Zand, Dale E. The Leadership Triad. New York: Oxford UP, 1997.
ISBN 0-19-509240-6
Dale E. Zand discusses what leadership means and what its requirements are in a rapidly changing world. He calls this new leadership “triadic.” Three principles are the foundation of triadic leadership: knowledge, trust and power. He devotes parts of the book to each, defining the principles and demonstrating their practical meaning in leadership. As the book progresses, he shows how these principles relate and build in each other.
The book is full of interesting material. An item that stands out in my mind is Zand’s discussion of knowledge work and how to manage knowledge workers. My job, at its best, is knowledge work. I was surprised to find my coworkers, myself, and our reactions to different management approaches succinctly described. As Zand predicts, we respond positively to supervision that recognizes the nature of knowledge work and our professionalism. Supervision that fails to recognized this stirs up resentment.
Zand, like several other authors, makes good use of short case studies for illustration. It is not enough; it just whets my appetite. I think a few detailed, chapter-long case studies related to the use of the three principles would add a lot of depth to the book without adding many pages.
I originally wrote this review in 1999 when I read the book for a class. I’m still a knowledge worker, though as an entrepreneur instead as an employee. You can find out more about my business here.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query knowledge. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query knowledge. Sort by date Show all posts
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Thursday, December 30, 2010
On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
I wrote this for a class in public administration back in 1997. You can tell it’s for a class because it’s longer than the reviews I’d normally write for this blog. I have the sense from reading it that the assignment must have involve answering particular questions about the book. I got an A-. The hyperlinks are added, but I haven’t changed it otherwise from what I wrote the first time.
Bennis, Warren. On Becoming a Leader. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1994.
Bennis’ premise is that leadership comes out of the state of being of the leader. Leadership starts with a leader’s capacity for self-invention, to shape himself with learning and reflection as opposed to being shaped by circumstances. In Bennis’ words, “No leader sets out to be a leader. People set out to live their lives, expressing themselves fully. When that expression is of value, they become leaders.”
Bennis’ process of self-invention begins with self-knowledge. He proposes four lessons to gaining self-knowledge. First, “you are your own best teacher”; learning is essential. Second is to accept responsibility for your own education. Third, “you can learn anything you want to learn.” Finally, reflection is necessary to develop understanding and a leader must question his experience to learn. Leaders innovate and learn from experience without fear of mistakes. According to Bennis’ definition, a leader is someone in the front, doing things others have not done.
A leader must add knowledge of the world to self-knowledge. Bennis says that a leader should learn about the world through participation rather than reaction. One learns by trying to change something as well as experiencing it as it is. The conscious learner seeks broad experience, learns from others and from mistakes.
A leader must trust his instincts. Bennis uses Emerson’s term “blessed impulse.” Blessed impulse is a tool for making decisions in a world to complex to be completely understood.
Leaders must deploy themselves. By this Bennis means a leader must practice self-expression. Deploying oneself is offset against being deployed by others or the voices of others on one’s head.
Leaders must “get people on their side.” Bennis prescribes constancy, congruity of words and action, reliability and integrity.
Bennis also speaks more generally about the characteristics and roles of leaders. These are similar to what might be found in other books on leadership.
Bennis calls the organization the primary form in American society. He challenges leaders to shape their organizations, and shape society, to make them work in a rapidly changing world. He encourages executives to empower junior leaders in their organizations to teach them leadership through experience.
Throughout, Bennis uses the experience of twelve leaders gleaned from interviews. Bennis includes a brief biography of each leader at the end.
At first, it seems that Bennis says that one becomes a leader by being a leader. This is what he says, but he does not leave the reader hanging. Bennis’ perspective is what is unique about the book. Leadership is the expression of the character, qualities, values and personality of a leader. His is not a direct call for us to become leaders, but for us to become ourselves. Leadership will follow.
This may be a difficult lesson. Buyers of books on leadership are probably more interested in learning the skills of leadership and management to help them in their current situations. Bennis says express yourself. If you are doing what you think you ought to do, if others deploy you, you will not be a leader. Self-expression may take you to something different.
The first step to leadership is self-knowledge. A useful tool is self-evaluation, what Bennis calls “tests and measures.” Bennis offers a set of four tests—really four statements. One could apply the tests with pencil and paper, making lists in response to each statement. Of all the tools and suggestions in the book, this set of tests is the most clear and immediately applicable. A reader wanting to apply Bennis’ lessons would do well to start here.
