Check out this fantastic article on the acclaimed Dōgen translator, brush artist and calligrapher Kaz Tanahashi. I love his treatment of Dōgen Zenji’s writings. In the article, in reference to Dōgen, Tanashi says,
“He challenges us with an urgent question: How do we live each moment fully and meaningfully? He makes us feel not confined and tiny, but free and enormous.”
The new edition of Dōgen’s spiritual masterpiece is a true gift, as is Kaz Tanahashi.
I picked up THRIVE by Vegan Triathlete Brendan Brazier. I’ll review it after I’ve read it.
But, I’ll say this now — I am excited to use the principals outlined within the book as part of my yoga practice, fitness routine and diet. I’ve been mostly vegan for almost 2 years now with a few hiccups ( See my Elephant Journal article on pizza ).
However, I find myself at the final stage of the eating evolution (I’ll post another time on becoming Vegan vs. Veganism becoming you. There is a difference) and this book is filled with great insight and information on plant-based nutrition. It also dispels some really bad myths about the incompleteness of a Vegan diet. I’d say Brazier has shown conclusively that Vegan eating can be powerful, energized and based on the recipes I’ve read so far, pretty damn delicious.
National Novel Writing Month is upon us yet again.
Which means we all have another chance to write our big novel. Starting November 1st, participants have the collective Karma of thousands of novelists and aspiring novelists who all trudge away at the keyboard in pursuit of the 50,000 word mark.
Yes, that’s 50,000 words in 30 days.
Who is in?
I love so many of Mary Oliver’s poems, but this one has recently struck my heart.
Why I Wake Early
Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety—
best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with the warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light—
good morning, good morning, good morning.
Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.
from the poetry collection, Why I Wake Early, by Mary Oliver
Check out a post I wrote about great unconventional copywriting books over at Freelance Switch.
Here is my list:
What are yours?
There is an elegant solution for everything. Matthew E. May makes this very argument in his fantastic book The Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing.
According to May, elegant solutions share four common characteristics:
I loved this book. As it applies to aesthetics, we have a lot to learn in this cluttered world in which we now live. Elegance is an art. Knowing what not to say is as vital as what we say.
This is also about space: white space, the space between the notes and carving out a clean, clear space from which great ideas and manifest.
Okay, for starters I’m a big Nathan Fillion fan. Not like man-crush big, but come on, Fillion has to be the most likable guy on TV. Plus, he’s played some great roles on fantastic shows like Firefly (another show I loved), Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Yes, Josh Whedon has kept him busy) to name a few. So this alone is enough to tune in and catch an episode. So, tune in I did.
Now, I’m hooked.
Beyond the Fillion-factor, I love Castle because it’s a smart and funny crime drama with just the right amount of camp and sexual tension. Plus, the writing is great and the characters likable.
And kudos to ABC for actually releasing a Richard Castle novel – Heat Wave, the first Nikki Heat book. This book is the central premise behind the show. His research for the book is why he follows around and eventually partners up with Detective Kate Beckett in the first place. The book is a nice piece of cross-marketing. And, based on reviews, it’s not a bad crime read either.
I’ve always loved the way Marty Neumeier thinks. ZAG is still my favorite book on brands. Now, Marty has a DVD available with his famous Innovation Workshop on it. This should be fantastic.
Plus, the Tool Kit includes a copy of his most recent book, The Designful Company which is also a really good read.
This is great. Aldous Huxley narrates his book A Brave New World as actors perform sections from the book to the music of Bernard Herrmann, the great composer who worked extensively with Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Scorsese and other great diretors.
This is a digital conversion of the original LP so there is a lot of noise, hisses, pops and scratches, but this is brilliant to listen to nonetheless.
Find the MP3s here.
The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen is one of the most beautiful cookbooks I’ve ever seen. The typography is beautiful, the colors exquisite, the food photography completely tantalizing.
And that’s just aesthetics. The recipes themselves are amazing. This book, along with Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet provide an incredible Vegan one-two punch of delicious, natural, earth and animal friendly cooking with flair, flavor and tons of taste.
In The Conscious Cook, we get to see what the new face of Vegan cuisine looks and tastes like. There are no bland, boring or dull dishes here, only rich, savory and satisfying dishes.
Before I became a vegetarian I had this fear that I’d get easily bored with the cuisine. I also had a sense that the faux meats where horrible. I was wrong on both. Granted, the psuedo-saugage, veggie burgers and other veg-meats have made great strides. So much so that I’ve dined at veggie restaurants where you’d never know you were eating chicken or beef if you weren’t paying attention.
This is a great cookbook. It’s full of photos, information and dynamic recipes. The layout is clean and fresh. Designwise, this is one of my favorite cookbooks ever.
