Reflection on On Trails by Robert Moor

              This was a really cool book recommended to me by a friend. It is all about paths and offers interesting perspectives on ecology and geography. I didn’t take too many notes, but the most profound thing I got from this book is that trails are key to life. In a forest, the spiral instinct kicks in when people are lost, so that without landmarks, the average lost hiker will move no further than 100 yards from where they got lost. Instead of going far in one direction, people will move around spiraling in circles for hours. I think this applies well to knowledge versus information. Information is a forest, and knowledge is a trail. You move nowhere when lost in tons of information, but with knowledge you can go far.

Reflection on The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (also Christopher Tolkien) and Illustrated by Ted Naismith

              The Silmarillion is a tough but worthwhile read for a fan of Tolkien’s other works, in my case The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The book has five sections: the Ainuindale and the Valaquenta cover the beginning and creation of the world, the Quenta Silmarillion covers the Silmarils, the Akallabeth covers the rise and fall of Numenor, and the section “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age” gives background story about The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The problem is that the Quenta Silmarillion, by far the longest section of the book, is also the most difficult by far to get through. Tolkien uses endless names and places that are difficult to decipher and the text does not read like his other novels. That was definitely a negative in reading this. That said, it’s really a must-read book for any serious Tolkien fan.

Reflection on Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood by Donovan Campbell

              This was a great book to read before going to OCS. It’s all about a Marine infantry platoon in Iraq in 2004 and the story is told by their Lieutenant who authored the book. It explains really well all the basics of military organization and life and for that it was very useful to me. A lot of life lessons are universally applicable, like this one: “Marines could accept even the harshest punishment with equanimity provided that 1) they understood the rules well in advance of the infringement, 2) they felt that the mandated sentence was appropriate for the misdeed, and 3) they were confident that you, as the punishment's administrator, would have doled out the same penalty to anyone else in their situation.” It seems like a fair and smart way to lead in any capacity. The book, like any book about the war in Iraq, reveals the futility of that war. It quickly became a matter of just getting all of his men out alive, which meant that the mission was no longer the primary focus. No one was prepared to fight as hard as the Iraqi insurgents and the presence of Americans only served to draw in more fighting and violence. It is incredibly sad that America sacrificed its best to a doomed war. Their bravery is inspiring and they were truly determined to serve their country even though we put them in a terrible situation.

Reflection on Boys and Sex: Young Men on Hookups, Love, Porn, Consent, and Navigating the New Masculinity by Peggy Orenstein

              I read Peggy Orenstein’s book Girls and Sex several years ago (2017 I think) and I was very impressed. She went around the United States interviewing girls about taboo sexual subject, how they felt about hookup culture, and all sorts of things that affect young women in that context. At the time I thought that I would really enjoy reading a version of that book for boys. Well that version finally came out and it is an excellent companion to the first. I would highly recommend reading both books to people interested in the effects of hookup culture, especially young people like myself from high school to a post-college age.

              One of the really good improvements Orenstein makes in this book is broadening her focus outside of cis-gendered, heterosexual relationships. I found it interesting that one of the reasons that there are often huge age gaps in relationships between gay teenagers and adult men is because gay teenagers can’t find each other as easily and resort to seeing older men. I also learned that there is more openness in gay culture because, as author Dan Savage writes (quoted in the book), gay men tend to use the “four magic words,” which are “what are you into?” Because not all gay men want to be penetrated or penetrate, they will generally communicate this to each other. This sort of thing would definitely be very good for heterosexual relationships and it gives people an opportunity to connect more deeply with someone and understand better each others’ likes and dislikes before sex. Orenstein also covers transgender boys and men, who have experience on both sides of gender, which gives them a unique perspective. On my kindle, this book was barely over 200 pages and is a quick and interesting read. Five stars.


Miscellaneous Facts:

• Orenstein writes that for men, the overlap between blood flow to the genitals and “turned-on” feelings is only 50 percent, yet for women it is only 10 percent.

Reflection on Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Minds and Defy the Odds by David Goggins

The author of this book is a retired Navy SEAL named David Goggins who has also run ultramarathons, triathlons, and lots of other crazy shit, pushing his mind and body to the absolute limits that they can reach. To be honest, he’s insane, and that can be a little discouraging because I don’t think I really want to be where he is mentally. He really doesn’t talk much about his relationships with women and he is obsessed with masculinity in a way that swerves into unhealthy territory. On the other hand, Goggins also has excellent perspective. I think the best passage of the book comes when he talks about what to do when you become triumphant and a master of your own body and mind:

“You can push yourself to a place that is beyond the current capability of temporal mindset of the people you work with, and that’s okay. Just know that your supposed superiority is a figment of your own ego. So don’t lord it over them, because it won’t help you advance as a team or as an individual in your field. Instead of getting angry that your colleagues can’t keep up, help pick your colleagues up and bring them with you!”

