How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
Author: Franklin Foer
Who knew you could learn so much about globalization, economics and politics from soccer? Great read.
Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
Author: Julia Cameron
One possible path to re-discovering the creativity you never knew you had.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New Edition
Author: Jared Diamond
An admirable crack at explaining why the world is the way it is by way of an anthropological macro-history. This book probably comes up the most in conversation as we travel.
The Cathedral Within: Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back
Author: Bill Shore
Inspiring profiles of social entrepreneurs and projects we all can learn from and hopefully replicate to give back to community.
Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation
Author: John Carlin
Although the storyline is built around the South African rugby team and the 1995 World Cup, this book is more about Nelson Mandela and how he was able to unite a divided country. Inspiring.
Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown
Author: Paul Theroux
The author re-visits Africa and re-assesses the place he once knew... and judges it once and for all. Well written, poignant observations of the thumbprints left by career politicians, aid workers, and everyday people.
Outliers: The Story of Success
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
A look at the internal and external factors of how extraordinary people got to be, well, extraordinary. One of those books that challenges assumptions and makes you think differently.
Shantaram: A Novel
Author: Gregory David Roberts
Administering first aid in a Bombay slum, selling fake passports and running guns to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Technically a novel, but closely linked to the Author's own experiences. Fantastic read.
For this Mother’s Day, we are in Hiroshima, Japan, the site of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Although the city was once a site of death and destruction beyond what we could ever imagine, the message here now is one of peace.
A reflection at the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima, Japan
Filed Under: Perspectives, Photography by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
12 Comments | 12 May 2012
Today is International Women’s Day. To celebrate, we share an updated version of our Women from Around the World slideshow.
You probably won’t see any of these women on TV or on the covers of magazines (well, maybe someday). Instead, they are the women we meet in markets, on public transport, in the shops that they run, in rural villages, on city streets. They are the everyday human landscape — mothers, grandmothers, daughters, sisters, friends, colleagues — perhaps sometimes overlooked or taken for granted. But look into their eyes, and through life and its challenges, pride prevails.
With the slideshow below, we celebrate the collective spirit of these women and the beauty of their diversity. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Perspectives, Photography by: Audrey Scott
4 Comments | 8 March 2012
My real guru to teach me the value of compassion is my mother.
– The Dalai Lama
The other night, we enjoyed a screening of the film Happy. During the film, the Dalai Lama is seen speaking on the topic of mothers and compassion.
He continues: Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Perspectives by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
7 Comments | 7 May 2011
When I think of my mother and my grandmothers, I feel fortunate to be born into a line of strong and determined women. My mother led by example, demonstrating that one’s personal and professional life is not static, but rather an evolution in personal development and fulfillment that includes taking a bit of risk from time to time. Additionally, both my grandmothers raised families in challenging circumstances – one in Korea shortly after the Korean War, the other in India in the 1950s.
As I consider their histories, I’m reminded of how much I have to learn from them and the lives they’ve chosen to lead. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Photography by: Audrey Scott
14 Comments | 9 May 2010
Throughout this journey, it has continually been impressed upon me that being a woman in many parts of the world is still no easy task. The force of prejudice and the impact of poor education, difficult working conditions, low pay and limited access to medical care make life challenging for women around the world.
Hope remains, however.
Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Hope for Humanity, Perspectives, Photography by: Audrey Scott
15 Comments | 8 March 2010
In the United States, International Women’s Day comes and goes without much notice. Not so in Estonia when I lived there a decade ago.
“Buying flowers for every woman in the office on International Women’s Day” was technically not written into every man’s job description. Neither was “picking up bottles of champagne and cognac.” But both may as well have been. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Motley Mots by: Audrey Scott
2 Comments | 8 March 2009
When times were difficult during the years following independence, the men felt sorry for themselves and the women carried on with the business of providing for the family.
- a Georgian friend explaining the situation there during the early 1990s. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Central Asia, Hope for Humanity, Kyrgyzstan by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
No Comments | 4 January 2008
