This is not a typical self-help book. It is not really a prescriptive book -- it is about the science of aging, and the scientifically-proven methods This is not a typical self-help book. It is not really a prescriptive book -- it is about the science of aging, and the scientifically-proven methods to increase one's healthy span of life. The author, Daniel Levitin, is a neuroscientist and a cognitive psychologist. His book contains an appendix with 70 pages of scientific references.
But this is not dry-reading. It is filled to the brim with anecdotes, especially stories about people who lived well into their 80's, 90's, and even beyond with healthy, fulfilling lives. And the book is spiced with humor. For example, "If I livve to one thousand and have more than ten generations of offspring, I'm going to need to get a bigger table for Thanksgiving dinners."
Levitin is also a musician; he also wrote the book This Is Your Brain on Music. So many of his anecdotes are about musicians who lived long, healthy lives. Levitin talks about an 87-year-old consultant audio engineer who came into his home recording studio, studied the acoustics for an hour, then suggested a few minor changes that totally transformed the acoustics!
This is a comprehensive book; it covers a lot of areas in all aspects of life. Levitin talks about areas where older people get better with age, life self-control and self-discipline, agreeableness, and emotional stability. Other areas like conscientiousness, openness and extraversion decrease with old age. Besides IQ and EQ, a big deal is made of CQ--"Curiosity Quotient", because it is the best measure for predicting life success. Older people have more wisdom, because they can see patterns that others do not see. They are not as fast at mental calculations and retrieving names, but they are better and faster at seeing the big picture. This comes from decades of generalization and abstraction.
There is a lot of discussion of memory, and an interesting idea called "Multiple Trace Theory". Every experience lays down a unique trace in the brain. Repetitions don't overwrite earlier traces; they simply lay down more, near-identical but unique traces of their own. The more traces there are for an event, the more likely you will recall it rapidly and accurately. Levitin claims that memory doesn't truly decline with age. But memory tests case stress that affect older people more than young.
While some historians say that the purpose of the brain was discovered only recently, this is not true. There are two references in the Bible, showing that the authors of the Old Testament knew that the brain is the seat of thought.
Levitin talks a lot about healthy emotions and social engagement. He writes that loneliness is worse for your health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The book has lots lf suggestions for activities that can reduce loneliness.
There is a chapter in the book on nutrition, on exercise, and sleep. Of course, these three topics are central to health. Levitin writes, "Even the teensiest, tiniest, barely measurable amount of physical activity improves brain functions." The book discusses various marketed interventions that are claimed to reverse human aging--but none have been proven, and some are dangerous.
We are all getting older, and this book just might spark you to change some aspect of life, some idea or activity that will increase your healthy life span....more
This is a fantastic book about exercise! It is not a self-help book that encourages you to exercise daily; it is a dive into the biology, psychology, This is a fantastic book about exercise! It is not a self-help book that encourages you to exercise daily; it is a dive into the biology, psychology, anthropology, and scientific research into the why's and wherefore's of exercise. The book is filled with fun facts and myth-busting research into what exercise can and cannot do to improve one's fitness, well-being, health, and longevity.
Did you know that in ancient times, and in today's isolated tribes, people sit just as much as people in modern society? Primates like chimpanzees are no more active than humans (though they do tend to walk further). Did you know that people can outrun horses--not in short sprints, but in long, drawn-out races? (The author participated in one such race and in fact did outrun some horseback riders.) People in hunter-gathering tribes do not exercise; they look at purposeful exercise as something that crazy people do! But they do get plenty of exercise by walking, and their daily activities. And, ancient people were not stronger than today's modern society; in a society where food is not abundant, excessive muscles that require a lot of energy to maintain are more of a burden than an aid.
Exercise is something that most people dislike. Humans have evolved to run, but we have also evolved to sit! Research has found that exercise will not help you to live longer, but it will help you to live a healthier, more active life.
This book is filled with the results of scientific research, and helped me to understand better how evolution has shaped our active--and inactive--lives. The book's conclusion is concise:
"Make exercise necessary and fun. Do mostly cardio, but also some weights. Some is good, but more is better. Keep it up as you age."
I listened to this book as an audiobook -- twice in a row. The author, Rick Rubin, is a record executive and producer. He has worked closely with manyI listened to this book as an audiobook -- twice in a row. The author, Rick Rubin, is a record executive and producer. He has worked closely with many top musicians and artists throughout his illustrious career.
Rick Rubin reads his own book, and he has a wonderful voice. Moreover, he has a very philosophical attitude towards creativity. While Rubin's field is music, his advice is not specific to music -- his advice applies to all areas where creativity is involved -- all of the arts, and more.
