Little Social Experiment

Off Topic
1

I have some lofty goals that I’d like to accomplish by this time next year (personal stuff). And my productivity level is going to need to soar.

Also I there is a list of books I’ve been meaning to tackle and now that I’m out for the summer I figured now would be as good of a time as any to attack this list as well as my productivity level.

So for the summer…the next three months I’m going to cancel my internet service, and my cable tv.

I realized that I spend a lot more time bullshitting on the internet than I should. It’s really replaced tv… I can say i definitely don’t watch more than 2-3hrs of tv a week. But I easily spend more time on the internet than I’d like to admit.

Of course the majority of it is reading and learning stuff. I have far more important priorities.

So I’m getting rid of those two distractions. And the only things that can distract me will be my books and my priorities.

I wont be totally inaccessible to the internet I have verizon broadband access on my cellphone (so i can plug my cell into my laptop and use the internet) but its not great for streaming (so no endless youtubing) and I dont get the service at home so I have to be somewhere else (down the hill) to use it (i live kind of close to a mountain).

Anyway… My reading list is as follows… if you can reccomend some other good books I’d be much obliged. And yes the reading list is long, but i read the entire left behind series in under 2wks so I go through books pretty fast (mind you those books were written simple as hell- pun intended):

Freakonomics by Stephen J Dubner, Steven Levitt

The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge

The Modern Gentleman by Phineas Mollod and Jason Tesauro

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Quest for Cosmic Justice by Thomas
Sowell

The Content of Our Character by Shelby Steele

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Advice For A Young Investigator by Santiago Ramon y Cajal

I Feel Great and You Will Too! by Pat Croce

The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattle

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Hemingway Collection

The 50?s by David Halberstam

Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons

On Writing by Stephen King

A People’s History of the United

States by Howard Zinn

Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued

About, by Mil Millington

Honey Don’t, by Tim Sandlin

The Comedy Writer, by Peter Farrelly

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

The Power of Myth by Bill Moyers

Monster Island,

Monster Nation and

Monster Planet

World War Z

Halo Trilogy

2

I admire your dedication. I just got out of school for the year and I have been just sitting around for a week doing nothing productive.

I am also going to try to stop watching t.v. all the way. As well as try to cut back on the computer to like an hour a day.

It is good to see someone else get serious. Good luck.

BTW - your threads in the sex and male animal forum are amazing.

3

Did you ever prove any of your outlandish claims, or complete any of your posted goals?

I might be wrong on this, and I apologize if I am, but aren’t you the guy who:

-can beat Paddy Doyle in burpees
-has a sick lifting total and is really fast
-walked onto the USC practice squad with no football experience
-wants to be a ninja, navy SEAL, pro fighter…all at the same time?

and I’m sure there’s more.

If you’ve already proved any of this or are a different person, I apologize.

I saw in your profile you train at Chute Boxe. How often does Wand, Cyborg, the Ruas, etc stop by? All privates and seminars if they do?

4

I see you put a few of CW’s books on your list.

Don’t get "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker "

Just not worth you time. It has some interesting points… but the book can be summed up in about 5 pages.

Others of yours i have read, others are on my list.

A few more i plan on reading this summer are, ‘a random walk down wall street’, ‘malcom x autobiography by alex h.’ and another i annoyingly can’t remember.

5

[quote]ShaneM686 wrote:
I see you put a few of CW’s books on your list.

Don’t get "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker "

Just not worth you time. It has some interesting points… but the book can be summed up in about 5 pages.

Others of yours i have read, others are on my list.

A few more i plan on reading this summer are, ‘a random walk down wall street’, ‘malcom x autobiography by alex h.’ and another i annoyingly can’t remember.[/quote]

I second the Malcolm X autobiography, it is a great book, and one you will enjoy. One of the best books I have ever read.

6

I like the sound of your plan, I am thinking of undertaking something similar, but not quite to your extreme.

I wish you luck, and if I may, listed below are a collection of worth while resources. The bulk of these resources are self help related. This is because you mentioned motivation as a significant problem.

