Educated

My aunt recommended this book when I told her I was searching for books by people who have overcome great difficulty. While that is an accurate description of Educated, it doesn't capture even 10% of themes of this book. This is a phenomenal memoir. I do not know how it became a bestseller by its publishing date but I certainly understand it.

Tara Westover lived an unusual life. She was raised in rural Idaho by people who could be described as the Taliban wing of the Mormon church. I thought all practicing Mormons were devout but the contrast between the Westover family and the Mormons of my childhood is vast. Her parents were survivalists. They didn't believe in school or medicine so the children received no education and no medical treatment in spite of many life threatening injuries. The kids worked with their dad in a scrap yard. I could go on but the summary is lots of terrible stuff happens.

The fascinating part of the story is the way Westover chronicles how she transforms from an abused and thoroughly brainwashed person into a woman who wins the fellowship to Cambridge to pursue a master's degree then PhD. 

Depending on your own childhood, you might experience this book differently from me. I had loving parents who defined loving their child as allowing the child to grow into whoever she wanted to be. Westover also had loving parents but in their family love was defined by obedience and loyalty and the extent to which each child would kneel to the will of their father and his vision of their family and the world.

If your parents were not so accepting, if you've had to live your adult life trying to heal from your own childhood, this book might be more painful than fascinating.

When I want to condemn Westover's parents for what they did to her, I am reminded of the book The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.  Similar to the Westover parents, Amy Chua loves her children and felt that she knew what was best for them. She withheld her love from her children so they would be academic superstars and accomplished musicians-- identities she chose for them.  Their adherence to her will was the most important component to receiving her love.  That's a fairly accepted way of parenting among my peers. They want their children to succeed out of love for them (and if they're being honest, their own fear for them) so they force them to perform in school or sports or fulfill whatever identity the parents have selected. The children do not have a choice (or a very limited choice) in who they become.  It seems less violent but I am not sure by how much.

Yes, we (still) can!

Dan Pfieffer started working for Barack Obama in early 2007 when he was building his team to run for President.  He worked for him until 2015 ultimately serving as Director of Communications for the White House.

His book is filled with anecdotes about how they responded to the propaganda machines that existed to defeat Obama's goals.

Pfieffer is one of the hosts of my favorite podcast, Pod Save America. I know he is very smart and knowledgable about politics but I didn't love his book. It was unsatisfying.  Talking about life before Trump is like talking about the US before Sept. 11. Those rules no longer apply. Obama's team tried for years to negotiate and act like the opposition did not hate him personally. Hillary Clinton seemed to run on that premise as well.

Pfieffer's book became an immediate bestseller and that gives me some hope that there are lots of people like me who are spending more time on civic engagement than ever before. That said, we live under a gerrymandered congress that's supposed to be balanced by a gerrymandered presidency and, as a result, a gerrymandered supreme court. The odds are long.

Cambria

Every year, we visit Ryan's parents on the Central coast. This has to be one of the most beautiful parts of the world. We always have a good time. We visit the beach every day and then eat dinner with Ryan's parents. 

San Simeon cove

morning hike

not funny

The Last Black Unicorn

While trying to deal with the sadness that comes from living in a country moving towards fascism, I've searched for stories of inspirational people. I listened to Oprah interview Bryan Stephenson who wrote Just Mercy. Stephenson is a lawyer who started the Equal Justice Initiative. He has spent his career defending people on death row who have been convicted of crimes they did not commit. He is a lovely and hopeful man. Then I listened to Oprah's interview with Anthony Ray Hinton, a man who spent 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. Stephenson had been his lawyer and Oprah learned about Hinton when she interviewed Stephenson. Hinton is another extraordinary individual who overcame infinite obstacles and walked out of prison a hopeful person. Then I listened to Oprah's interview with Malala and her father. All of these people have one thing in common: they chose love over hate even though they are victims of extraordinary acts of hatred and violence.

Tiffany Haddish is a comedian who had a terrible childhood. Her story of success is an extreme version of the Horatio Alger stories. Somehow, she overcame poverty, abuse, illiteracy, race and gender discrimination to become a famous stand-up comedian and movie star.

This book is not well-written. Haddish didn't learn to read until she was 15. I listened to her read the book so it felt like I listened to a person tell me stories from their life. She is a very fun person to spend time with .. funny, hopeful, real. Many of the stories are very sad.

A heard about the book from a 75 year old white woman from eastern Washington who sat next to me on my flight to SLO earlier this month. She mentioned that she'd read it in a book club and was the only person who liked it. The other women thought it was too vulgar. It is definitely that .. so .. don't read it if you can't handle vulgarity.

Decatur

We are fortunate to have some lovely and adventurous neighbors who recently bought a share of a cooperative vacation property on Decatur Island in the San Juans. They invited us to visit with them a few weekends ago.

It was amazing!  The co-op is made of about 20 families who've owned the property for 40 years or so. The property consists of 8 homes of varying size on the water, lots of fun sports equipment (bikes, canoes), a tennis court, a couple who maintains the property and a boat that ferries members of the co-op from Anacortes to Decatur.

The island is very small, has lots of hiking trails, and kids can run free. The sun was shining and we had a great time.

view on the way to the co-op

Sonia returning from playing with a friend she made on the island.

love truck seen on a hike

Why the Rich are Getting Richer

I have mentioned that I read random finance books I find at the local library. This one has to be the worst I've read. The author, Robert Kiyosaki , wrote a very popular finance book in 2000 called Rich Dad Poor Dad. The premise of the two books seems the same: borrow heavily and invest in real estate. Not surprisingly, he names Donald Trump as a friend and personal hero. They wrote a book together. Also, not surprisingly, the author filed for bankruptcy in 2012 (he does not mention that in his second book).

The rich are getting richer because they have more courage. They don't pay taxes. They care only for themselves.

This reminds me of an article I read recently by a futurist named Douglas Rushkoff called Survival of the Richest.

Here's an excerpt of the story:
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After I arrived, I was ushered into what I thought was the green room. But instead of being wired with a microphone or taken to a stage, I just sat there at a plain round table as my audience was brought to me: five super-wealthy guys — yes, all men — from the upper echelon of the hedge fund world. After a bit of small talk, I realized they had no interest in the information I had prepared about the future of technology. They had come with questions of their own.

They started out innocuously enough. Ethereum or bitcoin? Is quantum computing a real thing? Slowly but surely, however, they edged into their real topics of concern.

Which region will be less impacted by the coming climate crisis: New Zealand or Alaska? Is Google really building Ray Kurzweil a home for his brain, and will his consciousness live through the transition, or will it die and be reborn as a whole new one? Finally, the CEO of a brokerage house explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system and asked, “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?”

This single question occupied us for the rest of the hour. They knew armed guards would be required to protect their compounds from the angry mobs. But how would they pay the guards once money was worthless? What would stop the guards from choosing their own leader? The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. (emphasis mine)
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We have all heard that money is the root of evil but I think it's greed: the concept that you can never have enough. It seems to corrode people from within and turns them into fearful, myopic trolls. To avoid the taint, I am avoiding finance books for a while.. maybe forever.

Anyway, don't read this book.