Archery and fencing are the two disciplines this book uses to explain Zen buddhism’s practices and nature.

It does so with the simple narrative. The author’s journey into mastering archery through “art without artifice”. This means learning the act of shooting an arrow to become as natural, unconscious and effortless as an apple that falls from a tree. This practice works very well as a driver to the methods and philosophy behind it, which then parallels to any skill or discipline we can set for ourselves.

In short, the main goal is not entirely about learning to shoot arrows with precision, rather creating the habit or achieving the meta-skill of detaching ourselves from the objective when learning something and allowing “it” (the unconscious) to take the reins of the actions.

Rarely have I felt the need to constantly catch my focus in order to follow what I was reading. Perhaps I haven’t read enough of this kind of book.

I didn’t know what to expect from this book and only after the first chapters did I realize there’s no plot or narrative, only reflections and deep philosophical descriptions. With little room for structure, Thoreau describes his presence, at times in painfully long detail, of his days secluded from society in the Walden pond.

It’s a strong manifestation of mindfulness and ‘being’. He allows his mind to ramble on what he sees, hears or feels, alongside reflections about society, life and the nature of the human being, colored with references to history, books he’s read or parallels with stories from his experience. Many times I found myself lost in the text, but also constantly found myself striking true gems of wisdom, fulfilling thoughts and very relatable passages.

Notable chapters: Reading, House-warming and Solitude.

As mentioned in the book, the 21st century’s superpower is simply to have the ability to focus.

Mastery of a skill can only come from a sustained and persistent state of distraction-less concentration.

Instead, we’re fostering (and living in) a culture of constant distraction, dressed up as “productive” behavior.

It’s a culture where visible busyness is valued as productivity, and it’s due to a current troublesome relationship with technology, referred to in this book as “technopoly”.

We’re biased to social media and instant messaging as tools where it’s a given, where it’s normal, that they should receive our constant attention.

What we end up with is a lack of depth in the work we do. We focus on the shallow ends of work, such as reading and instantly replying to email and messages, making a habit in our minds to be “always available” for an interruption of a flow state.

It makes a strong case towards the usefulness and true nature of “leisure” time. When not sleeping and when not focused on a task, our mind doesn’t seek “rest” or what we understand as relaxation like watching TV or scrolling through social media. What our minds are constantly seeking is fulfillment, which can be achieved with well-structured and meaningful leisure time.

One of the sections I enjoyed the most talks about approaching our jobs and careers with a “craftsman” philosophy. Historically, to “follow your passion” is motivated by the flawed idea that what matters most for our careers is the specifics of the job we choose, where in reality, the meaning uncovered by day to day efforts on any job or career comes building and applying the skills required for it (hopefully into mastery) and doesn’t consider the end-goal or the outcome as the source of satisfaction.

“A wooden wheel is not noble, but its shaping can be.”

These are not novel concepts and in this book they’re presented with insights and examples from our modern society and work habits.

It also presents specific techniques and offers useful references to other works that revolve around the same subject: developing the skill to enter a state of deep concentration while finding satisfaction in the process, not the outcome.

Absolutely enjoyed this jewel of a book, specially the first half. It analyzes our patterns and behavior when we set goals for ourselves.

We’ve been taught to focus on objectives if we want something meaningful out of life. We measure our worthiness through grades, medals, records.

We become stressed and judgemental in the process - consciously or unconsciously - and ultimately frustrated when we unfairly compare ourselves to top levels, and end up giving up.

What we haven’t been taught is to find reward in the process. This allows us to find fulfilment in any step of any objective that can otherwise be considered ‘difficult’.

It reliefs us from the tension and stress that becomes a distracting factor from being in the present moment.

It seems like a paradox, the more we focus on the process and detach ourselves from the desired goal, the quicker and more efficiently our minds can progress, because the things slowing us down are mostly fictitious, self-imposed pressures and expectations.

