There is a new TV series, "Emerald City", based on the great stories of the land of Oz. This is the first time in a while we've see anything Oz related that 's this big and mainstream; not since the movie "Oz, the Great and Powerful", which was a prequel to the first Oz story. I'll be watching the new show. I'm very curious about it.
I wonder which direction they'll go with it., And wihich part of the Oz mythos they'll explore. But for now, I would to take this opportunity and talk about its source material, the original Oz series of books, by L. Frank Baum. I'll also talk a little about some of the Oz movies and discuss how and why there don't exist many faithful adaptions.
There's fourteen books by the original author and many more by other writers. It's really a gold mine of source material! It could have been a huge film franchise, like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia. There's been tons of adaptations, but none of them turned into a major movie series. Even the most famous 1939 version, staring Judy Garland, is solitary and exists all by itself.
And maybe that's the way it should be. Nothing could ever top the classic version. Personally, it is one of my favorite films, and many people share that sentiment. It's such a timeless movie with every generations, it holds up so well.
That it's hard to guess what decade it was made. I've heard lots of people say they thought it was the 50s. There were many silent versions that came before it but this is the one everyone knows. It's a contender for "Most Beloved Film of All Time," and it is perhaps the only film that no one dares to remake.
But, like I said, there a whole bunch of books that are waiting for adaptations and most of them are now public domain. Let's see how "Emerald City" turns out, But first let me tell you about these books and what we're missing out on. The first, published in 1900, is the most famous of the stories. If you've seen the classic Judy Garland movie, then you pretty much know what happens in the book.
But there are some differences that stuck out to me. For example, in the book, the slippers or shoes that Dorothy gets the corpse of the Witch of the East are silver. For the film, they were changed to a sparkling ruby red. I assume the reason was because the film was made in color, which was very expensive at the time, so it made sense to show off the rich, lavish production by making them red.
In the book, there's two good witches; the Witch of the North and the Witch of the South, Glinda. For the movie, they combined both of these witches into the same character and just called her Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. When watching the movie, that always had me wondering why didn't they have a Witch of the South. Well, that's the reason.
As for why they combined the characters, My hunch is that, since the Witch of the North appears near the beginning of the book and the Witch of the South appears near the end of the book, it made sense just to make them the same character and tie it all together. But this raises a little problem with the movie. The whole time, all Dorothy is trying to do is go home. Glinda gives her the slippers and sends her off to meet the Wizard, which gets her into all this trouble with the Witch of the West and after she finally meets the Wizard and kills the Witch her problem still isn't solved.
Then Glinda comes out again and says all she need to do is click her heels together and she's home. In the book, this made sense because it was the first time she met Glinda, but in the movie it makes you wonder, "Why couldn't she tell her that in the first place?" Other than the fact that it would have been a short movie. Don't get me wrong: the movie's a masterpiece and this does nothing to harm it. It only makes it funnier.
It's one of those things you don't think about the first few times, but after a while, you stop and go, "Oh ... Glinda's an asshole!" There's a lot more characters in the book who we don't see in the movie like the Kalidahs, who are bears with tiger heads who try to stop the group on their journey to the Emerald City. The lion says even he is no match for them. Another obstacle they face is the hammer heads, who are armless men who attack by stretching their necks, using their heads to hit.
There's a country in Oz called China because all their buildings and people are made of porcelain. While this didn't appear in the movie, the porcelain girl did appear in "Oz, the Great and Powerful". The Wizard of Oz himself has multiple forms, not just the floating green head you see in the film. Each of the characters are only allowed to meet with him one at a time and on seperate days.
Everytime they seem him, he changes his appearance, into different things, such as a beast with horns, a ball of fire, and even a charming girl with wings. The way I interperet this is that, since the Wizard has such an elusive, mysterious reputation, each of the characters walked into that room with their own subjective mind and imagined their own version of the him. That's just how it came off to me. The lion in the film is cowardly and timid.
In the book, that's also true but he also has moments of bravery. There's a part where a community of animals in the forest, including bears, wolves, foxes and elephants, are fearful of a giant spider, with legs as long as tree trunks, who is devouring them. Then, the lion proves his title as King of the Forest killing the spider ... While it's sleeping ...
By knocking its head off. I find that very funny to imagine. While reading the book, I find myself visualizing these "deleted scenes" in the same style of the movie, popping out from the pages with its Technicolor glow, but there's violent, gory moments that strike me as being discordant with the childish tone. The movie has some parts that are scarry for children but the book ...Check this out: "...
And it rolled over at his feet in two pieces." The Tin Man is killing things with its axe! In the movie, he's always holding that axe and it makes you wonder: "What is he going to do with that axe?". Well, in the book, he actually uses it ... ... In all the ways you'd imagine.
" ... So that it immediately died.". "As soon as he could raise his axe another wolf came up, and he also fell under the sharp edge of the Tin Woodman's weapon." "There were forty wolves, and forty times a wolf was killed;" "so that at last they all laid dead in a heap before the Woodman." The Tin Man has a body count! And that's not all! The Scarecrow kills just as much! "And then another crow flew it him, and the Scarecrow twisted its neck also." "There were forty crows, and forty time the Scarecrow twisted a neck," "until at last all were lying dead beside him." Could you imagine the brainless scarecrow with that dopey look on his face breaking the necks of forty crows one at a time? There's also some philosophical moments. The Tin Man and Scarecrow debate whether it's more important to have a brain or a heart.
The Scarecrow says, "A fool would not know to do with a heart without a brain." And the Tin Man says, "... For brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world." Hmm... The group all have their differences. Dorothy's hungry, but they're in the middle of the woods, so the lion says he'll go to kill a deer, but Dorothy won't eat raw meat and the Lion says she has pecular tastes that she only likes cooked food.
Meanwhile, the Tin Man is about to cry over the idea of killing a deer and is concerned he'll make himself rust. The whole group is dysfunctional in a way. And, as great as the movie is, it only samples some of the comedy potential of these mismatched characters overcoming their differences to work together. When it comes time to kill the Witch, they each give their reason why they're not properly equiped and address their own flaws.
The Lion says that he's too much of a coward, the Scarecrow says he's too much of a fool, The Tin Man says that he doesn't have the heart; but they're so faithful to Dorothy, they'd do anything to help her. Dorothy herself cries over the idea of having to kill someone in order to see her aunt and uncle again, but she must try. And this mishmash assortment of characters all join forces and bond their friendship. It's this moment that I think sums up everything "Wizard of Oz" is all about.
It is the whole story right here on page 132. Then they all start preparing for battle. In one brisk paragraph, the Tin Man is sharpening his axe ... Getting his joints oiled, The Scarecrow is stuffing himself with fresh straw...
If this were a movie, it would be a montage, the kind in action movies where the heroes are gearing up. It is almost a parody of a montage, a parody of something that didn't even exist yet. This was the year 1900, and if made a movie of this today, they could take this same scene with the same context and it would already be parody, but it needs a ton of close-ups and fast editing in the same way that was so effective done by Edgar Wright in "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz". There is more cinematic potential in these books than can even be estimated.
The books have such a weird, mixed tone that you could adapt it any way you please. You could make a dark, twisted version or a funny, light-hearted one. All the possibilities are there and with tons of Oz books in the public domain, I wonder why Hollywood hasn't taken advantage with more movie adaptations. Like I said, therr's been a lot of Oz films over the decades, but its never turn into a full film series like Harry Potter Even "Oz, the Great and Powerful" has yet to see a sequel, and I thought that movie was all right.
It laid a good foundation to build on. I have some ideas why a big, mainstream Oz franchise it hasn't yet happened. This is just my own speculation ... Some possible reasons.
Number one: Hollywood is too busy adapting comic books. Superheroes are more adult, more badass, and they see Oz as more of a children's thing. Number two: Since the books are public domain, anyone can do it... But that may also be the problem.
Let's say Disney and Warner Bros.Both made an Oz movie at the same time... It would be competition. Everybody wants to have something that's exclusive. Undoubtedly, if one major Oz movie get made, a bunck of lower budget version could rise to the surface to cash in.
This was something very common during the Direct-to-DVD market. The one I best remember was when three different "War of the Worlds" movies all came out in the same month - two of them the same weekend! A big-budget Steven Spielberg version, a low-budget version and a zero budget version, and actually, the zero budget version was the most faithful to the book. And the third reason: if they make it into a series, they would have to start with the first book, and that was already one the best films of all time. Even though Hollywood has had no issues with remaking other classic films like "Ben-Hur", which is ridiculous, Oz seems to be remake-proof.
So, they'd have to be careful with that one. They would have to make it different, especially since while the books are public domain, the movie is not. Meaning, without a license, they couldn't immitate the same look for the characters, use any of the songs or rehash any of the same elements that appeared solely in the film. Nor should they.
Personally, the only reason I'd be okay with a remake is if they explored its source material in new ways and if it served as the launchpad for a whole series to adapt the rest of the books. They would have to do a good job with the first one and it would have to be successful. Now that we have 'Emerald City', I may stand corrected. It's television, it's not theatrical films, but lots of franchises, such as "Evil Dead", are going in the direction of TV anyway.
Could this be the Oz series I've been waiting for? I at least plan to watch the first few episodes and see how it is. If you want to hear me talk more Oz, stay tuned. There's going to be a Part 2 of this video next week I'll discuss a couple more of the books and another one of the films..