What is most incredible about Goggins is that he fails constantly, over and over again in pursuit of his goals. His determination is extremely unusual and something any person should emulate.

Reflection on The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s by Andy Greene

              I loved this book! It is the coolest oral history of The Office I’ve ever read though it is also the only one I’ve ever read. I think that is because it is the only thing of its kind in existence. I would also recommend (the much much shorter) Conference Room, Five Minutes by Shea Serrano, but that’s just essays inspired by The Office. If you really want to know all the best trivia and info about how the show was made, Andy Greene is your guy. I think he interviewed 86 people among the cast, crew, and writers who made it all happen. The biggest strength of the book is in how Greene lets the people involved do the talking. The oral history format works really, really well.

              One of the most interesting things I learned (among many interesting things) was that Steve Carrell ended up leaving the show feeling disrespected by the producers and NBC. Apparently he let slip in an interview that he was thinking about leaving and then got no response from anyone. No one ever checked in with him about that and it rubbed him the wrong way. NBC apparently was very bad at talent management in those years and it’s still kind of unclear who’s responsibility it was. The only sure thing is that it really hurt the show. It’s worth noting though that showrunner Greg Daniels had already left after season five to focus on Parks and Recreation and didn’t return until season nine. The thought I had when I read this was that David Wallace should have become the replacement for Michael. They struggled a lot with who to bring in but also didn’t want to change the dynamic of the show by promoting someone from within. I think David Wallace would have been a good compromise.



Miscellaneous Facts:

• Rainn Wilson auditioned for both Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute
• They wanted to cast Peter Dinklage as “a dwarf or midget” named Anton, which I think would not have been tastefully done in 2003.
• Jenna Fischer was married to James Gunn, who went on to direct the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
• Phyllis Smith (who played Phyllis) was a casting assistant to Allison Jones, the director of casting, who put her in the show.
• Originally, Chili’s was upset about the script for the Season 2 opener, in which Pam was gonna vomit all over the bar. Instead, they had her fall off her stool and get kicked out for sneaking drinks from other tables. That change was Steve Carrell’s idea and stopped Chili’s from pulling out of the episode.
• Jim was originally the only talking head with a window behind him while the others faced the bullpen. That symbolized that he had a future. Pam eventually joined him on that side.
• Michael Scott’s condo is at 7303 Bonnie Place in Reseda, California.
• Jen Celotta, a major showrunner thought about having an episode with Phyllis going through menopause. I think that would’ve been a good idea and it’s a shame they didn’t do it. The fact that they didn’t reminds me of the book Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez that I just read.
• The very famous scene when Dwight simulates a fire in the office was made for premiere after the Super Bowl, to draw in viewers. What a good idea.
• Jenna Fisher said that when she got to say goodbye as Pam to Michael and the mics cut out, she “told him all the ways I was going to miss him when he left our show. Those were real tears and a real goodbye.”
• An idea was pitched to replace Michael that Queen Latifah be brought in as the boss and that she would slowly fire and replace everyone with black comedians and it would become the black office. I think that idea is super funny but it was not favored in the writers’ room.
• Originally it was thought that they were going to use the new cast from later seasons to reboot the show but that idea was abandoned in season nine when Greg Daniels and NBC decided to end it. The end of the show was announced when Bryan Cranston was on set directing the “Work Bus” episode.

Reflection on Invisible Women, Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

              In this excellent book, the author convincingly proves that the world is largely designed for men. So much of the way we think and live is with men as the default and it has negative effects on women in basically every single aspect of life, from labor laws to medical care and from bus routes to toilet stalls. For example, is it really fair to dedicate equal space to men’s and women’s bathrooms? We have all seen situations with women waiting in long lines for the bathroom while men go in and out with ease. Women have more to do if they are changing pads/tampons, taking care of children, or are elderly and disabled (the majority of elderly and disabled are women). As a result of these many factors, women take up to 2.3 times as long to use the bathroom. These are sorts of indirect discrimination or “gender neutral discrimination) that make life more difficult for women than men. Another example is seat belts, which are not designed for women! Federal regulations only require that car companies test their cars’ safety with the average male height and weight crash test dummies, and women are significantly more likely to be injured in car crashes. It’s even worse if they’re pregnant. That’s probably an example of a lack on women in leadership to step in and point out the problem to the males who are making and enforcing regulations like these. I would definitely recommend this book, it’s very complete and convincing.