I know it's been awhile since I posted...sorry about that! I am working on a big marketing project and my time has been severly limited.
Thanks to some mutual friends I did get the opportunity to chat with Bill Maher about my book yesterday. We had a really interesting discussion about the role of government and religion in guiding how people in society will act upon their "sin traits."
Bill was really generous with his time and said nice things about the project. But unfortunately he didn't want to be quoted in the book. He explained that he is constantly getting requests for interviews and feels like he is too out there - spread too thin. And that every time he's interviewed it feels like he is giving a little piece of himself away.
I do understand and it's cool, though it's too bad because he had some great insights...and of course he was funny as hell!
Showing posts with label Interviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interviews. Show all posts
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
It Takes More Than A Village
I have conducted (and continue to conduct) loads of research for Curing the Human Disease.
I've got pages of notes from interviews with smart people, internet bookmarks up the kazoo and tons of books with natty, highlighted pages. I am using the research to directly inform some of the concepts in the book but also as a kind of background hum of thinking that inderectly impacts it's themes.
I just finished reading Hillary Clinton's It Takes A Village, which she wrote when she was first lady. I found the book really interesting and well thought out (not the liberal diatribe some have accused it of being). Clinton interestingly visits some of the same themes as Curing the Human Disease, though her focus on children is different than my book's primary look at adult behaviors and motivators (why is it that all first ladies have thif kids/family focus? Is it like a Queen Mum thing where they are the nation's top mom?).
It Takes a Village also speaks explicitely about Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, which I have also been researching and including in the book. That is both cool and kind of intimidating - do I now have to rethink that content because it's also in her book?
The other thing about Clinton's book is how on-target it is in illuminating many of the problem's in American society. She nails the causes of the economic downturn that now afflicts us - from the lack of corporate regulation to rampant consumerism to failing educational systems.
This book was written in 1996...and it sold really well but I guess people didn't really take the thinking seriously? Were they too distracted by the Bill/Monica scandal? Or - in these modern times can a book really instigate societal change? That's a tough one to answer. Maybe It Takes a Village moved the needle a little - it's hard to prove. It's scary though because I am writing my book because I want to improve our world I'm wondering if that's a futile effort!
I've got pages of notes from interviews with smart people, internet bookmarks up the kazoo and tons of books with natty, highlighted pages. I am using the research to directly inform some of the concepts in the book but also as a kind of background hum of thinking that inderectly impacts it's themes.
I just finished reading Hillary Clinton's It Takes A Village, which she wrote when she was first lady. I found the book really interesting and well thought out (not the liberal diatribe some have accused it of being). Clinton interestingly visits some of the same themes as Curing the Human Disease, though her focus on children is different than my book's primary look at adult behaviors and motivators (why is it that all first ladies have thif kids/family focus? Is it like a Queen Mum thing where they are the nation's top mom?).
It Takes a Village also speaks explicitely about Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, which I have also been researching and including in the book. That is both cool and kind of intimidating - do I now have to rethink that content because it's also in her book?
The other thing about Clinton's book is how on-target it is in illuminating many of the problem's in American society. She nails the causes of the economic downturn that now afflicts us - from the lack of corporate regulation to rampant consumerism to failing educational systems.
This book was written in 1996...and it sold really well but I guess people didn't really take the thinking seriously? Were they too distracted by the Bill/Monica scandal? Or - in these modern times can a book really instigate societal change? That's a tough one to answer. Maybe It Takes a Village moved the needle a little - it's hard to prove. It's scary though because I am writing my book because I want to improve our world I'm wondering if that's a futile effort!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sloth
The sin of Sloth or laziness is not something I deal with much - in fact quite the opposite, I can be a bit of a workaholic.
Well I am consumed by this book right now, writing and researching for hours upon hours each day. I'm trying to take a day or two off just to reset the mind once in awhile, usually during the week.
The good news is that I am starting to see some heat around the book. I've just had a few more people agree to interviews. And I spoke at a marketing conference this past week in Las Vegas (City of Sin?) and was integrating some of the concepts of the book into my presentation and discussions with other folks in the marketing world. There seemed to be a lot og genuine interest in the topic and concepts...so I'm excited!
