Cal Newport makes the case that productivity is suffering from too much distraction: cell phones, email, Twitter, Facebook, selfies, video games, etc. Newport also points out the new “open” workplace where people don’t have offices anymore just creates a noisy, distracting environment where it’s hard to concentrate on the work at hand. Conversations spill over all those cubical walls. Studies have shown that a person with a smart phone will check it 700 times a day on average. I see my students constantly fiddling with their phones. I liked Newport’s example of writer Neal Stephenson who limits his time online in order to focus on producing novels. His workflow could be an inspiration to us all. If you want a guide to being productive in our digital age, I recommend Deep Work. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction
PART ONE: THE IDEA
Chapter 1: Deep Work is Valuable
Chapter 2: Deep Work is Rare
Chapter 3: Deep Work is Meaningful
PART TWO: THE RULES
Rule #1: Work Deeply
Rule #2: Embrace Boredom
Rule #3: Quit Social Media
Rule #4: Drain the Shallows
Conclusion
Notes
Index

Here we are just a couple games from the Super Bowl. The Patriots are 3 1/2 point favorites over the Broncos. Although this is the 17th meeting of Brady and Manning, this game lacks drama. The Arizona Cardinals may be the best team in this bunch of four. Carolina is favored by 3 points but Cam Newton will have to have an exceptional game to beat the Cardinals. Who do you think will playing in the Super Bowl two weeks from now?

I resisted reading Room since it was published in 2010. Diane, Katie, and Patrick all read it and encouraged me to read Room so it could be a “Family Book” (a book all of us have read). But, I held out. The story of a woman kept as a sex slave and her 5-year-old son didn’t appeal to me. Then the movie version of Room showed up and garnered rave reviews. Then Patti Abbott put Room at the top of her Best Movies of 2015. And Patti encouraged me to read the book.

I’ve read Emma Donoghue’s Slammerkin so I had some idea of what Room would be like. The story is narrated by a small boy who only knows the world from the inside of a shed. His mother allows a bit of TV but that further complicates the boy’s version of the world. Donoghue creates a unique world inside the shed that is the woman and boy’s prison. Other complications make both the book and the movie challenging. I admire both works, but be prepared to cry. I sure did. GRADE: B+ (for both the book and movie)

Back in 1959, Broadway veteran Moss Hart published Act One his story of how he got started in show business. Moss Hart’s family was dysfunctional and poor. His chances of making it to Broadway and having any impact on the 70 plays that were being performed at that time was slight. But Moss Hart’s story of his drive and passion to make it to Broadway is inspiring and funny. Hart’s strategy of spending summers conducting theater camps leads to mind-boggling complications. The story of how Moss Hart’s first play, Once in a Lifetime, goes through the creative process with George S. Kaufmann directing makes fascinating reading. Hart shows how scripts are written and revised. If you have any interest in Broadway productions and how a play is developed, Act One reveals all the nitty-gritty details. I found Act One to be a marvelous book!

