How to write an embarrassingly weak book about a supremely important idea like self-awareness? Authors Héctor García and Francesc Miralles manages to apply many methods in Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life:

• begin with a semi-relevant foreign-language word (e.g., ikigai = "Reason to Live" in Japanese)
• write boringly first-person about details of your research (e.g., a trip to Okinawa, the hotels you stayed in)
• ignore principles of science and statistically valid evidence (rely on anecdotes and weasel-word modifiers like "may", "could", "might", "associated with", etc., like a food-supplement package)
• shamelessly quote out-of-context bits from significant work done by others (esp. best-sellers by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Viktor Frankl, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, et al.)
• pad a brief essay into a short book (make generous use of whitespace, tables, text boxes, figures, ...)
• repeat repeat repeat (without worrying about logical order or conceptual dependency)

Alas, that's Ikigai. To save time, glance at these "Ten Rules of Ikigai" from the Epilogue of the book:

• Stay active; don't retire.
• Take it slow.
• Don't fill your stomach.
• Surround yourself with good friends.
• Get in shape for your next birthday.
• Smile
• Reconnect with nature
• Give thanks
• Live in the moment
• Follow your ikigai

... you are most welcome!

_{(cf Secrets of the Padding Masters (2006-11-27), ...) - ^z - 2020-07-18}