Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American by BH Liddell Hart We should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical application–not far far-fetched or archaic expressions or extravagant metaphors and figures of speech–and learn them so well that words become works.” – Seneca “ My advice is really this: what we hear the philosophers saying and what we find in their writings should be applied in our pursuit of the happy life. They were all consumed the same way, under the same guiding idea: They could all fit well their original genres (non-fiction, economics, philosophy, literature) but to me they only feel right together. It’s my Life section – books with life lessons, advice, morals, ways of being. If there was a fire or I had to abandon most of my library, there’s one shelf I would grab. Things like “Hustling,” “America” “Evolution (which includes evolutionary pysch, some economics, sex memoirs) or my favorite, “Animals” I decided to label them that way, by what they’ve taught me, connections and what I applied it to.
Still, it’s the centerpiece of Internet Strategy shelf. When Alinsky wrote Rules for Radicals in the 1960’s he probably wasn’t thinking about the internet. The genre system doesn’t really work – it’s always about what the author wrote the book for, not what I use it for. I was trying to come up with a way to organize my books.