Hi guys! Today I'm here with a review of Vicious by V.E. Schwab, also known as the Victoria Schwab This is about two friends, Victor and Eli, who are in college and for Eli's thesis he is looking into EO's, extra-ordinary's. These people with special
kind of abilities. They decide to experiment when they come up with this theory about
how someone could develop extra-ordinary abilities, but things go
terribly wrong.
Fast forward ten years into the future and Victor is just of jail and he's on the lookout for Eli, So this was the book that the Little Book Club read back in October and we did do a live show discussion
on the book, This does include all kinds of spoilers so I'd only
recommend watching that if you have read the book. I will leave a link to that down below if you're, interested but let's move on to some of my spoiler-free thought. This became a one of my favourite books of 2014. It is amazing.
It is, I suppose, and unconventional kind revenge story, but oh my gosh it was
like nothing I've ever read before. The whole premise itself just captivated
me. I was so intrigued from the get-go, and I think the
structure of the story also really helped with keeping that suspense and that level of mystery as
well, because we flip back and forth from the present-day and also ten years back into the past
and in doing this we slowly learn about how certain series
of events came about and how these things lead to
what's happening at the present time. And everything just kind of falls into place, but one piece at a time.
So I was constantly questioning and
constantly wanting to know more, so it definitely keeps you flipping those
pages. I love the idea behind creating
extra-ordinary people, but not only that, but how this affected people and actually
kind of changed who they are - how that person not only deals with it, but kind of uses it. I also really love V.E. Schwab's writing style.
I absolutely adore it. I
don't know what it is, but I just find it so captivating, but from what I've heard, looking at the discussion threads on Goodreads while we were reading this book, some people weren't such a huge fan of the writing style, or at least a little bit of getting used to. But I definitely think it's worth it, if you have any kind of issue whatsoever with the writing I definitely recommend you keep at it. Keep at it because oh my gosh, the story is so worth it.
But I think the best elements of this book as a whole were the actual characters. This was my favourite part of the story. So for our two main characters, Victor and Eli this experiment really, really changed them as people, but not necessarily in a good way. They both become quite obsessive, but in different forms.
And this leads to some extreme and sometimes even awful actions on both their parts. Both of their characters, they're so twisted. They're just kind of messed up. And I'd describe them both as slightly villanous there is no clear-cut hero in this story.
There's definitely a blur between good and evil but what I found most interesting was the thought processes behind both of the characters, and their reasonings for their actions. That really made things interesting Because you do learn to empathise with these characters, you kind of learn to understand why they're doing certain things, even though it's so terribly wrong you get it. But it's just so wrong on so many levels which just, and I thought that was just so, so well done. We're also introduced to some other characters apart from Victor and Eli, and I think my favourite is Mitch which is quite interesting because he's very different to a lot of the characters.
He appears to be quite a quiet character, I suppose, But I really liked his relationship with Victor and how he kind of keeps Victor on track. Honestly, I don't think there's anything else that I can say about this book without kind of diving into some spoilery things. Because so much of this book is left to a mystery until later on So, I'm going to end things here. This is one of my favourite books.
I highly recommend it. And this is undoubtedly a 5/5 stars from me. So, I hope you guys enjoyed this review, I would love to know your thoughts on Vicious if you've read it, so leave your comments down below. Don't forget to check out the liveshow if you have read the book and would like to hear a little bit more of some spoilery discussions.
And I think that's about it! So, I will see you guys next time with a new video. Bye!.
Hey guys it's Sarah Jane,welcome back
to my channel. Today I'm here to bring you a spoiler free review of Uprooted by
Naomi Novik. I read it I finally read it. Sam from Thoughts on Tomes bought me
this book in January 2016 as a birthday present and I hadn't read it until last
week because I'm a rubbish human.
So Uprooted is a book that most of you will
either have read or at the very least heard about, it's a book that got a lot
of hype a lot of buzz in the beginning and it's interesting coming to the book
at this point after its release because people seem to either love the book or
hate it. *Cat meows* Luna I actually managed to do that sentence in one take. I would like
to take this moment to tell you that she was fed 15 minutes ago. So Uprooted is an
adult fantasy novel which I didn't know actually until I'd finished the book
which was quite interesting because I.
Went into it thinking it was YA. But I
will touch upon that later. So this is a fantasy novel that feels as though it's
set in a world where fairy tales come from, it has that fairy tale feel to it
and it follows the story of seventeen-year-old Agnieszka. I don't know, it wouldn't be a book review if i didn't
slaughter some names.
So Agnieszka loves her quiet village she loves her life there
but the village stands on the edge of a very corrupted wood. The wood is cold
it's corrupted it's dangerous and its kept at bay by the cold wizard known as
the Dragon. This wizard known as the Dragon keeps the villagers safe but it
comes at a cost. Every 10 years the village must hand over a girl to serve
the dragon for 10 years, a fate almost as terrible as being lost to the wood.
Now
girls that are born in choosing year are always seen as a little bit special they
are loved that little bit harder treasured that a little bit more because
it's known that one of them will be picked by the dragon to serve him. But
Nieshka has never really had that trouble because it was never believed that it
was going to be her, her best friend Kasia is beautiful, she's talented and
it's always being kind of understood that it will be Kasia that the Dragon
picks but in true book fashion of course that is not how it goes and the dragon
picks Agnieszka. Within seconds of being picked by the Dragon she's thrust from
the world that she knows and loves and she now lives in the Dragons Tower and
she knows she's going to be there for ten years. I'm gonna put this down now though
because it's quite heavy okay? Because Agnieszka never thought it was
going to be her she never made the effort to learn how to cook she never
made the effort to learn how to be a servant so the Dragon is quite
displeased with her at first shall we say.
I would say the first 30% or so of
the book definitely gave me strong Beauty and the Beast vibes if you go
into it expecting a Beauty and the Beast retelling you're gonna be very
disappointed but if like me one of your favorite elements of Beauty and the
Beast is the push and pull characters have, the friction they have how he's
really grumpy and she's really stubborn, if that is your favorite element of
Beauty and the Beast you will see Beauty and the Beast in this book. The dragon
starts to do spells and magic with Agnieszka and it really frustrates him
when she can't do the things that he wants her to do and the story really
goes on from there. The book strongly focuses on friendship, the friendship
between Agnieszka and Kasia is really really strong and I like that I don't
feel like I don't feel like Agnieszka is massively layered I don't feel like
she's a character that hugely went on a journey, I don't feel like she had a very
big character arc of course there's some character development there she becomes
more confident, she becomes more accepting of who she is blah blah blah
but I wouldn't say that she has a massive character arc. I also wouldn't
say that I felt that Kasia was a particularly strong character either I
really liked their friendship but I.
Wouldn't say that either of them
massively stood out to me on their own. One thing I would say about Agnieszka
that I liked is she's that stubborn protagonist but I love. I love stubborn
protagonists Sam said the same thing in her video and that's something that
we're very similar with we both really like stubborn headstrong characters and
I like that she... You understood why she was being headstrong and you understood
why she was being stubborn, there was no point when she was being stubborn that I
went and like rolled my eyes I.
Understood everything that she was doing
and I really liked that. I really did like the Dragon I could see a lot of
Beast elements in him especially since reading the book after watching the 2017
version of Beauty and the Beast and I loved how he was stubborn how he
was grumpy how he was a bit cold how he was really abrasive that's my kind of
character of course I was going to love the Dragon and I liked that he he didn't
have to do very much for me to go like aww because any slight little movement of
him that's just anything away from his usual cold grumpy demeanor
I was like yes yes come on Dragon open up a little bit, I just loved him. I love
them together this book does have romance in it but it's definitely not a
book that has too much romance I would say the romance left me wanting more me
and Sam talked about this when I'd finish the book and we both feel the
same way it's it's a book that makes you want more from the romance but what we
did get was absolutely amazing I love seeing them come together it wasn't
sweet and soppy it was like friction and then they put away from each other
because they don't, oh I don't like you and then they'd be like yes I do and
I just I love that that's that's my thing. But the thing that intrigues me
most is that when I actually picked up Uprooted I didn't think it was adult, I
thought it was YA and I would say that I.
Still felt like the book was a little
bit YA it was only parts of the romance that then pushed it that bit further
into perhaps like a new adult fantasy genre I don't feel like this book is
100% adult I feel like it kind of straddles the line of YA and adult.
There is a little bit of mature content when you get to the road where it's part
of just saying but if you take that bit away I don't feel like the book was
massively adult so it's interesting that it is classed as adult. I know there's
some criticism about the magic system some people were saying that they felt
like the world building was sloppy that the magic system wasn't explained and I
do feel like I'm basically repeating Sam here, but that didn't bother me at all
it didn't bother me that I wasn't explained everything because this wasn't
a world where the character is coming into the situation not knowing anything
she hasn't been in the dark she's from this world so the fact that we weren't
getting that explanation I was fine with. I feel like I finally got a book for the
question that you get in a tag which is name a book that you love that
everybody else hates because I know that not
everybody hates uprooted but I have really seen a lot of negative reviews
for this book and I personally just don't get it although a little bit of me
can see perhaps why you wouldn't love it I don't get how you can hate this book. I
respect everyone who hates this book I.
Respect everyone who doesn't like, it but
I personally absolutely loved it. Something else that I really liked about
this book which is kind of funny because a lot of people don't like this aspect
of the book is how fast-paced it was I. Could see where the book would have
finished if it was a duology if it was a trilogy how it would have been padded
out and it was just nice to read a strong fast-paced standalone that I
could really get into that I liked the characters and ultimately I gave Uprooted 5 out of 5 stars. If you haven't read this book yet I
strongly recommend that you pick it up I.
