Beth Carpenter Books

Incentive (noun) – something that incites or tends to incite to action or greater effort, as a reward offered for productivity. (Dictionary.com)   Basically, an incentive is a reward to preforming a desired action, or a punishment for not preforming that action. We have tax incentives, incentives to fill out surveys, work incentives, buy-one-get-one sales, and many more incentives competing for our attention every day. The tricky part of incentives is designing them so they actually work. I once read of a study (I wish I could quote it, but I can’t find it now) of young children who liked to draw. On day one, researchers gave them crayons and ask them to draw as many pictures as they wanted. The children loved it, and created piles of pictures. On day two, the researchers divided them into two groups and offered to pay each child in one group $1.00 for each picture they produced. They drew even more pictures than the control group. Finally, on day three the researchers...

What impresses us? ESPNs Top Ten Plays is always impressive. Based on People Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, we’re impressed with people who can sing and act, as well as athletes, innovators, and politicians. For some reason, we also seem to be impressed with celebrities whose only claim to fame is that they’re celebrities. I’ve always wondered how that comes about. But maybe we’re focusing on the wrong things. Maybe we should give a little more credit to the people who designed the bridge we drive over every day, or the elevators we ride in. We only tend to pay attention to them when something goes wrong, but to work, the designers, engineers, and builders had to do a million things right. On one hand, we’re impressed with people who can do things we can’t, like throw a baseball almost 100 mph or walk a tightrope. On the other, we ignore people who are good at things we know nothing about, like dentists or farmers. We assume our fillings are supposed to be perfect an...

On the way home today, driving from downtown on the Glen Highway, I saw something amazing. After a couple of weeks of gray overcast, the day was clear. It was a quarter after four. The sun had set, and the half-light painted the sky the rich blue-gray of a well-washed pair of jeans. New snow, pure and crisp, frosted the Chugach Range, illuminated by an almost full moon rising. Even the lights lining the highway added to the beauty of the scene, leading the eye to the mountains beyond. Taking a picture while driving 60 mph isn't wise, so I waited until I got home. By that time, the moon had risen further, the sky was darker, the angle was wrong, and trees blocked the view. This is what I got. January 2, 2015 4:25, Anchorage Alaska It's like the old riddle: if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears, did it make a sound? If there was nobody to share the beauty and no way to capture it, was it still a beautiful moment? Yes. Oh, yes.  Even if there is no tangible ...