Rubin's prose is poetry. Very philosophical in approach. Consider this quote: "I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be." --Rick Rubin
This book is actually worth reading -- multiple times....more
I often take notes on the books I read; If the volume of notes is any indication, the fact that I took twice as many notes as any other book I've readI often take notes on the books I read; If the volume of notes is any indication, the fact that I took twice as many notes as any other book I've read is a measure of how much I liked this book. It is simply fascinating!
Unlike popular perception, the decline in collective attention predates the Internet. It has been occurring at least since the 1880's! It has to do with the volume of information available to us. The faster the flood of information, the shorter the period of time elapses before a new topic fades away. The speed of this information flood feels great -- it feels like you are connected to the whole world. But as a result we give up depth. It takes time to develop depth, reflection, energy, commitment and attention.
In the future there will be an upper class of people who are aware of the risks to their attention and find ways to live within their attention limits, and the rest of society who have "fewer resources to resist the manipulation ... living more and more inside their computers, being manipulated more and more."
Companies like Amazon and Google have developed a system called "surveillance capitalism", which estimates what you are most likely to spend your money on! They learn about you and what engages and what enrages you. They make you angry and reduce your ability to pay attention. They make you feel like you are surrounded by other people's anger. This book contains some concrete recommendations about how social media could fix these problems.
The book describes the dangers of reading text messages at work, and how social media have created systems that reward you with "hearts" and "likes", and "infinite scrolling". Facebook and Google are the "biggest perpetrators of non-mindfulness in the world."
The book talks about "flow", a concept developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and how to achieve it. To achieve flow, one must (1) monotask, (2) do something meaningful, and (3) do something near the edge of your abilities--not too easy or too hard.
Sleep deprivation is contributing to declining attention. Less book-reading also contributes. Studies show that the more novels (not non-fiction!) you read, the better you are at reading other peoplej's emotions. The experience of stories boosts empathy. While you are reading, it is OK to allow your mind to wander; this is part of reading. This is why videos and films are not as effective at building empathy and reading emotions.
The book describes other aspects of our environment that steal our attention. Child abuse can lead to ADHD, food additives and processed food, air pollution, exposure to lead, less outdoor activity, all contribute to stolen attention.
The book contains some suggestions for reversing this trend: Increase play for children, and encourage flow for adults, read books, discover meaningful activities that you want to focus on, allow your mind to wander, exercise, sleep properly, eat nutritious food, and to have a sense of safety. Protect your attention from "too much switching, too many stimuli, intrusive technology design to hack and hook you, avoid stress, exhaustion, processed food and polluted air." Moreover, the author discusses three big goals: (1) Ban surveillance capitalism, (2) four-day work week, (3) Rebuild childhood around letting kids play freely in their neighborhoods and at school.
I highly recommend this book. It is fascinating on so many levels. If you have any attention issues, read it!...more
How do we navigate? What parts of the brain are responsible for our ability to navigate? Why are some people really good at navigation, while others aHow do we navigate? What parts of the brain are responsible for our ability to navigate? Why are some people really good at navigation, while others are terrible? Can you train yourself to be a better navigate? What allows certain animals to be master navigators?
This book discusses all these questions, and sometimes the answers are surprising. Neuroscientists have discovered that so-called "place cells" fire in the hippocampus portion of the brain, coding for location. Perhaps about 10,000 place cells fire in a pattern to represent a particular location. Maybe 20% of the hippocampus is devoted to these place cells. So-called "sharp-wave ripples allow us to mentally simulate future possibilities, and map out routes. There are also head direction cells that act like the needle of a compass. When they fire, they have among the highest signal-to-noise ratio of all neurons in the brain. They help to give us an absolute (not relative) sense of direction.
Women and men navigate differently. Men rely on cardinal directions and metric distances, while women rely more on memories of landmarks. Men perform better at mental rotation tasks, while women are better in tests of location memory.
Some scientists believe that this is in agreement with the hunter-gatherer theory. Mental rotation is useful for hunting, while location memory is more useful for gathering food. Modern women seem to be better at remembering the locations of school textbooks, spare house keys, and homework folders. However, some anthropologists say that this is all nonsense! A few hours spent playing a video game can erase these differences.
In countries where men and women are treated equally, both sexes have good navigation skills. But in countries where women are treated as second-class citizens, and forbidden to drive, they score worse in navigational tests. This isn't too surprising. Interestingly, people who perform best at smell identification tests also do best at navigation. It seems like spatial memory and olfaction are linked.
Released in a forest, people can walk in a straight line for hours on a clear day, using the sun as a guide. But on an overcast day, few people could walk further than a mile from their starting point, as they backtrack and loop erratically. GPS guidance is degrading our ability to navigate. GPS maps show fewer landmarks, which are needed for navigation. Scientists have shown that when using a GPS, neurons in the hippocampus are flatlined!
