DaveShearon

A Christmas Song for Albert Ellis

I've just finished reading Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: It Works for Me - It Can Work for You by Albert Ellis, one of the founders (he'd say THE founder) of cognitive behavioral therapy. Dr. Ellis is recognized as one of the sources for the work on resilience I'm involved in and I wanted to know a bit more about him and his work. Wow! Interesting guy! The book's an easy read and engaging read even if you know nothing about REBT, cognitive psychology, etc. The stories of Dr. Ellis' life were intriguing and engagingly told, and the book does open a window, at least, into the power of deep patterns in our thinking - the beliefs about the world and our place in it - the shoulds and musts. 

Anyway, I know it is a bit weird to connect a Christmas song with a man who was a practicing Jew as a child and a  "probalistic atheist" from 13 on, but this song (1) seems to capture some of REBT, (2) was written by a great guy whom I used to go to church with, Kyle Matthews, and (3) is one of my very favorites.  Hope you enjoy:

 

Smart Strengths available for pre-order!

Yee-hah!  Long time coming, but the positive education book by Flourishing Schools colleagues John Yeager, Sherri Fisher, and me is available for pre-order!  Should ship mid-May.

Change, anyone?

My monthly post is up over at PPND.  "Change is hard, except when it is not!"  http://su.pr/2xzKqT  

Images

“Protect Me” courtesy of jennzebel

PsyCap - An Integrative Approach and a New Tool

My book note on Psychological Capital by Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio is up over at Positive Psychology Daily News.

Presence

Based on Synchronicity, I've just ordered this book.  I don't know exactly what I'm pursuing here, but I'm going to follow my instinct to read more in this vein.

Everything Bad Is Good for You - Examples

This post references blog posts that demonstrate what Everything Bad Is Good for You argues:

9/30/2004 Ambivablog on "Rescue Me."  I bet if the book had been published, she would have known about it.

Everything Bad Is Good for You

This is a book note about Everything Bad Is Good for You by Stephen Johnson.  Very intersting.  Argues that popular culture has become more intellectually challenging over the past 30 years, and has made us smarter.  Click "Continue readying" to read the note.

New books listed

I've been doing some recreational reading in my preferred genre, science fiction.  Two new entries listed on the side.

Shadow Warriors

I am almost finished listening to Shadow Warriors:  Inside the Special Forces by Tom Clancy, with Carl Stiner and Tony Koltz.  A few observations:

• Given time to plan, the US Military will accomplish the military objectives of the political goals set by civilian leaders with a minimum loss of American and opposition lives.
• Given insufficient time to plan, the US deaths will go up some, the opposition deaths will go up exponentially.
• US military leaders are the smartest, most educated, best trained, and most disciplined ever.  So are the soldiers they lead. 
• In the Special Forces, this translates to a 120 minimum IQ, fluency in languages and culture of target areas, multiple masters degree, and a psy-ops unit that, in the first Gulf War, included more than 50 Ph.D.'s. 
• In Panama, when it was learned Noriega was a practitioner of witchcraft, a warrant officer with a masters in the subject was available to explain and interpret the displays found in his homes and offices.
• Shwartskoff wasn't a  big fan of SF, and may have underutilized them in the liberation of Kuwait.  However, the teams attached to all coalition forces provided a bridge for language and communications technology, as well as operational and tactical expertise.
• Logistics, logistics, logistics.
• We need to worry about a gap between a culture of discipline, responsibility, respect and relgious faith in the military and one of license, "rights", self-promotion, and secularism in significant parts of the rest of society.

Book Blogging

I've caught up a little on the left on books I've read or listened to recently. None will get a full book note -- not because they aren't great, but because they're not in areas I'm thinking through that deeply -- but here are a few quick comments:

Founding Brothers As noted, Joseph Ellis got into trouble after this book came out for having fabricated and embellished stories of his Viet Nam service over the years. I find such behavior troubling in a presidential candidate, but less so in an author/historian -- not as close to the core of what I'm looking to that person for. I guess the biggest three insights for me were:

1. Jefferson was fuzzy-thinking when it came to matters of liberty, and self-deceiving about his own behavior. Disappointing for a UVA alumnus. He apparently believed in the power of ideas and philosophies to change human nature. I wouldn't want a son to be like him in these ways.

2. Washington is shown as having an ability to find and then cling to key principles such as winning the war by keeping the Continental Army in existence, or neutrality in foreign affairs. Although not particularly good tactically, especially early on, he seems to have been the first military strategist to master the key principles of insurgency warfare against a foreign power. It was also amazing that the press in the 1790's accused Washington of planning to betray the United States to Britain! (And this apparently hurt him deeply, although he also grasped the key principle of political life that some attacks just cannot be granted a response.)

3. John Adams was far more brilliant and influential than I had realized. Just looking at his term as president, he managed to end an undeclared war with France, scotched a plan by Hamilton to create a standing army then use it to make himself something of a King and annex Mexico and South America, and urged and began the development of naval forces -- a move that proved prescient during the War of 1812. He managed to forgive Jefferson's betrayal in later years and allow the re-establishment of their friendship. His integrity and passion are to be admired.