This book feels like a companion piece to Barbara Oakley's Evil Genes. Both are full of character studies, case studies, and anecdotes. They opens up This book feels like a companion piece to Barbara Oakley's Evil Genes. Both are full of character studies, case studies, and anecdotes. They opens up new ways of thinking and interpreting our own actions and the actions of others. I found the pyramid metaphor to be particularly compelling. Two people can be at a very similar place in life and be presented with basically the same apparently trivial choice (the peak of the pyramid), but because they choose differently they start a gradual slide down opposite sides and before you know it they are at opposite ends of the pyramid with a massive gap between them.
Once you start down a path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Or at least that's how your subconscious likes to work. Mistakes Were Made is a fun and quick read that's great for conversations!...more
As a child, I would spend hours imagining the cost accounting of merchandise. I didn't think of it in those terms, of course, but I would calculate thAs a child, I would spend hours imagining the cost accounting of merchandise. I didn't think of it in those terms, of course, but I would calculate the cost of a five-pound bag of sugar, the lemons, and the determine the cost per cup of lemonade. I was troubled by my inability to calculate the cost of the water.
I felt it was important to understand how much to charge -- how could you make a profit if you did not understand the costs? I looked at toys in the store and tried to imagine the costs of plastics and little screws. This way of thinking seemed very important, until I visited Mexico and encountered haggling.
What a strange concept! Setting price not on the basis of cost accounting but on subjective, argumentative discussions? And then I began to notice sales. How did sales work into it all? From there I figured out the secret -- the cost of production doesn't matter at all in determining the price. All that matters is that right now the vendor has a bunch of stuff, and they want a bunch of money. They don't want to go home from the flea market with a pack full of junk -- they want a fist full of dollars. What's the point in ending the afternoon with half a jug of lemonade? Get rid of it all! Whatever the cost! The right price is whatever moves the junk out of your pack and converts it to dollars -- all of it!
I realized the point of selling things is to make money. The production of things is just a means to that end. Cost accounting is meaningless as long as your stuff is selling. Seemed obvious to me but I guess it's not so obvious as all that.
The Goal is a story that imparts that same understanding through the story of a manufacturing plant manager. Apparently US manufacturing used to be dominated by cost accounting methods, where the point of every action was to make products as cheaply as possible. Why make X number of products for Z price when you could make 2X for Z price? That's twice as efficient! Never mind that no one wants to buy 2X of the product. You can just store it until later. You'd be losing money if you didn't produce the product at the more efficient rate! Except, of course, that you actually lose money by building shit no one buys.
You don't want to go home with a pack full of widgets. You want to go home with no inventory -- and a pile of dollars.
Despite encountering it through assigned corporate reading, Eliyahu's novel is a good read. It's short, to the point, and makes sense. I've never read anything about the actual operations of a manufacturing plant. The details and examples of the plant are every bit as authentically engaging as one of Heinlein's or L. Ron Hubbard's stories. It's worth adding to anyone's reading pile as a something different -- a corporate philosophy lesson in novel form. How novel!...more
**spoiler alert** This is a fun read, full of factoids and statistics. I liked the chapter on statistical regression in particular. It's a concept tha**spoiler alert** This is a fun read, full of factoids and statistics. I liked the chapter on statistical regression in particular. It's a concept that sounds simple, but is hard to grok and apply intuitively. It's tragically amusing when applied to raising children.
The basic idea is that when two variables are related, extreme cases of one will be associated with less extreme cases of the other. An example is the height of parents and their children. Exceptionally tall parents have tall children, but their children aren't _as_ tall as the parents on average.
There appears to be a hardwired human bias towards ignoring statistical regression -- and indeed behaving as if the opposite were true. The author theorizes that this is because people think the prediction should resemble the predictor as close as possible, and thus deviate from the mean in equal amounts -- when in statistical fact, the prediction will probably deviate less. I think it has a lot to do with our penchant for overmatching cause and effect.
All this statistical rule means is that a company that has a record-breaking really good year will likely have a less-good following year (even it is still great). Record-breakers don't usually just break records constantly without end. A spike occurs, and then a settling. Whenever a result deviates from the average, repeated tests will likely regress the result towards the mean.
Flipping a coin 10 times and getting 10 heads in a row seems exceptional, but the more often it is flipped the more likely the results will be to trend towards a 50/50 distribution of heads and tails. Each flip has exactly a 50% chance of hitting either side, but given a large set one can statistically predict that an even distribution will emerge.
