Recently I've been drawn to books which motivate me to look at myself, and hopefully make me a better "me". The Courage to Be Disliked, by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koya, has a title I just can't go past.

The book has taken Japan by storm, using the theories of philosopher Alfred Adler to create conversations between a fictional philosopher and a young man. The conversations cover many broad, interesting and sensitive topics. The philosopher character sticks by the theories of Adler, and explains how we are competent to determine our own lives, and be free of the influence of past experiences and others' expectations. It's a way of thinking that allows us to develop the courage to change and to ignore the limitations placed on us.

These often complex topics are played out in a conversational style between the two men. While it's easy to follow the conversations, the topics will knock around in your own head as you work out whether you sit on the side of the philosopher, the young man, or somewhere in between. The book is well-received by readers primarily owing to the fact that it presents two well-balanced viewpoints in the arguments. You'll find yourself doing household chores, or at your keyboard, unpacking all the information in your mind and coming to your own conclusions.

You will wholeheartedly agree on some points and want to throw the book at the wall at others. Its content is polarizing (两极分化) and I certainly don't agree with everything the philosopher or the young man says, but I think that's the point. The Courage to Be Disliked is there to start a conversation with yourself and do some slightly uncomfortable soul-searching.

The word paradigm comes from the Greek. It was originally a scientific term, and is more commonly used today to mean a model or theory. In the more general sense, it's the way we "see" the world--not in terms of our visual sense of sight, but in terms of perceiving, understanding, and interpreting.

A simple way to understand paradigms is to see them as maps. We all know that "the map is not the territory." A map is simply an explanation of certain aspects of the territory. That's exactly what a paradigm is. It is a theory, an explanation, or model of something else. You can never arrive at a specific location in a new city with a wrong map.

Each of us has many maps in our head, which can be divided into two main categories: maps of the way things are, or realities, and maps of the way things should be, or values. We interpret every thing we experience through these mental maps. We seldom question their accuracy; we're usually even unaware that we have them. We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of those assumptions. The way we see things is the source of the way we think and the way we act.

We see the world, not as it is, but as we are--or, as we are conditioned to see it. Clear headed people see things differently, each looking through the unique lens of experience. But this does not mean that there are no facts. Instead, each person's interpretation of these facts represents prior experiences.

The more aware we are of our basic paradigms, maps, or assumptions, and the extent to which we have been influenced by our experience, the more we can take responsibility for those paradigms, examine them, test them against reality, listen to others and be open to their perceptions, thereby getting a larger picture and a far more objective view.

Queen Elizabeth II's face is on every note and coin in the United Kingdom, but still little is known about how much money she has personally, how she gets it and who stands to inherit (继承) it.

What we do know from public records is that the Queen receives at least $20 million in annual income through her private estate，and another 100 million dollars from the UK government each year.

The first thing to understand is that the Queen's income comes from both public and private possessions. A large amount of it comes from something called the Sovereign Grant. Here's how that works.

In the 1700s, the monarchy (王室) handed over income from land to the government known as the Crown Estate. Each year the government pays a percentage of the profits made on those possessions back to the monarchy. That annual income is known as the Sovereign Grant. Last year it totaled more than $107 million. And it is used to fund the Queen's official duties and maintain royal residences like Buckingham Palace.

But even if we can't identify her exact worth， the royal finances are looking healthy as the

Queen celebrates her 70th Queen Ceremony. The Sunday Times Rich List estimated the Queen's net worth is $466 million, up $6. 2 million dollars from last year. And while the Duchy of Lancaster saw UK income drop during the pandemic, according to its financial records, the Queen's income has been turning upwards over the past decade.

Anyway, the monarchy is a private family, and they are unlikely to share any details of their wealth with the British public, and that probably won't change anytime soon.