Books
Anthony Robbins - Unlimited Power, Awakening The Giant With In

Dr Deepak Chopra -Ageless Body Timeless Mind

Dr John Keegan - A History Of Warfare

Dr Robert Bolton - People Skills

T Stanley and W. Danko - The Millionaire Next Door

Dr Steven Covey - Principle Centred Leadership, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Audio CD’s (these are a favourite of mine because I spend a significant amount of time driving to and from my job)

Anthony Robbins - Personal Power 2
Any of anthony’s Power Talk series
are very good

Deepak Chopra - Restful Sleep, The way of the wizard, Perfect Health

(also some of these titles can be downloaded using Lime Wire)

This is not an exaustive list by any stretch of the imagination,but merely a few that have increased my experiences of the world

Long Live The BodyScience

7

[quote]DrVonNostrand wrote:
Did you ever prove any of your outlandish claims, or complete any of your posted goals?

I might be wrong on this, and I apologize if I am, but aren’t you the guy who:

-can beat Paddy Doyle in burpees
-has a sick lifting total and is really fast
-walked onto the USC practice squad with no football experience
-wants to be a ninja, navy SEAL, pro fighter…all at the same time?

and I’m sure there’s more.

If you’ve already proved any of this or are a different person, I apologize.

I saw in your profile you train at Chute Boxe. How often does Wand, Cyborg, the Ruas, etc stop by? All privates and seminars if they do? [/quote]

This is going to be the first time I addressed this shit publically I believe. Most people that are busting my balls about it I messaged privately and discussed…again they were just busting my balls or saying certain things were unlikely.

1, paddy doyle burpees, i didn’t do the pushup portion, and didn’t jump. so they dont count. On the same thread I brought it up on that point was corrected. You can do them really fuckin fast if you’re basically doing a good morning with a bunny hop.

2, sick lifting total and speed are for real, but i was a gymnast since i was about 9 till i was about 15. So I attribute a lot of it to that. Plus I have a natural build for squats (my only really ‘big’ lift).

3, walking onto the USC practice squad is nothing. They accept 5 guys every season and its more of a publicity thing. Did I make it? Yes, but had to pull out because of shin splints. I never said I would start. I never said I would even get any playing time. If you can catch the ball. You can make the practice squad. It’s easy. You could do it w/o even training for it I promise.

4, Ninja, no that was when I was about 6… and I did end up taking ninjutsu under stephen k. hayes. Big rip off, I went to shotokan instead after that. Ended up in gymnastics till I discovered this sub-wrestling school.

Navy SEALs? I expressed interest in that in a facetious way…“Beats an office job” or something like that. I got torn a new one because I didn’t approach the topic with the utmost respect or something. I completely see the point… but a lot of people got sand up their cunt for no reason.

I only expressed interest because school fucking sucks and it’s something I’ve thought about b4. I got an easier “career path” now making a little spare change and I took the advice of the thread… I play socom navy seals and a little halo… Similar rush, w/o being wet.

Pro fighter? Working on it… part of my list of “personal” goals that I would like to accomplish by this time next year. I just said personal goals because mental midgets like yourself can’t accept that someone else is out there DOING instead of posting on the internet about their disbelief.

Don’t believe me…call me on it…private message me if it irks you so goddamn much…get an answer…move the fuck on… don’t follow me around on threads for the next 2 years asking me the same questions over and over.

Chute Boxe?

Well Chute Boxe USA is no more, a lot of falling out and dramatic shit happened with the team. Coach Roberto left, then Jorge, so now its Caesar, matt and some other guys teaching.

Murilo “ninja” rua did a seminar not too long ago (he was supposed to be the new coach but i guess that fell through), Nam Pham did as well… when Pride was out here Master Rudimar and Wand came to train at the gym so we got to work with Wand a bit but nothing serious. He mostly worked pads with the coach and with Anthony and Jorge, who was still there at the time. (who’s a fucking Beast look out for Anthony Johnson or A.J. he has hands like Anderson Silva but was a D-1 wrestler as well).

I can post a pic of me posing with the team and my chute boxe certification @ the belt graduations if you’d like further evidence.

Now do you have anything fucking useful to add? a book that moved you? A book that you found told you invaluable information? Maybe one that is just a great conversation piece?

Or are you just a detractor determined to drag down someone that you wish you could be?

If it’s the former, Thanks.
If its the latter, go play in traffic.

