3 X 5's: Index Card Wisdom from Best of Books

WAR Yeva Skalietska (2022). You Don't Know What War Is:                                                  The Diary of a Young Girl from the Ukraine. Yeva was 12 years old when the war began in her city in the Ukraine...she kept a detailed diary by day and time for 28 days, from the sound of the first bomb to her landing in Dublin, Ireland, free at last. The fear, uncertainty, and trauma of the bombings come through powerfully in Yeva's story--all material concerns are nothing compared to the overwhelming need to survive for oneself and one's loved ones.  The kindness of ordinary people who helped her escape Ukraine to Hungary, then to Dublin, restores my faith in humanity.  The ability to connect by mobile phone was a blessing and a curse.  Prayer was a central part of the story--G help us, get us safe.  I (Jim) feel so GRAT...

SEDUCTION Mary Balogh (2009). Then Comes Seduction. This is the 2nd book in the Huxtable series set in the Regency era of England. Jasper Finley, Baron Montford, wagers to seduce Katherine Huxtable in a fortnight, and upon the verge of winning his wager, he stops and confesses his wager to her...later he makes a double wager with Kate, that they will each fall in love with each other--which in time, they do, but not without an intriguing set of seductions. Favorite quotes: Kate: "...decided that love was not safe but that it must be pursued at all costs." (224) There was something very special about Cedarhurst, something that spoke to her soul. She could just sit here forever...Just being. A part of it all." (294) One sound psychological principle for remaking memories: Jasper remakes an old memory (the initial seduction) by creating a similar set of circumstances but with a different, more positive ending (a mutual seduction), thereby superimposing this new memory over ...

POETRY Richard Kennedy (Ed.). (1994). E. E. Cummings Selected Poems. Cummings earned an MA at Harvard in English and the Classics...he was also a professional painter, WWI ambulance driver in France, and nature lover. Cummings' mother encouraged him to keep a journal as a boy...he spent May-Oct (5 months a year) at Joy Farm from the time of his father's death every year. He married 3 of the most beautiful women in the US, the last for 40 years. Cummings' writing style often uses lower case letters, especially in referencing himself as "i"...he uses space on the page to convey nonverbal meaning and delights in word play, puns, intentional misspellings, word breaks, parentheses, rhyme... Most of the poems read like riddles/mysteries to me, they need to be read slowly, even them, some of the poems seem incomprehensible...i remember reading some of his poems as a boy in an english literature class and now i wanted to dig deeper...overall, i am disappointed in this sel...

AT LAST Mary Balogh (2009). At Last Comes Love. This is the 3rd book in Balogh's Huxtable series set in the Regency era of England. Duncan Pennethore (Earl of Sherigford) and Margaret Huxtable are both desperate to be married, but for very different reasons...a serendipitous "crash" into each other at a ball leads to a marriage within 2 weeks...Duncan appears to be a rake, but his story reveals an honorable man willing to sacrifice for others. Some favorite quotes: There were certain moments upon which the whole of the future course of one's life turned...(p.61) I think love is always being put to the test...It bends, but it never breaks. Not if it is real. (p.281) Other days were crammed so full of events that it was impossible to believe so much living could be packed into twenty-four hours.(p.381) Not just "certain moments" but all moments are potentially moments upon which the whole future course of one's life turns; yet, there are particular moment...

M.I.N.D. Emad Mostaque (2025). The Last Economy:  A Guide to                                                    the Age of Intelligent Economics. Mostaque has a BS in Math and Computer Science from Oxford, was a fund manager, and founded Stability AI (retired in 2024). Mostaque predicts that there will be an intelligence inversion in 1K days from the time of the writing...about 3 years, in 2027 [as of my writing this is on 1//3/2026...the time is not far off]. He demonstrates historical changes in power...from land to labor to capital to intelligence. Artifical Intelligence (AI) will replace humans for all knowledge jobs...this can be viewed as a disaster or a liberation....the future (3-30 years) is a time when there will be no more "jobs", firms, or labor for money, rather, our "job" will be to guide AI with wisdom prompts, ex...

