OK, here is a smattering of some of the best articles I’ve ever read. They cover everything from coaching to itching, from football to Fargo. I read a lot, and these brought something different to my life, concepts and thoughts that have stayed with me for years after reading them.

1. Top of this list is: Coach Fitz’s Management Theory, by Michael Lewis. A true story, by the writer of The Blind Side (the movie was just released), this is about the difference a coach make for a kid. As one of his former players, a 44-year-old financier named David Pointer, said, ”The most common response from the parents is that Fitz did all the hard work.” I’ve loved everything Michael Lewis has written, but this moved me immensely.

2. I wouldn’t say I’m a football expert, but I got way better at understanding it when I read this article on Eli Manning, called The Eli Experiment. Written back in 2004, when the Giants and everyone else was wondering if they had possibly made one of the costliest mistakes ever in getting Eli Manning as an untried quarterback, this article (coincidentally, also by Michael Lewis) gives some proof that they were prescient in their thinking. I knew all the background then, when they were in the Superbowl :-)

3. Imagine you didn’t know how to work a sink. You were starving because you didn’t know how to use a can opener. You’d never seen snow. The Lost Boys Of Sudan were just that – they had lost their families, barely escaped with their lives, and then were one of the “lucky” ones to get sent as refugees to Fargo, North Dakota. In winter. A testament to the human spirit of adaption, and (hopefully) a realization of how much we have.

4. If you’d ever wondered about the intelligence of elephants, and their more “human” emotions, this article will show you the degree of empathy they possess. Changes in their environment has started to cause An Elephant Crack-Up and it seems very obvious that we aren’t the smartest ones on this planet. Will change your whole perspective on pachyderms, and possibly most animals.

5. I read this article and immediately had to read more from Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Harvard. The Itch was a shocking, and yet hopeful look at the power of the brain, and will make you grateful that you function as well as you do. I own several of his books now and they are just as great, but this article in particular stuck with me.

6. Ever wonder why this low-fat craze has somehow resulted in a 66% obesity rate? What If It’s All Been A Big, Fat Lie? is written by Gary Taubes, who ended up writing a book on this, and I give this article out regularly to patients, who then come back, pissed, as to why they never heard this before.

7. You may have started to realize that the health care industry is probably not driven by a profound concern for your health. After reading this, you’ll probably view all prescription meds suspiciously – this was shockingly enlightening. The Claritin Effect — Prescription For Profit

8. Michael Pollan was just starting to become known when this article was released in the NY Times. Unhappy Meals started with “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” and grew into a manifesto. He will leave you wanting better food, for yourself and your children, and wonder why no one said this before.

9. Susan Payne will teach you a few things. She specializes in teaching Class-Consciousness - showing teachers how to reach students in whatever social class they’re in. For example, in the course for teachers, “She had already explained why rich people don’t eat casseroles, why poor people hang their pictures high up on the wall, why middle-class people pretend to like people they can’t stand.” and she goes on about how to reach those students. I didn’t know any of that either – this article was fascinating, and enormously respectful — Susan Payne is just unwilling to step over thoughts that most of us are too uncomfortable to look at.

10. This article moved me greatly. Admiral Nimitz’s son, also an admiral, decided with his wife that they were unwilling to live a life where they had lost the things that they loved — their health, their enjoyment, their comfort. So they did something about it.  With Suicide, An Admiral Keeps Command Until The End makes you stop and think about what do YOU have in place for the end of your life?

11. OK, the last is not an article, but a blog post by the cartoonist, Scott Adams, who draws Dilbert. (here’s his blog). Years ago (and no matter now much I search, I can’t find it, so I’m just going to paste it here) he wrote this and I have often thought how accurate this was:

Happiness Formula:

In order to be happy, you must be successful in all three of these areas:

1. Relationships
2. Health
3. Income

Realistically, you will only have time to accomplish any two of those goals while bitching about the third. The day isn’t long enough to do them all. When I see a well-dressed, chubby, 40-something guy in a nice SUV with his family, all happy and laughing, I know he gave up health. He’ll be dead in 10 years. When I see a totally fit person in the gym, I always wonder if he’s a lonely loser or just underemployed. It’s one or the other.

There are rare exceptions. A friend of mine makes a great living by working a few hours per day from his home or his boat. He has a great family life and an ideal body mass index. I expect the universe to smite him any minute. He’s violating some sort of natural law and it’s only a matter of time before things revert to the mean. Which of the three requirements of happiness are YOU giving up?

*****************************************************
I know there’s a million other things out there that are great and I’d love your suggestions! In the meantime, consider this my Christmas present! :-)