Happy Saturday, if you have started mulching the yard or slamming antihistamines, you might not live in the Midwest.  On the lighter side of the week, we bring you the original Troll from the creator Thomas Dam from Denmark and the story of being trolled before it was a thing.  The Guardian comes in with a GREAT story on improving things, followed by a story about books and how many of us still read the ones made from paper.  Today's newsletter is a good read.

One Sentence Journal:                  Curiosity Prompts.

One Connection:                           A family visit.

Reading Tunes:                             Charlie Brown by Coldplay

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Thomas Dam created the first troll doll out of wood he carved for his daughter Lija for her birthday.  His son Neils told the NYT that his father used the face of a local butcher he owed money to for revenge!  Word spread throughout the small village in Denmark where Dam lived, and soon Dam was making troll dolls for many children.  The original was made of wood and later moved to a ceramic mold to make rubber casts that he stuffed with wood shavings.  The iconic troll hair was made from sheepskin and dressed in felt clothing.  He added the strawberry extract to the rubber to give it a distinctive smell.  A trick used by other toy manufacturers later on.

The story of where the trolls started and what became of the creator Thomas Dam came to us through the HUSTLE newsletter about business and tech.  The report, from humble beginnings to worldwide sensation, was without twists and turns.  Troll Dolls sold so many units in the 60s that it impacted Iceland's sheepskin harvest!  Around that same time, the troll doll went from "troll" to a good luck charm, even unseating the rabbit's foot and the four-leaf clover.

The article goes deeper into the business of Troll Nation, including a factory fire, counterfeit and trademark issues.  The story has a happy ending, thanks partly to Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick.

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Saturday, and that means The Guardian is putting out great weekend reads.  Today is no exception; we have a quick read guaranteed to improve your life.  10+ tips on how to do "life" better.  Here are a few of our favorites:

Beat Jet Lag:  Drink lots of water, avoid junk food, and nap when you land if you head west.  Jody Breese, flight attendant

Beat a Cold:  Rest and hydrate, warm drinks with honey and lemon for cough and throat, OTC pain relief, and saltwater nasal spray.  Joanna Kennedy, GP

Beat Bad Hair Day:  Brush it before shampooing, refresh it with cold air, and use finishing spray… or a hat!  Deb Dominic, hairdresser

Runner includes tips on; sleep, picture taking, gut health, and strong glutes.  Well worth the read; thanks, Sarah Phillips, for the info.

Pew Research says those of us who read prefer to read actual books.  65% of adults have read a book in the last year.  Good news for traditional publishers, the high percentage surprised us.  Newsletter writers tend to be big readers, and the With A Shout team is big readers (and writers).  We save most of our physical books for our all-time favorite books or books we use for study and research and want to write notes in the margins.

For some of us, our physical books went the same way our old cassette tapes and CDs went as soon as Napster, Pandora, and Spotify came to be.  We are content to pay $15 per month for the rest of our lives to have every song we've ever heard at our fingertips.  Some of us might have been late to the iPhone, partly due to our Blackberries and Mp3 players; however, we were first in line for the Amazon Kindle.  Launched in 2007, we still have the first Kindle with a keyboard (similar to our Blackberry!)  These days we use the Kindle App on our iPhones, iPads, and desktops.  With the Kindle and Amazon Prime, we use the Kindle like a TV set for readers.  We can have several books in "mid-read" simultaneously at any time.

Want to curl up with a good book?  Don’t look at IIan Manouach’s book called "ONEPIECE."  At almost 38 pounds, the book would be an authoritarian laptop read.  Nice News has the story of the Unreadable text.  It turns out it is more an art piece than a book; if you try to open the book, the binding would probably break.  We don't know how big your coffee table would need to be for this one.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us. Here’s one for the road!

With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.

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