Michael T. Starks

Category: Books

  • Contribution

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    Not long ago, Bernie Sanders sent an email that caught my attention. He said, “I am writing to ask you to run for office.” I can’t remember another politician sending me a similar message. How to respond? I want to contribute. I really do. I’m not happy with Trump being in power. And yet… We…

  • Escapism

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    Why do we read books, watch movies, and binge-watch TV shows? Sometimes, we just want to escape from our daily lives to experience the story of another. I LOVE escaping into well-written stories! Reading books and watching movies can be magical! However, our need to escape brings up a compelling question. WHY? Why are our…

  • Projects First!

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    I haven’t written a blog post for a while, and I’m okay with that. Working on meaningful projects is more important than writing daily (or even weekly) blog posts. So yes, this is my declaration that I’ve been working on a meaningful project! And no, I’m not ready to disclose any specific details. Some books…

  • Generational Nostalgia

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    There are fewer common touchpoints in our world today than when I was a kid. Everyone is going to remember where they were during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is something we all shared in 2020. However, recent movies, songs, books, and other news are probably a much less cohesive set of memories for today’s teenagers.…

  • Might vs. Right

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    I’m not on Twitter or X or most other social media platforms. Nevertheless, I did run across the following. This is WRONG. I only need to think back to T. H. White’s wonderful novel, The Once and Future King. Even the musical Camelot gets this right! “Might does not make right!” I learned this as…

  • Which Is Better?

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    Here’s a quote that’s stuck with me for a long time. “And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better–cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground While I read a slightly different translation, this is close enough. Whether it’s “lofty…

  • Discoveries

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    I’m fascinated that each scientific discovery tends to happen only once. Granted, a discovery can be made simultaneously by two different people. Both Newton and Leibniz discovered the Calculus without collaborating. Because we keep decent records, once a discovery has been made, no one else is likely to make the same discovery a century later.…

  • Audio Versus Visual Reading

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    I’m not the first to notice a difference. Cody Kommers wrote an article about this topic in Psychology Today. While he hasn’t done a scientific study, he makes a few great points. Here’s what I’ve noticed. If I’m reading a book before falling asleep, I’ll stop on the page where I start to doze off.…

  • Success Threshold

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    While setting up a new spreadsheet for Tracking Stars in 2025, I’ve decided to keep the “success threshold” low. This is by design. It turns out that Tiny Habits are easier to incorporate into our daily lives than BIG CHANGES. “As I accumulated dozens of new habits—mostly tiny ones—they combined to create a transformation. Sustaining…

  • Expectations

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    One of my favorite books is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I love the tension between our dreams for the future and the realities we face today. That said, I sometimes get myself in trouble with my expectations. While I can be fairly flexible, I often expect things to go a certain way. And sometimes,…