The Gambler's Fallacy turns this on its head, and compels people to believe that when they are beating the odds and winning to an exceptional degree they are 'hot' and will continue to win. They likewise believe that when they are losing frequently they are 'due for a change' -- in reality, one needs to understand the statistically probable distribution of wins and losses, and realize that the longer one plays, the more likely the results will regress to this average.
This gets grimly amusing with raising children. Psychological studies on humans and animals has shown pretty conclusively that rewards are better at influencing long term behavior than punishments. But that's a very hard concept to sell emotionally. It just doesn't seem true. After all, when your child is exceptionally well behaved and you praise and reward that child, the next time you go out the child is likely to be less exceptionally well behaved. It's the statistical law of regression. As humans, we think the praise was ineffective or even caused the backsliding. It didn't.
Likewise, when your child is exceptionally poorly behaved and you punish the child, the next time you go out that child is likely to be less bad. As humans, we think the punishment improved the child's behavior. It didn't. It's just statistical fact that extreme results tend to be followed by less extreme results -- it all averages out in the end....more
The worst thing about this book is how applicable it still is to modern times. Carl Sagan wrote it 15 years ago and very little in his analysis of theThe worst thing about this book is how applicable it still is to modern times. Carl Sagan wrote it 15 years ago and very little in his analysis of the state of scientific literacy in the United States has changed. There continues to exist a vast gulf between the mystic, magical, and religious beliefs many people have about the world, and the scientific facts of reality that make their world possible.
Although Sagan's depressing observations still ring true, so too do his inspiring words of scientific wonderment. His way of describing our pursuit of knowledge as a means for the cosmos to know itself is great. The case studies of mass hoaxes and scientific discoveries are fascinating in their own right, and just about any book that quotes Richard Feynman at length has got to be pretty good.
With some careful reading, The Demon-Haunted World can serve as inspiration for a number of excellent and well-grounded stories....more
This book is as advertised. It gives a great overview of regular expressions and demystifies the whole thing in a concise manner. The practical examplThis book is as advertised. It gives a great overview of regular expressions and demystifies the whole thing in a concise manner. The practical examples provided are great.
Regex solutions are all about creatively asking the right question. There are usually lots of different ways to ask a question to get the same (or almost the same) answers. The skill and creativity in using regex comes from crafting good questions, for whatever value of 'good' your project is using....more
I wrote in the margins on just about every other page. Augustine is a clever writer, and provocative. His formal training as a rhetorician shines throI wrote in the margins on just about every other page. Augustine is a clever writer, and provocative. His formal training as a rhetorician shines through in his wordplays and intricate constructions of arguments. It's too bad he never encountered a more scientific way of thinking, for had he done so he may have produced something worth more than an example of what not to do.
Instead, Augustine's Confessions can be boiled down to: "My premises cannot be flawed, it must be me!"
Chapter 1 of Book 1 has Augustine describe a way of knowing that first settles upon a desired conclusion, and then seeks confirmations. The scientific method by contrast settles upon one of many conclusions and then seeks disconfirmations.
Augustine has a desire for immortality that gives rise to the creation of a contradictory conception of God and then, rather than question the desire for immortality, Augustine wrestles with the contradictions.
This struggle is more neatly handled by first accepting nonexistence as what is when you are not and saving any further meditations on the incoherency of an infinite being who sustains immortality for after such a being is concretely demonstrated.
Through the Confessions Augustine shows himself to be a part of an anti-academic, anti-curiosity, and anti-thinking mode of being. Augustine wisely says he has no time for anyone who does not accept the existence of an infinite God -- for although he is confident he can convince anyone who does hold such a belief that they should particularly believe in Christ, he is at least sharp enough to understand that he has nothing to offer a person who moderates their belief in proportion to the evidence.
Elsworth Monkton Toohey is a delightful character, and I enjoyed reading his anti-hero speech towards the end. Ayn Rand likes to have her heroes give Elsworth Monkton Toohey is a delightful character, and I enjoyed reading his anti-hero speech towards the end. Ayn Rand likes to have her heroes give monumental speeches, so it was great to see one of the villains get some air time. It reminded me ever so much of O'brien's speech in 1984, when he has Winston in his grasp and it is explained how two and two make five when convenient to the Party.
The insight that altruism vs. egoism is NOT a dichotomy of serving others vs. making others serve you, as is popularly conceived, resonants well with me. The attempt to paint egoism or selfishness as using others is similar to the attempt to paint atheism as lacking any goodness or ethical restraint.
The reality is that selflessness and slavery are two sides of a rigged coin. Selflessness presupposes a master, to whom one sacrifices the self. The false dichotomy tells us that 'selfishness' is bad therefore you should be selfless, but they're the same thing. Turning away from one to embrace the other is the worst sort of dishonesty.
