Donald Sobol and Stephen Covey

Donald Sobol and Stephen Covey have passed on.  Sobol was the author of the Encyclopedia Brown series, and Covey wrote The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and other books. 

I first learned about Encyclopedia Brown in the fourth grade.  We were watching a film-strip of Encyclopedia Brown that had a cool opening and closing song, and the person in my class who solved the Encyclopedia Brown mystery got a prize.  (Can't say it was me!)  My Mom for my birthday got me some Encyclopedia Brown books, which I enjoyed.  You'd read the mystery, and the solution to the mystery was in the back of the book.  Why was the lady chewing bubble gum able to blow such big bubbles?  Because she ate peanut butter before chewing the gum.  Why was the rooster crowing in the afternoon?  Because the guy covered the rooster, took off the cover in the afternoon before an audience, and the rooster crowed thinking it was morning.  Cool stuff!

I read Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People at DePauw University.  I was taking a winter-term class on starting a business, and we were assigned to read that book.  I really enjoyed it.  I remember the optical illusion of the old hag/beautiful woman (see here----it's the second from the top), Covey's story of how he did not pressure his son to play sports, Covey's story of when he was teaching his son to keep the lawn green and clean, and the principle of thinking win-win.  I actually referenced Covey's book in my following posts: The Waltons: Let It Go!, Principle-Centered, Loving People, by John Townsend, Forgiveness, and Storms Can't Hurt the Sky.

R.I.P. Donald Sobol and Stephen Covey.