A while ago I wrote about Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation that I marked up and continue to think about and reference in conversation almost daily. The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath will be another book that I continue to think about and reference in conversation. Published in October 2017, this is the latest collaboration between the brothers and their other book topics include decision-making, ideas, and changes. The Power of Moments deals with memorable moments in our lives.
As I started to shape what I wanted to share in this post, I also remembered that a fellow New York State librarian, Sue Kowalski, often uses the hashtag #momentsthatmatter when she posts to Instagram, usually when sharing pictures of her mother, but friends and family. She knows the value of a moment. I wonder if she could have contributed to the book? In essence, the Heath brothers set out to demonstrate to readers how experiences in our lives have an “extraordinary impact” and drill down to the four elements of powerful moments: Elevation, Insight, Pride, and Connection. They reluctantly share the acronym to easily remember it as EPIC.
They walk through the four elements and hone in on succinct examples and scientific research about how moments can be orchestrated (but recognize they’re hard work to create) and when they occur naturally. I can share that I used about two pads of Post-its as I read the book feverishly taking notes. Especially for educators, there is commentary on how we can create moments that matter using the four elements in schools.
In addition, anyone who wants to think deeper about their own lives can use the book as a tool too: a) creating milestones (using the Couch to 5K example), b) that purpose trumps passion in work, c) that courage is contagious, d) that transitions are natural moment-makers, e) that employees strongly agree that “full appreciation of work done” is the best gift they can receive from bosses, f) that variety truly is the spice of life. And I could go on, but I’m putting it to others to read the book. Read deeply and openly.
I want to “turn up the volume” on moments in my life. There are already elements that I’ve used without understanding the reasons that the book lays bare. And, it’s also why apps are revolutionizing moments– they are creating moments in our lives when we didn’t know there were milestones to celebrate (think: You’ve walked 10,000 steps today! Or, congratulations, you’ve sampled 100 beers from 13 different states!)
If you haven’t read the book, read it. I’d love to form a book group about the topics Chip and Dan Heath present. I know librarians who create these moments for students every day (ahem, Stacey Rattner) and sparkling personalities that savor human interaction (ahem, Sue Kowalski) and apps that helped me run a 15K (ahem, Runkeeper), so let’s work toward creating more of these moments.
1. The Reason You’re Alive by Matthew Quick
2. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (artist)
3. From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
4. Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
5. Dear Fahrenheit 451: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life by Annie Spence
6. The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur
Whether I’m coming or going, my home city is always a sight and was actually the center of quite a lot of 
Elephant Talk: The Surprising Science of Elephant Communication by Ann Downer-Hazell is exactly what the title and subtitle tell you it’s about as a short nonfiction explanation of how elephants communicate and how humans have studied and learned about these animals as people like Jane Goodall did with primates. It’s one of two reasons I went on a solo trip to Africa after I got my Bachelor’s degree– to see a wild elephant.
Europe
Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs is an addition to the Miss Peregrine’s series. This book is a collection of short stories written under the guise of a historian for peculiars and tells the tall tales that only another peculiar can tell. Some are light-hearted but some are downright depressing. But it brings out the best in Riggs’ creativity and is a perfectly natural (see what I did there?) addition to the family of books.
The Round House by Louise Erdrich is an adult novel written in 2012 that is a multi-layered and emotionally-draining portrayal of a family torn apart on the North Dakota reservation of the Ojibwe tribe. This is the kind of book you dive into with every fiber of your being and continue to think about after you’re finished. It’s likely a book I will re-read when I don’t often do that.
Into the Bright Unknown by Rae Carson is the final book in her Gold Seer trilogy that I finished about fifteen minutes ago. I bought it on it’s book birthday because I had to have it and finished it within a few days, though if I could ignore adulthood, I could have been done the following day. Carson demonstrates the facets of immigration and race relations in the 1850s during the Gold Rush though it began years before that in the south after Leah’s parents were murdered and she needed to run, hiding herself in plain sight as a boy and meeting up with a band of interesting people all pushing their way west. If I can provide more encouragement to read the series, know that I had at least one night of dreams set in the wild West myself that demonstrates Carson’s command of setting.
Dear Fahrenheit 451: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Break-Up Notes to the Books in Her Life by Annie Spence is a must-read for librarians (duh) and avid book lovers. Her uniquely humorous style provides glimpses into her reading habits and her life. Her and I are kindred spirits because we share an all-time book favorite The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. Her approach had me laughing and smirking making for awkward public interactions. But readers certainly can find ways to incorporate this style– a love letter to your books– into some epic internal conversations or as part of your next book group meeting. Love, Alicia.
And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard has one of my favorite covers. So while it’s not winter and I wasn’t going to dress in all-black, you get the point. This young adult novel features poetry and inspiration from Emily Dickinson in one of the ways I appreciate contemporary YA authors– bringing back the old by incorporating it into the new. The main character has experienced something tragic and is now at a boarding school and channeling Emily Dickinson to heal. The mystery unfolds over the course of the book and readers get to go back in time and revisit some of Emily Dickinson’s best poetry while Hubbard flexes her own poetry muscles and has Emily writing her own which is just as beautiful.
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren is an adult biography that I have recommended widely since reading. While I will never know what it’s like to be a scientist, I felt like I understood the life of one, with the added benefits of chronicling Jahren’s personal life alongside her academic one. Without a doubt, it is eloquently written and organized in a studious manner, with three sections being named for plant life weaving these plants into the story of her own life and her lab partner. It’s as serious as it is cerebral with commentary on mental health, family, friendship, and science itself.
Yes, we need to have digital citizenship lessons, but we have forgotten to continue the lessons on personal citizenship because of and ignorant of our digital lives. We believe we know people because we are connected with them on social media. We believe we are better than or worse than people because of what we see on their feeds. We compare ourselves to Photoshopped images in advertising. We reserve the right to demean others either because we are behind a screen or because we think it is our right. Turkle shares a few stories that I can only compare to why teenagers are less likely to get their drivers license. We have scared them with advertisements, statistics, and more. And the same thing is true in real life. We have scared teenagers into speaking less because they see what happens when people say the wrong thing. The instant screenshot or video immortalizes a misstep. For whatever reason, Turkle’s example of a teenage boy who ignored a phone call from a college recruiter so he could email him instead later was explained by the boy as a fear of saying the wrong thing over the phone. He shared that a phone conversation is too quick for him to think about what he wants to say and the fear of saying the wrong thing drives him to email instead because he can think as he types.
Readers Be Advised 