Life Lessons From the Cutting Edge

The thing self-help books tend not to tell you—the thing they brush aside because their authors have to, you know, sell books—is that we usually don’t get to choose when and where we learn a life lesson. Most times, it’s the unexpected that hits us on the nose.

- By Faith Bottum

So it is that I gained life lessons from a kitchen knife: a L-pound, 8.6-inch carbon-steel Chinese cleaver I picked up on a whim in Lower Manhattan. Its rosewood handle and rectangular blade have transformed the way I cook and even the way I live.