Joe Ahearn > Recent Status Updates

I’ve had this concept, the Bases for Success, stuck in my mind ever since a friend gave a talk on the topic before a guided meditation. I’m spoken with him about it frequently, and when he went to visit the monastery that this author teaches at in California, he brought me back this book.

I’ve only read the intro so far, but the idea that mindfulness is a skill that you can excel at is really interesting.

Enjoying learning about the history of piracy in Sweden and how the political activism around the freedom (i.e. librated from the music industry, not stripped of value) unfortunately set the stage for Spotify’s rise.

Just started and this book is already full of gems. I’ve heard Liz Pelly give a handful of interviews so I knew that I know the top level talking points but even in the first five pages there are all kinds of great details.

In the first chapter about piracy, there’s already so many neat anecdotes about artists and corporate activities during this time I never knew about.

The chapter I’m reading now is all about how events need specific, disputable purposes to meaningfully connect with people. The trick isn’t to make an event as accessible as possible but to make it as intentional as possible. That’s what makes it attractive and memorable—it needs to be about something.

This book made me rethink gatherings and rituals. It highlights how rituals, while valuable, can sometimes overshadow the purpose of a gathering. It inspired me to ask: What are events for? For event organizers, this question can spark fresh connections. The book also reminds us to reexamine the link between form and purpose, ensuring rituals truly serve their intended goals. Insightful and thought-provoking!

Really beautiful illustrations, lovingly plunging the reader into a world submerged in isolation and research.

Learning about the role of games in war for the Olmecs, and the relationship between games and the rise of the political class for the Aztecs and the Maya.

Just finished a section on Aztec, Inca, and Maya societies under the chapter "Why The State has no origin," and it ends by specifically addressing the freedom available to those living in the Post-Classical period of the Maya, and how it is frequently overlooked because it had less opulent artistic output, but was potentially far better off for the general citizen.

This book is really easy and fun to read, but it's so densely packed with interesting ideas to think about that I find it hard to move quickly. I want to sit with every paragraph for awhile and just wade in the implications.

I keep catching Maggie using the term (Argo) at the end of sentences. There is a poetic non-linear-ness to the prose that I really identify with. This is how I think and talk and write as well, and get a lot of flack for it, so I'm heartened to see it represented here.

Took me awhile to figure out how to use the quotes, but now I've finally got the hang out it. It feels like a book of notes, so I can't necessarily get in the flow, but it gives me a lot of intellectual ideas about relationships to play with.