Many books on psychology mention the significantly enlarged hippocampus found in London taxi drivers. They spend years learning all the roads in London, in preparation for a taxi-driving entrance exam. This book, however, points out that the volume in a brain is finite. An enlargement of one portion of the brain means that other portions must be somewhat smaller, as a result.
The author, Christopher Kemp, is a molecular biologist. He writes in a straightforward style, avoiding cutesie humor. He brings lots of interesting anecdotes to the narrative. My only problem with the book occurs on page 143, where he demonstrates a misunderstanding of statistics and test scores. Nevertheless, this is a short and engaging book. It deserves to be read by anyone who finds navigation to be important in daily life....more
I have read all of Steven Pinker's books, and enjoyed this one as well. Before reading this one, though, I thought that it might be somewhat boring. AI have read all of Steven Pinker's books, and enjoyed this one as well. Before reading this one, though, I thought that it might be somewhat boring. After all, how interesting could this subject be?
Boy, was I wrong! Pinker has written a truly engaging book. Every page is fascinating. In addition, this is the most humorous book that Pinker has written. For example, this quote from comedian George Carlin:
“Tell people there’s an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.”
Or, this quote from the book:
“Mao Zedong forced Chinese farmers to crowd their seedlings together to enhance their socialist solidarity, and a recent American leader suggested that Covid-19could be treated with injections of bleach.”
Naturally, there is a lot of discussion about the difference between correlation and causation, summed up nicely in this little cartoon by XKCD: [image]
I particularly found the last chapters to be interesting. Why do so many people have such bizarre beliefs? Pinker's answer is that there is believing and "believing". People can hold "beliefs" that they don't hold as factually true. If people really held their fantastical theories to be true, they would behave quite differently, and more seriously.
This is a fantastic book that puts together in one place, all the ways in which people's rationality goes awry. There is a big emphasis on Bayesian reasoning--and rightly so. Most people don't know what Bayes' theorem is, but when they think things out rationally, they apply it. If you don't apply it--even implicitly and unconsciously--your thinking may likely become irrational....more
Since reading Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman a long time ago, I thought, "wow! another book by Kahneman about psychology -- cool!"
Well, KaSince reading Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman a long time ago, I thought, "wow! another book by Kahneman about psychology -- cool!"
Well, Kahneman is only one of the three authors. This book is about as boring as it could be. I highly recommend this book for people who love turgid statistics and humorless, pedantic style.
I didn't actually finish this book. I fell asleep too often to finish it....more
The biggest problem in artificial intelligence (AI) is to devise a reward function that gives you the behavior you want, while avoiding side effects oThe biggest problem in artificial intelligence (AI) is to devise a reward function that gives you the behavior you want, while avoiding side effects or unforseen consequences. This book examines the alignment problem from a number of fascinating perspectives.
This is a fascinating book, full of the implications of AI on philosophy, sociology, and psychology. There are interactions between AI and sociology, psychology in a two-way street. Our understanding of psychology helps to improve AI in numerous ways. Also, AI gives researchers many valuable insights into psychology, and issues in sociology. After all, we want automated algorithms to be unbiased, to be fair. But, who is to say exactly what is fair? Sometimes, the answer isn't easy.
The first problem, well known to workers in AI, is the inherent bias due to small training datasets. AI algorithms demonstrate bias, and can subtly perpetuate it. It seems like many of the biases are not the fault of the algorithms, but instead are a mirror of society and culture. In the 1950's, people tried to predict, using punch card machiles, which prisoners would succeed on parole. A ProPublica study was conducted of the accuracy of COMPAS (Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions). COMPAS is used to predict whether an inmate, if released, would commit a violent or a nonviolent crime within 1-3 years. The algorithm was found to be biased against blacks; it overpredicts recidivism among blacks, and underpredicts for whites. A key factor is that it actually does not predict whether a released prisoner would commit a crime. It really predicts whether a released prisoner would be arrested and convicted for a crime. Higher rates of police profiling blacks lead to an inherent bias.
There is a US antidiscrimination law that prohibits certain attributes--like race and gender--from being used in machine-learning modes for hiring, criminal detentions, and so on. Nevertheless, other unprotected variables are correlated with race and gender, so the algorithms can still be discriminatory. In addition, the blocking of these attributes prevents or even mitigating the discrimination!
Predicting whether of not a patient with pneumonia should be hospitalized as an inpatient is problematic. Models predict that if a patient has a chest pain, or has heart disease, asthma, or is over 100, then the patient is less likely to die! The reason is that patients with these conditions automatically receive more care, so they are less likely to die.
