I didn't mean to read this at the moment, but once I started it, it was hard to put down. Meditations, which is essentially a collection of pithy statI didn't mean to read this at the moment, but once I started it, it was hard to put down. Meditations, which is essentially a collection of pithy statements, is really accessible and addictive ("just one more"). Some of my takeaways / favorite quotes:
Focus on the present task at hand.
"Concentrate every minute ... on doing what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions" (2.5)
Because there is nothing but the present.
"[T]he longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have, you cannot lose." (2.14)
You can change yourself and hold yourself to high standards.
"[T]reat human beings as they deserve, be tolerant with others and strict with yourself. Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood—nothing else is under your control" (5.33)
"The best revenge is not to be like that" (6.6)
"If anyone can refute me—show me I'm making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective—I'll gladly change. It's the truth I'm after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance" (6.21)
You can't control others, but you can attempt to understand them and their actions.
"When people injure you, ask yourself what good or harm they thought would come of it. If you understand that, you'll feel sympathy rather than outrage or anger" (7.26)
"It's silly to try to escape other people's faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own." (7.71)
Our time is short and time marches forward.
"The earth will cover us all, and then be transformed in turn, and that too will change, ad infinitum. And that as well, ad infinitum. Think about them: the waves of change and alteration, endlessly breaking. And see our brief mortality for what it is" (9.28)
Filled with wise words, applicable to people of all backgrounds. Here are some of the quotes that resonated most with me:
"After you have practiced forFilled with wise words, applicable to people of all backgrounds. Here are some of the quotes that resonated most with me:
"After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little." (Pg. 31)
"To cook is not just to prepare food for someone or yourself; it is to express your sincerity. So when you cook you should express yourself in your activity in the kitchen. You should allow yourself plenty of time; you should work on it with nothing in your mind, and without expecting anything. You should just cook! That is also an expression of our sincerity, a part of our practice." (Pg. 37-38)
"Just continue in your calm, ordinary practice and your character will be built up. If your mind is always busy, there will be not time to build, and you will not be successful, particularly if you work too hard on it." (Pg. 43)
"When you listen to someone, you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opinions; you should just listen to him, just observe what his way is." (Pg. 76)
"It is because our way of observing things is deeply rooted in our self-centered ideas that we are disappointed when we find everything has only a tentative existence." (Pg. 103-104)
I foresee myself coming back to this periodically....more
Amusing Ourselves to Death asserts that as technologies are inseparable from the message they deliver; because of this, as one technology pushes anothAmusing Ourselves to Death asserts that as technologies are inseparable from the message they deliver; because of this, as one technology pushes another out, we should be concerned with how it affects our perception of truth and the world around us: “the concept of truth is intimately linked to the biases of forms of expression” (22).
As an overarching theme of the book, Postman asserts we’re living in a Huxleyesque world (well the United States in 1985 is): “Television does not ban books, it simply displaces them” (141). The medium of television, he says, is choppy and favors contextless sound-bites over the long-form discourse that one can get from books and essays. With this constant stream of out-of-context, irrelevant, stories, “the public has adjusted to incoherence and been amused into indifference” (110-111).
The big weakness of this book is its age, as television has quickly been eclipsed by the internet. I laughed when Postman writes that “the computer to be a vastly overrated technology” (161). However, the now-outdated focus on television doesn’t diminish the underlying message. I’d love to see a modern take on these ideas now that we have pervasive internet access and social media.
I highly recommend this book. It’s no surprise that this book was written when Ronald Reagan was president. Now that Donald Trump is president, it is probably as relevant as ever. ...more
A well-presented history of de jure segregation. The vast majority of the book is centered around themes (racial zoning, suppression of incomes), not A well-presented history of de jure segregation. The vast majority of the book is centered around themes (racial zoning, suppression of incomes), not solely chronologically. The remainder proposes contemporary ways to move forward. It was hard to read, due both to the topic and, sadly, the repetitive nature of history itself.