Really enjoyed it I hate that it took me
so long to read it so many of you Sam included were like will you just pick up
this book so I finally read it and you guys were right.
Have you read uprooted yet what did you think about it, please let me know in the
comments and no spoilers please and if you haven't read it yet are you planning
to? Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you guys again soon bye!.
What's up internet? My name is TridentLion in this video we're going to be talking about Tony Robbins new book, "Unshakeable: your financial freedom playbook, creating a piece of mind in a world of volatility." With Peter Mallouk. Here on this channel it's entirely geared to helping you level up! Level up whether that be with relationships, with regards to finance, with regards to business, as well as so many other fun and exciting topics. So, if you're new to the channel consider subscribing. Tony Robbins breaks this book into three separate sections.
The first section is the rule book, the second section is going to be the playbook, and the third section is the psychology of wealth. Now let's get into the first part of this book which is the rule book. You are an investor whether you recognize it or not. Whether you believe it or not at the very least most people are trading their time for money which is an investment by pretending like you're not an investor and sitting on the sidelines and not allocating your money properly or just leaving in the bank or cash or under your mattress.
You are making a very costly mistake by staying by the sidelines. Fortunately Tony Robbins has brought us this book to carefully and thoughtfully show us how you can become a master of your investment fate instead of just sitting on the sidelines full of fear and getting whipsawed by reacting to the markets volatility and panicking in damaging ways, by making emotional decisions based on fear. Let's talk about the name of the book, "Unshakeable," an unwavering and undisputed confidence a steadfast commitment to the truth, presence peace of mind and a calm amidst the storm. There you have the definition of Unshakable, now take that definition and apply it to yourself and your financial situation.
Imagine being unshakeable regarding your finance how great would you feel how certain would you feel? How confident, secure, and comfortable would you feel? Knowing that, you know what you're doing. This is your financial situation that we're trying to improve and level up with so really take this information seriously and try to apply it to your life. If you have to pause the video take notes as it goes along and I highly recommend anyone to pick up this book of the haven't already that's seeking to master money in their own life. You can find a link for the book in the description that way you can get a greater understanding and have the right mindset going forward into it not only because this mindstate better you but it can give you a competitive advantage amongst others in the marketplace.
When others are afraid you have the presence of mind to take advantage of the turmoil. Too many people obsess and focus on what they can't control, you need to become hyper focused on what you can control.If you're going to compete in the financial world you need to learn the rules of the financial game. You need to know who the players are in the game, and what their agendas are. You have to be aware of what can hurt you and also how you can win.
This financial knowledge can set you free. Your decisions will equal your destiny and I'm sure the last thing you want is a destiny filled with poverty and uncertainty. So make the conscious decision to master this area in your life and no longer step on the sidelines. Allowing other people to become rich and you to become stagnant or become poor.
Make the decision to not be stupid with money. Become smart, understand it Too many people out there just are not aware of what's going on in the financial world. When I read this book, I. Learned about what a bear market means.
I'm sure most of you probably don't even know what a bear market is. Well, what a bear market is is when a market falls by at least twenty percent from its peak. That's what a bear market is. A correction is when the market falls at least ten percent from its peak, both of these terms I had no idea what it meant and most people don't know that as well.
Some people out there that invest in stocks don't even know what that means, and that's why they're losing because when one of these two things occurs whether a correction or a bear market most people get terrified of losing their money so they pull out of the stock market, and resort to cash. By doing that, it's ignorance and fear helping you to just lose money. You have to recognize that in the market there are patterns that occur there are ups and down so why would you freak out in the wintertime when you know that spring is just around the corner. By being ignorant you're left in the dark, but by being aware of how these patterns work you can use it to your advantage.
By reading this book you can learn when to plant the seeds to get the greatest harvest. You're never gonna earn your way to financial freedom the real route to riches it's a set aside a portion of your money and invested so that you can utilize the power of compounding over many years. The single best place to compound money over many years is in the stock market but you really need to understand the market patterns. You need to understand the seasons that it goes through.
So now let's get into the next part of the rulebook that discusses... 27 Freedom facts. The first freedom fact is that, on average a Correction occurs about once a year. So don't get sucked into a lot of the drama that you see on different news and things like that.
It's just a part of the pattern it goes up and down so don't be scared if a correction happens. It's normal, it's natural and it pretty much occurs every year freedom fact number 2, less than twenty percent of all corrections turn into a bear market. Freedom fact number three, nobody can predict consistently whether the market will rise or fall. Do not listen to people that claim that they know what's going to happen to the stock market because they don't.
Nobody can predict the future it's a delusion to think that you or I. Or anyone can successfully time the market by jumping in and out at the right time. Freedom fact number four, the stock market rises over time despite many short-term setbacks. The S&P 500 index experienced an average intra year decline of 14.2 Percent from 1982 to the end of 2015.
In other words, these market drops were remarkably regular occurrences over 36 years. Once again, nothing to be scared of just a matter of winter putting on it's usual seasonal appearance. Display a 14.2% Average drop within each year, the US market ended up with a positive return, 27 of the last 36 years. That seventy-five percent of the time! Now it's important to take note of because it reminds us that the market generally rises over the long run.
Even though we had a huge number of potholes along the way. Freedom fact number five historically bear markets have happened every three to five years but here's what you need to know. Bear markets do not last. Just like winter never lasts, spring always follows.
The most successful investors take advantage of all that fear and gloom because they see everything as being on sale. The best opportunities come in times of maximum pessimism. Freedom fact number six, bear markets become bull markets and pessimism becomes optimism. Most people remember how fragile the world was in 2008 when banks were collapsing the stock market was in a freefall and the real estate market was at a all time low.
People were panicky, they were full of fear, but take note of what happened after that. The market hit rock bottom march 9th 2009 and after that the S&P. 500 Index surged by 69.5 Percent over the next 12 months. That's one hell of an opportunity, that's a spectacular return and by late 2016 SMP 500 has risen by an astonishing 266%! Since its low point in march 2009 So think about that when people were panicky and selling and getting rid of it because they thought the world was coming to an end.
They really were missing out of a fantastic opportunity because everything was on sale. They should have just bought and bought and bought and bought. Look what happened in just six or seven years, whatever they invested would have gone up 266%! Here is a clear example why Warren Buffett has been known to say "be greedy when others are fearful," and as a little fun fact, me and warren buffett have the exact same birthday. Freedom fact number seven, the greatest danger is being out of the market.
The trouble really lies in sitting on the sidelines. Even if it's just for a short period of time. Even if you invest in the market with bad timing! If you invested two thousand dollars every year for 20 years, starting in 1993. Look at the large difference between if you just kept it all in cash, in comparison to all the different options going into the market.
Even the bad timing is about 21,000 dollars more than just leaving it in cash. Next let's get into another part of the rule book which is fees. Far too often people are overpaying for underperformance. Being that nobody can predict the future it turns out that the professionals aren't really any better at predicting the future than the rest of us.
So what a lot of people make the mistake of doing is, they go to seek a financial advisor and ninety percent or more of the time it's a mutual fund broker and those people are not legally bound to be in your best interest. For an investor in a actively managed fund, the combination of hefty transaction costs and taxes is really the silent killer. Which will just quietly eat away at all of your funds returns. Paying more than you need to pay whether that be fees or taxes is really insane and to be that lazy is going to be very costly in the long run.
A great antidote is index funds. Index funds take a passive approach that eliminates almost all trading activity. Instead of trading in and out of the market. They simply buy-and-hold every stock in the index such as the S&P.
500. Which will include companies like Apple, Microsoft, johnson & johnson, etc... What's great about index funds is that they're almost entirely on autopilot. They make very few trades and the transaction costs and taxes are incredibly low.
Having some cash on hand isn't a bad idea and it's pretty handy if the market falls. Cash doesn't earn a return so it will underperform stocks over time assuming that the market continues in general upward trajectory. So let's go back and discuss these mutual funds again. When you look at the result of what they do on an after fee, after tax basis, over a reasonably long period of time there's almost no chance that you'll end up beating the index fund.
It will just simply out beat it, because the index funds don't have an overwhelmingly large amount of fees and taxes. So for example, would you buy a two-dollar coffee for $25? NO, because you know you can get it for 2 dollars Here's another way to look at it, to put in perspective, an actively managed fund that charges you say 3% a year is 60 times more expensive than an index fund which charges you only about 0.05% So imagine, going to buy that two-dollar coffee and instead it's going to cost you $120!!! For the exact same cup of coffee. You would never buy that coffee, but a lot of people do this every single year with mutual funds. Now let's get into another area of the rule book which deals with the 401k.
401K plans were a beautiful invention. It was created in 1984 which gave the average person the chance to build wealth, by making tax-deductible contributions to a retirement account directly from our paychecks. Nearly 90 million Americans participate in a 401k plan, to put that in perspective, only 75 million Americans own a home. Six trillion people are currently investing for 401k's.
It's the single most important vehicle for financial security in the US population. But i wonder if you know what happened, because somewhere along the line that dream got the derailed with trillions of dollars up for grabs, financial firms dreamed of countless ways to dip all of their fingers into the pot. For almost three decades the companies providing 401k plans were not even required by law to disclose how much they were charging to the customers. It wasn't until 2012 that the government finally forced these firms to make detailed discloses how much they were extracting from your statements.
