I recently re-read Agatha Christie’s ‘And then there were None’. The book has sold over 100 million copies since it was first printed in 1939. Only 5 other works of fiction share this accolade, and if you want to know which books they are, knock yourself out. So, why did the book do so well?…
Category: ideas
Businesses have forgotten how to win
I was in a fist fight once. I was fighting Greg. Greg was bigger than me. But I was tougher, at least, that’s what I thought. I was confident I’d win the fight. Greg and met in the common room of our boarding house. It was late, after lights out. It was winter. We circled…
Check for teeth before deciding not to throw the baby out with the bath water
I drive to work most days. I always take the same route. On my commute I listen to audio books and don’t concentrate much on the road or the traffic. I’m on autopilot for most of the way. Everything is muscle memory. My brain is so used to the drive that it has decided my…
I was nine when I last held a gun
I held the rifle in the crook of my arm. I was playing with the safety-catch, flicking the little lever up and down. Safety on, safety off, safety on, safety off. We were looking for vervet monkeys. I was nine. My cousin was there, he also had a rifle, he was fourteen. And our friend…
A case for why you must read fiction
If you have any desire to understand what life is about or if you want to come to terms with why you suffer, or why the world makes so little sense then you must read fiction. Many people who I know who read, read non-fiction work exclusively. They suffer from the misconception that there is…
A discussion agenda for loved ones and mafia meetings
When I went to visit my grandmother, she always had talking points that she’d refer to as we caught up. She’d accumulate and curate the topics of conversation between my visits. Topics included stories and obituaries she’d read in the paper, news about my grandfather who rarely shared anything more significant than what we could…
Why I don’t agree with the man who is ‘fiercely independent’ and ‘one of the last thinkers who used his own head’
Roger Scruton was a philosopher interested in both politics and aesthetics. He was also an advocate for traditional conservative policies and views. Roger died in 2020. This was Nassim Nicolas Taleb‘s tweet the day after he died. Now, I didn’t know who Roger Scruton was until this weekend. I’d never heard of him. Probably because…
Why a hamburger is art and how the Americans won the Culinary Olympics
The chef I studied under, when I still wanted to be a chef, had stories. All chefs do. They have stories about the crazy people they worked with, the insane dishes they prepared through the years, the shouting, the sweating, and the violence of creating with food. I was a chef for only a short…
The secret power of reading fiction
Fiction writers are philosophers and dreamers. While most non-fiction writers are people who have discovered something they deem important about the world that they think everyone should know. And then there are the non-fiction writers who author books so they can use them as business cards. They write books that they hope make them sound…
Science’s shortcomings
I have to start off by saying that I’m double vaccinated and plan to receive a booster shot in December. I’m convinced climate change is real and is caused by humans. And I’m an atheist who wholeheartedly subscribes to the theory of evolution. But (you must have seen it coming), I am also of the…