Matthew Royal > Recent Status Updates

So far, so good. The overview was better than the 4th chapter -- where we see accounts of his math wunderkind-ness since childhood. It reads like a biography written in ancient times, where it's establishing that the demigod exhibited his adult character even as an unformed child. It serves to remind me to be wary of the overly-worshipful narrative voice.

What Ariely calls "coherence," I believe Gladwell would call context.

Reminds me of the Dangerous Book for Boys -- lots of things everyone should know, like tying a tie, old-timey courtship etiquette, and proper handkerchief use. This conception of a gentleman is steeped in the "a gentleman closes the drapes so mother's furniture doesn't fade" school, which I don't dislike, but which is at odds with the initial John Wayne quote "You've Got to Be a Man Before You Can Be a Gentleman."

Jacobs asserts that effective self-government requires community continuity. Social ties developed over time can fracture in an instant when city planners "revitalize" a neighborhood, preserving its buildings, but gutting the connections that make a city alive. Intentional or not, this atomizing of social connections destroys The People's ability to effectively resist tyrannical city policies and leaders.