What's interesting is that 71% of people enrolled in 401k's, think that there are no fees and 92% admit that they have no clue what they are. Ignorance is not bliss when it's dealing with your money. Ignorance is very expensive and it can leave you in poverty, broke, and stuck working for your entire life. The vast majority of plans are characterized by huge broker's commissions.
Here's a short sample list of many categories of fees that were invented, there's the investment expensive, communication expenses, bookkeeping expensive, trustee expensive, legal expenses, and so on and so forth. The average worker who earns about 30 grand a year and saves five percent of their income over a lifetime, this worker would lose over $150,000!!! To fees! That's 15 years of income. There are great alternatives though. A man named Tom Zgrainer is a CEO of a company called American Best 401k.
Tom told Tony that the 401k business is a largest dark pool of assets where nobody really knows how or whose hands are getting greased. Fortunately by contrast America's best 401k is entirely transparent. They don't accept kickbacks from mutual fund companies that are just trying to get them to sell overpriced funds. Instead they offer inexpensive index funds from firms such as vanguard and dimensional fund advisors.
Tom's company charges one fee, with no markup or hidden costs, it will save you a heck of a lot of money. There's over 300,000 financial advisors in America who are actually just brokers. Brokers who are paid to sell financial products to customers, like you and me, in return for a fee. The trouble is that these people work in a system that's beyond their control, a system that has tremendously powerful financial incentives to focus on maximizing profits above all else.
So who do you turn to? The answer is a fiduciary, but not a hybrid fiduciary this is important. A fiduciary is someone that is legally bound to be in your best interest, who you only pay for financial advice. There's also duly registered advisors out there which can play both roles, be a fiduciary and a broker. So make sure to check your advisors credentials.
So there have a brief sum up of part one, which is the rule book. Where you've learned the power of becoming a long-term investor who doesn't trade in & out of the market, who stays on course, not getting shaken and stirred by the crashes. You also learned the vast majority of actively managed mutual funds overcharge for underperformance. Which is why you are so much better off with an inexpensive index fund.
You'll also learn that excessive fees have devastating effects like termites eating away at the foundation of your financial future and you also learn how to find an independent financial advisor truly an incredible financial rulebook to learn how you can master the game of money. Now let's move on to the next section which is financial playbook. A playbook that empowers you to put your personal action plan in place right now the first thing we're going to talk about in the playbook is the core 4. All these great investors adhere to a similar 4 principles.
A core 4, and not only do they know what these principles are. They put it into action, remember execution is everything. If you just watch this video and read his book and keep it in theory but don't actually start saving and investing. Then you're not going to move forward with that, applied knowledge is always greater than just knowledge.
The 1st core is, don't lose, some of the best investors in the world are obsessed with avoiding losses. The second core principle is to seek asymmetric risk / reward. What that basically means is finding things that give you the greatest reward with the least amount of risk. So imagine if you were able to reduce risk while maximizing return that is what these great investors do and that's what you can do as well.
Principle number 3, tax efficiency there's only one number that truly matters which is the net amount that you actually get to keep. If someone goes up to congratulate themselves on a great investment return without taking into account the impact of taxes as well as fees, then what they are actually doing is demonstrating self-delusion. Self-delusion is a very expensive habit so adhere to core principle number three and have tax efficiency. Don't pay more than you have to and the last principle.
Principal number 4, diversification. We've all heard the saying don't put all your eggs in one basket, it's very true, but even when you separate it into separate baskets, you want to separate those baskets into separate baskets as well. There's four important ways that you can diversify effectively, the first diversify across different asset classes. So avoid putting all of your money into only stocks, or only real estate, or only one company.
The second is to diversify within asset classes. So if you want to do stocks don't put all of your money into Microsoft, don't put all your money into apple, or even with real estate don't put all your money into piece of real estate that's right on the beach. The third important way to diversify effectively is to diversify across markets, countries, currencies all around the world because we live in a global economy so don't make the mistake of only investing in one country. The fourth important way to diversify effectively is to diversify across time, because if you keep adding to your investment systematically over months and years you'll reduce your risk and increase your returns over time.
Diversification is like your insurance policy against financial nightmares. What it can do for you is decrease your risk and increase your return. Ray Dalio, the financial genius that's the head of Bridgewater. He's the person in "Money Master the Game" that is attributed for creating the "all-seasons" financial portfolio.
Where no matter what is going on in the market he's still succeeding, winning and getting a great return. Ray Dalio emphasizes in the book that by owning 15 unrelated investment you can reduce your overall risk by about eighty percent and you can increase the return to risk ratio by a factor of five. So your return is five times greater! So for your protection be sure to diversify. Once you're investing and you're dealing with the market going up and down you're dealing with corrections and the bear market.
There's four words that can be very expensive you want to be aware of and avoid, the words, "this time it's different." Far too often when there's a dip in the market or if it turns into a bear market or there's a recession everyone is dramatic and they think that it's the end of the world and that we're never going to bounce from it & it's completely different. When in reality if people were patient and they paid attention to what actually does happen in the market throughout history then they will realize that it's actually the greatest opportunity. When you're dealing with recessions and bear markets, because everything is literally on sale. Imagine if your dream was to go ahead and buy a beautiful beach house and that beach house cost you $500,000 but instead it was on sale $150,000! Would you complain and think that it's the end of times or would you think oh wow that's a great deal let me go pick that up.
That is what smart investors do all the time during bear markets, & recessions. The reality then during recessions and bear market it's truly the greatest opportunity to grow. A balanced and diverse wealth portfolio will help you through hard times like in 2008 when the S&P 500 initially went down 38-percent. Investment-grade bonds rose just under six percent so when one drops, the other goes up.
You can outlast many of the financial storms that are inevitable simply by diversifying and having a well-rounded wealth portfolio. Now let's quickly check out some of the different major asset classes that you can use for your own wealth portfolio. One is stocks. Stocks is not a lottery ticket what stocks are is when you buy stocks you become a shareholder, an owner, of a company and a lot of the stocks will pay dividends.
Bonds is another type of asset which you're basically making a loan to a company or government or something like that, typically you don't have a high return rate. There's also alternative investments which would be like real estate investments, trusts, master limited partnership (MLP), there's also hedge funds which are not recommended to go forward within the book as well as gold. Gold is surprisingly not recommended either and it's kind of interesting Warren Buffett says that gold gets dug up and then we melt it down, dig another hole and bury it again, then pay people to stand around guarding it! It has no utility and you can't make any money from gold it just sits there and every time without exception the price has ultimately collapsed. Historically stocks, bonds and real estate have all outperformed the gold.
When you're making your wealth portfolio it's really important that you have something that matches your personality. Everybody has different goals, everybody has a different tolerance for risk. So it's very important when you're meeting with your financial advisor, you're pure independent fiduciary, that they understand you & they know what your goals are in life. They can design a portfolio around it so that you can obtain the certainty that best suits you.
I want to keep a lot of the more in-depth and refered base information, that Tony puts together, in the book for you to discover. We definitely have to get into the last section because it is very important and might actually be the most important part of the entire thing. Which is the psychology of wealth. There's really one enemy, one barrier that stands between you and your financial success.
Do you know who that person is?? It's you, and once you know how to silence the enemy from within you, nothing can stop you. It's quite amazing that eighty percent of success is psychology. Only twenty percent is mechanical. On this video we went pretty deep together on the mechanics.
Covering the rule book as well as the playbook. If you're still watching this, I'm grateful for it, it's been quite the journey. I commend you for your thirst for knowledge, to master your financial state. Remember eighty percent of your financial success is your psychology.
It's up to you to make it happen, are you ready? To learn what to avoid? Here we go Tony Robbins brings us six money mistakes we as investors make and how we can avoid them. Mistake number one: seeking confirmation of your beliefs. The best investors welcome opinions that contradict their own. The solution to this mistake is to ask better questions and find qualified people who disagree with them.
Mistake number two: mistaking recent events for ongoing trends why most investors buy the wrong thing, exactly the wrong moment. The solution, don't sell out rebalance. Mistake number 3: overconfidence, get real with yourself. Overestimating our abilities and our knowledge is a recipe for disaster.
The solution is to get real and honest with yourself. Mistake number 4: Greed, gambling and the quest for only home runs. It's very tempting to swing for the fences but victory goes to the steady survivors. The solution is to recognize that this is a marathon not a sprint.
Mistake number 5: staying home it's a big big world out there. The solution, expand your horizons. Mistake number six: negativity and lost aversion. Your brain wants you to be fearful in times of turmoil do not listen to it.
The solution to this is to be prepared and to know what you're doing. So there you have it, six mistakes to avoid. This book and your applied knowledge can bring you to financial prosperity. In Tony Robbins words that simply isn't enough, you have to strive to achieve real wealth.
By making the decision to achieve real wealth it might be the most important decision of your life. Real wealth is the opposite of suffering. The goal is not to become the richest person in the graveyard. The goal is to live an extraordinary life.
Living a life on your terms where you're achieving, contributing, & happy. The first step to achieving anything that you want is to focus. The second step is to go beyond hunger and drive, to consistently take action. The third step to achieving whatever you want is Grace, and as important as achievement is there's a second skill that you need to learn to master if you want to create an extraordinary life.
The skill is what Tony calls the art of fulfillment. In order to have any type of sustainability with your happiness you have to be a master of your internal world, not just your external world. You also have to focus on contribution. Do not give with the anticipation of getting back.
Recognize that when you're driven by a desire to contribute it brings us a great deal of fulfillment. Make the choice to live in a beautiful state. You really have two options beautiful state, and suffering state. The suffering state is when you're feeling stressed out, frustrated, depressed, terrible, overwhelmed, fearful, angry, etc...
