Monday, December 31, 2012

Best Holiday Letter Message of 2012

I always consider myself fortunate to be on Kevin Kelly's (www.kk.org) annual holiday letter.  This year the family letter came with Kevin's journal/photos of his 1976 Himalayan Journey.  So cool.  But cooler was inside of his letter when he brought forth a close out of 2012 and look forward to 2013 message.

Thank you Kevin for your continued inspiration and friendship!

"We tend to think - and are often taught - that we determine our lives. We do, but only partly. Much is given us. Seeing how much of my father runs through me - and me through my children - throws a shadow on my compass. Not all directions are open. That means we can't be great in many things. But we can get better in everything. Life is about improvement, not perfection, and it is always measured from where you begin. It took me 60 years to figure out, but I am mostly what has come before me. I am mostly my parents, my friends, my society, my species. The truly original part of me is no bigger than my eyelash. So with all my eyelash I wish you a great coming year."

Here was his closing message from 2011 as well :

"Every song, odd costume, food dish, or bit of artwork is another data point in our collective definition of what it means to be human.  As we continue to expand the ways we live through technology and geography, we expand our definition of who we are. When a human somewhere on earth does something amazing, something we never imagined anyone could do (see YouTube), that shifts the definition of all of us. So in order to fully understand ourselves, we have to understand the greater circle of human achievements. Thus we owe it to ourselves to explore full diversity of culture, because it enlightens us individually.  We cannot fully understand ourselves without understanding the outer limits of who we could be. That variety of potential (for good and bad) is far greater than we usually think. Which suggests we should re-conceive of ourselves as more capable of amazement than we usually think. We need others - their fullest variety - to tell us who we are." 

Friday, December 28, 2012

2012 Rusty Rueff Books Read and "Best Ofs"

I had a good year of reading and am pleased to share my 2012 Books completed list.

I've also included what I felt were my "The Best Ofs" for the year.

Another year to also compare reading Statistics/Mediums:

24 Books read
25% read digitally (d)
12.5% were audio books (a)  (I ran two Marathons in 2012 so lots of long training runs for these)

Confidence Men - Halpern - *Most eye-opening of 2012               
First Things First - Covey                       
(d) A Visit From the Goon Squad - Egan - *So much better than the title                        
(a) Stories I Only Tell My Friends - Lowe - *Most surprisingly better than I thought it would be
Hunger Games - Collins                      
Catching Fire - Collins                      
Zippermouth - Weeks                    
The Mockingjay - Collins                      
The Silver Cord - Masseroni/Kelly - *Best graphic novel      
(d) Wolf Hall - Mantel - *Most glad I finished it and now will read sequel
Unusually Excellent - Hamm - *Best business book and most applicable
Heaven is For Real  - Burpo                      
Luminarium - Shakar                  
(a) Wild  - Strayed - *Most unbelievable that it really happened                   
Eat and Run - Jurek                       
The Moment of Truth -Simpson/Bowles - *Most wished it hadn't turned out to be fiction   
(d) Gone Girl - Flynn -  *Best unexpected twist and page turner
Love and Shame and Love -Orner - *Best use of language                      
A Hope in the Unseen - Suskind - *Most inspirational                
(d) The Art of Fielding: The Novel -Harbaugh - *Best book of the year for me                 
Zero Hour -Baldacci                  
(d) Fall of the Giants - Follett                       
(a) Bonhoeffer - Pastor, Prophet, Spy - Metaxas                   
(d) Winter of the World - Follett 

First on tap for 2013:

(a) Rod Stewart's Autobiography
Telegraph Avenue - Chabon