Will Schwalbe is an author, entrepreneur, and journalist. He is also perhaps the most delightful, interesting and thoughtful person you’ve come across in a while. His love of books is infectious and as you know, Eric is a bibliophile himself so when the two talk about books and reading as they do in this episode, the result is one blissful experience. Do you love reading? Did you used to love reading but it’s moved out of the spotlight of your life? Have you wanted to cultivate a love of reading? Are you looking for some really wonderful books to read? Are you alive and breathing? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then this interview is for you.
He is the author of Thoughts on Reading, Reflecting and Embracing Life, The End of Your Life Book Club and SEND: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better
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In This Interview, Will Schwalbe and I Discuss…
- The Wolf Parable
- His book, Books for Living, Some Thoughts on Reading, Reflecting and Embracing Life
- The importance of reading
- That reading isn’t binary
- That every time we read, we become better at reading
- How reading can promote empathy
- How we connect through books
- The practice of “visiting your books”
- How he chooses which book to read next
- The way books can be a bio of your life
- The primary emotion he has at the beginning of reading a book
- Live to work vs work to live
- The freedom to quit
- The freedom of mediocrity
- Good being the enemy of great
- You write the books you need
- That our devices allow us to rob ourselves of silence
- How reading is an art
- The “can’t you tell I’m reading” face
- His favorite books that he’s read recently that were written recently
- Books mentioned in episode:
Will Schwalbe Links
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A grandfather is talking with his grandson and he says there are two wolves inside of us which are always at war with each other.
One of them is a good wolf which represents things like kindness, bravery and love. The other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed, hatred and fear.
The grandson stops and thinks about it for a second then he looks up at his grandfather and says, “Grandfather, which one wins?”
The grandfather quietly replies, the one you feed
The Tale of Two Wolves is often attributed to the Cherokee indians but there seems to be no real proof of this. It has also been attributed to evangelical preacher Billy Graham and Irish Playwright George Bernard Shaw. It appears no one knows for sure but this does not diminish the power of the parable.
This parable goes by many names including:
The Tale of Two Wolves
The Parable of the Two Wolves
Two Wolves
Which Wolf Do You Feed
Which Wolf are You Feeding
Which Wolf Will You Feed
It also often features different animals, mainly two dogs
Rachel says
What were the novels Will Schwalbe recommended during the episode? I was driving, so couldn’t note them, and for the life of me, I can’t remember at least one of the titles. Thanks.
Eric Zimmer says
Hi Rachel…they are all in the show notes above now.
Rachel says
Thanks!
Jaqueloira says
Eric Zimmer, thanks a lot for the post.Really thank you! Much obliged.
cunovo says
Eric Zimmer, thank you for this post. Its very inspiring.