A beautiful state is when you feel love, gratitude, ease, your creative, growth, curiosity, anticipation, joy, and so on. The mental and emotional state in which you live is ultimately the result of where you choose to focus your thoughts if you're ever experiencing suffering it's really just a result of an undirected mind that's precondition to just look for problems. To avoid all of these negative states of suffering you can start by being appreciative of what you have. Go over everything that you're grateful for.
Say what you're grateful for, step into the feeling of what it feels like to be grateful for what you have. List three things off, morning and night, it could be micro small like, I love coffee, or it could be something more grand like I love my children or something like that. Be grateful because when you're grateful and appreciative of what you have you can't feel suffering. Let's be real, life is way too short and awesome to suffer and it could be a challenge we all go through those moments of suffering but it's up to you to take conscious action when you're going through states of suffering.
So flip yourself around and see yourself to be in a beautiful state and to feel yourself to be in a beautiful state. One of the most amazing things about this book is that hundred percent of proceeds go to feeding America. Each book purchase can provide up to 50 meals so by Tony Robbins actions, writing this book of financial mastery for the average man. The fact that all of that goes back to people in need truly expresses one of Tony Robbins core beliefs that he lives by.
Which is a secret, which is that the secret to living is giving. Thank you all so much for checking out this video, be sure to leave a like! Comment below what you found most interesting in this video and what your favorite Tony Robbins book & if you've seen him live. I've never seen him live but it's definitely on my bucket list. If you haven't already, subscribe to my channel for more awesome videos.
I'm sure if you're still watching this video is definitely achieved the goal of helping you level up and remember to always be learning, always be creating, and always be inspired! TridentLion #LevelUp Subscribe.
This is a story about a girl named Winnie
who lives with her mother and grandmother in the town of Treegap. Her family is fairly
wealthy, owning the nearby woods. However, Winnie is unhappy at home and decides
to venture in the woods. She comes across a young man named Jesse Tuck, who claims to
be over one hundred years old, but Winnie does not believe him.
She asks to drink the
water from a nearby spring, but Jesse insists that she not. Suddenly, Mae and Miles appear, Jesse's mother
and brother. Mae, aware of Winnie's request to drink the water, decides to kidnap Winnie
and take her to their home. However, as they are heading back home, a man in a yellow suit
sees Winnie and follows them.
At the Tuck's home, Winnie is greeted by Angus,
Mae's husband. Collectively, the family tells Winnie that they are immortal because they
drank from a magic spring in the woods. At first, Winnie doesn't believe them, but because
they are so nice to her, she believes them. However, the man in the yellow suit hears
their story and returns back to Treegap.
The man with the yellow suit tells Winnie's
family that he'll help them get Winnie back safely if they sign away their ownership to
the woods. Winnie's family makes the deal and the man in the suit goes to retrieve Winnie. The man in the yellow suit confronts the Tuck's
and explains that he will soon own the woods and the magical water. After hearing about
the man's plan to sell the water, Mae hits the man with a gun.
She is arrested and the
man is rushed to a doctor. He eventually dies. Mae is held in the local jail and sentenced
to be hanged. The Tuck's decide to break her out and Winnie wants to help.
Jesse, who has grown to like Winnie, offers
her a small vile of the magical spring water and tells her to drink it when she's seventeen
so that they can live as young adults forever. The breakout is successful as Winnie pretends
to be Mae in the jail cell while the family escapes. In the end, Angus and Mae return
to Treetop many years later to find Winnie's tombstone, revealing that she never drank
the magical spring water. This story centers around the concept of immortality
and what it truly means to be immortal.
Traditionally, society is enamored by the idea of living
forever. There is an array of products that try to keep humans looking younger for longer.
However, these are merely attempts to look immortal and are not true immortality. Looking at immortality more closely, readers
can see that it is more of a curse than a gift. The Tuck's explain all of the downsides
of being immortal, such as the loss of family and friends, constant moving, and others suspecting
witchcraft.
But perhaps the biggest detriment of immortality
is the lack of a complete and circular life, as described in the many images of water throughout
the story. As Angus explains to Winnie, water is always moving in a cycle. And it's this
constant movement that gives it life. A life is made up of different phases and periods,
and without the completeness of the death phase, life becomes stagnant and incomplete..
Hey guys, Improvement Pill here. And this week has been an extremely exciting
week for me. And the main reason being the new release
of this book. BOOM.
Tools Of Titans by Tim Ferris. He's actually the guy who wrote the book,
"The Four Hour Workweek." Now this is a fat book. This book has like 700 pages. So it definitely took him more than four hours
a week to complete.
Hah. So I'm sure a lot of you guys are thinking,
"Well Improvement Pill, why in the world would i ever buy a 700 page book. I don't have the time to read 700 pages. Well this book is not your normal book.
You're not supposed to read this book from
front to back. Think of it as a sort of Swiss Army Knife. For those of you guys who've been watching
my videos since the very beginning, you know that I love to talk about the concept of,
"You are who you surround yourself with". You are the 5 people that you surround yourself
with.
And after creating that video I actually got
a ton of messages from people who live in you know little towns in the middle of Ohio,
asking me how could they add successful people into their inner circle. They simple could not find those people. If you are one of those people that have issues
with adding successful people into your circle, this is the book for you. Because what Tim Ferris has done, Tim Ferris
actually had a podcast going on for the past couple of years.
Where he invited some of the most successful
people from all sorts of different fields onto his podcast. And he would talk about what they did to bring
themselves to the level of success that they are at right now. What steps that they took, what were some
of the habits that they developed, what were some of the books that they read, what were
some sorts of insights/pieces of wisdom that they would leave to themselves and a whole
bunch of high value information. The only problem with this podcast was that
each podcast was about like 30 minutes or an hour long.
So if you wanted to gain value you would have
to sit down and listen to an hour podcast. And some of us simply don't have that time. So what Tim Ferris decided to do, was he actually
decided to compile all of the most important pieces of information that he learned throughout
his hundreds and hundreds of hours of conducting podcasts and he compiled it into this book. So we have people like Shay Carl, who's a
famous Youtuber.
He actually made a company called Maker Studios
and he sold it to Disney for 1 Billion Dollars. There's Margaret Cho, a famous Asian-American
comedian. There's people like Malcolm Gladwell, one
of my all time favorite authors. He wrote the book Outliers.
There's people like Wim Hof. Hoh Wim Hof ss crazy. He climbed Mt.Everest in his shorts. There's people like Kaskade, an EDM artist.
There's people like Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Seth Rogan, I love Seth Rogan. Tony Robbins, famous motivational speaker. There's even Neil Strauss, they're actually
making a movie about Neil for his book "The Game". I believe they're having James Franco play
him.
He's actually considered the quote-on-quote,
one of the founding fathers of Pick Up. And the list goes on and on. There's literally over a hundred different
experts in this book. And the great thing about this book is that
most books out there.
Most of these self-help books out there usually
cover you know one topic. Covers one topic. Covers one topic. This books literally covers everything that
you need to know.
Any question that you possibly could have
in terms of self-development. Let's say for example, you're having issues
with your health. Ok all you got to do is go to the health section
and suddenly you have access to dozens of experts in their fields, dozens of PHD's,
there's doctors here. There's people who really know a thing or
two about health.
Let's say you're having problems with your
business. Ok, all you got to do is skip to the wealth
section. And suddenly you have free consultation from
millionaires, a couple of billionaires. On exactly how they got to the place they're
at right now.
Let's say you're having problems with motivation,
you don't really know what you want to do in life. Ok, no problem. Go to the Wise section. And you have access to some of the most intellectual
minds of our century.
And this is, this book is simply in my opinion,
the best investment you can make this year. Because it's the only book out there that
is like a sort of Swiss Army Knife for all possible problems that you could have. And the great thing about what Tim Ferris
does, is that he doesn't just copy and paste facts like a Wikipedia page. He actually includes the exact words that
some of these people used during their interviews.
So it feels like you're actually talking to
them in real life. It feels like you're actually adding them
to the 5 people in your circle. It feels like you're actually connecting with
them. Honestly, this book is without a doubt one
of the.
One of the greatest things that I've come
across this year. It's only been 2 days and I've already read. What is that? Like a 3rd, more than a 3rd, of the book through. And for some of you guys you're probably thinking
well Improvement Pill this is a fat book.
This is a 700 page book, it's hardcover on
top of that. It must be pretty expensive. NO. It actually cost me 15$.
There's actually a link below in the description. Check it out. It's going to bring you to the Amazon page. And for those of you that do decide to buy
this book.
Please come back to this video and comment. I want to know which of these experts inspired
you/moved you the most. Ok guys. Besides that guys stay tuned.
I definitely have some really great videos
coming out. PEACE.
Hey, so I read Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi. It's an ethereal debut that's wrought with the gods who make a room of their own in the depths of our minds. So the story follows Ada as she navigates the birthing and the longings of her fractured selves. Ada is one of three children born to her parents in Nigeria.
Her father is a prideful Igbo man who prayed to the gods for a daughter and her chosen mother from Malaysia, bears the emotional burdens and the mental stresses of it. The Ada as the "brothersisters" refer to her is the host body of sorts who experiences these traumatic relationships and events, which are either the causes or the effects of her fractured selves. I think it can be argued whether these selves or voices are offering solutions, protection, or companionship, but what's for certain is that they are disrupting the Ada's physical human experience and the relationships she has outside of her mind. From her beginnings in Nigeria, to her life in America this story takes readers on a journey through sexuality, rocky marriages, and wrestles with the theme of religion in a most nuanced way that makes you, as the reader, feel more attuned to the spiritual energies that are happening inside of yourself.