Well I am consumed by this book right now, writing and researching for hours upon hours each day. I'm trying to take a day or two off just to reset the mind once in awhile, usually during the week.
The good news is that I am starting to see some heat around the book. I've just had a few more people agree to interviews. And I spoke at a marketing conference this past week in Las Vegas (City of Sin?) and was integrating some of the concepts of the book into my presentation and discussions with other folks in the marketing world. There seemed to be a lot og genuine interest in the topic and concepts...so I'm excited!
Monday, March 16, 2009
People's time
A number of people have turned down my request for interviews, for a number of reasons.
I certainly understand that people are busy and that they have their own lives and pursuits, so I don't begrugde anyone who says "can't do it" to my request (though some are nicer about it than others).
I do wonder, though, if I would have better success with them as an reporter for the New York Times or 60 Minutes. This might be a real-life example of the vanity trait affecting the development of this book!
Ah the trials of a 1st time writer :P
I certainly understand that people are busy and that they have their own lives and pursuits, so I don't begrugde anyone who says "can't do it" to my request (though some are nicer about it than others).
I do wonder, though, if I would have better success with them as an reporter for the New York Times or 60 Minutes. This might be a real-life example of the vanity trait affecting the development of this book!
Ah the trials of a 1st time writer :P
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Getting answers
My originally conveived structure for Curing the Human Disease was that the majority of the book's focus would be on the Seven Deadly Sins, with a chapter devoted to each.
However that is not where things are headed. First of all, there are quite a few books on the sins which will do a more in-depth and probably better job at exploring each sin. Secondly, my book is really about why we are the way we are - essentially using the seven sins to explain a set of shared human traits.
Then I am getting into the questions of "so what do we do about it?" I'm happy to say that I didn't know the answer to that in the beginning of my journey but I think I am getting somewhere with it. I am seeing commonalities across my research and interviews that are very interesting and insightful...I don't want to sneak peak too much here but I am starting to get excited :)
However that is not where things are headed. First of all, there are quite a few books on the sins which will do a more in-depth and probably better job at exploring each sin. Secondly, my book is really about why we are the way we are - essentially using the seven sins to explain a set of shared human traits.
Then I am getting into the questions of "so what do we do about it?" I'm happy to say that I didn't know the answer to that in the beginning of my journey but I think I am getting somewhere with it. I am seeing commonalities across my research and interviews that are very interesting and insightful...I don't want to sneak peak too much here but I am starting to get excited :)
Monday, February 23, 2009
People talk
I have this nifty little digital audio recorder that I've been using for my interviews. What I love about it is that I can just transfer the audio file from each interview onto my computer and then do the transcription.
The challenging part (or at least the very time-consuming part) is transcribing each interview. All of the interviews thus far have been between 45 minutes and an hour and a half, but it takes me at least 5 times that to get it all typed out.
I think it is an important process, though, because it forces me to really think about what my interviewee has said. I originally figured I would hire someone to do transcriptions but I'm very glad to be doing them.
The interesting thing is trying to capture and approrpiately punctuate the cadence and style of each speaker. I'm noticing a lot about how people talk - one person says "you know" constantly, another drops the "g's" of off all of their "ing" words and yet another starts every sentence with "And..." It's also interesting how many pronouns we use in every day speech. For instance trying to type out a sentence with a lot of "there's," "theirs" and "they'res" gets really confusing! Some people say "someone" where others say "somebody," and everybody seems to say "gonna" all the time.
After doing all of these transcriptions I am going to have to go through each and highlight the most relevant and salient points. Where possible I am going to try and pull in verbatim quotes from the interviews because most of the people I've chatted with have been really articulate and super smart.
The challenging part (or at least the very time-consuming part) is transcribing each interview. All of the interviews thus far have been between 45 minutes and an hour and a half, but it takes me at least 5 times that to get it all typed out.
I think it is an important process, though, because it forces me to really think about what my interviewee has said. I originally figured I would hire someone to do transcriptions but I'm very glad to be doing them.
