Simon Hertnon's Upstream Philosophy Blog

Where are we?

Where are we?

  Where are we? Thankfully, we’re at a publishing crossroads. The article below was first published by New Zealand Book Month in August 2008, the month after Endangered Words was first published (with the title From Afterwit...

Good health

Good health

  It’s the festive season—a time to gather with friends and family to celebrate the year passed, a time to toast one another’s good health. Health. Such a deceptively dull word and yet the...

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Inspiring quotations

  We quote others because their words resonate and reveal, often capturing a liberating truth or ‘bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester’ (Sydney Harris). At times quotations shock or provoke...

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Jimmy Carter said it in 1979

  I was only 10 when Jimmy Carter delivered his ‘Crisis of Confidence’ televised speech to the American people. So his words were new to me when, earlier this year, I heard parts of...

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Fictional dreams

  I mentioned in my last post that, despite having written three non-fiction books, my first love is fiction. The very first piece of advice I received about writing fiction was that I needed to...

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And the Word Olympics winners are…

  I am a firm believer that all words are not equal. Just as some athletes are able to out-perform others, some words majestically out-perform other words and I think it is both helpful...

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Capitalism, we have a problem

  There is a teeny-weeny problem with capitalism: it’s fundamentally flawed. There, I wrote it. I hope I won’t get thrown in jail. Something about capitalism (defined as ‘an economic system based on private...

The ninth need

The ninth need

  In addition to the eight needs in my theory of universal human needs, I believe we also share an over-arching ninth need: the need to understand who we are, why we exist, how...