It's rather complicated and surreal and now that I'm out of the story. I'm finding it a bit of a challenge to actually explain what's happening inside of the story without losing its essence. But really the ultimate question seems to be can a fractured mind find harmony? Or, can Ada's human self truly experience agency in the presence of gods? Throughout The novel Ada's faith is shaken and strengthened; her behavior begs for compassion and discipline, and as she moves away from the god she longs for and towards the gods of danger, mischief, and transitions She's in this constant state of renewal by the transformations of her mind. This book is a wonderful testament on mental health.
I think the ambition of this debut Is that Emezi generously offers readers moments in her own biography while finely crafting this imaginative experience that helps us feel and understand what it's like to live navigating different worlds. There's a certain beauty in the madness that this book expresses in that the human body, the mind, and the spirit are biologically and divinely interconnected. This novel absorbed me in so many ways and I am highly anticipating the conversations that will be had when it's published in February. Until then share in the comments below some of your favorite recommendations on books that tackle mental health and share any thoughts you have on mental health in literature.
As always, thank you so much for watching and until next time remember to read or be read. I'll talk to you soon. Bye..
The long awaited Trawn novel has been released
today! As usual, Im here to tell you whether or
not its worth your time. This video will be spoiler-free, but will
be discussing the book in more depth over the next couple weeks. I dont want to waste anyones time, so
is it worth reading? A resounding yes. Absolutely.
Positively. Its fantastic. I loved it. I could keep heaping praise on this book,
but you get the idea.
I dont think there was a single thing I
didnt like about this book. Its well-written. I loved the characters old and new. It feels connected with the current canon
and Legends without feeling like a rehash of whats come before.
Timothy Zahn hasnt missed a beat, and his
title character is back and better than ever! Thrawn was originally introduced as the villain
of Heir to the Empire back in 1991. He was intriguing to Star Wars fans because
he was so different from the villains we were used to. He wasnt overtly evil like Vader or the
Emperor, and he was incredibly competent. The success of this book is completely dependent
on that character.
And Zahn nailed it. I felt like I was instantly back reading the
Thrawn Trilogy or Outbound Flight. Hes so mysterious and charming, I think
I might have a man crush on him. I think he might be the best hes ever been
here, partly just because we get so much of him.
Its not like the Thrawn Trilogy where our
time is split between Luke, Leia, Han, and Thrawn. This is Thrawns book. So we get more insight into him. We get inner monologues that show some of
his deductions and interpretations of body language.
But beyond just getting more time with him,
he is more relatable. In his original stories, he was a borderline
superhero. The deductions he made were sometimes a little
too much. I think that had already been corrected by
the time of the novel Outbound Flight, but in Thrawn, the balance just seems right.
Hes incredibly smart, but when explained
his logic makes perfect sense without being too coincidental. On top of that, he is a character with flaws
and weaknesses. Speaking of striking the right balance, Thrawns
reintroduction to Star Wars made me realize some of the difficulties than arise when putting
a Legends character into the canon. As fans, we want to see other aspects of their
histories brought into the canon as well.
But at the same time, its dangerous for
authors to go too far in that direction, or else the entire story becomes a retread, which
is the main problem with The Force Awakens. There has to be a balance. Again, I think Zahn handled it well. There are familiar elements, but they are
sprinkled throughout.
There are enough to make us nerd out, but
not so many that its over the top. I will say that the first two chapters or
so are taken almost verbatim from the Legends short story Mist Encounter, but after that,
references are much more sporadic. I mentioned that Thrawn is more relatable
in this story. The truth can actually be said for the entire
Empire.
The entire book follows one of three Imperial
characters, mostly Thrawn and his aide Eli, and Ahrinda Pryce. I have said before that the new canon is doing
a very good job at showing the Imperial side of things with stories like Lost Stars or
Rebels episodes like Through Imperial Eyes. Thrawn is no different. Im normally a Rebel fanboy, but I was instantly
pulled into rooting for the Empire.
They keep discussing their enemies and Im
rooting for their swift destruction, and I. Didnt realize until like three quarters
of the way through that I was cheering for the fall of the rebels. Now, its not the Rebel Alliance, but still
its very easy to root against the classic quote unquote good guys of the franchise. So all you Empire Did Nothing Wrong people
should be very happy with this book.
Or, if youre like me and you normally side
with the Rebels, you will also get some satisfying answers about why someone of Thrawns character
would fight for the Empire. Something smaller that I really appreciated
was seeing the growth of the Empire. Now Im not sure exactly when the story
begins, but at that time the Empire still uses Venator-class star destroyers and V-wings. As Thrawn rises through the ranks, the Empire
likewise advances in its technology.
In other novels the Empire seemed to become
the Empire almost overnight. As in Sheev announces hes the Emperor,
and boom TIE fighters and Imperial star destroyers are everywhere. I much prefer seeing this more gradual approach. Before wrapping up, I want to talk about two
of Thrawns antagonists.
First is racism. Part of Thrawns Legend, pun intended, is
that he rises to become a Grand Admiral despite being a nonhuman in an alien-hating Empire. Anti-alien sentiments have been present in
the new canon, but I wouldnt say its been obvious. Until now.
The obstacles Thrawn has to overcome because
of a flawed society make him easy to root for. For that matter, his human aide also has to
overcome quite a bit, because he is from Wild Space. So there is a lot to learn about social hierarchy
in this book, and we get a real sense of how different life can be in different parts of
the galaxy. The second antagonist is an agent code named
Nightswan.
I dont want to say too much about him specifically,
but hes a very effective foil to Thrawn. The Grand Admiral has often been compared
to Sherlock Holmes with Captain Pellaeon, and now Eli Vanto as his Dr. Watson. Nightswan is Thrawns new Moriarty.
If youve seen the Benedict Cumberbatch
Sherlock, there are definite echoes of that, like the way Nightswan almost taunts Thrawn
or invites him to investigate things. Its very cool. If I havent made myself clear, Thrawn gets
an enthusiastic recommendation from me. Whether youre a long time Thrawn fan, or
Rebels was your first introduction to the character, or if this will be your very first
encounter with him, there is a lot to like here.
Ill admit I was a little disappointed with
Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels, but this book gave me the character I was hoping to see. The Thrawn we all know still exists, and I
have hope that he will continue to evolve in season four of the show. I can safely say Thrawn is in my top two favorite
canon books now. It might beat out Lost Stars as my favorite,
but I need to let it marinate a little longer before I make that decision.
If youre still on the fence about spending
your money, well hey maybe youd like to get the audiobook for free! The Thrawn audiobook is out now, and you can
get it for free by clicking on the link in the description or or going to www.Audibletrial.Com/starwarsexplained. If you sign up for a trial, youll get a
credit for one free book, and you can use it on Thrawn. Or a number of other Star Wars books. Or get any book you want! The point is you get a free book, and youll
be supporting the channel when you do! Thats it for today! If you havent already please like this
video, subscribe to the channel to see new Star Wars videos every single day, follow
me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and consider checking out my Patreon page! As always, thanks for watching and may the
Force be with you!.
Imagine you're one of the first human beings,
and you're walking with your kid and you see a lion.
And you don't know what a lion is, so you take your kid over to play with him
and the lion eats your kid. So you go home and you're sad,
but it's okay, you get your wife pregnant, and in five years,
you're walking again with your new kid and you see a lion far away.
This time you hide with your kid, and the lion eventually leaves and you both
survive. So you come out,
you start walking with your kid again and a bird flys over
and all of a sudden your kid drops dead. And you go home sad again,
you get your wife pregnant again, and you make a promise to yourself.
You're going to make sure that you hide your new kid from lions,
and that you'll hide him if you see a bird flying over.
So there are two ways that we think.
Both of the decisions that you made are based on the fast, automatic thought process,
which Kahneman calls System 1. System 1 is where we find how irrational
and illogical or just simply how stupid we really are
so it can lead us to not value System 1 or think that it's useless. If you had used your slow, more rational and
logical thinking, you would have found that you were right about
the lion, but the bird had nothing to do with your kid's
death. But, we should value System 1,
because it has huge benefits.
It's the reason why we've survived.
Yes, maybe at the cost of some really ridiculous assumptions,
like your kid dying every time a bird flys over,
but if we had rationally thought about what a loud noise might mean and analyze it
carefully instead of being scared and running away from
it immediately, we wouldn't be here. So big idea 1 is: Understanding System 1 and
System 2. There are huge benefits to both systems,
the problem however really arises when we use System 1 instead of System 2,
when System 2 would be the appropriate system to use.
And this leads us to all kinds of biases and fallacies that are not optimal.
It's not optimal to think that if a bird flys over,
your kid will drop dead. So if I were to ask you these two questions,
what would your answer be? 1.
Is the height of the tallest redwood more
or less than 1,200 feet? 2. What is your best guess about the height
of the tallest redwood? So one group was asked these questions,
And another group was asked the exact same questions
except instead of 1,200 feet in the first question,
this time they were asked whether the height of the tree
was more or less than only 180 feet. So what do you think the answers looked like?
The first group's mean guess was 844 feet. The second group's mean guess was only 282
feet.
That is a HUGE difference. This is what is known as anchoring.
So ask yourself and throughout this video, how can knowing this be useful to you.
