Mid-May Book Reviews

It’s been awhile since my last book review, as I've read three books since The Education of Henry Adams. I thought I’d condense three reviews all into one post and give my quick hit thoughts on each.

Mind over Mind: The Surprising Power of Expectations

Chris Berdik

How I heard about it: Fiancee’s Mom

Why I read it: The concept over “mind over matter” is neither new nor sophisticated. I’m almost positive that even 1950s high school PE teachers knew this cliché. Berdik, though, presents this philosophy in an evidence-heavy read that convincingly argues the benefit of controlling one’s thoughts. Although the book is not intended as a sermon, a reader gets the sense that the content of the book needs to be acted on.

My Top Two Non-Sleepers of the 2013 NFL Draft

For four years in high school, I ran a college football blog which was both innovative (Hyperlinks! Yellow Backdrop!) and clumsy (squeezing pre-season rankings, week-by-week game reactions, the All-Name team, and everything else onto one massive web page). The audience consisted of a few high school friends (I’m using friends liberally) but it was a relatively harmless use of my time. This cannot be said of my 6^th grade foray of posting teacher critiques. 

The point of this short aside is that I once wrote about college football a good amount and I thought I’d dust off some of the old material for the upcoming NFL Draft. I probably enjoy the draft more than any other NFL event with the exception of AFC/NFC Championship Sunday. 

I couldn’t resist putting my opinions down of my two least favorite prospects in the draft who both happen to be ACC quarterbacks. I’ve seen a lot of both over the course of these past two years and I highly doubt there is much future success based on the past.

"Education of Henry Adams" Review

This is part one of the Ivy Tower Snooze Hour Project, or my quest to read 20 of the top 100 books as rated by Modern Library.

I recently finished “The Education of Henry Adams”, an autobiographical reflection by a 19th century American. Modern Library recently rated it the best book written in the 20th century. Since I am a complete sucker for lists as well as an ill-informed reading snob, I felt compelled to read an “Education” almost immediately.

Before I begin it’s worth noting that this was by far the longest, most arduous book I’ve read since I started to recreationally read (i.e. graduated college). This wasn’t due to its 318 pages (I read the latest 1,200 page Game of Thrones book in a week), but to the language/context/writing quality. Also, you can credit me with a #humblebrag for that last parenthesis.

Before we get into anything in the "Education", I need to set the context of the book.

Gulf Coast vs. Florida: A Story Told through Facebook

After most of the country watched their bracket spontaneously implode this weekend, it was a silver lining for people to see a remote school called Florida Gulf Coast be the first 15 seed to advance to the Sweet 16. Being a western Florida native myself, I knew a decent amount of individuals who went to the nationally obscure school, so I felt particularly proud of the green and blue Eagles.

When I quickly went on Facebook Monday morning, a stunning revelation was unfolding. Improbably, FGCU was playing Florida. Not only were these two Florida schools playing each other, but this seemingly innocuous game has turned into the snarkiest Facebook war of words I've seen in awhile.

Although FGCU is not without fault, the really surprising part of this budding rivalry is the UF alumni, who have improbably become the low-brow ones in this war of words. Instead of a simple acknowledgement that FGCU has played extraordinarily well for two straight games, the "Harvard of the South" contingent has come out of the woodwork en masse proclaiming their superiority over their feeble minded counterparts. In full disclosure, I like UF, and I would have attended Florida if I didn't go to Boston College. But this enormous Gator ego deserves to get stomped Friday at 9:45 in Cowboys Stadium.

I do not condone anything written below. With no further adieu, I'd like to present the levels of snarky Facebook posts (in order from least snarky to most snarky):

Profile in Conte: Ryan Anderson

As a BC basketball fan who is wildly optimistic about the future, I wanted to do some digging into who I’m actually rooting for. As the second profile in the nine part series, I wanted to profile/critique/understand Mr. Steady Ryan Anderson.

What the Web Says: Ryan Anderson is a 6’8, 220 pound sophomore from Lakewood, CA. He went to Long Beach Poly High, the storied school that produced a bevy of football greats – Desean Jackson, Willie McGinest, Marcedes Lewis, 200 USC football players. Heck the Jackrabbits even produced Tony Gwynn, Chase Utley, and non-board game Milton Bradley for baseball as well. Anderson also played AAU with Lonnie Jackson and Bear (K.C. Caudill) during his high school years.