The interesting thing is trying to capture and approrpiately punctuate the cadence and style of each speaker. I'm noticing a lot about how people talk - one person says "you know" constantly, another drops the "g's" of off all of their "ing" words and yet another starts every sentence with "And..." It's also interesting how many pronouns we use in every day speech. For instance trying to type out a sentence with a lot of "there's," "theirs" and "they'res" gets really confusing! Some people say "someone" where others say "somebody," and everybody seems to say "gonna" all the time.
After doing all of these transcriptions I am going to have to go through each and highlight the most relevant and salient points. Where possible I am going to try and pull in verbatim quotes from the interviews because most of the people I've chatted with have been really articulate and super smart.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Interviews and books
In conducting the research for the book I am interviewing quite a few people and obviously doing quite a bit of reading. Here is who I have interviewed thus far:
Spencer Wells: This was my very first interview. Spencer is an old friend who has had quite a career as an anthropologist and geneticist. Anyone interested in the history of mankind should check out his National Geographic special: The Journey of Man (which used to be up on YouTube but it looks like it got yanked, hence no link. It is available on DVD and worth picking up).
Steven Pinker: This is my most recent interview. Dr. Pinker is a linguist and experimental psychologist who is a regular speaker and who's appeared on fun shows like The Colbert Report. I really enjoyed our talk and the guy is just brilliant. He gave a really amazing and hilarious talk to Google that I highly recommend (if you don't mind a few curse words). And check out that head of hair! He's one of a kind.
Nancy McWilliams: Dr. McWilliams is a professor of psychology at Rutgers and is a practicing psychoanalyst. I visited her home office in New Jersey and had a really lovely, in-depth conversation about the seven deadly sins and how they manifest themselves. Her insights will definitely make it into the book.
Pastor Mac Brunson of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville: I took a trip to Florida to interview Mac Brunson and others. I think it's important to incorporate a theological perspective of sin so I'm determined to meet religious leaders from many faiths. I'm not really a religious person but I was really impressed with Pastor Brunson's knowledge of The Bible. This really was an incredible interview that spanned many topics, including just where I think I am headed for eternity!
Chris Bartkowiak: Bartkowiak is a former cop who has spent the last ten years counseling sex offenders in the Jacksonville area. I reached out to him because I wanted to explore the sin of lust and take a look at how people with major issues can change or manage their issues. Bartkowiak also provided a really interesting perspective on addiction overall as well as the criminal justice system. I will probably post a few of his stories up on here as there was just too much good stuff and only so much that is directly relevant to the book.
Pandit Kadambi Shrinathji of the Hindu Society of North East Florida: I had an intense interview with the Hindu priest Pandit Kadambi Shrinathji where we talked about the "6 enemies of man" - which remarkably align pretty closely with the 7 deadly sins. I was amazed by this guy and the amount of time (an hour an a half) and attention he gave me. I was also so impressed by his take on Hinduism itself, a religion I knew so little about going into the interview. The Hindu folks in Northeast Florida are lucky to have this smart, happy and loving guy as their priest.
Craig Kurtz: I met Craig and his wife Sharon at a Carraba's Italian restaurant and we talked in depth about drug and alcohol addiction. I wanted to explore this because, as with the sex offenders, I thought it would be useful to talk about how one works with people that are really in trouble - how they can change and turn their lives around.
Francis Macnutt of the Christian Healing Ministries: Francis Macnutt is an 83 year old former catholic priest who founded and runs the Christian Healing Ministries. Macnutt certainly knew his history and most of our conversation centered on the background of the seven deadly sins and their relevance to modern society. We also spoke in depth about his ministries belief in the power of prayer in healing people both of internal turmoil as well as physical ailments. I was and remain a skeptic, but Macnutt makes a convincing advocate.
I have kind of a massive wishlist of people I would like to interview. The truth is that I could keep on going and going and this thing would never get done! So if I am able to get a few more great interviews I will hopefully be in good enough shape to get this thing finished.
Of course I am also neck deep in Internet research, and I am reading a few insightful books as well. Right now I am somewhere in the middle of Biology of Freedom by François Ansermet and Pierre Magistretti , Intelligence Reframed by Howard Gardner, The Seven Deadly Sins by Solomon Schimmel and Hilary Clinton's It Takes a Village. And for fun I'm reading The Outliers (which is inspiring some relevant ideas) and The World is Flat. I've never read so much!
