In progress

• Art of Acting, Stella Adler, ?
• Movie Speak, Tony Bill, 8/3/2011
• The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition, Anne Bogart, 02/14/2013
• Respect for Acting (audiobook), Uta Hagen, 03/22/2013

Completed

• How to Read a Book, Mortimer J. Adler, 08/21/2012, 03/06/2013
• Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part, Michael Shurtleff, 2012, 03/06/2013
• One Less Bitter Actor: The Actor’s Survival Guide, Markus Flanagan, 02/27/2013, 03/04/2013
• An Actor’s Business: How to Market Yourself as an Actor No Matter Where You Live, Andrew Reilly, 02/20/2013, 02/24/2013
• Mogworld, Yahtzee Croshaw, 12/15/2012, 02/14/2013
• The Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins, Nov/2012, Jan/2013
• Ubik, Philip K. Dick, 10/21/2012, 11/11/2012, Not great; sometimes good; not horrible.
• The Adjustment Team, Philip K. Dick, 10/11/2012, 10/13/2012
• Letters to a Young Artist (audiobook), Anna Deavere Smith, 2011, 2012
• Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins, 09/30/2012, 10/10/2012
• The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, 08/27/2012, 09/29/2012
• The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin, 2012, 08/21/2012
• The Soulkeepers, G. P. Ching, 08/11/2012, 08/18/2012
• The Saint, Oliver Broudy, 2012, 08/10/2012
• The Power of Purpose, Richard J. Leider, 2012, 06/17/2012
• My Seinfeld Year, Fred Stoller, 2012, 04/30/2012
• Acting: The First Six Lessons, Richard Boleslavsky, 2011, 2012
• Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut, Mar/2012, 04/10/2012
• Running of the Bulls (Book Two in the Fifth Avenue Series), Christopher Smith, Feb/2012, 03/01/2012
• Another Bitter Actor, Markus Flanagan, 10/20/2011, ?/?/2012
• Heading Home with Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality, Laura Jana, 7/30/2011, 2011
• The Big Secret for the Small Investor: A New Route to Long-Term Investment Success, Joel Greenblatt, 7/25/2011, Finished 8/4/2011
• The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox, Apr/2011, Finished 2011
  
• Tuesdays with Morrie, 6/22/2011, Finished 7/6 /2011
• Acting for Film, Michael Caine, 6/29/2011, Finished 7/5/2011
• Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, Ina May Gaskin, Apr/2011, Finished 6/1/2011
• Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife, Peggy Vincent, 3/15/2011, Finished Apr/2011
• Children of the Mind, Orson Scott Card, 3/6/2011, Finished 3/15/2011
• Pushed, Jennifer Block, Feb/2011, Finished 3/6/2011
• The ONLY Investment Guide You’ll EVER Need, Andrew Tobias, Jan/2011, Finished Feb/2011
• Xenocide, Orson Scott Card, Dec/2010, Finished Feb/2011
• The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson, 7/30/2010, Finished Jan/2011
• The Little Book that Beats the Market, Joel Greenblatt, 12/19/2010, Dec/2010
• Born to Run, Christopher McDougall, 12/9/2010, Finished 12/19/2010
• Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card, Nov/2010, Finished 12/5/2010
• Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card, 11/3/2010, Finished Nov/2010
• Agile Project Management with Scrum, Ken Schwaber, Oct/2010, Finished 11/3/2010
• Agile Software Development with Scrum, Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle, Sep/2010, Finished Oct/2010
• The Road Ahead, Bill Gates, Jul/2010, Finished 9/9/2010
• Rework, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, Aug/2010, Finished 8/25/2010
• Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson, 7/12/2010, Finished 8/10/2010
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson, 7/11/2010, Finished 7/26/2010
• Profit from the Core, Chris Zook, May/2010, Finished 6/9/2010
• Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play, Mahan Khalsa / Randy Illig, Jan/2010, Finished May/2010
• Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3), Christopher Paolini, Aug/2009, Finished May/2010
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, Marshall Goldsmith, Feb/2010, Finished Mar/2010
• How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In, Jim Collins, 10/21/2009, Finished 12/6/2009
• The Wager: a Play in Three Acts, Mark Medoff, Nov/2009, Finished Nov/2009
• Angels in America, Tony Kushner, Sep/2009, Finished Oct/2009
• A Practical Handbook for the Actor, Melissa Bruder, 8/25/2009, Finished Aug/2009
• Sanford Meisner on Acting, Sanford Meisner, 8/17/2009, Finished 8/25/2009
• The New Complete Siberian Husky, Michael Jennings, 5/13/2009, Finished Q2 2009
• Raising a Champion: A Beginner’s Guide to Showing Dogs, A. Meredith John; Carole L. Richards, 04/22/2009, Finished Q2 2009
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni, 04/16/2009, Finished Q2 2009
• Show Me! A Dog-Showing Primer, D. Caroline Coile, Feb 2009, Finished 04/19/2009
• 11 Things You Absolutely Need to Know About Selling Your Business, John Dini & Carlos Zubillaga, Dec 2008, Finished 04/15/2009
• Good to Great, Jim Collins, Mar 2009, Finished 04/15/2009
• Hire with your Head, Lou Adler, Feb 2009, Finished Feb 2009
• The E-Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber, Oct/2008, Finished Dec/2008
• Business Valuation Bluebook, Nov 2008, Finished 11/30/2008
• The Shining, Stephen King, Nov 2008, Finished 11/17/2008
• Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen, Oct 2008, Finished 11/4/2008
• The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman, Sep 2008, Finished Oct/2008
• Inside the Tornado, Geoffrey A. Moore, Started ???, Finished 10/8/2008
• Mastering the The Rockefeller Habits, Verne Harnish, August 2008, Finished Sep/2008
• The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman, Aug 2008, Finished Sep/2008
• The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman, July-Aug 2008, Finished 8/24/2008
• In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, Aug 2008, Finished 8/16/2008
• Moyers on Democracy, Bill Moyers, June-Aug 2008, Finished 8/3/2008
• Funny Money, Andrew Tobias, June 2008, Finished
• The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama, June 2008, Finished
• Day Hiker’s Handbook, Michael Lanza, May 2008, Finished
• Born standing up, Steve Martin, May 2008, Finished
• God’s Debris, Scott Adams, April 2008, Finished
• The Five Tempatations of a CEO, Patrick Lencioni, April 2008, Finished
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan, March 2008, Finished
• The King of Torts, John Grisham, 2007, Finished

