December 8, 2007 -- Saturday afternoon

Enjoying the last bit of daylight while his wife was finishing her workout.

Reading Solstice, by Joyce Carol Oates. It had been lying around the house for about thirty years. When he asked his wife about it, she said it was good.

Does he have a favorite book? No. He reads about a hundred books a year--mostly things you'd like to leave on a plane. He stays away from anything terribly intellectual. Last year he was reading a book on Teddy Roosevelt and gave up at page 900. He just couldn't go the remaining 400. That said, he almost completed a Ph.D. in history.

To people not from San Francisco he recommends Armistad Maupin's Tales of the City books; and, to everyone, he recommends a book by author Abigail Brenner, M.D.--his wife! It's called Women's Rites of Passage: How to Embrace Change and Celebrate Life. Here's her website. On it you can find links to radio interviews about the book, which are very pleasant to listen to--the book takes a hold of recognizing events like births, deaths, menopause and marriage. Her next book is about change and her husband coached me on that. When you are trying to accomplish something, he said, it's best to work backwards. You'll make fewer mistakes. Figure out what you want to be doing in ten years and plot it out from there.

Near the end of our conversation the hills took on a purple glow, the bridge lit up....and his wife arrived. I had the pleasure of talking with her as well. Thank you both!

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