What I Just Read

Recovering Luddite Kevin Kelly, who later became the first editor of Wired Magazine, offers his worldview on technology, its tendencies, what it has done to us, and what it will do to us in the coming generations. The first third of the book really makes the reader think, the last third of the book tests the reader's patience as the author wanders on tangents ranging from intriguing to unnecessary. Some chapters are more stimulating insightful than others, and at certain points the author truly loses his thread and devolves into word salad. I couldn't help notice the unintentionally amusing comment in the book's acknowledgments, where the author thanks an editor who "rescued his book from verbosity." More likely that editor gave up in frustration two thirds of the way through.  Read the first half of the book closely, skim the rest for the occasional intriguing idea. This book will give you several new ways to think about technology's effects on you and your ...

A short book distilling Hans Selye's groundbreaking technical work The Stress of Life  into practical principles for handling daily life. Articulates a basic philosophy that can be boiled down to "earn thy neighbor's love." Selye calls this "altruistic egotism" and argues that satisfaction in life can be achieved by seeking genuinely satisfying work, earning the goodwill and gratitude of others through that work, and by living with a philosophy of gratitude. Not his finest book, but it is interesting and useful to hear the values and prescriptive statements of one of biology's most eminent scientists. The ideas in this book are not original--the author candidly admits as much--but offer helpful guideposts for how to live. Notes: 1) The first chapter is essentially a layperson's summary of Selye's main work The Stress of Life , defining key terms, what he means (in biological terms) when he talks about stress, describing the evolution of the stres...

Good, short book with many mini-chapters, each expressing a paradoxical idea in the world of business and management. Uneven (some of the ideas are more provocative and more interesting than others), but reading this book was nevertheless an extremely useful mental exercise: it's a sort of test for the reader for sitting with paradox and oppositional ideas. Introduction On various fashions in management.  On embracing paradoxes: rather than trying to resolve them or trying to escape the cognitive discomfort they bring, instead just letting the paradox itself wash over us for a while. The merits of applying paradoxical logic to understand human affairs. Using paradox to challenge conventional ways of thinking, and to offer a more realistic way of assessing situations and managing oneself and others. Chapter 1: the opposite of a profound truth is also true  How communication in an organization needs to be both accurate and deceptive. You require diplomacy and tact, and messages...

A quiet, humble, meditative book with short chapters of the author's musings about his journey learning martial arts, including his training classes with Bruce Lee. Combine with Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel and The Martial Way by Forrest Morgan for a useful collection of books that help a curious reader apply Zen insights to daily life.  Notes:   * "The Zen of martial arts de-emphasizes the power of the intellect and extolls that of intuitive action. Its ultimate aim is to free the individual from anger, illusion, and false passion." * Bronislaw Kaper, the film composer, called out the author on his hostile technique as a journalist, suggesting he study karate: "The exercise might help you slim down and allow you to work off some of your hostilities." * His first teacher distinguishes between "showing" versus "sharing" an art: "by sharing it with you, you will not only retain it forever, but I, too, will improve." T...

There's a lot of wisdom here. Consider it a companion to Viktor Frankl's Man's Search of Meaning . It's part memoir, as the story of Dr. Eger's own journey of self-acceptance and self-discovery, but the author also describes a collection of her clinical therapy situations that offer helpful life advice--and not just to the reader: we get to see how Dr. Eger herself gains self-awareness and wisdom as she helps (and sometimes is not able to help) her clients .   The reader gets insights on how to handle rage, guilt, feelings of inadequacy, how to reframe problems and suffering as potential opportunities to learn and grow, and so on. We see Dr. Eger's own sincere struggle to live with her own rage, her own feelings inadequacy and insecurity, and we see her grapple with guilt--especially her guilt over one specific, devastating choice she made at Auschwitz.  One last thought: I'd be deeply remiss if I didn't also mention that the publishers of this book mad...

[Warning: long]  Extremely helpful work on mental training techniques, relaxation techniques, techniques for improving volition and other critical tools for athletics, but also for any kind of real-world achievement. The author draws from a wide range of sources: Abraham Maslow, Bulgarian psychiatrist Georgi Lozanov, ideas from zen, breakthroughs from experts in psychology and biofeedback, various accomplished athletes of the 20th Century, and even 1970s and 80s-era Soviet athletic mental training techniques.  The book is structured in "lessons" that build on each other, teaching the reader various foundational skills (relaxation, visualization, mental rehearsal) which build upon each other, eventually bringing the reader to a final, paradoxical idea of attaining a state of poise and confidence, but with a release of attachment to the athletic outcome. Of course, there's a big difference between just reading a book and actually doing what's in the book . A reader who...