Clear-eyed primer to artificial intelligence, specifically the Large Language Models and generative AI now broadly available. I first heard Mollick onClear-eyed primer to artificial intelligence, specifically the Large Language Models and generative AI now broadly available. I first heard Mollick on this episode of Ezra Klein's podcast, and appreciated his structured suggestions for using AI in daily tasks for work and general living.
Many of these same principles are repeated and expounded on in Chapter 3 of CO-INTELLIGENCE: -- Invite AI to the table - innovation - using AI as a tool, not a crutch --Learn to be the human in the loop -"There is no there there, despite it sounding like a human." Check the AI for lies, misinformation, and inaccuracy. Sharpen your own general and subject-matter knowledge and critical thinking, making you responsible for the output that you get from the AI --Treat the AI like a person, but tell it what kind of person to be - conversational queries and tone yields the best results. Anthropomorphism is natural to the human mind, but the more we ascribe false agency to AI, the more we are exploited. --This is the worst AI you will ever use - the models are constantly changing, as are you, so the results you get now will therefore be less "good" than anything you get in the future.
Mollick details the creative and collaborative ways that AI is being used, and cautiously reminds of the ways that these tools can be used for ill, encouraging a cautious but exploratory approach. There is not an all-out bowing to the overlords, or the opposite "the sky is falling"/hair on fire tone here - neutral and clear, this was a useful read for this moment in time in the evolutions of LLMs.
Audiobook note: Mollick reads his own words here, and when he is sharing AI-generated and polished text, an AI-generated voice reads it on the audiobook. Authentic and honest touch....more
A fun and light history of movement and the modern woman. Friedman started the research for this book in 2018 while researching the history of barre aA fun and light history of movement and the modern woman. Friedman started the research for this book in 2018 while researching the history of barre and Lotte Berk (later published in this The Cut article). Expanding her research to other women luminaries in fitness spaces, she delves into the lives and work of Bonnie Pruden, several women distance runners who drew women out in droves to "jog" in the 1970s, and the explosion of dance cardio fitness like Jazzercise, the Jane Fonda effect, women in weight lifting and bodybuilding, women in yoga, and the more inclusive and diverse spaces of the body acceptance and Health at Every Size movements of the 21st century.
Interesting tidbits/trivia along the way: - the history of the sport bra ("jog bra", or as it was originally coined the "jock bra" since the prototype was two jock straps sewn together...) - Friedman writes a whole chapter on Jane Fonda, including lots of biographical details. Friedman also doesn't shy away from the fact that she straight-up stole and appropriated movements and routines that were being taught by other (overshadowed/forgotten) instructors in the mid-70s. Fonda has admitted this and has recently worked to make amends with several of the instructors.
Roadtrip audiobook with the family. I had enjoyed the previous Convergence book and storyline and wanted to see what the characters did next, and unfoRoadtrip audiobook with the family. I had enjoyed the previous Convergence book and storyline and wanted to see what the characters did next, and unfortunately this one squandered the interesting plotlines and was more of a screenplay with no interlinking narration and exposition. Hard to follow......more
Action-packed, political intrigue, radical splinter factions. Some interesting characters and development. Audiobook entertainment during holiday roadAction-packed, political intrigue, radical splinter factions. Some interesting characters and development. Audiobook entertainment during holiday road trips!...more
Gothic dalliance // My first George Eliot - I understand this may be quite different from her others (size alo• THE LIFTED VEIL by George Eliot, 1859.
Gothic dalliance // My first George Eliot - I understand this may be quite different from her others (size alone!) It was an entertaining novella with supernatural hints. Latimer, our narrator, discovers his own ability to see the future & in some cases read the thoughts of others... except the mysterious woman who becomes his wife.
I liked the transgressive thread here, turning the notion of feminine fragility on its head.
Short, a little spooky, and an interesting snapshot of 19th century spiritualism & gender dynamics....more
KSR's 1st book from 1984, a speculative future of his home state of California. Post-apocalyptic pastoral, peo• The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson
KSR's 1st book from 1984, a speculative future of his home state of California. Post-apocalyptic pastoral, people forming small bands along the central Coast, differing ideas and politics. Hasn't aged all that well with some slurs, but overall an engaging book, 1st of the "California Triptych" which I plan to continue....more
11/17/2024 - Re-reading for a December book club discussion
2022 Review:
• SOUTH TO AMERICA: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a11/17/2024 - Re-reading for a December book club discussion
2022 Review:
• SOUTH TO AMERICA: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry, 2022.
