Worth Reading, Number Four: Project President by Ben Shapiro

As we all know, the presidential elections are coming soon. Again. And the current presumptive nominees seem to bring out the worst in their detractors. But what drives the elections? According to Ben Shapiro (in Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House), while one might wish that it should be the issues - one of the most significant factors in the presidential race are the candidates' image. The candidates, well aware of this, do their best to put forth a pure face to all their public interactions, but generally don't succeed. No candidate, explains Shapiro, is good enough an actor to completely disguise his character flaws over the thousands of miles and face-hours the campaign trail requires.
So does deciding for whom to vote based on image rather than issue indicate that the average American voter is shallow? Shapiro does not find this troubling. (And this is the lesson of this post:) He contends that when the public vote based on image, they are voting largely based on the candidate's character. The most important attribute for a president, it can be argued, is the character of the man (or woman) who will be the most powerful person in the world.
So, should we apply this concept to the individual, we could conclude that when one projects a less-than-great image, they are actually demonstrating their character flaws. Such a person should not be calling his PR firm. He should be thinking about remedying his character.
There's much else of interest in the book - it begins with a discussion of the "boots vs. suits" candidate divides, and draws on fascinating snippets of American history to develop its thesis. It even makes an attempt at rating the 2008 candidates' image quotient. But the book suffers from choppy writing and has many redundancies. (It gives the feeling that each chapter was originally an individual magazine article, which were all combined - without editing - to produce this book.) On the whole, though, this book gives much food for thought in an entertaining and engaging package. Worth reading.

Worth Reading, Number Three: The Art of Deception by Nicholas Capaldi

Tonight we are introduced to deception. No, eSefer does not advocate lying. But in The Art of Deception: An Introduction to Critical Thinking : How to : Win an Argument, Defend a Case, Recognize a Fallacy, See Through a Deception, (Amazon cut it off, but the subtitle continues: Persuade a Skeptic, Turn Defeat into Victory), Nicholas Capaldi suggests that to see through deception we must recognize it and understand it. That's a pretty good argument. This book explains both logic and illogic, so I recommend it for anyone who wants to refine how they learn a Tosfos. It also helps quite a bit in everyday life. (Of course, if you can, you should also learn דרכי הגמרא by R' Yitzchok Kanpanton.) One warning: this book can be a bit dry at times. Worth reading.

Worth Reading, Number Two: Staying Supple by John Jerome

As you might have guessed, today's book of note is Staying Supple: The Bountiful Pleasures of Stretching by John Jerome. We often recite the words אל תשליחנו לעת זקנה; the author makes a compelling case that a significant part of the aging process is the shrinking of our muscle fibers and the attendant loss of flexibility, mobility, and strength. By stretching the muscles one can reverse that process, making one's quality of life better. As a sedentary computer-bound white-collar twenty-eight year old, I can attest that one doesn't have to be very old to benefit from the ideas and exercises in this book.
This is one of those books that seem intuitively correct when you read it, but you think to yourself, "I would never have thought of that!" Worth reading.

Worth Reading, Number One

In what I hope will be a regular feature, I will list books that I feel are worth reading. Also, should some benevolent soul click on the Amazon link and buy the book, I will earn a few cents.
Tonight's book is Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life. If someone tells you, "If you don't change, you will die!" will you change? Most people wouldn't - at least they wouldn't sustain the change for any significant length of time. I know people like this, and I know the feeling, as well.
The Baalei Mussar struggled with this dilemma - how to get people (themselves and others) to change their behavior for the better, contravening human nature and the inertia that keeps us from improving. Classic Mussar techniques involve harnassing both the intellectual and the emotional aspects of one's personality to effect such change.
This book offers an analysis of the psychology of behavioral inertia, and the three steps necessary for overcoming it and succeeding in creating change that lasts. Worth reading.