emphatic NO! Sometimes toddler will say “I need to go potty“ primarily as an attention seeking behavior when he has no interest or intention of going to the potty. 

For those of you training a child to use the potty, I salute you. There’s a a lot of mess and a little success. People say that the child will almost surely be potty trained by the time they go to kindergarten and certainly by the time they’re in middle school but it feels like it will take forever in the middle of it. It will make you both laugh and cry. 

My favorite part is the toddler’s celebrations after success. “WOAH, IT’S A BIG POOP! WOW, YOU DID IT LOOK AT THE PEE IN THE POTTY!” Flushing can get overly ambitious with multiple flushes per potty use and toilet paper rolls can quickly spool out all over the floor if you don’t closely monitor as he grabs and spins the roll.

Here’s a fun potty training song to encourage you and your toddler in this important life skill.

Lyrics: If you need to poop, if you need to pee say I need to go to the potty. Push your pants down push them down to the ground when you need to go to the potty. You can read a book you can sing a song when you’re sitting on the potty training. When the job is done wipe then wash your hands then you can flush the potty training. Pull your pants up pull them up to the top after you’ve gone to the potty. If you need to poop if you need to pee say I need to go to the potty training. I need to go to the potty.

Math Joke

A calculus professor reviewed a new textbook for his class to use in the upcoming semester. He was hesitant since it was derivative but to his surprise it became an integral part of the class. #mathhumor