If you were to ask different people a question – any question really – you would likely get different answers. Why? The answers would be based on, at a minimum, the knowledge and philosophy of that person. As no two people are quite the same, this would apply to their thinking and response to your questions.

Continuing this logic, if you were to ask one person a single question, you would expect only one answer. Right? One, not 27. The multitude of answers to one particular question, how to live, is the premise of the book aptly titled, How to Live by Derek Sivers.

Sivers is a serial entrepreneur, author and musician whom many people know as the creator of CD Baby. I have been following him and his blog for years, where he shares his opinions on business, tech and life, especially as he has lived in many countries around the world. When How to Live came out, I was intrigued by the topic and picked up a copy from his Web site as he self-published and self-distributed the book.

With a subtitle of “27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion” the book lives up to it, with thorough, well thought-out answers that range in extremes from “do nothing” to “make change” to everything in between. As I read through the answers, I had many takeaways from the book.

It’s good to see things from multiple points of views – This is something that I have recollections of, where I saw all sides of an issue and was able to work a situation to my advantage. On the flip side, there were times I didn’t see an issue from all sides and it came back to bite me or worse yet be an opportunity that slipped away.

The impact of change is relative – When I moved from Boston to Chicago, a friend opined I must have great courage to up and move as I did. I chuckled and responded that it wasn’t courage as much as a desire for a change of scenery, something both my wife and I sought out in our quest to the US Midwest. As I read through the answers in this book, I thought of this and even did a rough measurement of what the impact of might actually be of the answers.

Seek advice but make it your own – I recall a certain comedian/actor known for promoting a certain brand of pudding snacks once saying that when you give someone advice it is now theirs, and what they do with it is up to them and not on you the giver. In all of the answers in How to Live it provides a plethora of suggestions for what you can do, though likely you wouldn’t follow each to the letter.

How to Live is a short (~120 pages), quick and enjoyable read, and one that will get you thinking. Thinking not only of options of how to live your life, but the effort and thought process that went into writing such a book. It’s a good book for anyone to read from teens to well-beyond-teens. As I share all books, I am leaving this at Stateview Commons, the co-working space I currently work from. Perhaps one of my fellow co-workers will find it as interesting as well.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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For most people, where we are today is not where we were just a few years ago. For most, it is a state of mind, and a mind processing things we could have never anticipated. For some, they are physically in a different place, moving as a result of lockdowns and other personal reasons.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard – or said myself – that life is a journey, I would be on the beach right now and not gazing out at snow outside my window, but I digress. For as repetitive as it sounds, at least I need to keep hearing it, especially as a reminder when things are not going well or just outright suck.

In my mind, one of the best to say this is Adam J. Kurtz. He is the creative mind behind 1 Page At a Time and Things Are What You Make Them. Both are books to get you to think and the former is chock full of creative prompts. I am a big fan of AdamJK (for short), and when it was announced last year I pre-ordered his latest book, You Are Here *For Now.

You Are Here *For Now is a collection of short essays, quotes and art. Where at first glance it can be thought of as a self-help guide, I see it more of notes from a friend who is trying to help you go through the same crap as you are. As I have insightful family and friends that I am always taking away advice from, I have takeaways from this book too.

Pause – This is something this short-fused, 100% Italian-American needs to a lot more of. Maybe that pause is a deep breath or a walk along Lake Michigan (a favorite of mine when I lived in Chicago) or whatever works for you. A pause gives you time to think, get your heart rate down a little, and be more prepared for what you now have to deal with.

Hard But Not Impossible – Life is hard, sure, but not always impossible. In a world where waiting 30 seconds for food to heat in the microwave seems like an eternity, we need to adjust our thinking to better approach the hard work needed. The quotes and pictures in this book are a nice departure from simply a text narrative trying to motivate us.

It Won’t Last – Yes, Virginia, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and what we’re going through right now will come to an end. Granted what’s next could even be worse, or it could be better. We’ll never know until we get there.

You Are Here *For Now is a pocket-sized book and one where you can easily rip out the pages and hang them up or give them to others. As a fan of AdamJK’s work, it should come as no surprise that I recommend you to pick up a copy of this book. Because I pre-ordered the book, I got this “Find Your Way” stationary kit, pictured below. Click on the picture or this link to see the photo of the kit full-sized. I wish when I was in college I had an eraser that was inscribed with, “I literally don’t know what I am doing!”