Many problems in AI are solved by looking at psychology. For example, BF Skinner taught a pigeon how to bowl in a miniature alley through incremental steps. This led researchers to teach an algorithm to play difficult video games by rewarding incremental steps. Basically, great video games train you how to play. Similarly, neural networks learn language translation by starting with simple sentences before graduating to more difficult ones. This approach is similar to language learning by children. The book Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess uses a similar approach.
AI is not just about automating tasks, but how can we better understand human psychology. How can we best train ourselves/ First, we should use sparse rewards. Second, we should incentivize a state, not an action. In real life, we can use gamification as an approach to reinforcement learning. Studies of toddlers show that toys that seem to violate the laws of physics were most novel, and held the interest of six-year-olds for the longest time. Infants use violations of prior expectations as special opportunities for learning.
Psychologists have studied overimitation in children and chimpanzees. People learning a new task will learn best through imitation. Sometimes we imitate behaviors that are not relevant to a task. A toddler might overimitate if he cannot figure out why an adult is doing something, so he does it too. As it turns out, chimpanzees do not purposely overimitate. But children can understand whether an adult is teaching or simply experimenting. If an adult is experimenting, the child does not overimitate.
A fascinating chapter of imitation describes the problems encountered by the the first researchers in autonomous driving. Teaching an autonomous care in a video game to drive with imitation is best done by randomly alternating between human and machine drivers.
This book is fascinating on many levels. But it is not always an easy read. Some of the concepts are difficult, even subtle. It is such a pleasure to read a well-researched book that plumbs to the depths of a complicated subject....more
This is an entertaining book about recognizing bullshit, researching and calling it out. Much of the book describes the various types of bullshit, andThis is an entertaining book about recognizing bullshit, researching and calling it out. Much of the book describes the various types of bullshit, and the research required to snoop out its origin. Then, a short portion of the book is about calling it out; how to call it out, and even when to call it out. The book is filled with anecdotal bullshit, and the research the author used to ferret out its origin. Much of the bullshit is unintended--it is simply a matter of passing along incompetent analyses and conclusions. When bullshit is intentional--that is simply called lying.
Selective bias is the reason for a lot of bullshit. This occurs when a survey or a statistic is unintentionally biased in the sampling population. The author describes the situation for waiting for a bus at the airport, for your particular brand of rental car. It always seems like all of the other busses pass you by, before your bus arrives. This is not a coincidence; it is a statistical rule when busses tend to get clumped together instead of arriving equally spaced in time. The author also explains why people who are dating seem to meet nice people who are unattractive, or attractive jerks. This also is not a coincidence; the book describes why this happens!
Then there is the misleading biases in data visualization. After the Florida "Stand Your Ground" law was enacted, a figure seemed to show at first glance, a drop in homicides. A close look at the vertical axis shows that it was inverted, giving the wrong impression. It turns out that the author of the figure did not intend to mislead, but used an unfortunate representation of the truth.
The book describes how scientific journal articles often go awry. It comes down to this: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." Scientific journals have a strong preference for a statistical measure called the "p-value" to be less than 0.05. As a result, scientists use the p-value to imply the probability of a hypothesis being true. They often alter the original hypothesis during analysis--absolutely a 'no-no'. Self-selection of statistical groupings that give low p-values is called "P-hacking", and is one reason why so many scientific studies are not reproducible. As a result, p-values no longer serve their original purpose.
The author gives a set of useful suggestions for spotting bullshit on the Internet: 1) Pay attention to where information comes from 2) Find multiple sources for a story 3) Dig back to the origin of a story 4) Use reverse-image lookup; very useful for fact checking 5) Beware of deep-fake media (photoshopping, etc.) 6) Use a fact-checking organization, like Politifact.com, FactCheck.org, or Snopes.com 7) Beware of the illusory truth effect; repetition does not imply truth. 8) Beware of social media: "Think more, share less"
The book contains a set of recommendations on how to call out bullshit. They are: 1) Reductio ad absurdum (very entertaining!) 2) Be memorable 3) Find counter-examples 4) Provide analogies 5) Redraw figures
Finally, the book describes when it is useless to call out bullshit and when it is a moral imperative. And, the chief take-away from the book is this: "If a story sounds too good--or too bad to be true--it probably is!"...more
This is a fun book about the journey from being a beginner to becoming -- a non-beginner. Not necessarily to become an expert, but to become adept at This is a fun book about the journey from being a beginner to becoming -- a non-beginner. Not necessarily to become an expert, but to become adept at some skill. The book includes some developments in the neuroscience of learning. However, the book is mostly a collection of personal memoirs of how the author learned new skills. The new skills included chess, singing, surfing, drawing, and juggling. The process of learning each new skill is a journey. Sometimes, he began his new journey along with his daughter, in order to be closer to her.