CO-INTELLIGENCE Ethan Mollick (2024). Cointelligence: Living and Working with AI . Mollick has an MBA and PhD from MIT, is professor of management at University of Pennsylvania, and is co-director of the Wharton Geerative AI lab at Univ. of Penn. As a professor, Mollick cites plenty of research while providing at times lengthy personal examples of how he uses AI (artifical intelligence...at the time of this writing, mostly Chat GPT 4.0) in teaching, research, and writing. Thematically, Mollick advocates using AI as a co-creator, a partner, a source of co-intelligence to enhance/improve the quality of what we do (he claims an increase of 20-80% productiviety when using AI) while placing human value and judgment as the final step in the process to check the AI for "hallucinations, lies," and questionable ethics.  The future challenge we as humans face is aligning our human values (like survival) with a superintelligent AI. He admits that no one knows with certainty the future ...

AI Marc Gafni (2025). Value is a Feeling and                                          Artifical Intelligence Doesn't Feel Gafni has a PhD in philosophy from Oxford and is an ordained orthodox rabbi. The book is based on a series of talks and is written in an "oral presentation" style. 3 waves of information technology are discussed: 1) social media, beginning in 2010, is designed to hijack user attention, track every keystroke and data input, place one into peer groups based on personal data, and sell this personal information to ad/marketing companies 2)AI catbot uses large language models to simulate huma conversation based on prompts the user provides, creating a "feeling" that one is conversing a real person that is smart, funny, and uses personalized language that shows an familiarity with one's specific interests and personality...ultimately appearing to con...

GIFTofTHERAPY Irvin Yalom (2002). The Gift of Therapy. Yalom is a medical doctor, a psychiatrist, and author of several books. He wrote this book at age 70, wanting to pass on learnings as 'tips for therapists' based on 45 years of clinical practice. He originally had over 200 tips and selected the best 85 tips for this book...there's much wisdom here...unable to summarize all 85 tips but i can share my favorites.  Note to self: reading this at age 65 with almost 45 years of teaching college, i too want to share tips for teaching/learning communication...perhaps a book someday entitled, gift of com. Note on tips: while these tips are designed for therapists, almost all of them can apply to interpersonal and small group relationships. Some of my favorite tips: one of the best ways to get to know someone is ask them to describe their typical daily routine --everything from the time they get up to the time they go to bed (in the therapeutic context, because of increased privac...

LOSE YOUR MIND Robert Sachs (2024). Don't Loose Your Mind:                                             Re-imagining Age and                                            Reclaiming the Place of Elder and Sage. Sachs has a Masters in Social Work and worked in hospice many years and trained in Tibetian Ayurveda; also, author of 9 books on physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. some of the demintia in age 50+ is due to polypharmacies--people 65+ average 6+ prescription meds--advice to review meds with a trusted MD to see what is really needed almost everyone could benefit from: more fruits and veggies  less processed foods and meat to age with grace, spend more: time with the young seek novelty cultivate music (listenin...

RECIPES Laura Archera Huxley (1963, 2021). You Are Not the Target. Laura was a concert violinist and therapist; here she presents 33 ways to inner happiness, or "recipes for living and loving." some starting points: feeling the energies in our bodies allows us to redirect and consciously transform the negative to positive energy a "recipe" is a method to test out in our everyday life...the recipe can be modified to suit the individual and/or circumstance   for practice, my 2 favorite recipes: you are not the target many times we experience negativity from others that is a consequence of a longer causal chain that has little to do with us personally, i.e., we are not the target! we can transform the negative energy by being aware of it and consciouslly contract our muscles (unobtrusive ones like abdominal, or leg, or buttocks...) 10 times quickly...in this way we beautify our bodies by redirecting the negative energy for a positive purpose (like strengthening our abs...