8

To the other posters:

Thank you, I’ve gone through a lot of those books already. The Malcom X one my dad made me read when I was junior high :slight_smile: (along with fredrick douglas’, “the assassination of the black male image” by dr. ofari hutchison, and a myraid of others).

I went through the stephen covey series, and I’m not that big of a fan of tony robbins. Met him at the staples center at one of the learning annex meeting things… just didn’t like the vibe… and the books are kind of common sense to me :-/

I’m trying to keep an open mind though so I’ll browse through the one’s you reccomended and see if it stirs up some interest.

I will check out the deepak guy though heard the name, never looked into it.

thanks again!

9

Add “It’s not about the bike” Lance Armstrong’s book to that list…

SHadoW

10

[quote]Physical_Culture wrote:

Dr John Keegan - A History Of Warfare
[/quote]

John Keegan is awesome for analytical military history and I can’t recommend him enough.

In response to Xen- If all the books are more or less the length and readability of the ones I’ve read on that list, then your plan is certainly doable if you’re able to put in the hours and avoid burnout. Pretend you’re a grad student with your comprehensive exams coming up. The amount you learn will be worth the effort.

12

The very cheesy titled How To Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie is very worthy of a read every year or three.

I have a friend who just read Catcher in the Rye and said he didn’t like it/get it…needless to say it proved to me his cerebral shallowness; please keep it on the list and enjoy.

13

I think you could greatl increase your productivity by either getting the Cliff’s versions of a lot of those books or by watching the movie, if applicable. When one feeds his mind too much, it starts to cripple him.

I kid, I kid. Have fun.

DB

P.S. You didn’t mention stalking pole vaulters in your summer plans.

14

Ditch Catcher in the Rye. That is the dumbest book I have ever read about a stupid little crybaby emo bitch. Here is a summary in a few short sentences: “So and so said I should do this, but I think that idea is stupid. That’s how I really feel if you want to know the truth.”

You should replace it with Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson. In it, he explains why certain “western” cultures tend to be better militarily than others. Damn good read.

Or perhaps 1776 or John Adams by David Mccullough. Great topic and awesome author.

mike

15

I don’t think the NY Times Guide to Essential Knowledge is a book that you’re going to want to read from start to finish. That would be like saying you want to read the encyclopedia. It’s good to have around for reading on the shitter and/or reference material.

16

[quote]Mousse wrote:
The very cheesy titled How To Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie is very worthy of a read every year or three.

I have a friend who just read Catcher in the Rye and said he didn’t like it/get it…needless to say it proved to me his cerebral shallowness; please keep it on the list and enjoy.[/quote]

I hear great things about How To Win Friends and Influence People. Also, you’ll like Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the US.

I’ve done the no TV/Internet experiment once and loved it. It takes a couple days to adjust, but you’re doing the right thing by canceling the ability. Trying to will yourself against watching TV or surfing the net proves futile in most cases. Good luck man. You wont be sorry you did this.

17

Good for you. I waste way to much time online. I work online for long hours, so I can’t just disconnect my Internet. I almost certainly would, if I could still somehow do work.

I’m looking into stalling some admin control on my computer (that only someone else that can unlock) that would only allow me to visit the sites I need for work (lexis and gmail).

It’s easy to say you’re “learning” online, but usually it’s “easy knowledge,” or just fucking around. Read learning comes from thick books.

18

[quote]Xen Nova wrote:
The Power of Myth by Bill Moyers [/quote]

“The Power of Myth” is by Joseph Campbell. It’s the accompanying volume to a series Moyer did with Campbell. Moyer interviews Campbell but the content is all Campbell.

I’d say this is a pretty good book to introduce you to Campbell. If you like it (and it is very good) check out Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”. It’s probably what Campbell is best known for writing.

Another good one with a more poetic lean to it is “Iron John” by Robert Bly. Thoreau’s essays are good too. A couple of real T-men.

19

Last time I read a book…

20

Go tell it on the Mountain - James Baldwin
Emotional Intelligence- Daniel Goleman
Primal Leadership- Daniel Goleman
I Claudius- Robert Graves

21

Good plan Xen. And since the goal is expanding intellect, I highly recommend a subscription to Foreign Policy.