Sorry, Mr. Robbins, My Mind Just Doesn’t Work That Way

Good Wisconsin cheese, local coffee and a new book. I almost put my ski boots in the picture but thought that would be weird. Not weirder than riding in a roast turkey, though.

Life is short.  Too short to drink bad coffee (as is advertised by the coffee shop I’m sitting in right now), eat processed cheese and to not give downhill skiing a second chance (God help me).  Well, I tried and tried to get into Nurtured by Love, the account by violinist Shin’ichi Suzuki on his “talent is learned” philosophy, but have struggled through the first third of his 142-page book.  As my frustration grew with trying to learn valuable insights on our son’s violin method my husband told me

Life is short.  Read something you enjoy.

His advice got my attention.  Because when I tossed aside How the Mind Works after wading through a dry first chapter on mental neurology, he said I didn’t give the textbook-sized volume enough of a chance.  And when a Tom Robbins novel opened with newlyweds roaring down the highway in a roast turkey, I thought that was the dumbest thing ever (bye-bye, book) and my husband rolled his eyes.  So when his newfound live-in-the-moment-life-is-short perspective gave me permission to close the cover on yet a third book, I did.

And I started reading Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday.  I was no more than five pages into this “primer on the future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising” when I could feel the difference in this month’s nightly reading ritual.  I was relaxed, eyes not straining to focus on the typeset, and before I knew it I had read 20 pages.

Do not get me wrong, I think Shin’ichi Suzuki’s philosophy and musical methodology are significant.  So simple and, frankly, genius.  Is Suzuki’s book a bad book?  No, not at all.  Neither were the other two books I gave the punt.  I think this talented man’s account was simply written in a way I could not appreciate.

In other words, my mind just doesn’t work that way.