Feldman's Faves: March 29, 2021

What a week in basketball (for those of you who care). The Sweet 16 was epic, even if you are an Oral Roberts fan and the Elite 8 looks elte. And very sad to say goodbye to Stormin’ Norman, but I wish him nothing but the best. He was a great Raptor.

This week’s recommendations have self-reflection based theme (something everyone has been doing more of over the last twelve months).

RANGE: WHY GENERALISTS TRIUMPH IN A SPECIALIZED WORLD By: David Epstein: This book (recommended by our friend Bill Gates) starts by comparing the upbringing of Tiger Woods vs that of Roger Federer. There is a very sharp contrast between Tiger’s laser focus on golf from a extremely young age with Roger’s general trial and error approach to life and to sports (i.e., he played everything before he “settled” on tennis). Epstein’s thesis is that in our ever specializing world, that we could use more Rogers. Having a “range” of experience allows people (he believes) to do whatever they ultimately decide to do with a better and more interesting perspective along with the ability to do things differently, which Epstein believes is how we progress, evolve and innovate as a species. So if you meandered your way into the practice of law, then Epstein applauds you. I do think that on the micro-level this perspective is instructive on the practice of law as well and how we all come to specialize over time. This book offers countless examples in multiple domains from sports to science to military operations and tries to validate this thesis. I will let those who choose to read this book draw their own conclusions given that the world has seen epic successes and failures with both extremes (for those who remember Todd Marinovitch – the kid who was “engineered” from age 4 to become an NFL quarterback (he never even had a Big Mac) and then failed spectacularly that cuts in favour of Rogers but a friend of mine who has six university degrees and no real career, cuts the other way, so who knows). Here is Bill’s two cents on the subject - https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Range

Meditative Story Florence Williams: To chase the sunset - People often ask me, “Jon, how is it that you are so relaxed and chill?”. Just kidding that’s NEVER happened once in my life. In fact my wife, the person who knows me better than anyone says that my vibe is “NEZ” (Zen spelled backwards). In any case, I do believe in the power of meditation when it comes to calming and focusing the mind. This PODCAST, which is the brain child of Ariana Huffington is worth a listen. There are often inspiring stories, in this case, one of a woman spending time with her dying EX –mother-in-law where she learns about the importance of human connection and self love. The story is followed by a mediation exercise, which is nice if you are having a hard time falling asleep at night (not an issue for me, given my lack of a conscience).

Here is the description from the PODCAST itself: Writer Florence Williams, grieving the loss of a long marriage, finds herself in Tulsa, Oklahoma; she's come to sit with Penny, her former mother-in-law, who is dying of cancer. Drawn together by the gravity of needing and being needed, the two women sit in the quiet house, in a space between life and death, between rootedness and uncertainty – and yet surrounded, always, by love. As Penny begins to withdraw from the world, she has one final question for Florence, and one final piece of advice. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/meditative-story/id1472106563#episodeGuid=gid%3A%2F%2Fart19-episode-locator%2FV0%2F8g7QkqHwbDr4lJTsoaqsV9kSvfcFOWuhi6Y4Absa8kQ

I know and appreciate how busy everyone is and so I especially enjoyed our discussions last week on Klara and the Sun. What a strange and well written story. Let’s keep doing this.

And remember to stay safe and to docket daily.

Jon