The book does smack a bit of elitism. The author is privileged to be able to hire tutors, private coaches, and to spend money traveling to places where surfing is available. Nevertheless, the book is so optimistic, that the author's enthusiasms are quite contagious....more
Robert Sapolsky is a researcher in the field of neuroendocrinology. His lectures are fascinating, without a doubt. What I like most of all, is the wonRobert Sapolsky is a researcher in the field of neuroendocrinology. His lectures are fascinating, without a doubt. What I like most of all, is the wonderful way he manages to engage the listener. Some parts of the lecture seem almost interactive, and help the listener to really think about the subject in a way that helps the non-expert to achieve a gut understanding of the subject.
The most important question is "Why do we experience stress? Isn't stress harmful to us? Shouldn't evolution have removed it from our behavior?" Sapolsky answers this question beautifully. Stress served humans (and other animals) very well in the past. Our modern living environment, though, can make it seem superfluous.
The only thing about the lectures that bother me a bit, is that sometimes Sapolsky has an intonation issue. Often he ends his sentences, statements of fact, more like questions as he raises the pitch of his voice. However, this is just a nit. Sapolsky is a very engaging speaker, and he knows how to keep the audience's attention, asking for more!...more
I didn't read this book in order to be a good screenwriter. In fact, I have no ambition to write stories for film. Instead, as a film composer, I wantI didn't read this book in order to be a good screenwriter. In fact, I have no ambition to write stories for film. Instead, as a film composer, I wanted to improve my understanding of how a story works. I wanted to learn about the arc of a good story, how scenes are constructed, and how characters work in a story. Most important, I wanted to learn how to distinguish a good story from a mediocre one, so that I could choose which films I would enjoy working on.
I was definitely not disappointed. This is a fantastic book about how good stories are written, how good films are made. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to understand how films work. There are three modern forms of storytelling; theater, film, and the novel. A story might work well with one of these forms, but probably not all three. Each of these forms has a different point of view, and tells a story in a different way. When we say "the book was better than the movie" (or vice versa), there is a good reason for that. It's not because the filmmaker is less talented than the novelist. It is because what works in a novel is much more difficult to communicate in a movie.
People argue which is more important, plot or character. Robert McKee claims that this is a silly question because they are both the same! But character is not the same as characterization. It makes no sense to say that a story is character-driven. That is because character IS the story. On the other hand, characterization is a necessary aspect what makes the plot believable.
I liked McKee's first commandment for all temporal art: "Thou shalt save the best for last." This makes sense; you want the audience to get up at the end of a story, enthused about what he/she has just experienced.
McKee talks a lot about character. A character must be empathetic. This means that a spectator must be able to feel the way a character feels. But this does not mean that a character should be sympathetic. For example, we should not need to feel sorry for a murderer.
McKee also writes about symbolism in a movie. Symbolism--even lots of it--can be present in a movie. But--and this is a biggie--symbolism should not be readily apparent; it should be subliminal.
What moves an audience? It is a reversal in values. It is a true change in character, especially a revelation.
Should a film have voice-over narration? The answer to this really surprised me. If a story is well-told without any narration--then it should have voice-over narration, as it serves as counterpoint.
The book has plenty of examples from well-known movies. Since the book was published in 1997, it does not include examples from very recent movies--but this doesn't matter, as he takes his examples from movies that movie-lovers should watch!...more
This is a marvelous book about all the ways that math errors can infiltrate our day-to-day living. Some of the math errors are just fun (as in older aThis is a marvelous book about all the ways that math errors can infiltrate our day-to-day living. Some of the math errors are just fun (as in older arcade games), while others have life-or-death consequences (like airplanes running out of fuel mid-flight).
Some of the math errors are simply a confusion about units; feet/meters, pounds/kilograms, and so on. One such error was when a jet liner was loaded up with fuel in pounds, instead of kilograms. Luckily, there was a mid-flight landing and refueling. Unluckily, the refueling made the same identical mistake. Luckily, the pilot had experience piloting glider planes! An emergency landing at an abandoned airstrip without engines or power or electricity for the landing gear -- surprised a drag racing party!
Sometimes, a change in versions of equipment or software cause problems when an only partial compatibility is encountered. Sometimes, limited storage for variables (say, 32-bit instead of 64-bit) cause issues when numbers that are expected to be small actually overrun the storage. This happened to the Patriot Missiles that were deployed to protect against incoming missiles during the Desert Storm operation.
Misplaced decimals, misunderstood calculator quirks, bridges and buildings that resonate at unfortunate frequencies, and everyday folk who lack the understanding of how to divide numbers with units, make up many of the fascinating anecdotes in this book.
