Read May 2018
[Category:Books]
This book is a collection of essays by thought leaders. Essays that stood out to me:
- Jonah Lehrer: Control Your Spotlight. When trying to avoid a temptation, distract yourself rather than trying to flex willpower.
- Carlo Rovelli - The Uselessness of Certainty / Lawrence Krauss - Uncertainty. Both have to do with the pervasiveness of uncertainty and practical ways to understand and embrace it.
- Stephen Kosslyn - Constraint Satisfaction. When looking at a problem, define the most important constraints to make finding a solution easier.
- Daniel Dennett - Cycles. The universe operates in cycles. Living in harmony with them, and creating your own, can provide much leverage.
- Jay Rosen - Wicked Problems. Some problems are simple, others are wicked. We need to learn to identify the difference and approach them accordingly.
- Gloria Origgi - Kakonomics. People seem strangely to prefer mediocre effort and mediocre results, especially in transactions.
- Eric Weinstein - Kayfabe. Beyond professional wrestling, and in the worlds of politics, business, and entertainment, competition is often a charade, whereas collaboration is really taking place under the surface.
- Paul Saffo - Time Span of Discretion. The degree to which a person can think in terms of long-term goals and results has a major impact on one’s capability and station in life.
Based on the gimmicky title, I thought I was going to hate this book. In fact, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit and learned a lot from it.