Little else can be used immediately. Changes in point of view and lifestyle take time. One might argue that only a few Bennis’ suggested activities are specific to developing leadership. To me, much of it sounds fun and interesting. That is the point Bennis is trying to make: leadership comes out of broad experience, education, perspective, desire, mastery of one’s discipline and synthesis of ideas.
My own experience validates this. I am as proud of my single published poem as I am of my accomplishments as an engineer or public servant. The skills and abilities exercised by writing are different from those exercised by engineering. I am persuaded that, though seemingly unrelated, one improves the other in me.
Bennis’ somewhat artificial distinction between managers and leaders is a shortcoming. He makes a manager sound like something one would not want to be. He list skills and characteristics developed from the “education” of a leader and the “training” of a manager. All seemingly undesirable things are on the manager side. On might argue tat several management skills, like deduction and common sense, would be useful to a leader.
Most of the interviews are businessmen, but some come from public service agencies and professions. In may seem that businessmen are more susceptible to “surrendering to the context”—the bottom line, the corporate culture, the style of a boss to be pleased—but public service leaders must face their own context. A public servant may readily accept his organization’s view of the way things should be or done, what is important and who to involve without ever considering his own vision, ability and desire.
It may be more important for public section leadership to use self-expression. While a business leader may have the satisfaction of bringing a product to market, making a profit, even gaining notoriety, a public leader may never see his vision achieved. A public leaders’ satisfaction may have to come from living the life he wants to live.
A particular item addressed by Bennis that may be of use to one in public service is getting people on your side. A public leader may have little to rely on besides his integrity and “voice”—an ability to change the climate of his organization and shape it to work more effectively. As important as it is, Bennis can offer little on the subject except constancy, congruity, reliability and integrity. He says to be someone others might follow. He offers no lessons on persuasion, though if persuasion can be taught, it may be of little benefit to those who lake those characteristics.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Tested by Time by James L. Garlow
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Developing the Leader Within by John C. Maxwell
The Difference Maker by John C. Maxwell
Winning with People by John C. Maxwell
Bennis, Warren. On Becoming a Leader. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1994.
Bennis’ premise is that leadership comes out of the state of being of the leader. Leadership starts with a leader’s capacity for self-invention, to shape himself with learning and reflection as opposed to being shaped by circumstances. In Bennis’ words, “No leader sets out to be a leader. People set out to live their lives, expressing themselves fully. When that expression is of value, they become leaders.”
Bennis’ process of self-invention begins with self-knowledge. He proposes four lessons to gaining self-knowledge. First, “you are your own best teacher”; learning is essential. Second is to accept responsibility for your own education. Third, “you can learn anything you want to learn.” Finally, reflection is necessary to develop understanding and a leader must question his experience to learn. Leaders innovate and learn from experience without fear of mistakes. According to Bennis’ definition, a leader is someone in the front, doing things others have not done.
A leader must add knowledge of the world to self-knowledge. Bennis says that a leader should learn about the world through participation rather than reaction. One learns by trying to change something as well as experiencing it as it is. The conscious learner seeks broad experience, learns from others and from mistakes.
A leader must trust his instincts. Bennis uses Emerson’s term “blessed impulse.” Blessed impulse is a tool for making decisions in a world to complex to be completely understood.
Leaders must deploy themselves. By this Bennis means a leader must practice self-expression. Deploying oneself is offset against being deployed by others or the voices of others on one’s head.
Leaders must “get people on their side.” Bennis prescribes constancy, congruity of words and action, reliability and integrity.
Bennis also speaks more generally about the characteristics and roles of leaders. These are similar to what might be found in other books on leadership.
Bennis calls the organization the primary form in American society. He challenges leaders to shape their organizations, and shape society, to make them work in a rapidly changing world. He encourages executives to empower junior leaders in their organizations to teach them leadership through experience.
Throughout, Bennis uses the experience of twelve leaders gleaned from interviews. Bennis includes a brief biography of each leader at the end.
At first, it seems that Bennis says that one becomes a leader by being a leader. This is what he says, but he does not leave the reader hanging. Bennis’ perspective is what is unique about the book. Leadership is the expression of the character, qualities, values and personality of a leader. His is not a direct call for us to become leaders, but for us to become ourselves. Leadership will follow.
This may be a difficult lesson. Buyers of books on leadership are probably more interested in learning the skills of leadership and management to help them in their current situations. Bennis says express yourself. If you are doing what you think you ought to do, if others deploy you, you will not be a leader. Self-expression may take you to something different.
