This year I'd love to begin using Steemit to blog, share ideas and form relationships but the first post has always been daunting. So, to get things rolling I just want to share a few books that influenced me in 2017.
58 books... mostly non-fiction last year. I'm not sure I've read that many books in the last 12 previous years. It's very addicting, in part I think, because I listen to them and crank up the speed so that the learnings come quicker.
Here are a few from last year I'd recommend, let me know if you've read any of them:
This is the most amazing a beautifully written introductions to physics I’ve ever heard. Starting 2000 years ago with the introduction of atomism, the concept that everything is composed of finite common particles. Reality is far more interesting than can be imagined.
This is one of the most referenced books I've read. System 1 and System 2 thinking. I've heard much of examples in this book but it was still a valuable read. I really enjoyed the last 2 hours of the book. Comparing the Present Self and Remembered Self, and how the two play in our understanding of Well-being. I've always loved the concept of redemption which is the Remembered Self reevaluating past suffering as a positive.
Evolutionary biology is fascinating! This book is revolutionary to understanding how evolution works. Everyone was wrong about how life came to be until only recently.
There was a lot to this book that took me a few minutes to understand but they reiterate the important bits so just keep pushing through. Here are some interesting things I remember and we can talk about:
Walks through using external triggers to build internal triggers. Very practical with many examples.
Trigger -> Action -> Reward -> Investment.
Utilizes the B.J. Fogg method to help explain how habits are formed but focuses only on products that hope to become integral to a person's life. It pays lip service to the ethics of creating habit forming products but falls far short of Tristan Harris' thoughts on product ethics.
Hooked: How To Make Habit-Forming Products, And When To Stop Flapping
I wanted to learn more about Islam and this book allowed me to gain some appreciation for it — though I'm pretty critical of all religions.
Simply a great story well told. I recommend everyone give it a listen (or read). It's a tragic story that has shaped our world and continues to. Why do women wear a veil? When and why did muslims start killing each other? What is the difference between Sunni and Shia? Political drama!!! Forced me to realize the nice/principled guy can finish last.
At the time of reading I gave this book a 4/5, and noted, "there are central theses I disagree with, but still I enjoyed the book and the author's attempt to bridge the divide between conservatives, liberals, religious, and non-religious."
Since then I have continued to reference this book's moral foundations theory and come to realize that much of my disagreements have little to do with what makes it and the author interesting.
Good review: https://spiriteddreams.com/2012/11/20/review-of-haidts-the-righteous-mind-and-moral-foundations-theory/
Here is the result of my test via moralfountations.org
I really, really like Steven Pinker. There is no Ghost in the Machine . Our brains are complex biological machines and as a result we are not Blank Slates with the ability to become anything. We are the product of evolution and genes which predisposes us to interact with each other and the world in certain ways. Communism was born out of the concept that environment could erase the nature of man for a better society and today there are still some intellectuals who subscribe to parts of the Blank Slate theory. There is a fear that acknowledging genetic differences will lead to Hitler but Steven Pinker guides us through why that is not the case.
I think everyone should read Steven Pinker. Here is a summary .
Opposing View:Allen Orr Review, Pinker response and Orr Counter
Quotes:
“Though many of my arguments will be coolly analytical — that an acknowledgment of human nature does not, logically speaking, imply the negative outcomes so many people fear — I will not try to hide my belief that they have a positive thrust as well. "Man will become better when you show him what he is like," wrote Chekhov, and so the new sciences of human nature can help lead the way to a realistic, biologically informed humanism. They expose the psychological unity of our species beneath the superficial differences of physical appearance and parochial culture. They make us appreciate the wondrous complexity of the human mind, which we are apt to take for granted precisely because it works so well. They identify the moral intuitions that we can put to work in improving our lot. They promise a naturalness in human relationships, encouraging us to treat people in terms of how they do feel rather than how some theory says they ought to feel. They offer a touchstone by which we can identify suffering and oppression wherever they occur, unmasking the rationalizations of the powerful. They give us a way to see through the designs of self-appointed social reformers who would liberate us from our pleasures. They renew our appreciation for the achievements of democracy and of the rule of law. And they enhance the insights of artists and philosophers who have reflected on the human condition for millennia.”
“Equality is not the empirical claim that all groups of humans are interchangeable; it is the moral principle that individuals should not be judged or constrained by the average properties of their group.”
