My Reading Journey Backwards and Forwards
A Book about The Kaizen Way by Robert Mauer, Ph.D.
May 22, 2025
Copyright 2004
My first read was 2010, I read it again in 2022. And I’m going to read it again now – but I’m also going to buy the physical book.
I’ve been spending a lot of time with strategic planning recently and I believe I can see the impact this book had on the way I work.
Review Title (star rating)
May 16th, 2025
The last time I wrote about this was March 24th, 2024 – almost 14 months ago. That’s 418 opportunities to meet this commitment. I’ve managed 100, not including today.
I know this because I track these things in a spreadsheet called Word Count and give myself points for doing it – but that’s another discussion for another day.
So, that’s less than 25% of the time. Why is it so hard to show up for the work we say matters most?
After yet another discussion with ChatGPT (Yes, I’m a fan of ChatGPT), I’ve got a new plan for the next 137 days, that’s 19.57 weeks. I usually measure everything in 12-week increments – but I don’t want to wait until June to begin.
So, here I am trying again. This time, I’ve named it. I’m calling it a Practice. Why does that work? I’m calling it 13-Minutes (I know, brilliant right?) —a daily commitment to do something, anything here on Vienna’s Views for 13 minutes every day.
The idea isn’t new. It echoes the Japanese concept of Kaizen—small, continuous improvement—and was reinforced for me by Brainstorm Road, a now-retired community built around making daily progress on side projects. The site’s no longer active, but the spirit of showing up in small ways stuck with me. I wish I had joined them when I had the chance!
This isn’t a challenge. It’s not a program. It’s a line in the sand. If you’re trying to make consistent progress on something that matters to you—writing, reading, thinking – You can follow along or, even better, come along, post a comment, and tell me about your project.
I’ll post weekly for the next 20 weeks about how it’s going. What are you working on? Can you find 13 minutes a day to spend on it?
A novel by Wilber Smith
📅 Started: March 2025
📅 Finished: June 2025
📚 Format: physical book
A Book about helping people find your work by Austin Kleon
May 8, 2025
When I’m struggling with posting my work, I always remind myself that no one is reading it anyway – so I can write anything I want. Spend any amount of time reading online advice and you come away with “post something every day”.
The message in this book is “Share” something every day. Uh oh, that’s a little harder.
But that’s the book, 10 Ways to share your creativity and get discovered. I’m not sure I want to “get discovered”. My anonymity is comforting – knowing no one is reading allows me to write. To wander and wonder –
I’m not sure I’m particularly creative either – it took me months to choose a paint color for my living room – and 3 years to find a picture to hang. My gardens are never up to snuff and I don’t have anything brilliant to say about the books I read.
And yet, without them …
That’s my project – documenting my reading journey – backward and forward. It’s the books that that brought me through my darkest days (well, the books and my therapist).
All kidding aside – for those of us without the amazing mentor, or therapist, whose parents and friends give bad advice, the books are always there.
Read them, use them, it helps.
The average person today has access to more information than at any other time in history. We live in an age of unprecedented access spanning virtually anything you can imagine, and many things that you probably can’t imagine.
Can you keep up? Should you keep up? I don’t know the answer, I’m just proposing the question. Here are a couple of things I heard on the news yesterday, both of which I was totally unaware, the day before yesterday.
Living Under a Rock?
They were actually talking about the Met Gala 2025, a fundraising benefit for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City that is held every year on the first Monday in May.
According to ChatGPT:
The concept has historical roots going back to the 18th and 19th centuries. The term itself became prominent in cultural studies and popular media from the 2000s onward. (uh, so that’s 25 years)
In June 2023, the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved an application from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa to open St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. This institution aims to provide a Catholic education online, funded by public money, marking a significant departure from traditional charter school models that are secular by law. ABC News
The approval faced immediate legal challenges. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond sued to block the school’s operation, arguing that it violated both the state constitution and the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits government endorsement of religion. In June 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in favor of Drummond, stating that the establishment of St. Isidore would indeed breach constitutional provisions.
The case escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on April 30, 2025. The justices are now deliberating on whether denying public funding to religious charter schools constitutes religious discrimination under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case, leaving eight justices to decide. A 4-4 split would uphold the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision.
Source: The New Yorker – Is This The End of the Separation of Church and State
No reason really for me to know what’s going on in Oklahoma but …
As a rule, I try not to criticize books or authors. I figure if they managed to write it and publish it, even if self published, who am I to criticize. I’m lucky if I manage to write a readable post let alone a book.
However, even I have my limits. I bought a book last week about Critical Thinking. I didn’t read the reviews or apparently do any other thinking before making this purchase.
The authors are Simon Bradly and Nicole Price, I have no idea if these are real names, but I doubt it. I had to pull this book out of the trash to share those names with you.
I have a ? mark next to the first paragraph because the reasoning is questionable at best – but the book went into the trash after I read this sentence – written after about 150 words on the history of critical thinking – “This but forwards the arguments and proves the existence of God.” WTF??
Then I read the reviews – enough said.
Here is a list of well received books on Critical Thinking –
I haven’t read either so can’t comment.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Not a critical thinking manual per se, but it’s essential reading for understanding cognitive biases and decision-making flaws.
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler & Charles Van Doren
Classic guide to analytical reading, closely aligned with deeper levels of critical thinking. You’ve mentioned reading this already—it’s foundational.
Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking by D.Q. McInerny
Short and clear. More formal in tone, based on classical logic and reasoning structure.
By David Baldacci
📅 Started: April 27, 2025
📅 Finished*:* [date]
📚 Format: (hardcover / Kindle / library loan / audiobook, etc.)
I had just finished Beach Music and found At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks in my bookshelves. Lunchtime is fiction only, so I started it, but it wasn’t working for me. I saw this book on the shelves in Target, and I always enjoy David Baldacci, so I grabbed it.
Love it …
By Mark L Fox – A Book About Creative Problem Solving
I bought this book back in 2008. I assume it was either shortly before or after I attended a seminar at the Wizard Academy. I have highlights from 2009, 2014, 2020, and 2023 that I’ve found so far – but I feel like I never finished reading it??
Grammarly is sooo annoying.
“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”
Andre Gide
I just purchased his book Show Your Work, dreaded words from math class in my day.
But that’s not what this book is about. And it’s not what this TED Talk is about
May 2nd, 2025
Somehow, and I wish I could remember how – in the midst of reading Mortimer Adler’s How To Read a Book, I landed on Austin Kleon’s How to Read Like an Artist.
They couldn’t be more different and I don’t agree with everything either of them has to say, but I do agree with most of what both of them have to say!
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