2022 has passed and it’s time to do some cleaning up and recap. Since I’ve implemented my book tracker system, I’ve been taking a more structural approach to manage my learnings (notes, to-do-next, rating, time spent on each book, time-to-revisit, etc). Here’s a quick glance at what I enjoyed most last year.
Time is medicine
Time is medicine is written by Hiruma Eiko, a Guiness-certified oldest pharmacist to prescribe advice for life’s challenges, leveraging from her experiences through war, poverty, hard work, the sudden death of her son and her progressing age. Not just a pharmacist in a neighboring corner store, she is regarded as the community’s counselor, someone who can give an ear to what’s troubling people. She positions her pharmacy as a refueling stop for those who feel beaten down in every stage of their lives. Looking back at her life, she feels that it’s better to focus on the “shining fragments” in past sufferings. Hiruma’s encouraging words have brightened up many customers in the last few decades, so when she had an accident in 2020 and was forced to retire at home, it was her customers’ outpouring support that gave her the determination to rehab and return to the pharmacy. What I find most inspiring is her young-at-heart attitude. At 97, she continues to learn new things (technology, new drugs and regulations, changing social norms, etc.) to keep up with the modern era. She rejects leaning on the past while dismissing the present. For her to connect with the people she engages with everyday, she strives to live in the same reality as them.
If you throw everything away
ぜんぶ、すてれば (If you throw everything away) was written by Yoshihisa Nakano, the ex-CEO of Terrada Warehouse in Tokyo who transformed an obsolete rice storage business into a highly acclaimed and hip district for artists and wine/antique collectors. Nakano’s career is made up of a series of brisk, daring and decisive actions. His motto is to always start fresh and light everyday without grasping onto anything. Make your decision based on today’s direct observation, instead of past success or failure. Always leave empty space (regarding time, mind, surrounding) wherever you go so you can respond to impromptu opportunities, because it’s only by letting go that you have the spare capacity to gain what you want. In a society that is moving towards more volatility and uncertainty, Nakano advises that you will never be fully prepared, but you should be independent and make your own decision in every moment aftehr having first hand exposure in the field. I deeply admire his energy at this age (78) as well as his relentless drive/humility to always reimagine himself.
The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail
The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail by Ray Dalio provides a brief review of world history from the last few centuries, the political and economic cycles that came and went repetitively, and how the super powers (specifically, Netherlands, Britain, the US) emerged. Following his “distillation” tradition in the original Principles, Dalio and his team collected and analyzed historical data in different areas, and abstracted key driving factors (which he termed “key determinants) that formed recognizable patterns that contributed to these nations’ fate. These determinants (education, innovation and tech, cost competitiveness, military strength, trade, economic output, markets and financial center, reserve currency status) come into play during different phases of a country’s trajectory, committing to its rise and decline. It’s nice reminder of the saying that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This book provides a good mental model for forecasting where the global economy is heading as well as insights on where to invest, although I’d love to see more evidence on how Dalio’s team sourced the data and the underlying math models. This book is very heavy on charts and thus is better reserved for picking up a printed instead of Kindle copy.
Balacing the heart - tips from a 100-year-old psychiatrist
100歳の精神科医が見つけた――こころの匙加減 - 100-year-old psychiatrist Yoshie Takahashi dishes out advice she learnt from her decades of practice. The title takes an analogy of life being like the doctor adjusting a spoon of medicine or using condiments while cooking, it’s a fine balancing art of not too much, not too little but just enough for the current situation. She also shared a moment during her rehab after thigh fracture. She said the first time she went back to work, the most demanding step was the first step she took up the stairs. She had to exercise massive willpower to overcome that little step, but once it was over, the other steps followed automatically. She explained that it’s often the fear of the first step that’s blocking our potential progress. Looking back at her century, the centenarian doctor credited her long career to being action-oriented enough to unlock opportunities through fearlessly doing what should be done.
秋园
秋园 is a true survival story spanning 2 generations in 20th century China. Both the mother and daughter didn’t succumb to all the misfortunate life threw randomly at them, but always found a way to survive and improve their standing. One phrase from the mom that strikes me the most was “we won’t cry as it’s futile, so don’t waste any time crying”. For them, to keep your head up in drowning water was something they did everyday, as there’s always a way out when you could simply breath. Resilience trumps everything. They didn’t waste any time indulging in feelings or grudging but whenever they saw any hope, they seized on that to briskly move out of their present trap. What I appreciate most is their neverending strength in the story. This family isn’t any historical hero figure in the traditional sense, but their lives radiate much bigger energy than others. At first glance, they seemed to be passively accepting life’s injustice, but upon closer inspection you saw that each of their reaction was a conscious choice to get better. They never victimized themselves and stayed helpless, but always believed in their ability to get better wherever they went. That already makes them heroines in my book!
Ryokan Interpreted
Ryokan Interpreted by Shohaku Okumura is an examination of the life and philosophy of the Japanese wandering monk Ryokan, who shunned belonging to a particular sect by living in a humble hut. For him, there was no separate recital of sutra, rather, he lived out his life as the sutra. To live by a vow is to consistently moving towards an unattainable goal, which serves as beacon. Instead of viewing it as the destination, your everyday action to move towards that goal is the destination itself. This book taught me that instead of high talks, there’s nothing truer or more important than what you do with your daily life.
The Forgotten Japanese: Encounters with Rural Life and Folklore
The Forgotten Japanese: Encounters with Rural Life and Folklore was written by folklore scholar Miyamoto Tsuneichi, chronicling the hidden side of Japan in the early 20th century. When we think of Japan, usually the glittering Shinjuku, the anime heaven Akihabara, or the ancient temples of Kyoto or Nara first jump to our mind. Turns out there is a completely different world there. Reading Miyamoto’s book, I have a feeling of viewing a parallel world that has long been obliterated unwrapping before my eyes. When the other world was an express train rushing towards the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, this world where Miyamoto immersed in, was still using pack horses to transport goods along narrow mountain paths, and people singing rice seedling songs in the field. But Miyamoto wasn’t merely a transcriber of the past. Utilizing his own farming experience, he was quick to spot problems wherever he visited, and offered to bridge the villagers to government organizations who could provide much needed resources. He was obviously an outsider from Tokyo but he lived on the villagers’ terms and didn’t use a metropolitan lens to scrutinize their behaviors and impose his value systems on his subjects. The non-judgmental and neutral tone makes this book a pleasure to read, and is something we can learn a thing or two from when doing user research in designing products. The book also offered valuable recordings of how contemporary society (governance, distribution of duties, social behaviors, rituals, etc.) functioned in the villages.
The Drowned and the Saved
The Drowned and the Saved, reviewed in my previous post. A very heavy read but I appreciate the honest and cold dissertion in moral fluidity, especially during distress.