I expected a more practical approach. Instead, this book is a transformative experience in the way to approach learning, performing and ultimately enjoying music.

It’s about learning to channel the artistic expression into mastery through meditation and self-awareness.

“One man may be more cunning than another, but not more cunning than everybody else.”

A Benjamin Franklin quote that aptly summarizes this little jewel of a book.

Successful investing is much less about skilfully reading and beating the market in short bursts of savvy, and essentially much more about focusing on the entire market with patience, discipline and common sense.

The game ends up being easier to play than expected.

It’s the next step after reading and applying the techniques from “financial peace” books like Dave Ramsey, Andrew Tobias or The Barefoot Investor, as it dives deeper in detail of the “growth” phase that all these have in common.

Great storytelling with a concise plot that manages to cover many different subjects.

Desires, loyalty, compassion, fear, anger, discrimination and regret. Every character is richly developed.

It’s easy to follow their intentions and desires with few dialogues and a lot of subtext, even if their involvement within the story is short. It does so with every chapter, starting with beautiful descriptions of the natural environment that surrounds them and later transitioning back to the main plot.

It’s a tale of injustice prevailing even when hopes and dreams lie in small things.

It takes a certain frame of mind and the experiences that come with age to embrace stoicism as a philosophy for life.

This book is an introduction and, moreover, a practical guide. It’s a well paced and informative piece. It discusses common questions and tackles the skepticism that arises when reading about or adopting a stoic life.

It’s a base for those unaware of its principles and it’s certainly a first step on the path of discovery and understanding the work of great thinkers like Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca. It’s filled with insights on how to balance stoic ideas and behaviours with our day-to-day.

Personally, it’s one of the most quotable books I’ve ever read. I found myself making annotations on almost every page. I do feel that it makes for a better experience if whoever reads it can relate to the subjects and stoicism in general on a personal level.

These days people may not see the need to adopt a philosophy for life. Instead, we spend our days working with the goal of affording the latest consumer gadget. We resolute to believe that if we buy enough, we will have a life both meaningful and maximally fulfilling. These, instead, tend to lead to a life plagued with anger, anxiety, fear, grief and envy, which for stoicism, will not be a good life.

I’m in the neutral camp when having an opinion about this story and its tragic end.

I do believe Chris was egotistic and reckless. But I also agree there’s much to learn from his philosophy and his search for truth.

As a fan of Tolstoy myself, I found gratifying to read about someone living and applying his own flavor of Tolstoy’s message.

I also believe Chris was smart enough to know what the risks were at all times, he just accepted them as part of “the adventure”.

I like the conclusion that, at the very end, he came into terms with the inner beast that drove him.

He had tested and proven himself, and was ready to come back from wandering in anonymity, possibly (and hopefully) to come to terms with his family. Sadly, the wild tundra was underestimated.

Life’s big challenges are defined personally, they vary vastly from person to person, and the goals can only be met by our very own standards.

That being said, there’s no point in judging if Chris’ story was inspiring or stupid.

We can just read and learn about passionately following something we believe in and relate to it in the best way we can.

Krakauer, as usual, narrates with great pace and insight, while including his opinions and relating to the story from his own experiences, making it a thrilling ride of a book.

A complete journey into European life before and between the world wars.

Zweig, as a true cosmopolitan, seems always at the center of history in the making, and more specifically, always close to some of the greatest artistic and literary minds of the time.

The book is full of easy historical narrative and deep reflections on society, which come from being so much in touch with the culture of the countries he visited.

He had an amazing ability to create connections on his travels, while always reflecting on his ideas of pacifism and wariness of growing authoritarian regimes such as nazi Germany and communism in the Soviet Union.

It’s heartbreaking to know this book was basically his final note, having committed suicide shortly after finishing the manuscript and being published posthumously.

Specially in the last chapters, it was notable his growing anguish of being forced out of his native Austria and of living as a man without a country, in the face of nazism.