Matt Parker is an Australian mathematician with a delightful sense of humor. The book is never overly technical--just enough mathematics or engineering background is introduced, to allow an understanding of each episode in the book. Oh--and I did not read this book. I listened to the audiobook, as read by the author. It is absolutely wonderful! ...more
This is a thought-provoking book about how to use your money during your lifetime. The book really changed the way I think about money.
The book is noThis is a thought-provoking book about how to use your money during your lifetime. The book really changed the way I think about money.
The book is not about how to make money. It is not about how to run a business. And--it is very easy to get the wrong idea about the book; Dying with Zero does NOT mean that you shouldn't give money to your family, your heirs, or to your favorite charities. Instead the book IS about what to spend your money on, and when to spend it.
What is your most valuable possession? It is you memories! Your memories are your most treasured possession, the one thing that defines who and what you are. Consequently, spending money to build up memories is the best use of your money. One should spend your money acquiring experiences, not things. These experiences can be alone or with friends or with family. Whatever your preference. Your experiences will define who you are, so think about what experiences you will appreciate. Also, think about when it is best to acquire these experiences. A road trip--staying in hostels or other inexpensive places--might be best at a young age. Arduous treks are also best when you are young; you might enjoy hiking the Appalachian trail, but if you are out of shape it might not be best when you are 70 years old. Think about your "go-go", "slow-go", and "no-go" years. The author deeply regrets not going with his friend through Europe, staying at hostels, in his early 20's. At an later age, he would not have appreciated such a trip as much.
What about giving money to your family--say, your children. For them, too, receiving an inheritance would be much more useful at an early age, such as when buying a first home, rather than at a retirement age. The idea is that if you die of old age with money in your bank account, you have lost it; you haven't used it to acquire experiences. And while you could will it to your heirs, they will not receive it at the best age to take advantage of it.
I highly recommend this book--it was quite an eye-opener for me....more
This fascinating book describes how parasites may change our reasoning, behavioral patterns, social behaviors, and even our politics. These parsites rThis fascinating book describes how parasites may change our reasoning, behavioral patterns, social behaviors, and even our politics. These parsites range from single-celled organisms to larger ones like worms. The book shows a multitude of ways that harmful microbes can change insect behavior, sometimes resulting in infecting humans and causing severe illness.
There is an amazing anecdote about a French biologist who tried desperately to get enough grant money to travel, at great expense, to New Zealand. He went there to find a parasite work that drives crickets to jump into water (they can't swim). He went there and came up almost empty handed. Then he found out that about 80 miles from where he lived, hundreds of crickets every night were driven into a swimming pool by that same parasite!
It is amazing how a certain wasp injects venom into a roach and pacifies it. Then the wasp walks the roach to its burrow, like a dog! The roach is much bigger than the wasp, and the wasp doesn't have to waste energy dragging it.
A cat parasite named T. gondii can also infect people. People can catch it by contact with cats, cat litter, unwashed vegetables, gardening, and undercooked meat. It infects the brain, and can cause subtle behavioral changes. It may even trigger schizophrenia in some genetically-sensitive people. Infected people are more prone to traffic and industrial accidents. In rats, the microbe induces "fatal feline attraction." Anti-psychotic medication given to rats can prevent this condition!
People given flu vaccinations may become more social. This may be true for other virus infections, as well. This does not bode well for Covid-19 infections, for which, before symptoms arise, may draw people to become more social and spread the virus further.
Experiments with young mice in a sterile environment suggest that microbiota in the gut shape the wiring of the brain, and strongly suggest an influence on personality. Bacteria in the gut seem to do this by stimulating the vagus nerve, which connects the digestive system and the brain. There is evidence that probiotics--fermented foods--can be helpful in many ways.
In a chapter called "The Forgotten Emotion", there is a fascinating discussion about disgust. It is so interesting to learn the reasons why we are disgusted by certain things. Why are earthworms, rats, cockroaches, acne, and even seaweed are considered disgusting. Why is vomiting contagious? Many of these disgusts are influenced by evolution. Our aversions to parasites and disgusting things translate into everyday behaviors, including bigotry and political views.
Ancient Mosaic Law "correctly identifies the main sources of infection as vermin, insects, corpses, bodily fluids, food (especially meat), sexual behaviors, sick people, and other contaminated people or things. It implies that the underlying source of infection is usually invisible and can be spread by the slightest physical contact. And it prescribes effective methods of disinfection, such as hand washing, bathing, sterilization by fire, boiling soap, and quarantining."