As I give away all books I read, including this one, I have earmarked it for Matt, a long-time reader and commenter here at The Hot Iron. I will send it to him as soon as he contacts me and tells me the best address to send it to.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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In a time of non-stop 24/7 sports coverage it’s hard to imagine this has not always been the case. I have to go back to my childhood to recall this, before getting cable TV and that little cable channel created by a former local sportscaster from my area called the Entertainment Sports Programming network, or ESPN for short. Prior to the late 70’s you literally had to be there to see the finer details of a game beyond the radio broadcasts and occasional local TV coverage.

This is why books like The Most Memorable Games in Patriots History are not only important but highly nostalgic. The core of the book is literally play-by-play of 10 games over the history of the New England Patriots football team. The narrative is by the authors Jim Baker and Bernie Corbett, heavily complimented with interviews and short pieces from many of the players and people at these games. It is a very detailed story of a sports team that almost wasn’t, and one nobody thought would be the global sports dynasty it is today.

As this Patriots fan read the jam-packed pages of this book, these are some of the many takeaways I had.

Unknown Facts – As the team began playing before I was born, I was expecting to learn a few minor details about the early days. A major one was that the Boston Patriots (as they were then known) and Boston Red Sox baseball team could have built and moved into a retractable roof stadium in 1964. In order for that to happen, the Massachusetts legislature wanted long-term commitments from all of the major sports teams to stay in the capital city. However the deal never happened as the Boston Bruins hockey team wanted more of the Boston Celtics concessions money. What could have been!

It Started in Foxboro – The concept of selling the naming rights to sports stadiums is commonplace today, and the first-ever corporate named stadium was the first permanent home of the Patriots. The team was building a new stadium in the town of Foxboro, Massachusetts, about a half-hour south of Boston, and they were short on funds. Rather than outright ask for more money, founding owner Billy Sullivan offered to sell to Schaefer Beer the naming rights to the eventual Schaefer Stadium. Thus a trend was started in sports which many people are less than keen on. And before I hear from Chicago Cubs fans, the Wrigley Gum family owned the Cubs.

Early, Gritty Days – The big-money that swirls around professional sports today was hardly the case in the early days of football and most other sports as well. The Patriots almost weren’t a team due to financing and played home games in various stadiums around the Boston area – even in the state of Alabama – before opening their own low-budget home field over a decade later after their American Football League merged into the National Football League, or NFL, and required them to. Player salaries were nothing like they are today, and most players had jobs outside of the sport in order to live. These stories are woven throughout tales of early games.

Despite my allegiance to the team, I came into this book with an open mind – it wasn’t going to be awesome simply because it was about the Pats. Fortunately I wasn’t disappointed. The stories of the specific games were extremely detailed and told as play-by-play announcers would on a broadcast. The quotes from past players, ownership and sportswriters added greatly to the feeling for those games. In between each game story were “appendices,” full chapters in themselves, detailing stats and other detailed information related to the Patriots and all of the NFL.

The Most Memorable Games in Patriots History was published in 2012, and has not been updated. I got the book sent to me by a book publisher back then as I got a lot of books because I was blogging about a lot of books I read. Yes, I held onto this for almost a decade, and after finishing it I wish I had read it earlier. I recommend this book to Patriots fans of all types and interest levels, as well as anyone who follows football and has an appreciation for such detail. As for my copy of the book, I am sending it to a friend who has an appreciation for the nuance and details of the teams and their games, as well as their stadiums.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Many terms can apply to political institutions throughout the world – some I can say here on this blog, some I choose not to. One word can apply to them all, a word which I have observed myself personally – tradition. Whether for everyone or just for those who hold office themselves, activities have happened in these legislative bodies over the years that continue throughout their existence.

A tradition in the US Senate is where Senators sign the drawer of their desk in the Senate chamber. One desk is number 88, which has been occupied by members of the Democratic party. The current occupant of the desk, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, wrote a book several years back about some of the people who preceded him there in the aptly titled Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America.

When I, someone who does not align with any political persuasion, received this book from a friend who is closely aligned in political ideology with the Senators in the book, I was intrigued about what I would learn and, of course, take away from the stories.

