blink and any more ?

[AngloBoy 0]

Hi DanielI too am reading Blink at the moment. I have been looking for books to help me balance my life with my poker, and this book is my first step to learning to make better decisions, and trusting my instincts more.I was wondering if you, or anyone else, had any suggestions on good books to help me get some balance and perspective into my life.I find myself focussing too much on the money in poker, and this has definitely limited my enjoyment of the game and made me play MUCH worse.Any and all comments much appreciated.

[nutzbuster 7]

A must read.Hey DN, think you're tired now? How the heck are you gonna do all your stuff and still make time to watch hockey?! DOH!!!IMHO, you need a vacation bro. Take 2 weeks off. Come back better than ever.Always take time to stop and smell the roses buddy.Best to you and Lori. (I grew up in Michigan... and that's why I now live in the desert too!).

[MichaelShakes 0]

This book looks very good. I checked it out at Amazon.com. Very nice pick, I will have to pick a copy up.Any other book you read Dan?

[troyomac 0]

I saw Teddy was reading this in his room, so I asked about it. His roomie Zach had read it too, and it seemed really interesting. I went into a store at the airport and saw it, so I picked it up. So far it's a really great/interesting read.

[nutzbuster 7]

I saw Teddy was reading this in his room, so I asked about it. His roomie Zach had read it too, and it seemed really interesting. I went into a store at the airport and saw it, so I picked it up. So far it's a really great/interesting read.

Rayyyyy!!! sup man. Nice ancient bumpage!I still have my copy right by the nightstand, great pre shut eye reading. Everyone who plays should take a look at this book.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

One book that will make you look differently at your own psyche (and by extension everyone else's) is _Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious_ by Timothy Wilson. He argues that more of our personality is based in the unconscious than we realize, and that sometimes strangers can make more accurate assessments of us than we can, because they pick up on signals we're not consciously aware of (which, of course, is basically the entire idea behind tells, but he expands on this considerably). Also, type "body language" into the search box on Amazon for a whole list of books on that subject.This isn't quite related, but there is a two-CD set called _Creative Mind System_. It mixes light classical/New Age music with inaudible pulses that mimic the alpha brainwaves used in creative thinking. The idea is that as you listen, you will be more focused, more creative, and more tuned-in. I've wondered if it would be useful in poker -- I'm a grantwriter, and I use it when I'm writing the narrative portion of grant applications. I think it works, because I usually get so into the writing that I don't notice it's playing. There's a similar CD called _Ambient Support for Learning, Working, and Creating_. If you use music to help get your game face on, they might help.If you want to read more about being vegetarian or vegan, check out Peter Singer's _The Way We Eat_. Salon.com has a really thought-provoking interview with him here:http://www.salon.com/books/int/2006/05/08/...;aim=/books/intHe's a renowned philosopher, and argues that there is absolutely no rational stance that makes it morally right for us to eat sentient creatures. He also wrote the following quote, which has completely changed the way I look at spending money and the desire to win more of it:In the face of global poverty, our affluent lifestyle is indefensible. We know, or should know, that nearly 30,000 children die every day from avoidable, poverty-related causes. We also know that we can reduce that suffering by donating money to UNICEF, or Oxfam, or other organizations. Consider, for example, the fact that the sum that buys us a meal in a restaurant would be enough to provide basic health care to several children who might otherwise die of easily preventable diseases …. We are not justified in treating the life-and-death interests of these people as if they were outweighed by quite trivial interests of our own. Indulgence in luxury is not morally neutral, and if we spend our money on restaurants, cars, and clothing, but do not give substantial sums – let’s say, 10% of our income – to help those in need, the fact that we have not killed anyone ourselves is not enough to make us morally decent citizens of the world.NOT trying to start a political discussion, or say that everyone should do as he says ... but it's one of the most stunning, straight-to-the-gut paragraphs I've ever read. I was blown away by it, but then again, I work in the nonprofit field, so I'm a sucker for that kind of talk.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

