Archive for the 'Reviews' Category

Carole finds herself talking to other people in the neighborhood

Published by George Nemeth on September 11, 2008 in Reviews. 0 Comments

Carole Cohen reviews Instructions from the Cook and finds herself recalling a bunch of stuff, including the famous Jane Jacobs book The Death And Life of Great American Cities. Wow! It’s a honor to be mentioned in the same post as Jacobs:

Have you ever read a book that stays under your skin and makes you think about it as well as ideas that seem to spawn in your mind because of it?

Are you tired of negativity in your city and among your neighbors? Do you feel like you live in a community without the actual community cohesiveness that would be nice?

Have you ever wondered to yourself, ‘there are so many issues that need to be tackled in my neighborhood and I would love to help but I don’t know where to start.’ I know I have. And now I’ve read a book that is both under my skin and causing my mind to go off in what could be some good directions. What is the book? Instructions from The Cook, written by Cleveland’s own George Nemeth (BFD) (@georgenemeth) and Jack Ricchiuto (@DesigningLife.com). You can read about or order Instructions from The Cook here.

Have you ever had an idea about something you’d like to do for a neighbor, for your neighborhood, or something you’d like implemented into City life? Or maybe you have an idea for neighborhood kids or a business venture. It all seems overwhelming but Jack and George wrote this book to show how it doesn’t have to be. And as a matter of fact, they say two important things:

- good things, ideas with longevity, usually start out small not large.

- “people will authentically support what they help create” (page 55 of the book).

- there are lots of good ideas, not just one

- meeting to talk about ideas with people of all sorts of mindsets is usually much more productive than just meeting with people who think like me (this ties into the ‘lots of good ideas’ truth above).

When Jack and George wrote about ’slow and small’ being better than ‘fast and big’, it took me back to how we learn (my education training kicking in). We learn at our best, our most comprehensive, when we start with a solid foundation of information and then expand our knowledge on that topic/subject as we go along. It helps us not live with pre-conceived ideas, but to be open to possibilities…and yeah it helps us retain the information in a way that leads to the ability to be creative with the knowledge…

Real Estate Blog - What Do Zen, Cooking, and Neighborliness Have To Do With Each Other?

As Simple As Stone Soup

Published by George Nemeth on August 2, 2008 in Reviews. 0 Comments

The beginning of a book review:

During the arms race that dominated the 70’s and 80’s a friend of mine remarked something to the effect that “to accomplish change requires the intellectual ability to both accept that the situation is hopeless at the same time you believe it can be changed.” This statement haunted me for years, because if I focused on the gravity of the world’s problems, I immediately became overwhelmed and doubtful of my ability to make a difference. I felt powerless, and, if the cynicism and apathy of my generation is any indicator, I was not alone.

We regarded making change a difficult and complex task. We ordered studies, studies that took years before they told us what we already knew, things needed to change. Oh, and they also told us that change takes years and lots of money.

But what if we were wrong? What if change is as simple as making soup?

Instructions from the Cook, says it is…

Instructions from the Cook - Review « Five Husbands

Thomas Mulready interviews “Instructions” authors Ricchiuto and Nemeth

Published by George Nemeth on August 2, 2008 in Reviews and Video. 0 Comments

Thomas Mulready of CoolCleveland.com does a video interview with authors Jack Ricchiuto and George Nemeth. Here’s the excerpt that accompanied the video in the newsletter:

Jack Ricchiuto & George Nemeth, local community-builders, have teamed up to author a new book entitled Instructions from the Cook, a collection of creative recipes and and ideas for engaging and empowering a community to change. Based on zen principles, their book speaks of how small acts can bring big change. Listen to this video interview at their book signing in Tremont with Cool Cleveland’s Thomas Mulready and learn how to initiate conversations, both on the internet and face-to-face, that maximize our individual gifts and talents to build our community.

When is the last time you actually made soup for a senior, exchanged stories with a homeless person or used one of your unique gifts to reach out of your comfort zone and help someone with lesser resources? Dive into this little gem and become authentically engaged.