There was a portion at the end that was particularly crushing for me. Rothstein compares common American textbooks and how they approach the subject of segregation. He shows that they have very little to say about segregation, racial zoning, and unfair housing practices. He asserts that it’s unsurprising our country has such decisive race relations when “middle and high school students are being taught a false history” (200).
“Undoing the effects of de jure segregation will be incomparably difficult. To make a start, we will first have to contemplate what we have collectively done and, on behalf of our government, accept responsibility.” (217)...more
"By conceptualizing the problem of policing as one of inadequate training and professionalization, reformers fail to directly address hoWorth a read.
"By conceptualizing the problem of policing as one of inadequate training and professionalization, reformers fail to directly address how the very nature of policing and the legal system served to maintain and exacerbate racial inequality. By calling for colorblind 'law and order' they strengthen a system that puts people of color at a structural disadvantage and contributes to their deep social and legal estrangement. At root, they fail to appreciate that the basic nature of the law and the police, since its earliest origins, is to be a tool for managing inequality and maintaining the status quo. Police reforms that fail to directly address this reality are doomed to reproduce it."...more
29 [T]he wise avoid extremes, excesses, and complacency
63 See simplicity in the complicated Achieve greatness in small things
64 Peace is easily maintained29 [T]he wise avoid extremes, excesses, and complacency
63 See simplicity in the complicated Achieve greatness in small things
64 Peace is easily maintained Trouble is easily overcome before it starts The brittle is easily shattered The small is easily scattered
Deal with things before they happen Put things in order before there is confusion
81 Truthful words are not beautiful Beautiful words are not truthful [...] The wise never try to hold on to things The more you do for others, the more you have. The more you give to others, the greater your abundance....more
It's an amazingly unique book with a very interesting (difficult/slow for me to read) writing style. ThisI can't tell wether I hate or love this book.
It's an amazingly unique book with a very interesting (difficult/slow for me to read) writing style. This style lends itself well to long reading sessions — when I tried to read part of a chapter I often just ended up confused.
The “lets go on an adventure” basis for the novel is familiar/boring, but the core theme around the ramifications of imperfect memory felt novel and was thought-provoking (would perfect memory make me miserable? Perhaps I should be grateful to forget!)
Saying much of anything would be spoiling it: The Buried Giant opens up slowly. If you're going to read it, don't read much else about this book before trying it yourself....more
Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior is the sort of book that made me stop every few paragraphs and consider how the topics preseSubliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior is the sort of book that made me stop every few paragraphs and consider how the topics presented in the book related to my life. It’s a broad, high-level, introduction to the unconscious and how it affects our day-to-day perceptions of events, other people, and ourselves.
Because of the broad structure, I often found myself wishing that Mlodinow had written in more detail about particularly experiments that I found interesting. Luckily, there are endnotes with references to the studies to explore in more detail if you wish. On the other hand, I found the paragraphs on the history of the study of the unconscious less interesting and skimmed those fairly regularly.
Especially interesting to me were the chapters that touched on implications that the unconscious has on group behavior (Chapter 8: In-Groups and Out-Groups) and our perception of our self (Chapter 10: Self). In these later chapters, Mlodinow did a good job tying together experiments, the concepts behind the experiments and the implications that they have on our day-to-day life.
Overall, I would highly recommend reading Subliminal....more
Homo Deus is a meandering book that synthesizes many subject areas — including interesting bits of context from social psychology, biology and, of couHomo Deus is a meandering book that synthesizes many subject areas — including interesting bits of context from social psychology, biology and, of course, history — to make a assertion about where humanity stands presently and where it’s heading.
The general assertion of the book is that twenty-first century humanity will strive for “immortality, bliss, and divinity” (56). Harari examines the potential side-effects of our technological progress, what they mean for the human condition, and what it truly means to be human.
The book is split into three parts: the first attempts to define what makes humans special (and unique) compared to other life on earth, the second seeks to explore how we presently assign meaning to our lives (e.g. Our careers and pleasures/experiences), and the third explores the problems that we’ll face as civilization as we move forward and lose our traditional sources of meaning (AI can do our jobs and make art better than us).
