i had to lead a discussion about this book to group of incoming university freshmen (and then later to their parents) as part of a freshman reading program. in this program they find faculty from all over campus to lead the discussions, with around twenty students per group. in introducing myself i explained they drew the short straw in facilitators because faculty tended to approach the conversation based on their subject matter expertise. this meant that elsewhere on campus you has psychologists and political scientists and social workers delving into the complicated issues exposed in this book. i apologized that they got dealt a technology guy to lead their group. but then i quickly added that they lucked out, we all lucked out, because a hobby of mine, my favorite hobby is time and life management, and if you think of this book as a study of life management, or more specifically the management of two lives, with two very different outcomes, the work is endlessly and personally fascinating to someone like me, so they just went from being in the worst discussion group on the campus to the best because i promise no one finds this subject matter more interesting that i did.

and while i'm usually against over-selling something before producing the goods, i felt i had to in this case. thankfully, through a group effort, we had a wonderfully compelling and thought provoking discussion so i didn't have to end the session with an apology as well.

if you're wondering, the parents' session went well too.