Father Fiction... Things that made me think

95% of prison inmates are men
85% of these are from fatherless homes
      I hadn't heard this stat before, I think the first stat is more shocking than the second.  What makes men more corrupt than women?  Is there some other reason for this stat?
What are your thoughts?


There will always be a reason to feel sorry for ourselves. And sometimes it really is appropriate to grieve something terrible that has happened in our lives. But we also have to move on; we have to set ourselves free from the trap of self-pity.
      

Father Fiction - Donald Miller

I found this title at my online library.  It was an experiment because I had not used this before.  I went through about 100 of their books and placed on hold the ones that looked interesting.  This book, however, was ready to borrow straight away along with a couple of others.

I got the book just because of the author.  I've heard a lot of people talking about 'Blue Like Jazz' as a good/ controversial read so I thought this might be similar.  The only thing I thought after considering the title was that this could possibly be about wrong thinking about God - Father Fiction.  I was slightly off on this.

As I listened, I realized that this book was not aimed toward me.  Father fiction, as I could have easily seen if I had had the front cover of the book, is for a 'fatherless generation.'  This, it seems, is Miller's autobiography.  One that took a long time to pluck up the courage to face and write.  It also contains chapters that you would find in these guidance books such as one on sex and on work ethic.  I think these are what he sees as some of the main issues that affect fatherless children.

He grew up for most of his life without a father and although his mother brought him up very well he always felt as though he was missing something.  He has some figures in his life whom he projects his fatherlessness onto (as he himself describes) including John, his photographer friend who brings him under his wing.

I was surprised that he is not married with kids - I guess this is my presupposition of renowned and accepted authors.

I felt a strange kind of immaturity from Miller (says me who laughs at fart jokes), I'm not sure if this was just because of listening to the story of his younger self or because he is in a different place to me.  It seemed that, although he had a lot of good thoughts and a grip on psychology, he didn't necessarily have it all together.  Perhaps this was because some of these thoughts on parenthood, for example, were not self experienced but learned from others.

True to form (so I hear) Miller is very honest and has great stories to take the reader on a journey.  I think it is a good read for the fathered or fatherless and should make you feel thankful for having The Father who cares for you.

Here are a couple of quotes that made me think.

Earn What You're Really Worth... Things that made me think

Work 2 hours extra each day, read for an hour a day, listen to audio books daily, work through lunch, volunteer for everything and maintain the relationships in your life. 
       And for the other  minutes in my day I guess I'll sleep.

He would mention in different ways that All the top executives in the world do...  All the top 1% of money earners have this characteristic...
       I presume he interviewed all of them

Earn What You're Really Worth - Brian Tracy

Back to my usual meat.

As you can tell I chose this book because of the vibrant cover...  Really I went to the library because I had finished The Brother's Karamazov and didn't want to read another free book.  I just grabbed the first business-ie book I could find because I didn't have much time.

My expectations were that this would be bland and it didn't/did disappoint.  It wasn't that bad really.

The book is all about getting a good job and getting promoted faster than other people.  I couldn't tell if it was too general or too specific.  It would give advice on how to get promoted quicker such as 'work harder than everyone else around you' or 'don't take lunch breaks' or 'dress nice.'

 

Ummm... thank... you..?...

Then he would have practical things to do at the end of each chapter that were meant for people in a specific type of business, most of which I couldn't do.  I'm sure his profound advice to me would be - get a different job.  

Usually the things that brighten these books up are the stories.  There was nary an ounce of inspiration between them (I wonder if that's how you use that word).

This was the opposite of '4-hour work week'.  A slow paced get-rich-slow book.  I'm sure there were some useful things in there but the only thing I really learnt was, do judge a book by it's cover.  

Buyology - Martin Lindstrom

The last of the three business books I grabbed.  I read them in the order that I thought they would hold my interest, so this one didn't have high expectations.  

You have to get through the usual 'Why you should read this book'  hype up session in the first few chapters but after that it becomes very scientific.  Situation - Abstract - Experiment - Results.  This would be pretty boring but the experiments are somewhat interesting:

Smoking ad's and their effects
Product placement in American Idol
Subliminal messages
Superstition and religion and how these sell products
Does sex sell?

