Do you remember a short drama series in the 80s called The One Game? The plot centred on a battle of wits between an arrogant businessman and a eccentric games developer within a ‘reality game’ named after the title of the show. I loved it and had a chance to watch it again recently. Like all quality entertainment, it has aged very well. Read more…
As a lover of books, I often think I’m a member of a dying breed. Everything’s computers, computers, computers. But now it seems I’m not alone. There is one other who looks to books for inspiration, and he happens to be the most powerful man in the world. So that’s all right then.
BBC reporter Razia Iqbal has written an excellent article called The power of language in which she traces Barak Obama’s oratorical skill back to his relationship with the written word. In this, he follows great presidents such as Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt, who has been called the most serious reader of all the American presidents, had a few good quotes about them.
“I am a part of everything that I have read.”
“If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries.”
Or, as one of the greatest writer-philosophers of the American literary traditions has it…
“Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.” Read more…
On Saturday 6th December I delivered a 1-day workshop at Queen’s University called The Psychology of Happiness: How to Grow Your Happy Skills. Its purpose was to introduce the students to the new positive psychology movement, and to the thoughts of Martin Seligman and Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in particular. Those who read the blog will know that I’ve reviewed Seligman’s latest work Authentic Happiness before, and I’ve also captured the two of them in a fascinating conversation.
In the workshop I did four things. First, I discussed Seligman’s analysis of the three types of happy life: the Pleasant Life, the Good Life, and the Meaningful Life. Then I explored the whole notion of optimism, perhaps Seligman’s main contribution to the field of academic psychology. After lunch, it was time to check out our signature strengths. Finally, we applied all this to the area of work, that most usual and difficult source of unhappiness. Read more…
