The First 20 Hours

I remember being greatly impressed when I read Outliers: The Story of Successby Malcol Gladwell.  It was a cool book that talked about the Beatles and Bill Gates and how they managed to take over their world by being in the right place at the right time-and by practicing for 10,000 hours. Josh Kaufman was also impressed, because he feels that a lot of people have used the 10,000 hour rule as a copout for avoiding learning anything. Josh says that the 10,000 rule works-if you want to master a topic.  But what if you don’t want to be Paul McCartney, you…

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My Empire of Dirt: How One Man Turned His Big-City Backyard into a Farm

For a writing assignment, Manny Howard turns his Brooklyn backyard into a small farm with plans to live off the harvest for one month-he recounts his experiences in the book My Empire of Dirt. This path is not a smooth and easy one, though our hero seems to think it will be as he sets out. Along the way Manny Howard comes up with a wide array of odd and often very optimistic ideas about what farming is and how best to raise chickens, rabbits, fish, ducks, and a large number of plants. Like all new gardeners he discovers that…

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