Okay, this isn't about a book at all, nor about poker, and it kind of gives the lie to "not trying to start a political discussion." But it's so compelling I can't _not_ post it. There's another Toronto native who's way high up on my list of people who rock (maybe, yes, even higher than Daniel). It's Stephen Lewis, a former diplomat fired for being too honest. Here's a profile of him:http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?opti...&Itemid=244Read at least the story that opens the article. It's shattering.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

Two books that DO have something to do with improving your mental game:_Playing in the Zone_, Andrew Cooper_Flow in Sports_, Susan Jackson and Mihaly CzsikszentmihalyiAlthough it's not included in this book, Cooper profiled Andy Black for _Shambhala Sun_ a few years ago, on being a poker pro and a Buddhist (former monk).

[TB17 0]

can someone link me to daniel's blog about this? I want to see what he says about it.

[StilettoNole 0]

I am really enjoying this discussion. Sometimes I feel like the poker world is all about making more money, having the nicest watches, and basically being a baller. My personal goals are so far from this, and sometimes I feel as though I might be alone in my thinking in the poker community. Thanks for sharing those links and your thoughts, Souther Buddhist. What do you do in the non-profit world? Though my profession is in the education field, I am very involved in a local non-profit in my community in central Oregon. It is called Rise Up International and its goal is to help empower people to "rise up" out of poverty. We currently have projects (which are run by local people) in Nicaragua, India, and China. We also have created a clothing line to help support the non-profit. All sales of the clothing goes directly to help fund the projects we are working on.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

I'm a grantwriter for the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia. It's not a human-services non-profit, but we operate the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's Blackfriars Playhouse, which was the first indoor playhouse in the English-speaking world. Our mission is "Shakespeare in his natural habitat," which means to produce Shakespeare not in the boring, crushed-velvet, stiff productions that most people have suffered through, but fast, funny, and entertaining -- the way his original audience would have experienced it. We use original staging practices, with the house lights on at all times (as in the original Blackfriars), gender-blind casting, and role doubling (Shakespeare's troupe was never bigger than fifteen actors, yet his plays can have as many as forty characters). We're also perhaps the only true repertory theatre left in America. We perform three or four plays in repertory with the same acting troupe, so you can come to Staunton on Friday, and by Sunday you will have seen three different plays with the same fourteen actors. Most "repertory" theatres either run one play at a time for a few weeks, then a different play; or they run two or three plays at once, but with different casts. We are true repertory -- one cast, three plays, running simultaneously. Our actors are GENIUSES. Can you imagine staging _Macbeth_ on Friday night, _Antony and Cleopatra_ for the Saturday matinee, _Henry V_ Saturday evening, and _The Merchant of Venice_ Sunday? We do it year-round (plays run for about a three-month season, then change -- we stage more Renaissance plays than any other company in the world).Sorry for gushing, but I love this job and this company. I love being a grantwriter, because I love telling the story of what we do.http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com Check it out.I've had to put it off for a year (to write a book), but I have a PBS production that I came up with that I am absolutely determined to get made someday. I have two producers lined up, a budget, a location, and some interest from Oprah Winfrey's production company. I still need to raise the funds for it. This is a human-services, global development project called the World Village Project. It's just an idea of mine at this point, but it is really close to my heart and I am going to get it done.It's a reality series based on PBS's _1900 House_, _Frontier House_, and _Colonial House_, only instead of going back to the past, I'm basing it on those "if the world were a village of 100 people" breakdowns. My goal is to create a village of 25 people, break them up in exactly the way the world is today, and then tell them, "This is your world. Fix it." I want to see them tackle the inequality of income and food, and see if they can create a more equitable, more sustainable world -- and see how it affects Americans to realize just _how_ inequitable this world is.Bear with me, because this is going to be a LONG post, but here is the breakdown I came up with:Demographics of a World VillageIf the world were a village of 25 people, there would be:9 Asians6 Indians3 Africans2 Europeans (1 Eastern, 1 Western)2 South Americans1 Middle Easterner/Arab1 AmericanReligion would be a matter of contention. There are:6 Catholics 5 Muslims4 Atheists/Non-religious3 Hindus3 Buddhists2 Protestants2 Indigenous/animist/otherEight of the villagers are children. Only 2 are older than 65.There are three cars. One person (the American) owns two of them.Seven men work, and five women. With eight children, this leaves five adults unemployed.Only eight (the richest eight) have clean water; the rest do not.A third of the villagers are illiterate, and 20 of the 25 live in substandard housing.The village sits on 136 acres of land. Of those 136 acres, 15.7 acres are crops, 40 acres are forest, and 80 acres are wasteland (housing, desert, and pavement, mostly). The forest is shrinking and the wasteland is growing.Seven acres of crops get 83% of the fertilizer and produce 75% of the food, but that food is not shared equally. Instead, it all goes to the seven richest villagers. The other eighteen people must share the yield from the remaining eight acres, mostly unfertilized and producing only a quarter of the food. One person in the village is starving to death, and the American is obese.The village has a yearly budget of $128,000. The top five get $109,800 of this, which works out to $60 a day. The bottom five get $1,276, which works out to 70 cents a day. Half the population lives on less than two dollars a day. FOR EVERYONE IN THE WORLD TO HAVE A LIFESTYLE LIKE THAT ENJOYED BY AMERICANS, IT WOULD EXHAUST THE RESOURCES OF THREE ADDITIONAL EARTHS.I was inspired in part by an amazing quote from Bill Gates. He told the UN, "I believe that if you took the world and you randomly re-sorted it so that rich people lived next door to poor people – so, for example, people in the United States saw millions of mothers burying babies who had died from measles or malnutrition or pneumonia – they would insist something be done.” He's absolutely right. The World Village Project is my attempt, combined with reality programming, to re-sort the world.Congratulations on the work you do. It sounds awesome. And I know what you mean about wondering if anyone in poker thinks about more than the winnings and the rewards. Obviously Barry Greenstein does, but I know a lot of players do charity tournaments regularly and get involved in causes. I forget which player is involved in chimp rescue, but some have pledged their winnings to cancer research and other causes. Jen Harman organized an ASPCA tournament. At the lower levels, there is probably a lot of concern with building the bankroll, but at the top levels, there are tons of players who love to give back.