MARRIAGE Mary Balogh (2009). First Comes Marriage. This is the first of 4 books in the Huxtable series set in the Regency era of England. Elliot Wallace is Viscount Lyngate who visits a country village to inform a family that their younger brother is now the Earl of Merton...his 3 sisters follow him to London to learn the ways of polite society...one sister, Vanessa, offers herself to Elliot to save her older sister Meg, and Elliot accepts the marriage of convenience, and in time, they both learn about each other's pain, experience some healing, and begin to cultivate a loving relationship. Favorite quotes: "...only one thing at which he had excelled...He had loved. Always and unconditionally..." (p.4) "Perfection ought to be aimed for...even if it is not always possible to achieve. Anything worth doing ought to be done well." (p.226) "Life is good. Even when good people die far too young and older people betray us, life is good. Life is what we make it. We...

ROAR Don Campbell (1989, 2000). The Roar of Silence: Healing Powers of                                                           Breadth, Tone, and Music. While Campbell studied piano at a conservatory in France, i could not find any educational degree associated with his name, although some sources say he earned degrees in music from University of North Texas. He is the author of more than 20 books, including the Mozart Effect . In this book, he describes his life story and international music career that led to a health crisis and healing through music which became his passion, including drumming, singing, dancing, and music production. Each chapter contains content, meditation, and practice sections. One is encouraged to complete one chapter each week, performing the meditation and practice each day before moving on ...

TRANSFORMATIVE Ralph Metzner (2022, orig. 1997). The Unfolding Self:                                                              Varieties of Transformative Experience Metzner has a PhD in clinical psychology from Harvard and taught at the California Institute for Integral Studies for over 30 years. There is a summary journal article of the book published in 1990 called, Ten Classical Metaphors for Self-Transformation in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology . The sources for the book are east and west religion/spirituality, mythology, philosophy, shamanism, yoga, anthropology, transpersonal and depth psychology...he frames the work as "nonstatical research" and includes many stories, some personal, some from students, some from the sources above. Thesis: consciousness, the field in which thoughts, sen...

PERFECT Mary Balogh (2021). Someone Perfect . This is the last of the 10 books in Balogh's Westcott series set in the Regency era of England. In this novel, Justin Wiley, Earl of Brandon, was banished by his now dead father, returning to take care of his half sister Maria whose friend Lady Estelle Lamarr agrees to help settle her at Everleight Park (her and Justin's childhood home). Justin and Estelle slowly become friends, then lovers, and marry, bringing the two families (Wiley and Lamarr) together. Quotes: Sometimes, just one person can pull a whole family apart [Maria's mother]. And sometimes, it just takes one person [Justin] to pull it back together.  The people who have been central to our lives are always there in us and always will be, even when they are no longer alive and we are not actually thinking about them. She felt herself relax as she brought the whole of her attention back to the scene around her--and in her. For of course she was a part of the scene, rig...

AWESOME Neil Pasricha (2010). The Book of Awesome. Pasricha claims to be a "regular guy" who works an "office job." He started a website after work some time ago called 1000 awesome things. His mom forwarded the site to his dad and soon people started emailing him with their own "awesome things." This book is a collection of those awesome things. The format of the book is a one sentence description of the awesome thing followed by a short (1-2 page) narration, often stories from the author's life that elaborate on the awesome thing. I appreciate how ordinary, simple, fun, and somewhat profound these little "awesome things" are.  Feeling the wonder and beauty of the tiny joys in life is AWESOME! Some of my favorite awesome things from the book: high 5 babies fixing electronics by smaking them hitting a bunch of green lights in a row smell of new crayons licking the batter off the beaters of a cake mixer popping bubble wrap       

