The Cowtown Chronicles

Those of you who know me well know that I’ve been struggling with Attention Deficit Disorder my whole life. I’ve always known that something was not quite right — that I just couldn’t “buckle down” or focus like it seemed everyone around me could. Eventually it got to the point where (I realize now) it nearly cost me a couple of jobs, because I couldn’t stay focused on the task at hand, or I said or did really impulsive and stupid things at the most perfectly wrong moment.

I’m medicated now (Thank you, Concerta!), and things are a lot better, but I’m still lacking on the self-discipline front. I’ve finally realized that the only way around this is to practice, and to exercise my discipline like I would any other skill or muscle.

To that end, I’m ending part of my reliance on technology, in the form of my daily planner and journal. Since today was 25% discount day for faculty and staff at the TCU bookstore, I went and grabbed myself a Moleskine 18 Month Soft-Cover Weekly Planner. I’ve gotten a lot better at adding my appointments and reminders in to iCal for sync to my iPhone, but I can’t shake the feeling that those feel like crutches. Without the discipline to regularly and faithfully check a planner, how can I build the discipline to do anything else?

Okay, you got me. Really the “analog in ‘09″ thing is an excuse to buy a beautiful and well-made piece of technology, which just happens to be made of acid-free paper and leather. I’m serious about the transition to written schedules and notes, though.

Allen over at The Whited Sepulchre has listed what’s included in his “Anti-Library.” An “anti-library,” according to epistemologist Nassim Nicholas Taleb, is a collection of books that you HAVEN’T read. It’s those books that sit on your shelves waiting to be used as research tools, or to increase your store of already accumulated knowledge.

Despite the fact that I’m still sort of confused on what the hell all that means (don’t bother trying to decode the Wikipedia page unless you’re a chaos theorist), I’ve been called out to list what’s in mine, so in the spirit of playing along and ego boosting, here goes:

(Click the links to buy the books on Amazon and give me a little kickback if you do.)

“The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins - Kept on the mantle for maximum shock value. Never read it.

“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy - This was given to me as a gift recently. I guess I mentioned to someone that I liked post-apocalyptic fiction of the “I Am Legend” sort, and so this came along. Unfortunately I have no time for fiction in my life right now, so it’s been sitting on my shelf since whenever it was given to me.

“The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World” by Lawrence Lessig - (Mine’s autographed!) Prof. Lessig (of Stanford) spoke at UTA on intellectual property and how our current copyright law is making the creation of new content increasingly impossible and costly. At one point I wanted to be a lawyer (I might still go to law school), and I had wanted to focus on public interest law. Then I found out that it costs more than my house cost to go to law school, even to some of the bad ones, and decided that if I did it I’d be better off becoming a slimy corporate lawyer type.

“Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution” by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins - A treatise on how the next industrial revolution (it’s in the title, see?) will be one that helps the planet instead of taking advantage of the planet. It includes lists of specific companies and upcoming technologies to watch. I’ve only read the first chapter or so, but I could tell right away that it wasn’t really what I was hoping it would be. I wanted ideas and inspiration, instead I got “Go see these guys for product X.”

“Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle” by David Wann - David (no relation, that I know of) is a coauthor of “Affluenza,” a book I also haven’t read and a movie I haven’t seen. Jenna has seen the movie (during a Sustainability class at UTA), and said I’d like it. I don’t think I’ve even read the first sentence in this one, but what I’m hoping to get is affirmation that living simply and ignoring the pressures of “Mother Culture” to consume and waste is good for me and the planet.

“Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin - Priorities, man! Which is more important? I mean, REALLY more important? How much money do you need to have those things and people that are really important to you in your life? I’ll bet it’s a LOT less than most people think. There was a great article in Portfolio magazine this month on this very topic. Essentially, our national obsession with growth at any cost is actually making us LESS happy overall than focusing on things that are more important to the average person. Here’s an example: Increase the annual income of the average citizen in Zimbabwe by $100, and you’ve made an enormous difference in their lives. Increase the annual income of the average American by $100, and you’ve effectively done nothing. Yet, every bit of our economic policy is focused on growing the economy, not on those things that truly improve people’s lives.

Various titles from the Apple Training Series, since I fancy myself a budding Apple Systems Administrator. Surprisingly, I only recommend these books for their overview value. They’re really not particularly good training tools.

Doyle Brunson’s Super System: A Course in Power Poker, Hold’Em Poker for Advanced Players (Advance Player), and Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold’em - I’ve actually read every word in all three of these, but you wouldn’t know it if I sat down to play poker with you, so I suppose it’s the same as if I hadn’t.

That’s a pretty limited list, but then my library right now is also pretty small. I suppose I’m already living the philosophies espoused in all my “green” books, since I don’t often buy new books, I generally check things out of the library. Since I only have one bookshelf, I have to make pretty regular trips to Half Price Books to clear the clutter, or else it would probably take over.

Hope you enjoyed my list. What’s in YOUR Anti-Library?