Fictional dreams (updated)
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 read...
Author: Simon Hertnon
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 and...
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 ownership...
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 we...
A theory of universal human needs
Even simpler than Abraham Maslow’s 5-tier Hierarchy of Needs, and Clayton Alderfer’s 3-part ERG Theory, my Theory of Universal Human Needs has just two types of need: survival and betterment. Why we do the things we...
Cinema unanimity
A strange thing happens in cinemas: unanimity. In the real world, few of us can agree on how we should live our lives; but as cinema-goers we are typically unanimous—that’s right, unanimous—about what protagonists...
Organized for romance
If I had to describe my experience of fatherhood in a single word I would choose surprising. Sure, wonderful, exhausting, fun, and rewarding would all have made the list, but surprise is the emotion I...