  SILENT PLANET C.S. Lewis (1938).  Out of the Silent Planet. Lewis was a professor of literature at Oxford and Cambridge. He wrote 30 books. This is the 1st of 3 books in his space trilogy. Ransom (a professor of philology) is kidnapped by two men and taken to Malacandra (Mars) where he escapes and comes to know the hnau who live in harmony with nature and are guided by the elida (spirit beings). He learns that earth is the "silent planet" and ruled by the "bent one" (evil one). He returns to earth a changed man. We are not the center of the universe and need to live in harmony with nature and others. Practice nurturing harmony with nature: find a plant outside (or if you live in a place without access to nature outside, a plant in a windowsill will do), and do one thing for on behalf of the plant's well being (water, fertilizer, prune, reposition so it get more--or less--sun), place your hand near the heart of the plant and offer a blessing...

PERELANDRA C.S. Lewis (1943). Perelandra . Lewis was a professor at Oxford and Cambridge Colleges specializing in English Literature. This is the 2nd book in his space trilogy. Ransom, a professor and the main character, is sent to Perelandra (the planet Venus), where a new world is beginning. Weston (a rogue scientist) arrives, possessed by a demon, who tempts the Green Lady of Perelandra (symbolizing Eve's temptation in the garden of Eden in the Genesis story)...Ransom defeats the demon after a long struggle and is rewarded with a divine vision. Most of the book is spent in Ransom's head with his thoughts...he's orienting to the topography of the new world, discovering his mission, trying to understand the encounters with the Green Lady, and fighting against the demon (mentally and then physically at the end) we are all tempted in daily life...it takes mindfulness to recognize the temptation, and courage to resist, especially in the small compromises we make...why is it s...

HONOR Mary Balogh (2019). Someone to Honor. This is the 6th book in Balogh's Wescott series. Abigail Wescott (6 years after her father died, she discovers she is an illegitimate daughter) meets Gilbert Bennington (lieutenant colonel raised by a washerwoman mom who rejected the help of his biological wealthy father, whom Gil later reconciles with). After Gil's wife dies in an accident and he returns from battle, he has to fight for the custody of his young daughter Katie. Through extraordinary circumstances, Gil and Abbey are married and obtain custody of Katie. Favorite quotes: I will not give up the treasure I have [Gil to Abbey] because I may not get the one I want. p.272 We will do this together, this living, no matter what the future holds in store for us. The future is the one that we can never plan for, even though we are always trying...We will deal with it... p.272 It was their own piece of heaven...Let's go home. p.324 Who in your life can you do things with...be t...

TIMELESS BUILDING Christopher Alexander (1979). The Timeless Way of Building. Alexander earned the first PhD in architecture from Harvard University, has written several books...his magnus opus being the four-volume set called, Nature of Order...this Timeless building book is the first in a series of three books that were written before the Nature of Order series. The detailed table of contents provides essential principles and a summary of the book...the writing is personal with stories and examples among the 552 pages. the quality without a name brings order from within us, and from that place that is ALIVE in us, we intentionally create the building/space/place, and then sit in the place/space and ask ouselves if it "feels good" (up to 95% agreement is found when people sit in a space and describe if it FEELS good or not)...there are forces within us that seek to be in harmony with the external world around us, and when there is this alignment, we feel alive and at peace w...

NICE Kurt Vonnegut (2015). If This Isn't Nice, What Is? Vonegut never graduated college, yet he took graduate coursework in anthropology...the book is a series of graduation speeches edited by Dan Wakefield. overall, i was disappointed...there is so  much negativity about the world among the few bits of wisdom that shine through...among the bits of wisdom: the code of Hammurabi (king of Babylon 4k years ago) became the rule of societies justifying war, prision, and the death penalty as in an "eye for an eye"...the Hammurabi rules were broken by the love and forgiveness of Jesus of Nazareth, showing that there is another way...unfortunately, most of the world has yet to embrace this "new way" and are still living by the old Hammurabi code.  "Practicing an art...is a way to make your soul grow." p.181   for practice, notice when your life is "going good" and say, "if this isn't nice, what is" (this is a phrase one of Vonnegut'...