The first step to leadership is self-knowledge. A useful tool is self-evaluation, what Bennis calls “tests and measures.” Bennis offers a set of four tests—really four statements. One could apply the tests with pencil and paper, making lists in response to each statement. Of all the tools and suggestions in the book, this set of tests is the most clear and immediately applicable. A reader wanting to apply Bennis’ lessons would do well to start here.
Little else can be used immediately. Changes in point of view and lifestyle take time. One might argue that only a few Bennis’ suggested activities are specific to developing leadership. To me, much of it sounds fun and interesting. That is the point Bennis is trying to make: leadership comes out of broad experience, education, perspective, desire, mastery of one’s discipline and synthesis of ideas.
My own experience validates this. I am as proud of my single published poem as I am of my accomplishments as an engineer or public servant. The skills and abilities exercised by writing are different from those exercised by engineering. I am persuaded that, though seemingly unrelated, one improves the other in me.
Bennis’ somewhat artificial distinction between managers and leaders is a shortcoming. He makes a manager sound like something one would not want to be. He list skills and characteristics developed from the “education” of a leader and the “training” of a manager. All seemingly undesirable things are on the manager side. On might argue tat several management skills, like deduction and common sense, would be useful to a leader.
Most of the interviews are businessmen, but some come from public service agencies and professions. In may seem that businessmen are more susceptible to “surrendering to the context”—the bottom line, the corporate culture, the style of a boss to be pleased—but public service leaders must face their own context. A public servant may readily accept his organization’s view of the way things should be or done, what is important and who to involve without ever considering his own vision, ability and desire.
It may be more important for public section leadership to use self-expression. While a business leader may have the satisfaction of bringing a product to market, making a profit, even gaining notoriety, a public leader may never see his vision achieved. A public leaders’ satisfaction may have to come from living the life he wants to live.
A particular item addressed by Bennis that may be of use to one in public service is getting people on your side. A public leader may have little to rely on besides his integrity and “voice”—an ability to change the climate of his organization and shape it to work more effectively. As important as it is, Bennis can offer little on the subject except constancy, congruity, reliability and integrity. He says to be someone others might follow. He offers no lessons on persuasion, though if persuasion can be taught, it may be of little benefit to those who lake those characteristics.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Tested by Time by James L. Garlow
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Developing the Leader Within by John C. Maxwell
The Difference Maker by John C. Maxwell
Winning with People by John C. Maxwell
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Range by David Epstein
Specialization
is king. It has become seen as the road to success. Since Malcolm Gladwell popularized the 10,000-hour Rule a few years ago (perhaps
unintentionally), I’ve seen a lot of people using it to justify and spell out
the road to specialization: focus and start early. However,
specialization can hurt when we face problems that cross boundaries and pull us
out of our niche; we can be lost and ill equipped outside of our
specialization. Journalist David Epstein explored the issue in his book, Range.
The Checklist Manifesto by Atul
Gawande
The First 20 Hours by Josh Kaufman
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt &
Stephen J. Dubner
The Genius in All of Us by David
Shenk
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Have a New You by Friday by Kevin Leman
Leman, Kevin. Have a New You by Friday: How to Accept Yourself, Boost Your Confidence and Change Your Life in 5 Days. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2010.
By “new you”, Leman doesn’t mean a completely different person. Part if his plan is for you to accept yourself. He does mean a happier more successful you, which is probably more in line with what you really want.
The book is organized into a chapter for every day of the weekday. Leman’s style is light, so you probably can read a chapter a day with no problem. If you thoughtfully complete the exercises in each chapter, it will may a little more time. Some are simple, but as the week progresses, deeper thinking is called for.
In broad terms, Leman calls for you to know and accept yourself, recognize the lies you tell yourself and live with a new perspective. Much of the book addresses self-knowledge.
Leman addresses several areas of self-knowledge. First is temperament. He uses the classical humors (choric, melancholy, phlegmatic, and sanguine), though he humorously compares them to dog breeds. Next, he addresses way birth order effects personality. Birth order is one of Leman’s specialties. Midweek, he explores early childhood memories and the rulebooks we’ve written unawares based on these memories. I found this to be one of the most difficult chapters, but in some ways, I think it is one of the meatiest. The final aspect of self-knowledge is your love language. By understanding the things that make you feel loved, you can ask for what you need. You can also discover they ways the people close to you feel loved and begin to improve your relationship with them.
By the time we’re adults, our personality is set. Leman isn’t trying to give you an entirely new personality. Accept that you have certain strengths and weaknesses and begin using that knowledge to build a happier life. The truth can set you free to make new decisions that lead to new outcomes instead of taking the same paths that have always lead to frustration.
