What I learned from
I’m done reading A.J. Jacobs’ The Know It All. It was a good book- definitely entertaining. I’m not planning on reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica, but its nice to know that I won’t be spending a year reading 33,000 pages, 44 million words, and 10 billion years of history.
However here are some key points I would like to remember from it:
- This too shall pass - everything has an end- except for God, but I can’t really prove that
- Focus on the good stuff - be positive, love life and enjoy it while it lasts, there is something magical about every moment
- History contradicts itself and people are hypocrites - just accept it and move on
- Say yes to adventures or you’ll have a dull life
- Knowledge and intelligence are different
- Pursue the joy of learning
If you have a couple of hours I encourage you to check out his book. I recommend reading the book and not the encyclopedia. Reference books should be used just like that… as a reference.
The Master Key To Riches By Napoleon Hill
I’ve been reading the Master Key to Riches by Napoleon Hill. It’s fascinating and I want to do my best to absorb the information. One way for me is to write out what I’m thinking and take notes. It’s been an interesting read thus far and I encourage you to check one out for yourself.
Here are my notes for chapter one:
The Twelve Riches of Life
- There is a “Master Key” to the twelve riches (pg. 15)
- There are two beings in every individual- the pessimist and optimist (pg.16-17)
- The greatest gift is the Master Key(pg. 18)
- The Master Key is the knowledge to acquire all riches through the expression of your own personal initiative (pg. 18)
- The Twelve Riches are the following
- A Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) - the foundation to the other riches (pg. 19)
- Sound Physical Health
- Harmony in Human Relationships
- Freedom from Fear
- Fear of poverty
- Fear of criticism
- Fear of ill health
- Fear of loss of love
- Fear of loss of liberty
- Fear of old age
- Fear of death
- The Hope of Acheivement
- The Capacity for Faith
- Willingness to Share One’s Blessings
- A Labor of Love
- An Open Mind on All Subjects
- Self-discipline
- The Capacity to Understand People - Understanding that that all activities are inspired by one or more of the nine basic motives of life
- Emotion of love
- Emotion of sex
- Desire for material gain
- Desire for self-preservation
- Desire for freedom of body and mind
- Desire for self-expression
- Desire for perpetuation of life after death
- Emotion of anger
- Emotion of fear
- Economics Security
That’s the basic outline of chapter one. It’s interesting to read, however the English usage in it is 40 years old so sometimes its difficult to focus. What are your thoughts about wealth?
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