From the Author
Sample EntriesTo give you an idea of some of the content, here are a few of the shorter entries, mostly aphorisms:1016.The eraser pencil teaches a wise man all he needs to know about humility.
1047. The promise of technology is often much greater than its fulfillment. When a machine doesn't do what it's supposed to, we're disappointed; when a person doesn't do what he's supposed to, we are angry. We are thus more polite to machines than to people.
1131. The assumptions one makes, whether in argument or description, constitute an attempt to establish a particular view as normative. Assumptions can thus be propagandistic.
1152. God is not a toy. Why do we treat him like one, trying to make him dance or sit or follow our imagination? You're beginning to grow spiritually mature when you stop trying to teach God, when you realize he already knows what you were going to say. And he knows a few things you don't know, too.
1177. Talk is cheap and most people like to get a lot for the money.
1266. As much as we talk about the value of planning in the lessons of experience, we still seem to live most of our lives ad hoc.
1268. History is an interpretation of selected events a historian has judged to be important from among those he believes to have taken place.
1294. Question your doubts. - Proverb
1312. Much of the damage we do to ourselves comes from trying to take shortcuts to happiness.
1392. "A better mixdown isn't going to turn this slop into music," said the recording engineer. "Then it's time to push all the sliders forward," said the promoter.
1408. When God is with you, you can cross the ocean on a twig. - After Publilius Syrus
1501. The first sign of wisdom occurs when you stop measuring other people by yourself.
1570. Not those with the best information, but those who can tell the best story, are the ones who persuade us. This is not good.
1612. That guy's so deep you'd need a quarter-inch ruler to get to the bottom of him.
1613. The more you know, the better you can see.
1659. God is as deep as you want to go.
1743. We love our friends because they are like us. And we love our friends because they are not like us.
1797. If you have to pull rank, you have failed as a leader.
1888. The perception of complexity and ambiguity is taken as a sign of superior analysis, just as writing in an obscure or even opaque style is taken as a sign of sophistication.
1916. Plan for your plans to change.
But There's More
Also in the book are extended (up to a page) discussions of philosophy, politics, ethics, science, religion, and so on. There are vignettes, very short stories, a few short poems. And I admit, I often have a sarcastic point of view. I think you'll find the book both fun and profitable. Put it by your easy chair where you can read an entry or two during a commercial.
About the Author
Robert Harris was born in Los Angeles in 1950, Dr. Harris received his PhD in English from the University of California. He is the author of the novel, The Million Dollar Girl, two volumes of his personal musings, Glimmerings I and Glimmerings II, as well as several other books. He currently lives in Tustin, California with his wife, Marie.