I think they also tried to make this book more interesting by having one of those gruff voiced voice over guys narrate.  I'm not sure if this was a well researched decision but I don't think it has the same punch after the normal 10 seconds.

I'm making this sound worse than it is, really it kept my attention.  I have an interest in both science and marketing so this wasn't going to be the worst read ever.  

After the hyping up the author goes into what he has been doing; investing $7m into a research campaign involving a focus group with a difference.  Instead of just discussing what they thought of a subject they are hooked up with brain scanners and put in an MRI machine.  This way showing how their brain reacts.  

The most interesting part is when they brains response contradicts what they said they felt about something.  This, Lindstom explains, is why a lot of business flop even after $$$$$ spent on market research.  See New Coke, Segway and Colgate's Kitchen Entrees. 

The 'Sex sells' chapter was a bit disturbing, thankfully I havent seen a lot of what he described, the interesting part of this was that the brain scanners showed that most of the time sex distracts away from the product rather than emphasizing it.  The main reason some of these commercials have done well in the past is because of the controversy and free publicity that comes with that.  He predicts that as companies seek out this publicity the envelope will be pushed further and further.  

Other predictions that are made in this book are that sounds and smells will play a lot bigger part in advertising and of course that Neuro-marketing (presumably headed up by Lindstrom) is the way of the future and the only way to truly see what the response to a product will be.  

See a few more details in Things that made me think. 

Buyology... Things that made me think

A $7 million dollar project with huge results and the future of marketing.

       Why haven't I heard of this before?

We are a highly over stimulated culture.  Part of our brains shut down because of excessive advertising. 

       I wonder if people would be more observant if they were put somewhere without images constantly bombarding them.  

I wonder how my brain would betray me if it were tested?  HGTV, food network maybe I just dislike these by principal rather than viewing displeasure.

100 people in each test.  People are put in a MRI machine.
       n=100 really isn't a great sample size for n experiment.  Also if I was out inside an MRI machine for an hour and told that if I move the whole thing has to start over again, I think it might affect my emotions slightly.  

Rain: What a Paperboy Learned About Business... Things that made me think

The dinner table is the first place where children experience negotiation, meeting new people learn manners, ask questions, learn the art of conversation.  
       That dinner table we bought could be a good $50 investment.  Its tough working nights and trying to eat together but its probably worth it.

Referrals are powerful marketing tools.
       I have a business idea brewing at the moment that would benefit a lot from this.  In a small town where everyone knows everyone its probably even more key.

Parables are so good for remembering things.  I remember way more of Rain's stories than the business principals the were talked about afterwards.

He goes off on a bit of a tangent presumably to justify his pursuit of money.  Saying that the 'killjoys' got it wrong, 'The correct line is - The love of money is the root of all evil'.
       He could have at least got the quote right, it might even have got his point over better.  'The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil' - 1 Timothy 6:10

Rain: What a Paperboy Learned About Business

This was one of the three business books I picked up at random from the Library.  I think my only expectations of this book were that it would be mainly educational, a study of how paper delivery relates to big business and that it would have something to do with how weather affects business or outside factors affecting sales or something.  

The latter assumption was way off, the first was a bit closer to the mark but it did happen quite like I thought.  

The first two thirds of the book are the story of Rain the paperboy.  Either a fictitious character or based on Fox' childhood memories of delivering papers.  Either way the story sets up perfect situations for Rain to navigate through and give us a chance to analyze business principals.  

To start of with I thought this was a real kid with a strange name but as the story progressed it got me thinking, there's no way I would have done that as a thirteen-year-old.   I did have a paper route for a while but I was way more interested in cutting corners than customer service.  Maybe if English people tipped I might have had some incentive.

It would be interesting to see what teenagers thought of this book, if it would inspire some entreprenuerialism.  Maybe ill find it again in ten years and give it to my son.  

The book sounded like it was being read by Fat Tony from the Simpsons.  I felt like I was going to be made an offer I couldn't refuse by the end of the book.  Perhaps this is because the Mafia happen to be very creative in their business endeavors.  