One of the things you can change is you’re rulebook. These are concepts of how the world works we formed as children. Being children, i.e. ignorant and immature, we formed some wrong ideas that can be driving our behavior even in adulthood. As adults, we can take a look at those rules a see if they are true and if they are helping us live the life we want. With the knowledge and maturity we have as adults, we can begin to counter wrong and unproductive rules (lies we tell ourselves) and develop new rules. Your rulebook won’t change in an instant, but you can train yourself to approach things from a new perspective instead of reacting unthinkingly.
In the Friday chapter, Leman lays out the program for implementing the new you. A couple of the best points are to take baby steps and give yourself room to fail. By the time you’ve been through the first four days, you’ll see that you come to be where you are by many steps over a long time. Getting to a new you will be similarly incremental, and old ways are bound to reassert themselves periodically. Leman encourages you to give yourself some grace, forgive yourself for stumbling, and take the next little step to get moving in a good direction again.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Little Shifts by Suzanna Beth Stinnet
One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer
By “new you”, Leman doesn’t mean a completely different person. Part if his plan is for you to accept yourself. He does mean a happier more successful you, which is probably more in line with what you really want.
The book is organized into a chapter for every day of the weekday. Leman’s style is light, so you probably can read a chapter a day with no problem. If you thoughtfully complete the exercises in each chapter, it will may a little more time. Some are simple, but as the week progresses, deeper thinking is called for.
In broad terms, Leman calls for you to know and accept yourself, recognize the lies you tell yourself and live with a new perspective. Much of the book addresses self-knowledge.
Leman addresses several areas of self-knowledge. First is temperament. He uses the classical humors (choric, melancholy, phlegmatic, and sanguine), though he humorously compares them to dog breeds. Next, he addresses way birth order effects personality. Birth order is one of Leman’s specialties. Midweek, he explores early childhood memories and the rulebooks we’ve written unawares based on these memories. I found this to be one of the most difficult chapters, but in some ways, I think it is one of the meatiest. The final aspect of self-knowledge is your love language. By understanding the things that make you feel loved, you can ask for what you need. You can also discover they ways the people close to you feel loved and begin to improve your relationship with them.
By the time we’re adults, our personality is set. Leman isn’t trying to give you an entirely new personality. Accept that you have certain strengths and weaknesses and begin using that knowledge to build a happier life. The truth can set you free to make new decisions that lead to new outcomes instead of taking the same paths that have always lead to frustration.
One of the things you can change is you’re rulebook. These are concepts of how the world works we formed as children. Being children, i.e. ignorant and immature, we formed some wrong ideas that can be driving our behavior even in adulthood. As adults, we can take a look at those rules a see if they are true and if they are helping us live the life we want. With the knowledge and maturity we have as adults, we can begin to counter wrong and unproductive rules (lies we tell ourselves) and develop new rules. Your rulebook won’t change in an instant, but you can train yourself to approach things from a new perspective instead of reacting unthinkingly.
In the Friday chapter, Leman lays out the program for implementing the new you. A couple of the best points are to take baby steps and give yourself room to fail. By the time you’ve been through the first four days, you’ll see that you come to be where you are by many steps over a long time. Getting to a new you will be similarly incremental, and old ways are bound to reassert themselves periodically. Leman encourages you to give yourself some grace, forgive yourself for stumbling, and take the next little step to get moving in a good direction again.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Little Shifts by Suzanna Beth Stinnet
One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer
Saturday, April 7, 2018
The Society for Useful Knowledge by Jonathan Lyons
Colonial
America was a
place that demanded much of settlers. While many appreciated the value of book
learning, many came to America because of their strong opinions about a particular book,
their new home required them to focus on practical knowledge for developing
land, repairing hard-to-get goods and getting the most out of one’s one labor.
In The Society for Useful Knowledge, Jonathan
Lyons explores this emphasis on utility and its influence on colonial science
and the revolutionary generation.
Ben
Franklin is the most significant figure discussed by Lyon. He developed an
appreciation early in life for the value of skilled labor, he was a printer
himself, and he maintained this even as he became America’s most famous
scientist and the new nation’s representative in Europe.
Franklin’s influence in the American scientific community was huge even though
he spent years in Europe; his connections to European scientists were part of
the reason for his influence at home.
Franklin and his compatriots saw a great value in encouraging and
disseminating useful information in science and engineering,
especially if it might increase the productivity of American agriculture
and manufacturing.
Franklin founded one of the earliest scientific societies in the colonies and
it eventually had many imitators. He also supported the establishment of what
eventually became the University of Pennsylvania, though he broke with the
other organizers when his emphasis on utility conflicted with their desire to
provide an education focused on classical languages in the European mold.