I’ve been a big fan of Jane Bryant Quinn’s books on consumer finance for decades. Quinn writes clearly and accurately about financial matters. In her latest book, How To Make Your Money Last, Quinn focuses on people close to retirement and those who have already retired. As Quinn points out, a common fear is that we might “outlive” our money. This book shows several strategies to take to make sure that doesn’t happen to you. Quinn’s chapter on Social Security will enlighten you. There are hundreds of ways to collect your Social Security benefits. Make sure you pick the right option. Smart money management, estate planning, and wills/trusts are just some of the topics covered. I learned a lot and you will too if you read How to Make Your Money Last. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction
1. The Joy and Challenge of Life After Work
Now that you can do whatever you want, what do you want to do?
2. Rightsize your Life
You’re never afraid to open your bank statement when you’re living within your means
3. How to Double Your Social Security Income (Well, Almost)
Your payout could be worth as much as $1 million over your lifetime. Are you leaving some of that money on the table?
4. Getting the Most from Your Health Insurance–Before and After
Peace of mind is knowing that you can see a doctor when you’re sick
5. Pensions Are for Stre-e-e-etching
A new look at the comfort of a guaranteed income for life
6. Should You Buy Yourself a Pension?
Lifetime annuties, the Rodney Dangerfield of investmetns, don’t get no respect–except from me
7. Powering Your Retirement Savings Plans
If you haven’t saved pots of money, don’t waste time kicking yourself. It’s never too late to give your future a boost
8. The Speed Limits on Retirement Spending: Still 4 Percent?
When to step on the gas, when to tap the brakes
9. Investing for Income: Not What You Think
Nothing endangers your lifestyle more than to pile into “income investments”
10. Home Sweet Income: Producing Home
Your house is a piggy bank. this might be the moment to break it open
11. Living on Your Life Insurance
There’s money in a life insurance policy and you don’t have to die to get it
12. Just Tell Me What to Do
Whew! At last
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“We have been misled, and the conservative movement has been derailed, by legions of fools and poseurs wearing smiley-face masks. I aim to unmask them.”
John Derbyshire’s aim is to alert us that we’re in Deep Shit and it’s going to get worse. In each topical chapter, Derbyshire identifies a social problem and shows our response to solving it is inadequate. My favorite chapter is “Education: Yale or Jail.” Derbyshire shows that most of the money we spend on education is wasted. All the educational software and computers that were supposed to help kids read better and master math concepts actually produced lower test scores. Throwing more money at the problem won’t solve it. Derbyshire accurately identifies the key problems facing us (but he gives short shrift to Climate Change). This would all be very depressing if Derbyshire wasn’t funny. In his best faux-David Brooks manner, Derbyshire shows how any of these problems–War, Immigration, the Economy, etc.–could ruin us. I thought Derbyshire’s analysis was convincing and clever and occasionally scathing. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
A Call to Pessimism p. 1
Diversity: Nothing to Celebrate p. 14
Politics: Show Business for Ugly People p. 40
Culture: Pooped Out p. 62
Sex: Surplus to Requirements p. 87
Education: Yale or Jail p. 97
Human Nature: Ask Your Aunt p. 134
Religion: What Shall We Do to Be Saved? p. 158
War: Invading the World p. 183
Immigration: Inviting the World p. 199
Foreigners: Inspecting the World p. 213
The Economy: In Hock to the World p. 230
The Audacity of Hopelessness p. 249
Acknowledgments p. 263

Joy is the story of a young woman who overcomes a very dysfunctional family to follow her dream. Along the way, almost every imaginable business problem cascades on Joy. Most people would have given up. Joy doesn’t. Jennifer Lawrence’s performance is Oscar-worthy. The reviews for Joy have been mixed. It doesn’t have the wackiness of Silver Linings Playbook or American Hustle. Joy shows the frustrations and disappointments of trying to succeed in business. I’m going to encourage my business students to go see Joy. And, I’m going to encourage you to see Joy, too! GRADE: A-

“I write to you in your 15th year. I am writing to you because this was the year you saw Eric Garner choked to death for selling cigarettes; because you know now that Renisha McBride was shot for seeking help, that John Crawford was shot down for browsing in a department store. And you have seen men in uniform drive by and murder Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old child they were oath-bound to protect. And you know now, if you did not know before, that the police departments of your country have been endowed with the authority to destroy your body. It does not matter if the destruction is the result of an unfortunate overreaction. It does not matter if it originates in a misunderstanding… Sell cigarettes without the proper authority and your body can be destroyed. Resent the people trying to entrap your body and it can be destroyed. Turn into a dark stairwell and your body can be destroyed. The destroyers will rarely be held accountable. Mostly they will receive pensions. And destruction is merely the superlative form of a dominion whose prerogatives include friskings, detainings, beatings and humiliations. All of this is common to black people. All of this is old for black people. No one is held responsible.”

The winner of the Seahawks vs. Panthers could be on the Fast-Track to the Super Bowl. The Panthers are favored by 2 1/2 points. The Steelers are coming into Denver battered and bruised from that knock-out game with the Bengals last weekend. Denver is favored by 7 points. It should be more. Who do you want to win?

I’m not seeing many upsets this weekend. The Patriots (favored by five points) should be able to handle the scrappy Kansas City Chiefs. Green Bay’s dreams will end in the desert of Arizona (favored by 7 points). Who do you think will win today?