History through a partisan lens – Senator Brown is a progressive Democrat and he doesn't hide that fact. That being said, I was able to separate historical details and tales from his opinion and did learn about the individuals who sat at this desk over the years. What I read also inspired me to do other research on these Senators outside of the book. As I digested these stories from the book, I was reminded of another book I read, The Fight for the Four Freedoms, which was written by a college professor who also had strong political opinion woven through its pages.

A former KKK member was on the Supreme Court – Senator Hugo Black of Alabama, who was later nominated to the US Supreme Court by President Franklin Roosevelt, was previously a member of the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK as it’s abbreviated. In his story, Brown opens stating Black’s membership, saying political motivation drove him and said Black didn’t really have a choice in order to fulfill him political ambitions. Clearly I don’t buy that justification! Black most certainly had a choice not to join a domestic terrorism organization. As this book was written in the early days of the cancel culture that has sadly permeated our society, to simply gloss over Black’s one-time membership in the Klan, though he later renounced it, is hypocritical.

A fitting bible quote – I noted the following bible quote from the book, "for they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind." - Hosea 8:7. This is very applicable for the spin and churn that goes on daily in Washington, DC that yields little to nothing.

Where Desk 88 is a partisan book, I did enjoy the anecdotes and tales told to Sherrod first hand from people who personally knew the subjects of the book, from Robert F. Kennedy to George McGovern to William Proxmire. In between each Senator’s story is “Thoughts form Desk 88” which is Brown’s political opinions that is loosely inspired by each Senator’s story.

If you are interested in political history, or are a progressive Democrat, Desk 88 may be a book for you. As I give away all books I read, this one is going to a friend who is more aligned with the overarching theme of the book than I am.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Actor / improviser Bill Murray walks into a liquor store in Charleston, South Carolina. He grabs a bottle of liquor, opens it and takes a swig. He then grabs a cigarette lighter, ignites it and breathes into it, creating a fireball. He puts the lighter down, turns to the clerk and says, “nobody will believe you” and walks out of the store.

This story was told to me by a good friend who lives in Charleston. He has heard many stories about the star of stage and screen and has met him around the city Murray calls home. As unique as this story is in itself, it pales against some of the stories in the book The Tao of Bill Murray by Gavin Edwards.

The Tao of Bill Murray is a collection of stories like these, coupled with interviews of actors and common people who have interacted with Murray, including quotes from interviews with Murray himself. The long story short about Murray is he has done similar antics like what he did in the liquor store, everything from not taking pro golf tournaments seriously to crashing parties to not formally committing to being in a movie until he shows up on the first day of filming. Where by themselves these stories may seem peculiar for anyone else to do, especially to complete strangers, coming from the star of movies like Caddyshack and Stripes seems to make them acceptable not to mention welcome.

As I read the book, I laughed at Murray’s approach to the entertainment industry and wondered how I would react if Bill Murray jumped me and knocked me down in public. I also had a few takeaways from this light-hearted yet thought-provoking book.

Improv at its purest – Bill Murray studied improv at The Second City in Chicago and was on its main stage before his days on Saturday Night Live. His brother Brian Doyle-Murray also was at Second City and this has clearly had a profound impact on his life – trust me on this, as myself is someone who went thru the Intro to Improv program at the Second City Training Center and was part of a troupe that perform professionally, improv is something that remains with you. As I read through the variety of situations Murray was in or created, I saw many of these as true improv moments, where he was building and heightening and “yes, and”-ing his surroundings.

Only Bill Murray could do this – You don’t have to look far today to see some celebrity in the spotlight for doing something outside of the realm of common. Reading thru these stories and interviews, I realized many of these I heard of for the first time from this book. None of these I recall seeing in a supermarket tabloid or on some “news” Web site. Is Bill Murray still well-known enough but just under the radar of the gossip slingers to profit from?

Is there more to this? – In the back of my mind throughout reading this book I wondered to myself if there was more to this. Improv aside, is there something Bill Murray needs or wants that leads to these actions? I’m not saying he has an ulterior motive or something sinister is behind doing what he does, but is there simply more to it? The book didn’t quite address this.

The Tao of Bill Murray is a good read that is mixed with fun and celebrity. I was given this book by a good friend and avid reader of The Hot Iron, and I started reading it in Charleston when I was on vacation this summer. Now that I have finished it, I am sending it back to Charleston to a friend there who is likely on the lookout for this famous resident of The Holy City.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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