Just as lacking a belief in God does not make you an amoral monster, being primarily concerned with your self does not make you a user or enslaver of others. An egoist lives through his own life, neither through the lives of slaves, nor masters. It is independence writ large, and a slaver is many things but most certainly not independent.
I'll never look at a building the same way again! There's just enough architectural detail in The Fountainhead to make me want to learn more. Are those outcroppings and doodads and columns on modern buildings necessary, or are they mere fakery, attempts to ape centuries-old forms, back when those types of columns and supports were required as a limitation of the building material?
I have now read all of Ayn Rand's novels, and I rather enjoyed reading them backwards. It's like reading the final copy of a story (Atlas Shrugged) and then going back to read the earlier drafts. Good times....more
I'm surprised at the extreme hostility to atheism in this text. Hinduism is certainly on the same level as Christianity in regards to its vicious hatrI'm surprised at the extreme hostility to atheism in this text. Hinduism is certainly on the same level as Christianity in regards to its vicious hatred of the wholly other.
In text 4.7-4.8, Krisna reveals that whenever there's a rise in atheism, God himself descends to annihilate the demonic non-believers and to reestablish religious belief:
Text 4.7-8,
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, and a predominant rise of irreligion--at that time I descend myself.
To deliver the pious and annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.
And compare Psalm 14:1 from the Bible with the text 7.15 in the Bhagavad-gita:
Psalm 14:1
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Text 7.15,
Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto me.
I don't know why I was so surprised that Hinduism has the same deplorable problems with non-believers; all religions seem to have a terrible record when it comes to dehumanizing the wholly other. The similarities between text 7.15 and Psalm 14:1 are pretty striking, to me at least.
That said, this was an amusing text for me to finally read. The basic setting is famous and I had certainly heard of it before. The great warrior Arjuna is leading his army on the field in a royal civil war. He rides out in his chariot to survey the opposition and he sees his uncles, cousins, friends, etc. arrayed against him. War is hell, but civil war is even worse. Arjuna sits down, overcome with despair at the situation, and Krisna comes to talk to him. Their conversation is the Bhagavad-gita.
I had always thought that their conversation would have a pacifist hue to it. The setting certainly lends itself to a powerful condemnation of warfare in general and civil war in particular. So it was with some surprise that I came to realize Krisna spends this whole conversation exhorting Arjuna to go forth and slaughter the opposition.
It's not a pacifist text; it's jingoistic mysticism!
The Bhagavad-gita sheds some light on one of the darkest, most revolting cockroaches of religious ideology -- the justification, no, glorification, of murdering your fellow humans. This degradation and cheapening of life is a cancer that may not be unique to religion, but it is central in all the major ones, as seen in this text:
Text 2.37,
either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore, get up with determination and fight.
That exact line of reasoning has persuaded and impelled men and women to commit shameful acts beyond description throughout our history. Voltaire may have been thinking of verses like this when he wrote, "He who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
Religion encourages one to believe -- with no evidence -- in an afterlife, an eternal afterlife of glory, and once one accepts that absurdity, it becomes trivial to convince one to murder and to die for any (religious) reason. After all, if this life is suffering, if this life is but a fleeting shadow of the real life that is to come after, then what real harm is there in killing others, or in dying yourself? Especially if you perceive that your God has commanded it?
This extension of the argument is no exaggeration on my part. This line of reasoning is given full play, front and center, in the Bhagavad-gita, with Krisna eventually opining that it would be immoral for Arjuna to not go out and kill on the battlefield in this civil war. Why? Because Krisna has already killed everyone in the world (if you take a long enough temporal view of things), so what does it matter if some of them die now by Arjuna's hand, or die later by some other cause?
All are dead to God; how they get there is just a detail.
There's some beautiful poetry and thought-provoking phrases of speech in here, though. It's just a shame so many people have a hard time distinguishing reality from fantasy, and turn the interesting nightmares of fiction into a scourge of human life. _______________
As a note about this particular translation, the translator gives you the verse (1-3 lines), and then he gives a 1-4 page essay on how that verse clearly demonstrates his cult (that he founded) is the only way to attain enlightenment.
I read only the translated verses of the Bhagavad-gita. I did not read any of the translator's "explanations" of the what the texts mean. That took the book from being about ~700 pages to being ~200. The translator is sectarian and wordy.
I was entertained by the Amazon.com reviews of this translation. All the 5-star ratings are by Krisna Cultists who are True Believers(tm). All the 1-star ratings are by Hindi cultists who belong to a different sect, and therefore view the exaltation of Krisna as a delusion.