Started and stopped

• A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin, 06/17/2012
• On the Technique of Acting, Michael Chekhov, Sep/2009, In progress
• Leaders Count, Lawrence H. Kaufman, Nov/2008, In progress
• Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, Oct/2008, In progress
• The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz, In progress
• Authentic Leadership, Bill George, In progress

Completed prior to tracking

• The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, ?, Finished
• Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1), Jim Butcher, ?, Finished
• Duma Key, Stephen King, ?, Finished
• Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold, ?, Finished
• Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis, 20061129, n/a
• Airport, Arthur Hailey, 20061126, n/a
• Velocity of Money, Stephen Rhodes, ?, ?
• And many more …

Read to the baby before born

• The Emperor’s Egg
• Goodnight Moon
• Barnyard Dance!
• I Love You, Stinky Face
• Belly Button Book!
• Farmer Annie’s Garden
• Fifteen Animals!
• And many more! … And now she’s born!

Notes from select books

The Happiness Project

• (Many tbd)
• Listen friends as you pass by, As you are now so once was I. As I am now so you must be. Prepare yourself to follow me.

Letters to a Young Artist

• The artist’s job is to complain; not to fix problems.
• Always gotta respect “the man,” and we all have a “man.”
• Actors should have some self-doubt, some … (tbd)
• Pain (and other sense memories) are fuel, but we still need the vehicle (a trained self) to burn the fuel.
• The audience wants not only a good performance, but how they can relate that to their own life … (tbd)

The Power of Purpose

• From Cover:
  1. G+P+V=CALLING!
  2. Study the book!
  3. Select a Sounding Board!
• Gifts + Passion + Value = Purpose
• Succumb to “Hurry Sickness”
• Take a 10-minute “Solo”
  • Sit in a comfortable position. Consciously examine your physical tension and describe it to yourself in detail. Examine its intensity. Become as aware as you possibly can of any tension and related discomfort. Tighten up the tense area, then relax it. If you touch the tense area with your hand, you will feel the discomfort. Interesting areas to try are your jaw, back, neck, and eye muscles. Most people are tense in these areas without being fully aware of it.
  • Close your eyes. Take three slow, deep breaths, breathing from your abdomen. Breathe in and out through your nose, taking breaths that are long and slow. Silently count “one” as you inhale and “two” as you exhale. Do this over and over again for several minutes. Concentrate on the numbers one and two, saying them to yourself for each breathing cycle. The idea is to clear your mind. Most of us feet controlled by thoughts that constantly pop into our minds. Visualize your thoughts as clouds floating toward you, floating freely into your mind, and then floating out of your mind again. Keep going back to counting your breaths. Clearing your mind will become easier as you practice.
  • After you have enjoyed the quiet for several minutes, spend three to four minutes picturing your day as ideal, happening just as you want it to. You might want to ask: Why am I getting up this morning? What calls forth my gifts? What moves me? Where do I see myself serving?
  • Keeping the pictures in your mind, affirm silently to yourself, “I will make a difference in one person’s life today.” Picture who that person might be. To affirm means to “make firm” that which you are picturing. If doubts of contradictory thoughts arise, don’t resist them; just let hem flow through your mind, and return to your images.
  • Don’t be in a hurry to open your eyes. Before you do, suggest to yourself that you are getting more and more alert — that you will feel clear and calm when you return.

In Defense of Food

• Eat Food
  • Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food
  • Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup
  • Avoid food products that make health claims
  • Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle
  • Get out of the supermarket whenever possible
• Mostly plants
  • Eat mostly plants, especially leaves
  • You are what what you eat eats too
  • If you have the space, buy a freezer
  • Eat like an omnivore
  • Eat well-grown food from healthy soils
  • Eat wild foods when you can
  • Be the kind of person who takes supplements
  • Eat more like the French. Or the Italians. Or the Japanese. Or the Indians. Or the Greeks.
  • Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism
  • Don’t look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet
  • Have a glass of wine with dinner
• Not too much
  • Pay more, eat less
  • Eat meals
  • Do all your eating at a table
  • Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does
  • Try not to eat alone
  • Consult your gut
  • Eat slowly
  • Cook and, if you can, plant a garden