After my last article on experiencing creativity, there was a question in the resulting forum discussion about how to enter this highly creative flow state, the state where you lose all sense of time, your ego vanishes, and you become one with the task in front of you. Is this peak creative state a rare […]
Chris Cleave 'A powerful piece of art... shocking, exciting and deeply affecting...[a] superb novel... Besides sharp, witty dialogue, an emotionally charged plot and the vivid characters' ethical struggles, THE OTHER HAND delivers a timely challenge to reinvigorate our notions of civilized decency.' (Independent 20080804) 'Searingly eloquent.' (Daily Mail 20080803) 'It would be hard not to […]
Tim Wilson has a useful set of suggestions on how to close a speech. One of my favourites, that he doesn't mention, is to leave with a challenging thought. It could be a question, but doesn't have to be. It should produce "an ah-ha moment" or a smile from the audience, of understanding and agreement.
[Via Braingle] You exercise your body to stay physically in shape, so why shouldn't you exercise your brain to stay mentally fit? With these daily exercises you will learn how to flex your mind, improve your creativity and boost your memory. As with any exercise, repetition is necessary for you to see improvement, so pick […]
Why reading this story might cause you to clean out the fridge--and other mysteries explained Why am I so hungry after writing one of these columns? I have often wondered. Now comes an answer.A study in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine contends that intellectual work—that’s right, I’m calling writing this stuff, ya know, intellectual—induces a big […]
"Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your […]
by Kathy Reichs Dr. Temperance Brennan's quest to identify two corpses pits her against citizen vigilantes intent on a witch-hunt in bestseller Reichs's exciting 11th thriller to feature the forensic anthropologist (after 2007's Bones to Ashes). While working in Charlotte, N.C., Brennan investigates remains unearthed during a housing renovation and discovers disturbing clues possibly […]
by David McCullough Hollywood has made John Adams and American history sexy again, but don't cheat! Read this meticulously researched biography before watching the miniseries starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. Here a preeminent master of narrative history takes on the most fascinating of our founders to create a benchmark for all Adams biographers. […]
[Via Children's Bookshelf] Earlier this month, the King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City hosted an eight-hour reading marathon to raise money for Book Wagon, a charity that provides children living in local housing projects with books. Throughout the day, 10 young readers in first through fifth grade sprawled out in the bookstore aisles and […]
with W Mitchell, CSP, CPAE How many professional speakers have you heard speak in the past 10-20 years? A lot, we’ll bet. How many of their presentations have stood out to you as truly memorable? Probably just a few. Do you think that if your presentations were more memorable, you’d be asked to speak more […]
