Two Years After Cormac McCarthy’s Death, Rare Access to His Personal Library Reveals the Man Behind the Myth by Richard Grant. If you’ve been following AoM long enough, you know that Cormac McCarthy is one of my favorite writers. So I was fascinated to read about the project to catalog McCarthy’s personal library — all 20,000 volumes of it. What emerges is a portrait of a genius-level polymath. The man taught himself quantum physics by reading 190 books on the subject, had 75 titles by or about Wittgenstein (most annotated), and owned a book called The Biology of the Naked Mole-Rat. One of the most interesting insights from this article: for the last 40 years of his life, McCarthy read almost no fiction, considering it a waste of time because contemporary writers, he thought, no longer had a legitimate culture to feed their souls.
“In the Blood” by John Mayer. Like many guys my age, I listened to John Mayer when Room for Squares dropped in 2001. But when he started getting involved in the mid-2000s tabloid circus, I basically skipped out on following his music. Fast forward to now, and Mayer’s music has been showing up in my streaming rotation again, and the whole McKay family has been digging it — especially the 2017 single “In the Blood.” It’s an introspective song that ponders whether we inherit our flaws from our family, and whether these inheritances are escapable. The guitar work is great (I forgot how good of a guitarist Mayer is), and Mayer’s vocals have a weathered quality that wasn’t there in his early twenties.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey. One of the traditions we’ve established in the McKay household is the “12-Year-Old Challenge.” When a kid hits that birthday, they get a modest challenge to tackle every week for a year — everything from swimming a mile to making a campfire to cooking a meal. If they complete all 52 of the challenges, they get to go on a special trip of their choice. It’s our way of marking the transition from little kid to young person with some meaningful experiences and learning opportunities. Gus completed the challenge a few years ago, and now it’s Scout’s turn. Her challenge last week was to read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey, and she enjoyed it. Sean Covey, Stephen Covey’s son, takes the foundational ideas from his dad’s famous business book and translates them for young adults. Instead of corporate boardroom examples, he uses high school drama, sports teams, and family situations that kids can relate to. What I loved most was how it sparked conversations between us about what it means to do things like be proactive, seek to understand others, and begin with the end in mind.
Vista Hermosa Flour Tortillas. Finding good tortillas at the grocery store can be a challenge. Most of the mass-produced options taste like cardboard and feel like you could use them for frisbee golf. Not so with Vista Hermosa flour tortillas! These are the best store-bought tortillas I’ve had. They’re made with avocado oil and taste like they were hand-pressed by a Mexican abuelita in her kitchen — soft, slightly chewy, with an authentic homemade flavor. They’re great for burritos or even to eat alone. You can find them at Whole Foods.
On our Dying Breed newsletter, we published Sunday Firesides: Three-O’Clock-In-The-Morning Courage and The Power of a Mentor.
Quote of the Week
Self-trust is the essence of heroism.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