Harari does a good job of moving fast to build his arguments, but in doing so sacrifices depth about any one subject. It felt like a long lecture (and I personally love that). It’s definitely meant as an open-ended book that provides questions, not answers.
Thorough. Some sections were highly engaging and thought-provoking (Chapters 1, 2, 5, 7, 8), while others so dense I had to skip for risk of not readiThorough. Some sections were highly engaging and thought-provoking (Chapters 1, 2, 5, 7, 8), while others so dense I had to skip for risk of not reading the rest (especially the history of various welfare schemes around the world in chapters 3 and 4). Some interesting views I'd never considered:
• The potential affect of basic income on increasing divorce rate and the feminist view of basic income.
certainty that income will be available during the difficult transition period after a marital dissolution lessens the financial dependence on the marriage of the financially more dependent spouse—the wife, in most cases. Increased independence presumably allows some persons to leave unsatisfactory, perhaps even brutalizing, marriage.
• Discussions around how such schemes in the EU versus US would be different and how heterogeneous societies (language, culture, etc.) might have additional political challenges to implement basic income schemes. Similarly, the potential risks associated with localized basic income in a globalized world:
This tension is particularly disturbing for basic-income supporters, as the joint appeal of equality and freedom that endears basic income to them should also make them firm supporters of free migration. Surely, the real freedom to choose the way to spend one’s life should encompass the freedom to choose where to spend it, and this freedom should not be restricted to those who happen to be born in a privileged part of the planet.
• An interesting idea to tie together basic income and global climate justice by auctioning carbon emissions:
revenues from such an auction equally to all those with an equal right to make use of the “digestion power” of the atmosphere—that is, to all human beings. As pointed out in chapter 6, this would amount to something closely analogous, on a global scale, to the funding of a basic income by a tax on land.
"Win over an angry person with poise. Win over a mean one with kindness. Win over a greedy person with generosity, and one who speaks falsely with honest"Win over an angry person with poise. Win over a mean one with kindness. Win over a greedy person with generosity, and one who speaks falsely with honesty." (223)
One of the influential quotes that is partially responsible for making me vegetarian however many years ago:
"All tremble before violence. Life is held dear by all. Having done the same yourself, you should neither harm nor kill" (130)...more
It was better than I thought it would be. Mostly surprised how little things have changed since the 80s (OKRs / MBO have been around for at least thatIt was better than I thought it would be. Mostly surprised how little things have changed since the 80s (OKRs / MBO have been around for at least that long!). Gives valuable framings / terminology around some common ideas and situations. Some things:
- "[D]elegation without follow-through is abdication" (60) - Decisions should "be worked out and reached at the lowest competent level." (92) - Expanding the notion of manager as "coach": taking no credit, tough, once a good player - "[T]he performance rating of a manager cannot be higher than the one we would accord to (their) organization" (187)
Definitely a little outdated in terms of modes of communication, but surprisingly doesn't negatively affect the message.
I skipped any chapters having to do with the hypothetical egg restaurant / factory... didn't find that valuable. Also I abhor boiled eggs....more
"In our broad sweep, the city looks like a single gigantic creature—or more like a single collective entity created by many intertwining organisms. Co"In our broad sweep, the city looks like a single gigantic creature—or more like a single collective entity created by many intertwining organisms. Countless arteries stretch to the ends of its elusive body, circulating a continuous supply of fresh blood cells, sending out new data and collecting the old, sending out new consumables and collecting the old, sending out new contradictions and collecting the old. To the rhythm of its pulsing, all parts of the body flicker and flare up and squirm. Midnight is approaching, and while the peak of activity has passed, the basal metabolism that maintains life continues undiminished, producing the basso continuo of the city's moan, a monotonous sound that neither rises nor falls but is pregnant with foreboding."...more
This was my third attempt at getting through the novel (making it 40 pages and 80 pages into the book in previous attempts). The translation and/or agThis was my third attempt at getting through the novel (making it 40 pages and 80 pages into the book in previous attempts). The translation and/or age make it a little difficult to read -- at least for me. It was worth persisting though.
