Have You "Met" Gretchen Rubin?

I first encountered Gretchen's writing in Real Simple magazine in about 2010, where she made a really useful distinction that really struck a chord with me:

There are two types of decision makers. Satisficers... make a decision once their criteria are met. Maximizers want to make the best possible decisino. Even if they see a bicycle or a backpack that meets their requirements, they can't make a decision until they've examined every option. Satisficers tend to be happier than maximizers. Maximizers expend more time and energy reaching decisions, and they're often anxious about their choices. Sometimes good enough is good enough.

With this, she caught my attention, and I went on to read her first book, The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. I'm sure some would categorize this (and her more recent books) as a "Self-Help" book, but I think it's more of a "practical memoir". She decided to challenge herself with a project in which she would apply in a very tangible way the results of her studies on what makes people happier. The result is a humorous and memoir, with a lots of useful tidbits of inspiration and information that are very applicable to the lives of ordinary human beings like us. I appreciate the breadth of her research (everything from Aristotle's wisdom through the most modern research). I also found that she approaches a subject with humility, balance, and openness to the truth.

And, of course, I couldn't help but appreciate, from her secular point of view, the advice she gives that everyone needs a spiritual guru - and hers is St. Therese of Lisieux!

I must admit that I am behind by a book. I have not yet read her second "practical memoir", Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon Self-Control, and My Other Experiments in Everyday Life.

Yesterday, she released the third book along these lines, which I have now in my possession and am most eager to read, Better Than Before, Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives.  I've only managed a quick peek so far, but it looks excellent.

P.S. I also enjoy her blog, GretchenRubin.com


Oh yeah, and "Enthusiasm is a form of social courage." - Gretchen Rubin  :)

Memoirs I've Read Recently

I have always been fascinated by people, and so memoirs, biographies, conversion stories, pop psychology, educational theory and such are some favorite reading categories for me.

A Grief Unveiled: One Father's Journey Through the Death of a Child (15 Years Later) by Gregory Floyd

This an extremely, almost uncomfortably, intimate relating of the grief of a dad and his family over the loss of his six year old son in a car accident. Comes from a profoundly Catholic perspective. What I found perhaps most interesting was the "15 Years Later" part, in which each family member reflects back on their son and brother and what he has meant to them, even after death.

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachia Trail by Bill Bryson

Entertaining, edifying, educational, and sometimes a little crude, Bill Bryson paints a picture of a rather hidden part of our world while relating the story of his adventures along a substantial portion of the Appalachian Trail. I found his commentaries on how people today (and in the past) tend to interact with and treat nature to be thoughtful and balanced.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

This was an engrossing, heart-wrenching - and at times depressing - memoir of a young woman whose life is torn apart by the untimely death of her beloved mother. After four years of destructive behavior (extreme promiscuity, drug experimentation, etc.), she sets off for a solo three-month hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, through California and Oregon, to try to "find her way".

I enjoy memoirs partly because their perspective is different than my own. That is certainly the case here, where, for example she justifies her own abortion because of her mother's difficult history. But these differences bring into sharper focus the parts I especially relate to, such as an understated and touching theme of reverence that runs throughout the book.


Mature content.


Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies by J.B. West

In watching a DVD on White House history a few years ago, I became fascinated by the human stories behind the presidency, which were told primarily through the staff. (I think it was National Geographic: Inside the White House - oops! I sat down and watched this one and it was interesting, but not the same one). So when this book showed up on BookBub (which is a subject for a different post), I jumped on it. I was not disappointed. It was a welcome diversion during a sick week. J.B. West was a White House usher (and chief usher for many of those years) from 1941-1967, who shares interesting and very human insights into the presidents (FDR thru Nixon) and their families, as well as a substantial bit of history surrounding them and their temporary home. Not a must-read, but a good read.