One slightly odd point that was made in the book was in the chapter 'Crime and Punishment.'  Rain skips school and is punished by having to help out at an old peoples home, where he manages to get even more newspaper sales.  The point being made was obviously 'take advantage of all situations that arise' but just as obvious was 'you don't have to follow all the rules.'  In business maybe but I might have to talk my son through this one.  

I'll look at a few random things in the 'Things that made me think' post on this book.

The 4-hour Work Week... Things that made me think

4 hours of work per week?
       I'm sure he spent a lot of time writing this book.  Either he doesn't count as work or he outsourced the project to one of his many VAs.

The book did really make me think about goals in life and what would I do if I didn't have to worry about money.  The picture of flying over rainforests on a hanglider made me stop and think that I would love to do some interesting things with my wife and son but it really takes planning and effort to even do fun things sometimes.

Thinking about goals I realized that this even takes effort to really make goals that will mean something when you achieve them.  I think too many of mine involve golf.  

Let me know some goal ideas  

The 4-hour Work Week - Timothy Ferris

After finishing all my books I had 3 minutes at the library to find some more so I went to the business section and grabbed the first three audio books I saw.  They turned out to be this one, Rain: What a paperboy learned about business and Buyology.  I decided to read this one first mainly because the other two had boring covers typed up presumably by the library and this one had the normal book cover.  

My first thought was that this was going to be a get rich quick scheme filled with hype and stories of one in a million stories that "could be you".  I recently read some reviews that stated that this is what it is, I don't completely agree.

Ferris throws in a neat little acronym to help his point stick:  DEAL.  

This is my concise summary of his points:

           Definition

                      Answer this question - What do you want in life?  Don't just go with the flow of life

           Elimination

                      Get rid of the time wasters

           Automation

                      Outsource everything, business and personal.  

           Liberation

                      Free yourself from your location, take mini-retirements 

Obviously he goes into a lot more detail for each point and even gets into things that you wouldn't necessarily expect, his experiments with getting a virtual assistant, tips on speed reading and how to minimalize your home furnishings.  

One thing I thought promoted his theories well was his personal stories, especially his National Chinese kick boxing title achievement.  He won by reading the rule book and exploiting a couple of loopholes.  Firstly weigh-ins were one or two days before the fight so he could drop three weight classes by dehydrating himself and secondly if you leave the ring three times in a match you forfeit.  So all he did throughout the whole tournament was push these tiny kickboxing experts out of the ring until he won the whole championship.  I love it when reading works to your advantage ;).

Some of his advice on workplace practice, though practical, might not reach people ethical threshold.  The 'getting out of meetings' advice was probably ok but I'm not sure about slacking off while at work so that when you are working away from home you look more productive.  

This book was practical but probably more inspirational.  It makes you think about what you really want in life.  Do you just want to be working for retirement or your annual vacation or even for the weekend?

  

It made me think, is there a product I can easily sell.  I'm sure it would take a lot of work up front but then you can implement things to cut this work load down eventually.  

Like most self help kind of books or entrepreneurship books it doesn't have all the answers and most of the ideas are going to have to come out of your own head but I think this book has as many general pointers as a book like this can have.  I might even buy it.  

Comment if you get the last picture ;)

Creating a World Without Poverty... Things that made me think

Why am I reading this book?

Creating a World Without Poverty - Muhammud Yunis

So as you will probably be able to tell I have an interest in business.  I also have an interest in how business can change peoples lives and even cultures.  This seemed like a good book (at least the title was in the right ballpark) to glean from.  

Muhammad Yunis was the creator of Gramin Bank and pioneer of micro lending.  This is basically a bank that loaned small loans mainly to women in Bangladesh so that they could start a small business and get out of the poverty that they were in.  Good start to the book.  

However, after a few hours of listening to Grameen this and Grameen that it got a bit tiring.  It turned out to be more of a 'look how good my company is' book rather than something I could learn from.  I looked into the company and noticed that there is quite a lot of controversy around this bank and accusations of them exploiting the poor.  Perhaps this book is trying win people's favor.  

Anyway, I dont recommend this book unless you have to write a paper on 'the pros of Grameen bank'