I kept finding myself frustrated with the actions of K. Oftentimes the actions he took as a protagonist were illogical and non-direct (almost accepting his fate to too large a degree, complacency).
The purpose and core concepts behind The Trial are highly relevant today -- in a world where things like the FISA court exist. Both in The Trial and in modern times, it seem the trial itself is almost more destructive than the outcome. Long and costly legal battles along with the tattering of reputations makes one guilty-until-proven-innocent.
I foresee myself rereading this in the future....more
"The problem of mass incarceration has never really been about crime. It’s that the people who Americans are afraid of are subject to a separate set o"The problem of mass incarceration has never really been about crime. It’s that the people who Americans are afraid of are subject to a separate set of rules. They live in a separate and altogether different social world, because they belong to a different political community. No social-service agency, no matter how well funded, can bridge the divide between these two worlds, nor can any of our criminal justice–policy reforms. We have not yet come to grips with our problems or imagined an adequate response because our assumptions about the extent and causes of crime have been wrong from the beginning. You cannot treat or arrest or, perhaps, even reform your way out of mass incarceration because mass incarceration is about citizenship, not criminal behavior, and citizenship is about belonging."...more
Compelling. At the very least it's clear that ethics should be taught in every computer science program... and even more broadly.
"Like earlier technolCompelling. At the very least it's clear that ethics should be taught in every computer science program... and even more broadly.
"Like earlier technological innovations in poverty management, digital tracking and automated decision-making hide poverty from the professional middle-class public and give the nation the ethical distance it needs to make inhuman choices: who gets food and who starves, who has housing and who remains homeless, and which families are broken up by the state. The digital poorhouse is part of a long American tradition. We manage the individual poor in order to escape our shared responsibility for eradicating poverty."
"I will remember that the technologies I design are not aimed at data points, probabilities, or patterns, but at human beings."...more
I read this for work. It was ok. There was some valuable information, but this information was hidden behind acronyms, branding, and phrases that are I read this for work. It was ok. There was some valuable information, but this information was hidden behind acronyms, branding, and phrases that are intended to make it more accessible and sell it as a process. But in my opinion, this only made it more confusing and felt forced. A denser, more straightforward, version would be more appealing to me, as the core concepts seem reasonable....more
Not as good as Meditations, but that's a really high bar. Key tenets within: moderation / kindness / virtue / freedom from desire.
"Nothing is smaller Not as good as Meditations, but that's a really high bar. Key tenets within: moderation / kindness / virtue / freedom from desire.
"Nothing is smaller ... than love of pleasure, and love of gain and pride. Nothing is superior to magnanimity, and gentleness, and love of mankind, and beneficence" (LI)
"Choose rather to punish your appetites than to be punished through them" (CXIII)
"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which has not, but rejoices for those which he has" (CXXIX)...more
Didn't find it as meaningful as Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
"To develop your well-polished eye, or clear, unbiased judgement, it is important to give upDidn't find it as meaningful as Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
"To develop your well-polished eye, or clear, unbiased judgement, it is important to give up, or be ready to give up everything" (117)
"If you cling to an idea you create, like a self or an objective reality, you will be lost in the objective world that you create with your mind" (109)...more
Wow. Well-told story of the rise and fall of Theranos.
I’m surprised that the Theranos board / investors fell for Holmes and were never able to indepenWow. Well-told story of the rise and fall of Theranos.
I’m surprised that the Theranos board / investors fell for Holmes and were never able to independently see through the lies and excuses they were fed. I suppose charming psychopath is gonna psychopath....more
"Poverty could pile on; living in it meant steering through gnarled thickets of interconnected misfortunes and trying not to go crazy. There were mome"Poverty could pile on; living in it meant steering through gnarled thickets of interconnected misfortunes and trying not to go crazy. There were moments of calm, but life on balance was facing one crisis after another" (285-286)...more
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