EEDA Newsletter Vol 6, Res 31: Compliments, CDC Lies, & Dabbling
This is a public issue of Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice. Feel free to share it!
Hi friends, happy October! October is always our busiest month so I’m going to keep this intro short.
New EEDA Pod episode! EEDA Pod Book Squad: Winning Friends & Influencing People
In this milestone 50th episode, Patricia and Nicole launch the EEDA Pod Book Club by diving into "How to Win Friends and Influence People," discussing its historical context, enduring popularity, and problematic aspects. They reflect on the book's advice, its questionable undertones, and how it shaped the self-help genre, while sharing their own perspectives on giving compliments and social interaction. The episode also features community updates, gratitude for their editor Jen, and personal highlights.
You can find our show, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also support the show on Patreon, where we have some perks for paid subscribers with even more coming this year. You can also just make a recurring donation through subscribing to our Patreon, as our show is independently run and without ads. It helps keep us going!
It’s a resource week so let’s get to it!
Resource 1: If compliments make you feel super awkward, this comic is for you via NPR's Life Kit
If you listened to this week’s EEDA Pod then you would know we talked a bit about compliments. This is a timely comic from NPR’s Life Kit on the subject that discusses why people may find taking compliments hard and some tips on giving a good compliment.
Resource 2: Who to Trust If You Can’t Trust the CDC by Yasmin Tayag for The Atlantic
"No American institution is equipped to replace the agency. But a few trusted resources can help."
Resource 3: In Defense of Dabbling: The Brilliance of Being a Total Amateur by Karen Walrond
This new release might just be my favorite self-improvement book I’ve read this year so far. While the title is helpfully descriptive, this book is not only about being an amateur at something or a few somethings, but also staying an amateur. That is to say, not focusing on being the best at something, not learning something and then turning it into a side gig, and not learning something because it’s productive or useful. This is about having a hobby, or avocation, for the sake of joy and well-being.
The book begins by talking about the term “amateur” and how current use often has a pejorative connotation. Many people use it as an insult and it’s considered embarrassing to be an amateur. If you’re an amateur, then you must not be serious, as though being serious is something to strive toward. The word “amateur” comes from the Latin word
“amare,” meaning “to love.” To be an amateur is to do something simply because you love to do it. This is a wildly foreign concept to me as my mother was always thinking about how to make money from something and my father always told me, “If you’re gonna be a bear, be a grizzly” so I have always tried to be the best I can be when I embark on something. This book has helped me shift my perspective.
The author outlines what she believes to be the Seven Attributes of Intentional Amateurism and she uses these as the framework for the rest of the book: Curiosity, Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, Play, Stretch Zone, Connection, and Wonder and Awe. She created a long list of all the things she wanted to try and she includes this list at the end of the book. Within the book, she talks about some of the things she did try, how it went, what she learned, and she also shares if she has kept with that thing. Throughout the book, the focus on avocations, a fancy word for hobbies, is used as forms of self-care and sometimes even as ways to create on-demand joy.
This book helped me release some ideas of perfection as well as energized me to try some things without a goal to make content or even share with anyone except my wife and that in itself is incredibly freeing and definitely makes this book worth a read.
Recent & Current Reads
Inclusion of a book in this section is not necessarily a recommendation and these books won’t always be added to my Bookshop. Links are affiliate links.
Recently Read:
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The Healing Power of Korean Letter Writing by Juhee Mun
How to Break Up with Your Phone, Revised Edition: The 30-Day Digital Detox Plan by Catherine Price
Others: A Story for All of Us by Kobi Yamada and illustrated by Charles Santoso out 3/31/26)
What Makes YOU Happy? by Nedra Glover Tawwab and illustrated by Candice Bradley
I Hate Everything! by Sophy Henn
Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree (out 11/11)
How to Be Free: A Proven Guide to Escaping Life's Hidden Prisons by Shaka Senghor
Currently Reading:
An Unlikely Coven by AM Kvita (out 10/28)
Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore by Char Adams (out 11/4)
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown
That’s it for this week! You can shop many books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. In fact, any Bookshop, Amazon, or Etsy links in this newsletter are affiliate links so if you shop through those, it helps support my work. Or you can leave me a tip on Ko-fi, Paypal, or Venmo.
If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481.
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