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  Everyone seems to have a book club or reading list, including celebrities such as Jenna Bush Hager, Zibby Owens, Katie Couric, Reese Witherspoon, Barack Obama, and even Her Majesty Queen Camilla, who has a dignified name for a charity she set up to promote reading: The Queen’s Reading Room. We both love to read, but not in an organized, once-a-month, nibble-and-lunch-or-dinner kind of way. We prefer suggestions from friends and family, publications such as The New York Times’ “Best Books of the Year” and its weekly Book Review section, what we spot on library counters or at friends’ homes,...

A A happiness map by Alvin Chang in "The Pudding",  a digital publication that focuses on data journalism, through data visualizations and interactive design. (April 2026).   There is no doubt about it. The world is in turmoil now, with negative information flowing so fast that it tends to suck us into a sinkhole of woe-is-me.    We say, turn the tables. Treat happiness as a thread to be woven into your daily life.  How, you ask?  To start, try this simple exercise. First, be present. Either think about or write down what made you happy in the past 24...

Remember college graduation day? You sat on the edge of your seat, listening to a well-known speaker pontificating about what’s ahead, sharing their stories, some lighthearted moments or funny tales, firsthand experiences, and wisdom as you waited to be handed your newly minted degree.    What’s the typical takeaway from these voices of experience? Continue to learn, stay curious, don’t be afraid to take risks, value your relationships, have an adventure and try to keep an open mind in your personal life and career. Also, bear in mind that your diploma is just a piece of paper. It’s nice to have,...

A friend asks, “What’s your week like?” and you answer:  “All I do is wait, mostly in doctors’ offices. I wait for the bus, a taxi, or the subway, or in traffic to get to the internist on Monday, the podiatrist on Tuesday, an MRI on Wednesday (for that bunion, ouch), the dentist on Thursday, and the gastroenterologist on Friday. In between, I have my psychotherapist, another wait, even if we do a Zoom.”    Yes, we’ve reached that age, and we’re hanging out more in doctors’/dentists’ and other healthcare professionals' offices. We try to beat the system by scheduling...

Got a problem with corporate America? Take your complaints to the top. We’ve gone up the food chain, starting at the bottom by complaining to a salesperson, the wait staff, or a telephone caller—and getting nowhere. They’re merely doing their job. The top brass is where the buck stops. So that’s where we’ve decided to start, sharing with humor some of our biggest complaints about three companies: Williams Sonoma, Anthropic, and Tinder. Our letters represent our attempts to be heard; one we did write, and we never heard back. We’re happy if you want to copy our template for any...