Most of the 3-star ratings were from academics and scholars who pretty uniformly found the translation of the actual text to be quite good, erring on the side of poetry rather than literal translation, making it an enjoyable and easy read. Simultaneously, the 3-star ratings found the explanation of each verse to be tedious, irritating, and abusively slanted to one particularly extreme interpretation.
This copy also includes a collection of full-color glossy prints of paintings, which are a bit nightmarish and terribly disturbing, but awesome nonetheless!...more
It seems that the basic idea behind the book can be summed up in one quote, "smart people believe weird things because they're good at defending ideasIt seems that the basic idea behind the book can be summed up in one quote, "smart people believe weird things because they're good at defending ideas they came to believe for non-smart reasons." The book spends the bulk of its material on creationism and holocaust denialism, which I've heard quite a bit about from other quarters.
Interesting book, but it's hard for me to see why it's so controversial (as it seems to be judging from the quotes and responses Shermer claims to have received over it). ...more
Merton reads like a man who loves life struggling to rationalize his own suicide. The anti-human philosophy of Christian theology runs through Merton'Merton reads like a man who loves life struggling to rationalize his own suicide. The anti-human philosophy of Christian theology runs through Merton's thoughts like streams of offal through a neighborhood creek.
This is clearest when reading about the Catholic censors and their effect on Merton's writings, as well as when reading the sad progression of letters from Merton to his abbot. It's like watching a suicide -- what a waste.
Merton's views on advertising are amusing, however! It's a shame the censors wouldn't let him expand on his thoughts......more
This is a fun book full of anecdotes and psychological musings that can fuel good conversations or quiet considerations. I particularly appreciated thThis is a fun book full of anecdotes and psychological musings that can fuel good conversations or quiet considerations. I particularly appreciated the chapter on Milosevic, as before now I hadn't read much on the Yugoslavia genocide he perpetrated. There's a quote from a judge who oversaw the warcrime trials of Slobodan Milosevic. A victim described the gruesome torture and mass murder and the judge said, "I don't believe you. I don't mean to say I think you are lying, I mean that I literally cannot believe this happened."
That literal inability of a normal human to actually believe what psychopaths do is an important part of understanding how psychopaths can get away with it. In all things, we see what we expect to see and if our personal filters don't allow for certain things, it can be extremely difficult to recognize them and even hard to defend against them....more
Outliers is a quick read with beautiful short stories that provide clear and concise illustrations. It pairs well with the heftier This Is Your Brain Outliers is a quick read with beautiful short stories that provide clear and concise illustrations. It pairs well with the heftier This Is Your Brain On Music. Both texts make a case against the idea of innate talent -- there's no such thing as natural talent, just practice and more practice. Those who practice more, are better.
Outliers takes the concept of practice being the defining element of so-called prodigies and geniuses, and adds a layer of social and cultural backgrounds. Bill Gates is a computer whiz because he spent ten hours a day working on a computer as a teenager...but that was at a time when personal computers didn't exist. The only way a teen could spend all day on a computer was if he was lucky enough to go to a high school that had an experimental machine in the lab. Bill Gates was clever and motivated enough to figure out how to use it more often than he should have, and that's how he got his practice. It wouldn't have been enough to just be super smart and motivated, he had to also be attending the right high school.
It's not that brilliance, hard work, and personal initiative aren't important, it's that those elements aren't sufficient for super-stardom. There are lots of people with rare and powerful minds and work ethics but who never amount to very much, and the difference between the successful geniuses and the less successful ones comes down to cultural backgrounds and opportunities provided by society. Could we as a community increase the number of brilliant world-shapers if we changed how provide opportunities?
Short like no other story of Ayn Rand's! Anthem is heavier handed than her other novels, but then, Ayn Rand was using the Bible is inspiration for theShort like no other story of Ayn Rand's! Anthem is heavier handed than her other novels, but then, Ayn Rand was using the Bible is inspiration for the style here.
The imagined future society reminds me of The Giver, as well as the White Mountains to a lesser extent. The narrative 'trick' and the style of writing is interesting, and it does work, but only because the story is so short :)
This book cites a lot of recent medical studies, and it's heavy on specific numbers and sciency talk. I particularly like the run-down of what the essThis book cites a lot of recent medical studies, and it's heavy on specific numbers and sciency talk. I particularly like the run-down of what the essential vitamins and mineral are, what effects they have been observed to have, what effects overdosing on them causes, and what amounts are probably safe for most people.
It's also nice that the book lists the names of the blood tests that will let you know what your level of these nutrients are.
