How sociable do you feel these days?

The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement ~ by David Brooks, 2011, psychology, xviii + 427 pages

This is the story of how success happens, told through the lives of one American couple, Harold and Erica — how they grow, push forward, are pulled back, fail, and succeed.  It shows a new understanding of human nature.  The unconscious mind, it turns out, is most of the mind — not a dark, vestigial place but a creative and enchanted one, where most of the brain’s work gets done.  This is the realm of emotions, intuitions, biases, longings, genetic predispositions, personality traits, and social norms:  the realm where character is formed and where our most important life decisions are made.

Drawing on a wealth of research from numerous disciplines, Brooks takes Harold and Erica from infancy to school; from the years that have come to define young adulthood to the high walls of poverty; from the nature of attachment, love, and commitment, to the nature of effective leadership.  He reveals the deeply social aspect of our very minds and exposes the bias in modern culture that overemphasizes rationalism, individualism, and IQ.  Along the way, he demolishes conventional definitions of success while looking toward a culture based on trust and humility.

Word of the Day

so·cia·ble / ˈsōSHəb(ə)l / adjective = willing to talk and engage in activities with other people; friendly.  Example:  "Being a sociable person, I love going out to lunch with a friend or two."

Caturday on Sunday

Have you heard of cats sitting in circles?  Even better, have you actually seen a cat do this?  I was fascinated when I read about it, HERE.  What do you think?

I've found pictures of cat sleeping in a circles, which they do with or without the help of a container (like the cat on the left curled up in).  It shows us just how flexible cats actually are.  This is how Clawdia (and my other cats) would often sleep, though not all the time.

How would you reply to this question:

On Friday, I came up with a weird thought:  If I asked you to think of your childhood, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?  For me, it was my special tree.  I wrote about it in 2012, HERE.  I loved climbing the plum tree in our yard.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Beginning ~ with labels

Beginning

We do love to put labels on things, don't we?  Everything from the slightest variaties of tone in a color to the taste of a single flavor in a dish, right through to the tiniest variations in the beats of a song ― they all mark a difference and, no matter how small, every variation has a name.

A Charm of Goldfinches ~ by Matt Sewell, 2017, words, 144 pages

Whether you're an animal lover or a grammar geek, illustrator Matt Sewell has the perfect menagerie of beasts (and beast-related terms) for your reading pleasure.  Along with fifty-five color illustrations, Sewell presents the unexpected collective nouns used to describe groups of animals on land, in the air, and in the water.  Discover the secret behind a "sleuth of bears," keep your eyes open for a "watch of nightingales," and learn something new about a "school of whales."  Illustrated in inimitable watercolor, this book makes a great gift for nature and art lovers.

I will add to the description I found online that it is also a fun book for those of us who love words.  I like that the subtitle is "Quirky Collective Nouns of the Animal Kingdom."

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

A different look at Dr. Seuss books

The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss ~ by James W. Kemp, 2004, stories, 90 pages

The stories of one of the world's most beloved children's authors are both imaginative and entertaining, but a closer look at Dr. Seuss's stories reveals that many are inspirational as well as instructive.  James Kemp has identified as his favorite theologian not Barth or Pannenberg, but the inimitable Dr. Seuss.  Kemp finds parallels between the actions of cats in hats, Grinches, Snitches, Sneetches, and other Creachas and lessons found in Scripture.  As the author shares his enthusiasm for the creativity and wisdom of Dr. Seuss, the meaning and the relevance of many Bible passages come to life.

A word for the wise (or otherwise)

Would you like to see a catastrophe?  I posted one yesterday, HERE.  Okay, so I was playing with words again.  Aren't I always, though?

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Catastrophe

I haven't had a Caturday post in awhile, so here's something about cats to (maybe) make you laugh.  Have you ever experienced a CAT catastrophe, something catastrophic caused by a cat?  Please share it in a comment with the rest of us.

Beginning ~ in the future

Beginning

Here begins a happy day in 2381.  The morning sun is high enough          to touch the uppermost fifty stories of Urban Monad 116.  Soon the building's entire eastern face will glitter like the bosom of the sea at daybreak.  Charles Mattern's window, activated by the dawn's early photons, deopaques.

The World Inside ~ by Robert Silverberg, 1971, science fiction, 184 pages

2381.  Man had attained Utopia.  War, starvation, crime, and birth control had been eliminated.  Life was totally fulfilled and sustained within mammoth skyscrapers hundred of stories high.  It was blessed to have children.  Contemplation of controlling families was heretical.  And there were methods of treatment for heresy, the most radical being death.

I have just started this book, but so far it's been interesting.  Did you notice that word "deopaques"?  It isn't actually a word I can find in the dictionary, so let's figure out what it means:

o·paque / ōˈpāk / adjective = not able to be seen through; not transparent.  Example:  "The windows were opaque with steam."

So that means if the windows somehow "deopaques," we can now see through it.  In the future, apparently, sunlight "deopaques" windows.  I've only read a single chapter, so none of this is explained yet.  Maybe later in the book.  Or maybe it's going to be beyond my understanding.

Also interesting is the fact that "man" had attained Utopia, according to the blurb on the dust jacket.  That's before the women's movement, so I wonder if the women in the book consider it a utopia or not.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Thanksgiving

Mending, making, and sewing up rips

I read somewhere online:  "I can embroider, cross-stitch, use a sewing machine, and sew by hand to alter clothes.  If my clothes rip in a way I deem unsuitable, I can mend them.  Sewing is an art fewer people learn every year."

Once upon a time, I made my children's clothes and could do all the things that person listed.  One of my daughters wanted my sewing machine, so I haven't been doing much sewing lately.  Now I wonder how many people still know how to mend clothes.  Do you?  And do you make clothes for your children?  Or did you, when your children still lived with you?