[StilettoNole 0]

Wow, that sounds amazing. It is an ambitious project, but one that will likely get some people off their asses. I agree with the idea that most westernized people truly have no idea the extend of the suffering and poverty of other people. And that if they were to see it first hand (or better yet, experience, gasp!) it, that they would change their lifestyle. May we continue to be foolish enough to think that change can happen!

[Southern Buddhist 1]

Wow, that sounds amazing. It is an ambitious project, but one that will likely get some people off their asses. I agree with the idea that most westernized people truly have no idea the extend of the suffering and poverty of other people. And that if they were to see it first hand (or better yet, experience, gasp!) it, that they would change their lifestyle. May we continue to be foolish enough to think that change can happen!

Thanks! I can't personally save the Third World, but if I can change the way Americans think about it, and how we think about our place in the world, then I'll have done what I could.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

can someone link me to daniel's blog about this? I want to see what he says about it.

The original post that started this thread is dated July 2005. I figure it must have been mentioned around that time, but since you asked I looked at all the blogs a month before and a month after that date. Sorry, but I didn't find it. Does anyone else remember?

[Southern Buddhist 1]

Also, I should have mentioned that some people strongly prefer anonymous or quiet giving. NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt tithed his multi-million dollar income to the Lutheran church, but most people don't know that. In 20 years of doing thousands of interviews a year, he mentioned it exactly once. And in addition to the tithe, he gave all the time -- whenever he saw a need, he just stepped up. Some drivers don't give a penny without calling a press conference about it, but it was important to Dale that his charity always be very quiet. There's a Bible verse from Matthew, which Earnhardt took very seriously:

5And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

I'm an optimist about human nature, so I'm going to say that, despite the egos, maybe poker is full of quiet givers (see Nutzbuster's sig file quote, which comes from Balloon Guy).

[Southern Buddhist 1]

I'm a dope. It's actually this verse that's to the point (and also the source of a common saying):

1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.