Himalya by Michael Palin

Michael Palin’s adventure books are always a joy, they take you to another life at another place. In Himalaya Palin explores an area ancient and remote. He visits a place where religion has existed for over 5000 years.

The book is a Himalaya travel diary of for the BBC show, and really is nothing more than a matter of fact account of what is happening with little spots of wit of all the fun little things that happen when you travel.

As such, Palin’s book is not so much a glorified account of travel as a real one, and lets you know what it is like to be there with him.

He concludes Himalaya reflecting that it is not so much the landscape that made the biggest impression on him, but the simple people who he was forced to rely on, and who took good care of him, so to leave a great memory.

There are a lot of people in the world, and this book opens a window on a few of them.

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The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

I am not sure what to say about the Ultimate sales machine. I picked up the book to try get a look into the mind of a salesman. Someone who is trained to convince people to make decisions, and in effect, convince them as to what is best for them.

Chet’s main point is that whatever you do, use pigheaded discipline and determination to stick to it. This explains a lot about salesman, they are stubborn and persistent. Annoyingly so, distrustingly so.

Chet goes on to describe ways to sell yourself into mainstream media, create information and portray yourself as an expert. He even goes so far as to suggest making tapes that can almost brainwash you, recording things to yourself like “I love cold calling in the morning” with relaxing music in the background. Scary.

As a scientist, if I am a scientist, I believe in doubt and keeping an open mind, you always want to ask questions, you always want to be open to being wrong, to some other new opportunity. This is good for a soul I believe.

Sales is the opposite. In sales you focus on a goal, you consider all the ways someone can say no, and ways to counter them.

I don’t know whether or not to recommend this book. The parts about getting into the media, planning, and eliciting feedback from customers was useful, the rest was annoying, and honestly, I skimmed quite a bit of this book.

Take it for what it is, and I openly say, I don’t mind if I don’t make this sale.

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The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss.

The four hour work week is a guide to a self-driven life. The idea of taking responsibility for and controlling your own life seems simple till you actually do it. If you had 3 million in the bank, what would you actually do? What cause would you pursue? How would you fill your days? How long before lounging around gets old?

It is a new topic, and Tim tackles it in a new style by giving a lot of references and how to. In today's information age I think it is good to see a book that points to websites and other resources that lets you explore the ideas and concepts of the book. As you apply them, you adapt and change them.

In short the key of the book says: Be self-driven and do what matters. Stop postponing your dreams and live them. I have done some of this myself and can say that the power of being in control is overwhelming and just an awesome feeling. Tim describes it as going from the passenger seat to the driver seat. Every human being has great potential to not just accomplish their dreams, but more than their dreams and this is a book that can help you get there.

Check out his website

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For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernst Hemingway

In For Whom The Bell Tolles Ernst Hemingway gives the reader an account of what it is like to work in a gorilla band behind enemy lines. The setting is the 1930s civil war, and you have to blow a bridge while figuring out who to trust in a band that has seen much and has much yet to see.

The novel is crafted in first person and much of it is stream of consciousness. Hemingway does stream of consciousness well and can put you inside the head of several characters creating a vivid empathy.

The book itself centers on themes of the problems with communism, and the uselessness of war. Like The Old Man And the Sea Hemingway’s novel is realistic, and ends with the theme that a man can only find peace when he has neither victories nor defeats to defend, and is alone in the enormity of nature.

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Post Script
Hemingway, something of a notorious drinker, talks much of drinking, and wine in the book. Namely: wine, whiskey, and absinth. It reminded me of when I was in Spain too, in Barcelona. You would order a meal and there would be wine, cold, and drawn from a big barrel in the back of the restaurant. Almost all the wines would be house wines. No wine lists exist there. Sure you could be particular if you wanted to, but the house wine was good, very good. Sometimes it would be in a small half liter decanter, or sometimes the restaurant would fill half a wine bottle full and put a cork in it. Every place was a whole in the wall place, with just a husband, wife, and child. Or sometimes a big burley woman that you could tell could be the boss of anyone. The price was all the same, 3 euros, no matter how much you drank. What a country, what a country indeed. The food would be fried potatoes and fried fish, or gazpacho with lentils. It was very good. Otherwise you could go for tapas, which would be little cubes of fried potato, or some rectangular omelet, or some such thing.
I did try the absinth once, but I think it was too commercial, or too hyped, I don’t know. In my mind I remember it tasting very good, but I really can’t remember. There were these Japanese there, painted with makeup, their hair cropped high, and with colorful unorthodox fashion. They sat quietly and looked down a lot, and said things from time to time. They knew what I didn’t know. That just sharing a drink in a place is what matters, it doesn’t matter what is said, or how you act, as long as you don’t act too much, just that you are there, and in some kind of humble dignity.