In the book's last chapter, there is an interesting hypothesis that explains a correlation between collectivism with levels of infectious diseases and parasites. This correlation exists on an international level, and also within the US on a regional level. This hypothesis explains regional levels of religiosity, intermarriage, political persuasions, and certain personality traits.
Obviously, the book's title is taken from the once-famous commercial against drug use. A man holds up an egg and says "This is your brain". Then he points to a frying pan and says "This is drugs." He cracks the egg into the hot frying pan and says "This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?"
This is a short book that shows a multitude of ways in which parasites can alter our thinking and our behavior. Some of these behaviors are actually helpful, while many are harmful. I enjoyed reading the book, as it gives a lot of insight into the reasons for some types of behaviors--and how to avoid the harmful behaviors....more
Enrico Moretti has studied why jobs accumulate in certain cities and regions, while other regions remain stagnant or worse. He shows how important a hEnrico Moretti has studied why jobs accumulate in certain cities and regions, while other regions remain stagnant or worse. He shows how important a hub of innovation can be. But while that hub is aided by the presence of a prominent university, it is not sufficient. Other factors tie in, such as the presence of a few prominent innovators--individuals who draw more and more top innovators into the region. People like to "be where the action is".
The whole issue of the geography of jobs, is that there is a vicious cycle at work. A hub of innovation and technology attracts more innovators, while other areas lose them. There are some things that can be done to reverse this trend--and many municipalities try by introducing tax incentives to lure high-tech companies.
The author is informative, and he as done a massive accumulation of statistics and research to back up his findings. There isn't much technical jargon here, and the casual style is quite approachable by the average reader. Actually, I listened to the audiobook, narrated very nicely by Sean Pratt....more
This is the 55'th book I have read about music. It is, without a doubt, the most engaging and most enjoyable book about music that I have read. It is This is the 55'th book I have read about music. It is, without a doubt, the most engaging and most enjoyable book about music that I have read. It is not about music per se, rather it is about the psychology of listening to music. I love it.
The book opens with an interesting statistical correlation linking personality types to different music genres. Then the book describes a fascinating experiment, where different types of music were played in a supermarket, to understand the influence on wine purchases. German music induced greater sales of German wines, while French music induced purchases of French wines. Classical music induced more sales of expensive wines. Wine taste tests showed that playing heavy or light music induced subjective observations of wines being "heavy" or "light". In restaurants, slow music induces slower bites and greater spending on drinks.
The book describes seven basic psychological mechanisms for producing emotions through music. These seven mechanisms can be useful for survival in non-musical contexts. The unstated implicit deduction is that perhaps evolution, in furthering survival, also plays a hand in generating emotional responses to music.
The book describes how we like music that has repetitions. Music with repetitions is much more memorable, and sets up a context for unexpected contrasts.
Music has been proven to be a good therapy for many physical and mental disorders--so long as the patient chooses the music. Without the benefit of choice, music can be detrimental. The so-called "Mozart Effect" works by putting you into an enjoyable state of mind. Any upbeat music or even listening to a Stephen King can potentially have the same effect.
What surprised me, was a statistical analysis that found there is no correlation between music skills and mathematical ability. It is difficult to figure out cause and effect between music skills and intelligence. There are no strong correlations. Musically-trained people have better listening skills, a better memory for things heard, better language ability, and better visuo-spatial skills. There is some evidence that musical training does lead to a slight increase in IQ.
Film soundtracks have been shown to influence viewers, changing their opinions of the characters. Sometimes music alone is more effective than the dialogue in getting a desired message across.
I was flabbergasted to read that in 2015, the song "Happy Birthday" was ruled not to be under copyright. It is the most-sung song ever.
There is an interesting chapter on counterpoint--although for some reason, that term is not used. The chapter describes how the mind sorts out melodies, when multiple melodies are playing.
Most of all, I loved the humor that shines through everywhere in the book. As one example, Sir Thomas Beecham described the harpsichord as sounding like "two skeletons copulating on a tin roof during a thunderstorm." Well, maybe this isn't the best example, but the humor puts me into a wonderful frame of mind for reading this excellent book....more
This is a wonderful book about major issues when talking to people. I thought, initially, that the book would be about everyday conversations during eThis is a wonderful book about major issues when talking to people. I thought, initially, that the book would be about everyday conversations during everyday interactions. Not at all. The book is really about the assumptions that we make about other people, and how those assumptions can be drastically wrong. It is about belief systems, and how we react when we encounter evidence that is contrary to those beliefs. Malcolm Gladwell took me into worlds that I had never even considered.