One of the studies cited was a Mayo Clinic study which reported that 93% of patients who complained of 'nonspecific musculoskeletal aches and pains' had dangerously low levels of vitamin D. I've had pains like that all my life, and I figured they were just normal. I just recently had my vitamin D levels checked -- and my doc has me taking 12,500% the RDA to correct my imbalance now!
I also love the info on genomics. Having your DNA sequenced costs about $400 these days, and it can reveal what SNPs you have -- single nucleotide polymorphisms -- genetic mutations. Most SNPs identified so far do things like interfere with your body's absorption of certain vitamins and nutrients, like say, vitamin D.
This book is packed with great examples of business plans, missions statements, and detailed trading strategies. Most of the book isn't really about tThis book is packed with great examples of business plans, missions statements, and detailed trading strategies. Most of the book isn't really about trading in particular -- it has a much broader focus on being organized and deliberate. The advice and examples offered will apply equally well for any long-term effort.
I always enjoy reading about different ways to make plans and follow through on commitments, and this is a good book for that kind of stuff!...more
If you ever want to acquire a keen appreciation for food, read any story about the USSR. History or fiction, doesn't matter. Mildewed millet and one lIf you ever want to acquire a keen appreciation for food, read any story about the USSR. History or fiction, doesn't matter. Mildewed millet and one loaf of bread a month is enough to break anyone!
We The Living is an illustration of the loneliness that seems the unavoidable consequence of any who possess an Objectivist viewpoint.
One passage in the book made me laugh in appreciation for how true it rang in my life. Kira says,
"Well, if I asked people whether they believed in life, they'd never understand what I meant. It's a bad question. It can mean so much that it really means nothing. So I ask them if they believe in God. And if they say they do--then I know they don't believe in life."
This is because no matter to whom you are speaking, no matter what religion they follow, God is always the highest conception of the highest possible. A believer in God has placed their highest conception above their own possibility, above their own life. Whatever such a person believes in, it isn't life.
"It's a rare gift," Kira says, "to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own. To imagine a heaven and then not to dream of it, but to demand it."
Just as celebrations are for those who have something to celebrate, life is for the living, not those who cherish the thoughts of their own death, and the after-life rewards which await them for their obedience....more
Page 29 of this book has a priceless metaphor. It is a perfect emotional primer to place chart reading in a context that will clarify and compel intelPage 29 of this book has a priceless metaphor. It is a perfect emotional primer to place chart reading in a context that will clarify and compel intelligent, profit-making actions. Very nice!...more
This book is fun just for the anecdotes peppered throughout it. Each chapter is bookended by a samurai story at the beginning and an anecdote about stThis book is fun just for the anecdotes peppered throughout it. Each chapter is bookended by a samurai story at the beginning and an anecdote about stock trading at the end. These stories are cool and always elicit a smile.
However, there's a lot of mystical woo and silliness to be found in this book, the worst example being the sections on the 'law of manifestation' -- that misguided idea that thinking about something _causes_ that something to occur. The example given is when the meditation class chose to focus on Chiquita bananas, and they 'sent' that image out into the 'universe.' And then, when they went to the supermarket to get lunch, guess what! They saw Chiquita bananas! Clearly, this is a sign of the great interconnectedness of all life, and the supernatural power of intentional thought!
If you can stomach the silly BS like that, there's a lot of good stuff to take out of here. The real lesson of the 'Chiquita banana' has nothing to do with 'universal manifestations' -- it has to do with paying attention. You will have an easier time hitting a target if you know what you are looking for. If you decide to be consciously aware of X, you will be more likely to notice X. Simple, but effective and relevant on a wide scale. I get the impression the author is engaging in pandering in many sections -- almost invariably, after giving the New Age 'woo' explanation for some mystical experience, he'll then also discuss the reality-based explanation. What's he really believe? What's the real point of the text? Who knows -- ultimately it's a book of mental tools, use what you like and think of it what you will.
Nevertheless, it's a fun read -- and I also like the breathing and relaxation exercises described. Always fun to try new things!...more
A light book that seems to have a lot in common with Psycho Cybernetics. It covers relaxation techniques and gives concrete examples of how to make spA light book that seems to have a lot in common with Psycho Cybernetics. It covers relaxation techniques and gives concrete examples of how to make specific goals and then record your progress towards achieving them. The book is chock-full of vocabulary and jargon of the motivational sort, but it's not the place to go for technical insights into trading.
The emphasis on forming a short and clear statement of intent, as well as catch-phrases to serve as mental hooks to focus the mind (simple things like 'see the entry point, get in, and get out') is particularly helpful....more