The idea is genius. AJ decides he's spent enough time being constantly annoyed at everything in life, so he commits himself to finding and thanking everyone who makes his morning cup of coffee possible. He starts with the barista and then moves onto the dude who samples and selects the coffee his little, hipster joint serves. Along the way, he interviews them to learn how they work. As I understand it, he ends up talking to the coffee farmer and everyone in between. I've had quite enough of the book, so I'm stopping here.
It's a great idea, but I found the writing and the reading, well, annoying. AJ is sort of a metrosexual, postmodern guy and the book reads like one of those insufferable NPR pieces or maybe a particularly vapid TED talk. The company what puts on TED published the thing, so it's no wonder. AJ is an agnostic/atheist and he seems utterly lacking in any kind of historical or philosophical grounding, so the book lives in the moment as if the Universe was created the day AJ was born.
Going back into prehistory, like around 1975, we find the ancient scrolls of Milton Friedman. Dig this short video.
These days, of course, we're much more enlightened and would never allow someone to post something as racist and patriarchal as "The Power of the Market" without trigger warnings.
Ahem. Gratitude. Yes.
Snarking aside, AJ is right on the money. His gratitude journey is well-considered, even if the execution is airy. I'm going to look for another book on the topic, but I'm grateful AJ got me to go back and watch that Milton Friedman classic. My favorite line is that the people who combined to make that pencil might hate each other if they met, but they cooperate out of their own self-interests.
And if you think that self-interest is selfish, I recommend picking up a pamphlet on evolutionary biology.
2 comments:
He and my father looked so much alike.
:-)
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