Fans of Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love” will find an updated and funnier, more relatable millennial version in Kristen Van Nest’s debut memoir, “Where to Nest.”
The title playfully pays homage to the author’s origins. Her name, Van Nest, is an Americanized form of the Dutch name ‘Ness,’ a farm town in Holland. Much like her ancestors who modified their names, she shaped her own life and wrote her own story.
Growing up in a modest household in an extremely wealthy US town in Connecticut, where gym class sometimes consisted of yoga by candlelight, Van Nest’s classmates had life-size Barbies and real pet horses, while she wore secondhand clothes and had a Tamagotchi digital pet. This distinction propelled her to take action and strive to “have it all.”
She had fantasized about achieving the American dream, where she would fill her fancy mansion with objects associated with luxury, like three sinks in the master bedroom, for example. But she soon found that it was not the path she wanted to go on. She traded the big closet in her previous teenage dreams with that of a rolling suitcase.
In an attempt to fit in, Van Nest realized she likely could not. So she stood out. Not just outside of the box, but outside of the country completely. She was bitten by the travel bug at 16 when her grandmother encouraged her to spend some time in Paris and promised to help cover the cost. She went, and returned. Then left again as soon as she could.
“Where to Nest,” which was released on Tuesday, starts with her boarding a one-way flight to China, a place she had never before visited.
She ended up living in Shanghai for three years and, later, in Luxembourg as a Fulbright scholar. She went on to have dizzying adventures, and misadventures, in about 40 countries.
She writes how one year when she attended a New Year’s party in Berlin it felt like a fresh start not only to the year but also for herself.
“I was also going through a rebirth: one where if you stripped away my work, wealth and social status, I was at my core without those silly things we sometimes wrap our identities around.”
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Where to Nest’ by Kristen Van Nest
https://arab.news/wnggh
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Where to Nest’ by Kristen Van Nest
What We Are Reading Today: The World at First Light
- In The World at First Light, historian Bernd Roeck explores the cultural and historical preconditions that enabled the European Renaissance
Author: Bernd Roeck
The cultural epoch we know as the Renaissance emerged at a certain time and in a certain place. Why then and not earlier? Why there and not elsewhere? In The World at First Light, historian Bernd Roeck explores the cultural and historical preconditions that enabled the European Renaissance.
Roeck shows that the rediscovery of ancient knowledge, including the science of the medieval Arab world, played a critical role in shaping the beginnings of Western modernity.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘On Task’ by David Badre
Why is it hard to text and drive at the same time? How do you resist eating that extra piece of cake? Why does staring at a tax form feel mentally exhausting?
From making a cup of coffee to buying a house to changing the world around them, humans are uniquely able to execute necessary actions.
How do we do it? Or in other words, how do our brains get things done? In “On Task,” cognitive neuroscientist David Badre presents the first authoritative introduction to the neuroscience of cognitive control—the remarkable ways that our brains devise sophisticated actions to achieve our goals.
Book Review: ‘The Culture Map’ by Erin Meyer
“The Culture Map” by Erin Meyer, which was published in 2014, discusses the cultural differences between people and how they influence business interactions.
American author and professor at INSEAD Business School, Meyer talks from personal experience about fundamental points to pay attention to while having interactions with international business owners, peers, or clients.
She uncovers the meaning behind certain behaviors and suggests solutions to overcome the differences between people to accomplish shared goals.
As a cross-cultural management expert, Meyer discusses the elements that contribute to people’s communication and collaboration, including evaluation, persuasion, leadership, decision-making, and trust.
Using practical examples, she explains how misunderstandings sometimes happen when people interpret attitudes using their own lens, which may not be appropriate when relying on personal background and general understanding of the world.
She writes about people appreciating and focusing on what they find meaningful to them. Some cultures value direct feedback, while others tend to lean toward indirect communication when asked to give an opinion.
In addition, the author provides strategies to overcome differences and find common ground, focusing on the importance of learning and understanding cultural norms, and also being adaptable when an individual becomes part of an international team.
She also encourages readers to understand and respect other traditions to build effective relationships with the world around us.
“The Culture Map” is a guide for people who may be working in multicultural environments and want to elevate teamwork while improving intercultural skills.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Importance of Being Educable’ by Leslie Valiant
We are at a crossroads in history. If we hope to share our planet successfully with one another and the AI systems we are creating, we must reflect on who we are, how we got here, and where we are heading.
“The Importance of Being Educable” puts forward a provocative new exploration of the extraordinary facility of humans to absorb and apply knowledge.
The remarkable “educability” of the human brain can be understood as an information processing ability.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Deadly Force’
Authors: Tom S. Clark, Adam N. Glynn, & Michael Leo Owens
Police shootings in America spark outrage and protest and raise questions about police use of lethal force. Yet despite the attention given to high-profile shootings, it is extremely difficult to draw wider conclusions about the frequency and outcomes of police gunfire because there is no systematic and centralized source of information on these incidents.
This pioneering book draws on original data, compiled by the authors, to examine police shootings, both fatal and non-fatal, in hundreds of American cities.