Dan Ariely, one of my favorite economists, talks about how we have no idea about most
things and what they should cost.
If you're not an expert just like we aren't in most things,
you don't know how tall a redwood tree should be,
I don't know what a microwave should cost when I go buy it...
Should it be $99, $199? I have no idea...
So we use different ways to approximate what it should be,
and anchoring is one of them. So again how is this useful to you personally?
If you're the buyer do you want to look at the MSRP,
and be anchored to that? If you're selling something,
how do you want to set up your MSRP. To use anchoring to your advantage? Big idea 2 is: Understanding anchoring.
So one of the things that I really enjoy about
my life is the peace of mind I have while doing things.
When I visit somewhere I'm not worried about a terrorist attack,
and when I fly there I'm not worried about the plane crashing.
And that peace of mind largely comes from the fact
that I'm not really a big consumer of mainstream media. But I meet people all the time who are really
constantly worried. "Have you seen how terrorism is taking over
the world? What are we headed towards?
Have you seen how planes are just crashing all the time now?"
But in reality, it's not like the chances of those two things
have risen in some dramatic proportion. They're highly unlikely,
and I mean a probability very close to zero that your plane will crash.
And this is what is known as the science of
availability. Even an event that has an almost
non-existent probability of happening to you can be assigned a reasonable or even a high
probability by you just because of what's available to you. So again ask yourself,
how can you use this concept to make your life better?
Is it better to enjoy your life and realize that the world
is actually not as bad as commonly portrayed, or watch the news every day where you'll be
shown constant death and destruction because that's
what sells? Big idea 3 is: Understanding the Science of
Availability Now let's say I offer you to play a game with
me. We're going to flip a coin,
and if you win, you win a $1000.
And if you lose, you lose a $1000.
Do you want to play that game? If you're like most people,
that is a game that you do not want to play. What if we change the rules a little bit.
If you win, you win $1100. And if you lose, you lose only a $1000.
From an expected value point of view, that is a good game to play.
But if I asked you to play that game right now,
and you knew that there was a 50% chance of losing your $1000,
if you're like most people you still wouldn't play
even though there's also a 50% chance of winning $1100. This is called Loss Aversion.
Most people are very loss averse.
In fact, you have to offer somewhere about
$2000 to get people to play. Now this might be intersting,
but again ask yourself, how can you use understanding this in your
life? You know you're going to be more convincing
explaining to someone what they are risking losing,
instead of what they could possibly gain. So maybe you want to convince someone that
being an alcoholic is bad... How do you want to go about doing that?
Do you want to talk about how they could possibly gain a better job
and make more money if they overcome this problem,
or do you want to tell them how they're going to lose
their loved ones like their spouse and children? Big idea 4 is: understanding Loss Aversion.
Now imagine I'm your doctor
and I have to do an operation on you and I tell you,
"There is a %10 chance that you're going to die."
I could also tell you, "There is a 90% chance that you're going to
live." Now from a statistical point of view,
there is absolutely no difference in those two statements.
BUT... In the first case,
you're going to feel much worse than in the second. This is known as framing.
How you frame the exact same situation can have dramatically different consequences. So big idea 5 is: Understanding framing.
Again ask yourself, how can you use this? How can you use framing
to make good things more appealing and convincing to your friends or your children
or whoever else you want to influence? And finally, big idea 6 is:
Understanding the Sunk Cost Fallacy.
This is all about letting your past decisions
influence your present decisions. So think of John.
He has no idea about poker, but he thought he would go gamble and play.
Fast forward into the night, and John has now lost a $1000 and hasn't won
anything. Now if John looks at the odds of his winning
from this moment on, which would require the use of System 2,
which he's probably not going to use, he would find that the best thing to do
is completely disregard the $1000 and get up and leave.
The $1000 already lost has nothing to do with what his odds are starting from this
moment. But John is going to be heavily influenced
by the $1000 and most likely keep playing and losing even
more.
Let me give you another example...
Jen bought 50 boxes of candy a few months ago,
so her house is full of candy. But she now finds out about the importance
of eating healthy, and she realizes that the candy actually hurts
her, but she can't just get rid of it.
She payed money for it at some point, so it's really hard for her
even though the candy is going to hurt her. Now you might look at John and Jen and say,
"Heh... What a bunch of idiots!" But the reality is that you and I are no different...
Look around your house right now.
How much stupid shit have you bought over
the years that's now just laying there taking up space,
bothering you, you're never even going to use it again,
but you don't get rid of it? There is no difference between Jen or John
and you in this situation. The chair that you bought gets in the way
all the time, there is no room for it in your little house,
it's causing you pain, but how can you get rid of it?
You paid $59 for it at some point. This is what is known as the sunk cost fallacy.
Your past decisions shouldn't affect what is good for you now.
If you paid money for a bunch of candy at some point,
it doesn't mean that it's good for you to keep eating it..
Napoleon Hill says you can think and grow
rich. But if youve been brought up like most people with work and you wont starve,
this will make you uncomfortable. You might think, Thats just stupid! It cant
be that easy! And even though the only way youll ever be rich is by thinking,
its the hardest work there is. Lets take a look at my videos.
EVERYTHING
I DO CAN BE OUTSOURCED. I can pay a dollar to a guy across the world to animate my video.
I can pay a few dollars for a ten times more pleasing voice-over. I could even outsource
little things like uploading my videos for a few cents to people who will gladly do it.
THE ONLY THING I CANNOT OUTSOURCE IS MY THOUGHTS. I CANNOT OUTSOURCE MY MINDSET FOR WHAT NEEDS
TO BE ANIMATED AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID.
Again, if I were to outsource it, the animation
can be valued at a single dollar, a voice-over can be valued at a few dollars, all the little
logistics can be valued at a few cents, BUT. THE VALUE MY THOUGHTS CAN GENERATE IS LITERALLY
ONLY LIMITED BY MY IMAGINATION. There are millions of people around the world
who work 12-hour-days at horrible jobs and make less money than if I were to sit back,
do nothing, and let my tiny YouTube channel I created a couple of months ago make money
on its own, and all because I was willing to think. Theres no way you can read and
get paid for it, right? Right.
If you look for a job that will pay you for reading your
favorite books, you probably wont find one. If you think however, turns out the amount
of opportunities is only limited by your imagination. Again, the only advantage I have over the
guy willing to animate my video for a dollar is my thoughts. Its kind of crazy when
you think about it that way.
If he knew what to animate instead of how to animate, he wouldnt
be making a dollar for every hundred dollars he makes for someone else.
However, thinking has no value to most people. In fact, its associated with laziness.
When I graduated, every time I talked to my mom, she would ask me, Have you started
working at a good job? And I would say, No, Im actually thinking about what
Im going to do. And she would say, Okay, but you need to work. And the reason she
is acting that way is because next time she sees her friends, she wants to say, My
son works at a bank, not My son has been thinking a lot.
The latter has no
value to her friends. But lets not ask my moms friends about growing rich; lets
ask a man who personified growing rich. Henry Ford said, Thinking is the hardest
work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. If you think Ford
is just being poetic, let me give you a little challenge.
Next time you have a day off from
your 9 to 5, spend the 8 hours thinking in your room instead. No phone, no Facebook,
no bullshit. Just sit in your room quietly and think. In about 5 minutes, most people
will start wishing they were back at their 9 to 5..
Hi everyone today I'm here to do a
review of "The Vegetarian" by Han Kang. This recently won the Man Booker
International Prize which is awarded now yearly to a novel which is translated
from another language into English. It was originally written in Korean and
translated by Deborah Smith who, from what I understand, just learned Korean in
2010 and really taught herself through the translation of this novel, which I
think is pretty remarkable. The story itself is quite remarkable as well.
It follows a woman in South Korea
who decides one day, after having a dream, to become a vegetarian. And while that might
seem like a not totally abnormal life choice, in this novel, which is somewhat
short, has some drastic consequences and it feels like a very earth-shattering,
life-changing decision. We see how the story unfolds through three
different perspectives. So really the book is broken up into sort of three
novellas, and the first one is told from the perspective of the woman's husband;
the second is told from the perspective of her sister's husband, so her
brother-in-law; and the final section is told from the perspective of her sister.
And all the sections are about two years apart.
They never overlap at all so you're
getting these kind of snippets into her life when she decides to become a
vegetarian and then two subsequent sections of her life after, and you kind
of see how things devolve and what that really does to herself, to her family and
it's fascinating. It is a very strange premise; it almost feels like a thriller,
although the atmosphere of the story is not thriller at all. It is quite placid;
everything feels very kind of covered, and calm, and yet underneath that tone there
is a lot of tension. The only way I can really explain how she does that is
through the writing; it's very direct, but at the same time, which
seems kind of impossible, it hides a lot of things.
So you're told everything up
front, but you know that underneath there are just these layers that the storyteller
isn't really giving you. I think because you're seeing this woman's story through
other people's perspectives, you don't hear a lot from the woman herself as she
decides to become a vegetarian; you're really just viewing from the outside. So
I think that kind of increases the tension. It's not just a book about
moral, ethical choices of vegetarianism.
In fact, it's not really about that at
all. It's much more about, from what I came to
understand it as, a story about choice and how this one woman, through her
life and things preceding the story, have informed her in almost a
subconscious way to this choice that other people don't agree with. And so by
continuing to embrace this choice she is sort of rebelling. And it was a really
interesting psychological study almost.
Overall just quite an engaging read. It's
not long like I mentioned. You could probably read it in one sitting. I read it in a few sittings, but I think
each section is really a great kind of stopping point; they all feel complete
and yet they all inform each other as well.