History, memoir, journalism - Perry's book defies genre, but overall it is absolutely one thing: a love letter. A letter that expresses deep love, but also criticism (because that too can be love) to a large region on a big continent, a place that is in no way monolithic, that includes mountains, bayous, and islands, a place that has indelibly shaped Perry, and the whole US.
Perry patterns her book on a 1971 memoir/travelogue by literary & music critic, Albert Murray, "South to a Very Old Place". I was unfamiliar with this work, but really appreciated Perry's own "variation on the theme".
Chapters can serve as individual essays about various cities and regions of the south - she begins the journey (curiously?) with John Brown in West Virginia, gently weaving to Kentucky, Tennessee, over to Virginia, and further south. Perry's home state of Alabama gets special treatment in several chapters, before winding towards Mississippi and Louisiana, and a whole chapter on the coast of Georgia (Savannah + the Islands), another on Florida.
Some surprises:
• The Carolinas get a chapter, but I was surprised that there wasn't more. The chapter focused more in NC and tobacco, with fluid lines to VA. South Carolina info is scant - Charleston is mentioned briefly in relation to Savannah.
• Perry expands the traditional /expected lines of the South to the Caribbean, concluding the book with a piece on The Bahamas, Haiti, and Cuba as historical havens, as migration/refugee points, and the complexities of classism and racism in the tourist industry (e.g. June Jordan's 1982 essay "Report from The Bahamas") AND includes a short interview with Assata Shakur from her exile home in Cuba.
Even with all the details I've shared here, barely scratching the surface of what Perry attempts (and achieves!), i.e. Music of the South, Indigenous peoples, Latinidad.
Well over half my life has been spent in the southern states of the US; my birthplace in Tennessee, stints of childhood in Mississippi, Texas, West Virginia, and Virginia, summers with my grandparents and cousins in Alabama, and now, 20-some years in Maryland, the state that is technically below the Mason-Dixon demarcation, but not a state many Americans would deem "The South". I mention this because I may be pre-disposed to read and enjoy a book like this because I know many of these places mentioned intimately, but there are lessons galore here for all, with or without roots in this space.
Perry's notes about small variances in white and Black southern culture were right on, and she takes specific care to note the blurry edges in some spheres (food, linguistics, etiquette) I particularly enjoyed her stories of her mother's life as a noviciate in a Louisiana convent, and how she left the order to have a family; her stepfather, a white southern Jewish man who raised her from early childhood, her Black family in both the North and South, and her parents activism in the Civil Rights movement.
The less I tell you about this one the better, honestly. So, I'll keep it to a few words: Faustian barg• LIGHT FROM UNCOMMON STARS by Ryka Aoki, 2021.
The less I tell you about this one the better, honestly. So, I'll keep it to a few words: Faustian bargains, doughnuts, violins, trans youth, intergalactic warfare, found families.
It's a maximalist blend of sci-fi and fantasy set in California's San Gabriel Valley, and is also a love letter to Asian diaspora communities, to food, and to music.
Ryka Aoki put absolutely everything into this one - so much emotion, heart - and it is such an entertaining book and one that's hard to put down. It did lose some steam for me at the end (felt like it could have wrapped up quicker?) but I really enjoyed the overall ride.
I saw this one described as Gaiman's GOOD OMENS and a Becky Chambers mashup, and that, plus Michael's @knowledgelost recommendation prompted the pickup....more
• BUTTERMILK GRAFFITI: A Chef's Journey to Discover America's Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee, 2018.
"I suppose that's what I'm looking for - not a l• BUTTERMILK GRAFFITI: A Chef's Journey to Discover America's Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee, 2018.
"I suppose that's what I'm looking for - not a legend, not a signpost, just a place where people come to cook." (pg 130)
I wasn't that familiar with Edward Lee as a chef, but I love food-oriented memoirs and travelogues, and this one came recommended by Jenny @readingenvy a few years back. Saw it at the library recently and decided to finally get to it.