I'm standing at the kitchen sink staring out the window across the driveway at the shop doors thinking about "Useful not True," Derek Sivers new book. I'm lost in the artform of simple sentences, practical analogies, and clean "reframing." I wish my shop was like that. Sivers' latest masterpiece is a modern equivalent of the Greek Stoic Philosopher Epictetus' Enchiridion. Epictetus' overall message was, only your opinion is within your control. Mercifully, "Useful not True" uses contemporary, all-inclusive language and examples coalesced into single sentences and short paragraphs, all while addressing the myriad of perspectives that form our biases, and inevitably our lives. On my fourth time through the book, "Different philosophies for different times in your life" frames my view. I glance out the window at my shop, its contents a cacophony of philosophies in the form of artwork and tools both neatly organized and madly strewn. Some so true in their prime, now outgrown and no longer useful.
Backing away from the sink, I lay the book on the counter and head to the couch to write this review.
Buy "Useful not True." Read it. Read it again. Buy another copy. Or ten. Give it again and again.