So, that's where I am in terms of interviews and book research at this point. As I mentioned I could keep going and going with this and never actually write a thing so I have to be careful about spreading out too thin. That said, if anyone has suggestions for amazing people to contact, do feel free to drop me a line :)
Spencer Wells: This was my very first interview. Spencer is an old friend who has had quite a career as an anthropologist and geneticist. Anyone interested in the history of mankind should check out his National Geographic special: The Journey of Man (which used to be up on YouTube but it looks like it got yanked, hence no link. It is available on DVD and worth picking up).
Steven Pinker: This is my most recent interview. Dr. Pinker is a linguist and experimental psychologist who is a regular speaker and who's appeared on fun shows like The Colbert Report. I really enjoyed our talk and the guy is just brilliant. He gave a really amazing and hilarious talk to Google that I highly recommend (if you don't mind a few curse words). And check out that head of hair! He's one of a kind.
Nancy McWilliams: Dr. McWilliams is a professor of psychology at Rutgers and is a practicing psychoanalyst. I visited her home office in New Jersey and had a really lovely, in-depth conversation about the seven deadly sins and how they manifest themselves. Her insights will definitely make it into the book.
Pastor Mac Brunson of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville: I took a trip to Florida to interview Mac Brunson and others. I think it's important to incorporate a theological perspective of sin so I'm determined to meet religious leaders from many faiths. I'm not really a religious person but I was really impressed with Pastor Brunson's knowledge of The Bible. This really was an incredible interview that spanned many topics, including just where I think I am headed for eternity!
Chris Bartkowiak: Bartkowiak is a former cop who has spent the last ten years counseling sex offenders in the Jacksonville area. I reached out to him because I wanted to explore the sin of lust and take a look at how people with major issues can change or manage their issues. Bartkowiak also provided a really interesting perspective on addiction overall as well as the criminal justice system. I will probably post a few of his stories up on here as there was just too much good stuff and only so much that is directly relevant to the book.
Pandit Kadambi Shrinathji of the Hindu Society of North East Florida: I had an intense interview with the Hindu priest Pandit Kadambi Shrinathji where we talked about the "6 enemies of man" - which remarkably align pretty closely with the 7 deadly sins. I was amazed by this guy and the amount of time (an hour an a half) and attention he gave me. I was also so impressed by his take on Hinduism itself, a religion I knew so little about going into the interview. The Hindu folks in Northeast Florida are lucky to have this smart, happy and loving guy as their priest.
Craig Kurtz: I met Craig and his wife Sharon at a Carraba's Italian restaurant and we talked in depth about drug and alcohol addiction. I wanted to explore this because, as with the sex offenders, I thought it would be useful to talk about how one works with people that are really in trouble - how they can change and turn their lives around.
Francis Macnutt of the Christian Healing Ministries: Francis Macnutt is an 83 year old former catholic priest who founded and runs the Christian Healing Ministries. Macnutt certainly knew his history and most of our conversation centered on the background of the seven deadly sins and their relevance to modern society. We also spoke in depth about his ministries belief in the power of prayer in healing people both of internal turmoil as well as physical ailments. I was and remain a skeptic, but Macnutt makes a convincing advocate.
I have kind of a massive wishlist of people I would like to interview. The truth is that I could keep on going and going and this thing would never get done! So if I am able to get a few more great interviews I will hopefully be in good enough shape to get this thing finished.
Of course I am also neck deep in Internet research, and I am reading a few insightful books as well. Right now I am somewhere in the middle of Biology of Freedom by François Ansermet and Pierre Magistretti , Intelligence Reframed by Howard Gardner, The Seven Deadly Sins by Solomon Schimmel and Hilary Clinton's It Takes a Village. And for fun I'm reading The Outliers (which is inspiring some relevant ideas) and The World is Flat. I've never read so much!
So, that's where I am in terms of interviews and book research at this point. As I mentioned I could keep going and going with this and never actually write a thing so I have to be careful about spreading out too thin. That said, if anyone has suggestions for amazing people to contact, do feel free to drop me a line :)
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