All in Life

More Than Book Learning - Five Novels that Shaped my Love for East Asia

More Than Book Learning - Five Novels that Shaped my Love for East Asia

Fabian
Life

While in recent years I mostly read nonfiction, I strongly believe that novels can be just as powerful when it comes to broadening the horizon and understanding the big picture. 

I think that to understand the world, our history, even contemporary and future developments, it takes both, reading history books for a factual framework and reading novels to get a feeling for the zeitgeist.

While the origin of my life-long interest in Asia will likely stay a mystery forever, I know for sure that there are a few brilliant books that shaped this interest. Among the many I want to highlight five that stood out in particular.

Angry Cards and Vocabulary Crush – Playing Games You Can’t Lose

Angry Cards and Vocabulary Crush – Playing Games You Can’t Lose

Fabian
Productivity, Life

About four years ago I started to show severe signs of getting addicted to a popular mobile phone game. After reaching a point where playing the game began to disrupt parts of my life, I made a rather radical decision: I deleted all games from my phone and decided to get my fix from something much more productive, a flashcard game to learn Chinese. Interested to hear how that worked out?

Aiming for the Streak – Three Apps to Track Your Habits

Aiming for the Streak – Three Apps to Track Your Habits

Fabian
Productivity, Life, Health

After chasing big and lofty goals in 2016, the focus in 2017 is on habit setting. Using a strategy called "Mini Habits", I try to set small but very regular tasks to establish healthy habits that bring me closer to my ambitious goals, with much less stress. To make sure that I am not forgetting my daily goals, I was experimenting finding the perfect mobile up to nudge me at the right time. Which of the contenders Irunurun, Nozbe or Strides proofs to be best suited to keep me on track over the year?

Big Goals and Mini Habits – A New Take on a New Year’s Resolution

Big Goals and Mini Habits – A New Take on a New Year’s Resolution

Fabian
Life, Happiness, Health, Productivity

Despite the bad reputation of New Year’s Resolutions in the scientific world and my mixed record with meeting my annual goals in the past, I continue to make resolutions year after year. New Year's Eve would just not feel the same without good intentions and lofty goals.

After going all S.M.A.R.T. in 2016, this year it's about going small, taking a page or two out of Stephen Guise's book Mini Habits.

A Monument against the Digital Picture Tsunami - How Smart is Kickstarter's Smartest Photo Storage Device? - Updated, May 1st 2017!

A Monument against the Digital Picture Tsunami - How Smart is Kickstarter's Smartest Photo Storage Device? - Updated, May 1st 2017!

Fabian
Life, Productivity

I have a history; you might even call it a habit, of backing Kickstarter projects with the potential to ease the troubles of modern life. My newest Kickstarter acquisition is a little box called "Monument". The promise of the Monument campaign was nothing less than creating “The world's smartest photo storage and management device.” Did they deliver on that promise?

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