So the more you get into the story
the more things in the past sections make sense, and it just builds in layers on
itself, and I absolutely loved it. It's definitely one that will stick with me
for a long time. I think reading it a second time would really unpack even
more of what exactly was going on. The final section is very psychological and very heady, so I think it could warrant a second reading and hold up to that which is always great.
And I definitely see why this won the Man Booker Prize this year for the
International choices.
It definitely lived up to the hype for me and I would highly
recommend this. I will give the sort of caveat that there's some pretty adult
material in here; it's not used without purpose, but I just wanna throw that out
there that. If you're young I would not recommend this book. I would wait on it.
If you feel comfortable with that kind of content then I think you should read
this because it is a great piece of translated fiction.
And I'm excited to
read more from this author. I think she's great at examining humans and looking at normal things in kind of a
different sort of twisted way. I really enjoyed it, so if you have read this
novel please let me know your thoughts. It seems like it's making its rounds and
i'm happy for that cause I think it deserves the attention.
And let me know
if you've read anything else by this author and what you thought of it. I hope
you guys enjoy this review. I hope you decide to pick up "The Vegetarian" if you
have not, and I'll see you in my next video. Bye!.
DO YOU EVER HAVE A CHOICE BETWEEN
A GLASS OF SODA OR A GLASS OF WATER. AND YOU PICK THE SODA BECAUSE
"WELL, IF YOU HAVE A GLASS OF SODA TODAY, IT'S NOT LIKE YOU'RE GOING TO WAKE UP
OVERWEIGHT AND UNHEALTHY TOMORROW?" THAT'S BASICALLY HOW WE ALL LIKE TO THINK.
THAT SOMEHOW, SUCCESS ONLY COMES FROM DOING HUGE, IMPORTANT
THINGS RIGHT. YOU'RE GOING TO ONLY BUY KALE
FOR YOUR HOUSE AT SOME POINT. AND BECOME ULTRA HEALTHY,
BUT UNTIL THEN, IT'S NOT LIKE DRINKING THIS ONE SODA
WILL ALL OF A SUDDEN MAKE YOU.
THIS UNHEALTHY PERSON IN ONE DAY. SO YOU HAVE THIS BIG PARADOX.
ON ONE HAND, YOU'RE RIGHT. THE LITTLE DECISION DOESN'T REALLY MATTER.
THIS ONE DECISION WON'T REALLY AFFECT. YOUR HEALTH IN ANY SIGNIFICANT WAY.
BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, IT'S REALLY THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS.
BECAUSE IN A YEAR, YOU'LL BE THE RESULT OF YOUR EVERY LITTLE
DECISION COMPOUNDED.
SO IN ESSENCE, EVERY LITTLE DECISION MATTERS. AND THESE LITTLE THINGS ARE EASY TO DO.
WHEN YOU'RE ON YOUR LUNCH BREAK TOMORROW, YOU CAN MAKE THE CHOICE TO DRINK WATER INSTEAD
OF SODA. ANYONE IS CAPABLE OF DOING THAT.
BUT SINCE IT'S EASY TO DO, IT'S ALSO EASY NOT TO DO
AND JUST ORDER THE SODA. BUT WHAT IF YOU DECIDE TO DO THIS LITTLE THING
RIGHT? YOU WON'T BE ANY HEALTHIER THE NEXT DAY,
BUT AFTER A YEAR OF DRINKING WATER INSTEAD.
OF SODA EVERY LUNCH,
YOU WOULD SEE HUGE HEALTH BENEFITS FROM IT. AND YOU CAN APPLY THIS TO ANYTHING.
WHAT IF YOU JUST READ 10 PAGES OF A GOOD BOOK. EVERY NIGHT BEFORE YOU GO TO BED?
ANYONE COULD DO THAT. THAT'S A PRETTY EASY THING TO DO.
BUT SINCE IT'S PRETTY EASY TO DO, IT'S ALSO PRETTY EASY TO JUST IGNORE IT AND
NOT DO IT.
IF YOU READ 10 PAGES TONIGHT,
IT'S NOT LIKE YOU WILL WAKE UP. THIS SMART, ENLIGHTENED PERSON TOMORROW.
BUT WHAT ABOUT A YEAR FROM NOW? THAT'S LIKE 15 BOOKS.
15 GOOD BOOKS COULD LITERALLY TURN YOU. INTO A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON.
WHAT IF YOU DO THIS FOR 4 YEARS AT COLLEGE. WHILE EVERYONE ELSE AROUND YOU DOESN'T READ
THE 10 PAGES.
BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE THEY'RE GOING TO BE
ANY BETTER THE NEXT DAY? THAT'S LIKE 60 BOOKS.
60 GOOD BOOKS COULD PUT YOU AHEAD OF. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS
WHETHER THAT BE RELATED TO FINANCES, RELATIONSHIPS, OR JUST OVERALL HAPPINESS. SO AGAIN, YOU HAVE THIS PARADOX.
ON ONE HAND YOU CAN FALL FOR THE UNSUCCESSFUL. MINDSET OF,
"WELL, IT'S NOT LIKE THIS LITTLE DECISION.
MATTERS."
BUT IN REALITY, THE LITTLE DECISIONS THAT. WE MAKE IS ALL THAT MATTERS.
EVERY LITTLE DECISION OF YOURS WILL BE COMPOUNDED. AT THE END OF THE YEAR
AND WHO YOU ARE WILL BE THE RESULT OF IT ALL. NOW HERE'S THE THING...
I THINK IT'S JUST HUMAN AND OKAY TO INDULGE.
IN THINGS...
I DO IT ALL THE TIME. IT'S NOT LIKE I'M THIS LITTLE ROBOT
WHO DOES EVERYTHING QUOTE UNQUOTE RIGHT. BUT I'M AT LEAST MORE AWARE OF HOW I THINK
ABOUT THE LITTLE THINGS. I HAVE A VISION OF WHO I WANT TO BE IN A YEAR,
AND I ASK MYSELF WITH EVERY LITTLE DECISION, IS THIS GOING TO MOVE ME CLOSER TO THAT PERSON
OR NOT? AND THE ANSWER ISN'T ALWAYS YES,
BUT AT LEAST I'M AWARE OF IT, AND AT LEAST I TRY TO ALIGN MORE
OF MY LITTLE DECISIONS WITH THAT VISION.
AND THE MORE I CAN ANSWER YES,
THE MORE I REALIZE THAT I'M CLOSER TO BEING. THAT PERSON
AT THE END OF THE YEAR. BUT THE SURPRISING REALIZATION FOR ME HAS
BEEN. HOW MANY TIMES THE ANSWER IS NO.
NO, THIS ISN'T MOVING ME TO WHERE I WANT TO.
BE IN A YEAR.
AND THIS IS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON. OF THE SLIGHT EDGE.
A HUGE LESSON OF TAKING RESPONSIBILITY. FOR WHERE YOU ARE IN LIFE. WHEN YOU GET TO THE END OF THE YEAR
AND YOU'RE UNHEALTHY, HAVING BEEN CONSCIOUS ABOUT ALL YOUR LITTLE
DECISIONS.
WILL AT LEAST MAKE YOU REALIZE WHY YOU'RE
UNHEALTHY. YOU'RE NO LONGER GOING TO BLAME YOUR POOR
HEALTH. ON HOW YOUR JOB DIDN'T PAY YOU ENOUGH TO EAT
HEALTHY, YOU'RE GOING TO REALIZE THAT
IT'S BECAUSE YOU DECIDED TO BUY THE SODA OVER. THE FREE WATER
EVERY SINGLE DAY AT LUNCH.
IT'S BECAUSE YOU DECIDED TO BUY THE MORE EXPENSIVE
BAG OF COOKIES. INSTEAD OF BUYING THE CHEAPER BANANAS EVERY
TIME YOU WENT SHOPPING..
There is a new TV series, "Emerald City", based on the great stories of the land of Oz. This is the first time in a while we've see anything Oz related that 's this big and mainstream; not since the movie "Oz, the Great and Powerful", which was a prequel to the first Oz story. I'll be watching the new show. I'm very curious about it.
Hi guys! Today I'm here with a review of Vicious by V.E. Schwab, also known as the Victoria Schwab This is about two friends, Victor and Eli, who are in college and for Eli's thesis he is looking into EO's, extra-ordinary's. These people with special
Hey guys it's Sarah Jane,welcome back
What's up internet? My name is TridentLion in this video we're going to be talking about Tony Robbins new book, "Unshakeable: your financial freedom playbook, creating a piece of mind in a world of volatility." With Peter Mallouk. Here on this channel it's entirely geared to helping you level up! Level up whether that be with relationships, with regards to finance, with regards to business, as well as so many other fun and exciting topics. So, if you're new to the channel consider subscribing. Tony Robbins breaks this book into three separate sections.
This is a story about a girl named Winnie
Hey guys, Improvement Pill here. And this week has been an extremely exciting![To know how it would feel to be free [Book Review]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rYEEmDqxuxI/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey, so I read Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi. It's an ethereal debut that's wrought with the gods who make a room of their own in the depths of our minds. So the story follows Ada as she navigates the birthing and the longings of her fractured selves. Ada is one of three children born to her parents in Nigeria.
The long awaited Trawn novel has been released
Imagine you're one of the first human beings,
Napoleon Hill says you can think and grow
Hi everyone today I'm here to do a
DO YOU EVER HAVE A CHOICE BETWEEN
