I usually listen to books these days rather than holding a hard copy in my hand (aside from the ones I read with Lucy).
But Max handed this one: American Kingpin off to me that had been so interesting to him, so I jumped right in.
It reminded me how much I love holding a book in my hand, being able to turn over the pages of the thoughts I love the most, or go back to the parts that I want to delve into one more time. It’s kind of therapeutic in my opinion, I need to slow down and sit and read more!
Anyway, this book is not one I would normally choose, a little dark, not great language in parts. But it was a pretty fascinating read. I love books that can take me into new worlds I never knew existed, and this one took me into the thought process of the mastermind behind the Silk Road on the Dark Web.
I was fascinated by how 26-year-old Ross Ulbricht, a libertarian computer programmer, morphed, inch by inch, from a guy who was just meandering trying to find his path in life to being criminal mastermind, running a billion-dollar online drug empire (true story).
When Max and Abby asked me what I liked best, I told them how interesting it was to think about how little decisions change our trajectory in so many ways. Interesting to think about how the little things really sometimes turn out to be the big things. Ross Ulbricht went from just going to classes in college to eventually hiring hit men to support his needs. How does that happen? Makes me wonder about the things I do each day. Am I utilizing my time wisely? Am I looking to lift and build others? Is my heart soft enough to change the things that aren’t working? And do I have the patience to remember that those things take time? Am I continually working on relationships, especially my reaching to God?
Just a few thoughts going into the weekend.
Happy Friday! We are on the tail-end of the first week of school here in the desert, I still can’t believe that!
Gotta read it!