The main point in the book is that "You believe in something not because you have no doubts, but because you don't have enough doubts." There is an excellent story about Ana Montes, an agent for the Defense Intelligence Agency. She received glowing performance reviews over the years, despite the fact that she was a Cuban spy. Fidel Castro personally gave he a medal as an award for her activities. But despite the fact that her boyfriend worked for the Pentagon, and her brother and sister both worked for the FBI. She was interviewed in detail, and there were a few hints that she was a spy. Yet, nobody suspected that she was a spy, and when she was arrested, her coworkers were in disbelief. It's not that nobody had doubts--nobody had enough doubts.
Judges try to estimate the probability of defendants' recidivism. They want to look at the defendants' faces, and hear their attitudes. The problem is, judges do not do as good a job at predicting recidivism as computers, which only take into account cold, hard facts, and obviously don't take appearance and demeanor into account.
A concept known as coupling is very interesting. The suicide rate in an English town decreased dramatically when the town switched from coal gas to natural gas. The switch made it almost impossible to commit suicide using the gas that was supplied to homes. People did not want to use less convenient modes of suicide. Similar reductions in suicide rates have been found in other environments. It is inferred that if handguns were outlawed in the U.S., there would be 10,000 fewer suicides per year.
The only thing I don't like about this book, is that the topics seem to be scatter-shot. The topics covered are not only about talking to strangers. They cover a wide range of topics, and do not seem to have an overall theme. For example, the topic of coupling doesn't seem to have anything at all to do with talking to strangers. Why was this topic (and others) included in the book? Only because it is an interesting psychological phenomenon.
I didn't really know what to expect from this book; it is a how-to book about making a presentation, giving a pitch and persuading someone to your poiI didn't really know what to expect from this book; it is a how-to book about making a presentation, giving a pitch and persuading someone to your point of view. Obviously, it is tilted toward sales people. And, it is not completely intuitive. For example, politeness during a presentation is NOT required. The first portion of the book is called "setting the frame", and a bit of defiance bordering on rudeness is needed. The book is full of examples, and they show just how far one should go in setting the frame.
The book is full of anecdotes and concrete examples. The second-to-last chapter describes the author's "airport deal" in detail. He shows how he beat the two stronger competitors, by going far beyond the numbers game. He comes out sounding very similar to the "Don Draper" character in "Mad Men". He demonstrates why, in this particular case, the project is much more that just making money--it is about history and legacy.
This book is short enough that you can read it in a couple of hours. If your business is selling to people, then this book is definitely for you. It is entertaining, and at times downright surprising.
You may remember a video game named "Guitar Hero". You watch a screen go by with color codes, and you press the appropriate color-coded fret on a smalYou may remember a video game named "Guitar Hero". You watch a screen go by with color codes, and you press the appropriate color-coded fret on a small mockup guitar. When you press the correct fret at the right time, a cool riff plays, and you continue. At each level, the difficulty increases. Not exactly like playing the guitar, but for the non-guitar-player, it can be a thrill.
Well, this book begins with the opposite dilemma. Gary Marcus began his journey as an adult, without any musical ability whatsoever, but he really wanted to learn to play guitar. He had a long, upward battle. He struggled for a couple of years to the point where he brought his musicianship to the point where he was pleased. His first gig was with a rock band consisting of himself (as an adult) and several 11-year-olds at a summer camp. The description of the learning, rehearsing, and performance is wonderful!
Gary Marcus is a psychology professor, so this book is about the science of learning, primarily about learning to play music. Gary Marcus has some interesting points of view, some of which you will probably have some reservations. For example, he writes that music is a technology. It is not a language. He gives plenty of examples of how new sounds are driven by new technologies. Of course, singing might not be considered a technology, but singing harmonies, in a sense, is a technology. Five hundred years ago, harmonies were rarely heard in music.
Marcus disagrees with Darwin's theory of music evolution, that guys play music to attract girls. He gives some carefully considered reasons for his disagreement. For example, he cites the lack of dimorphism in musical ability. He claims that people pursue music out of passion, not necessarily to become rich or popular. He argues that music stars didn't exist thousands of years ago. And, there is no specific module in the brain devoted to music.
Marcus covers a lot of ground in this book. He asks (but does not really answer), what makes good music? He writes about music theory; non-musicians do not know music theory, but they subconsciously understand the principles. The purpose of music theory is not to forge new ground, but to supply a language for sharing between musicians. Marcus has enormous esteem for Jimi Hendrix, who had both technical and creative abilities. Hendrix did a lot of experimentation with his guitars, modifying them in order to discover new sounds.
This is a very engaging book, and it is written on a very personal level. For me, as a composer, I found it very thoughtful and provoked me to think in new terms. For example, just as progress in science is very much driven by new technologies, it seems like music is also driven by new instruments, approaches, and technologies. I recommend this book to anyone interested in how we learn music....more
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