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The Second Mountain

David Brooks on the commitments that follow the first climb of career and status

David Brooks's 2019 book on what comes after the first mountain of career and status: a second climb organized around commitments to a vocation, a spouse and family, a philosophy or faith, and a community. Part argument, part memoir, it is often read as a companion to his earlier The Road to Character. Couples and reading groups tend to take it a chapter at a time.

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Sorted by strength of stance

  • Hugh JackmanDiscusses

    Actor · Wolverine and The Greatest Showman

    The book he and Deb were reading aloud each morning at the time of the interview. Five minutes was often enough. Whatever one of them had been worrying about overnight would surface.

    Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #444 transcript

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    Backed by 3 of 44 stacks: 0 do it, 2 recommend it, 1 have discussed it
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    Slow Productivity

    Do fewer things, work at a natural pace, obsess over quality

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    Backed by 2 of 44 stacks: 0 do it, 2 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
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    Ego Is the Enemy

    Ryan Holiday on the ways self-importance wrecks aspiring, succeeding and failing

    Backed by 1 of 44 stacks: 0 do it, 1 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
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    Never Finished

    Goggins's second book: what he did after the first one made him famous

    Backed by 1 of 44 stacks: 0 do it, 1 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • HabitFREE, no cost

    Journaling

    Writing to unload the mind, usually first thing or last thing

    Backed by 9 of 44 stacks: 9 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it

Book entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.