Though Franklin was not trying to establish institutions that would
lead to the revolution, he and many who worked with him did it anyway. Franklin
and his Quaker neighbors preferred education in useful knowledge and trades.
Many colonial scientists were self-taught and learned on their farms and
workshops. They saw little value in the classical education popular in Europe
that distinguished the aristocracy and upper class from others, but did little
in their minds to suit a person for a role of value in the community. Americans
needed to get stuff done and they didn’t care much about a person’s pedigree. This
opened up opportunities for people of low social status to grow in wealth and
influence. (Even in Europe, amateur scientists from many classes were common
and it especially leveled the social ground around England’s
coffeehouses.)
Franklin’s circle of mechanics and part-time scientists influenced the
generation that followed them. Franklin’s personal reputation allowed him to be
a leader in that generation who became the founders of the United States. The
emphasis on practicality and experience, with the accompanying devaluing of
ancient authorities in dead languages, influenced American political
thought as well as its science, technology and education. The connections he
made as a postmaster and scientific communicator also formed a model for the
political influencers of his time.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Lyons, Jonathan. The Society for
Useful Knowledge: How Benjamin Franklin and His Friends Brought the
Enlightenment to America. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
The First 20 Hours by Josh Kaufman
A lot has been written over the last few years about expertise,
often referring to a 10,000-hour rule. Research indicates that the people who
exhibit the highest level of expertise, even possibly being a genius, have in
their life put in 10,000 hours or more of deliberate
practice.
Your response to that bit of knowledge might be like mine: “I’d don’t
have 10,000 hours to put into learning something new.” What if you don’t need
to be an expert; you just need to be proficient. Maybe you want to learn
something for your personal edification, and you do not aspire to be great, but
simply to be good enough.
According to Josh Kaufman,
gaining a basic proficiency in a new skill is within reach. With an orderly
approach, it can be achieved in as little as 20 hours. Kaufman event entitled
his book on the subject The First 20
Hours.
Unlike other books on learning
I’ve read, Kaufman focuses more on skill than
knowledge, more on being able to do something than knowing about something.
Acquiring knowledge is important to learning a new skill, and he acknowledges
this by making research a part of his program, but he still emphasizes using as
much of the 20 hours as you can on deliberate practice.
Kaufman lays out a strategy for rapid skill acquisition. If compressed
to a list, it wouldn’t cover the length of a page. Part of what he does is
break down his method into parts that are easy, at least conceptually. That is
one of the methods: breaking a skill into sub-skills that can be more easily
learned and practiced. In this way, his method is simple.
If simple were easy, more things would be simple. Kaufman’s methods may reduce gaining
proficiency in a skill to 20 hours, but they are 20 hours of focused work to
which you must commit yourself. You can give yourself some early wins that will
make it easier to overcome the discouragement that comes when you become
frustrated by difficulties, but The First
20 Hours holds no strategies for overcoming laziness or disinterest.
If Kaufman only described his method, his book would be quite short. He
illustrates the methods by showing how he used them to rapidly acquire six
different skills. In addition to reiterating the steps to rapid skill
acquisition, he demonstrates the variety of skills one can learn. They range
from knowledge-intensive, technical
skills (programming) to physical skills (yoga), and much in between (playing
an instrument).
The skills that interested Kaufman were not skills that were of much
interest to me. Even so, it prompted me to think of skill I would like to
acquire and how I might apply his strategies to the task.
Kaufman also hints that his method could be used by a proficient person
to improve his skill, taking a step closer to expertise. The strategies are
aimed at engaging you in deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is the heart
of both acquiring and improving a skill.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Pinball Effect by James Burke
I originally posted this review at Infrastructure Watch, where I write about civil infrastructure, the environment and other matters of technology.
Burke, James. The Pinball Effect: How Renaissance Water Gardens Make the Carburetor Possible—and Other Journeys Through Knowledge. Boston: Little, Brown, 1996.
Reading The Pinball Effect may leave you feeling like a pinball, bouncing from one thing to another quickly. In places, it’s like a bee, tasting many flowers, but never lingering on one.
Burke is more interested in the links between ideas, innovations and inventions. He touches on many of the important technologies, science, events and movements from a broad section of history, but his subject is the more elusive connections between them.
To Burke, all knowledge is linked, so it doesn’t matter where you start. He starts with hairdressing, which leads to improvements in cruise ships. Before the journey is through, he touches on steam power, the major scientific breakthroughs of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, several political and religious movements of that time, Robin Hood, fairy tales and the telephone. That is just a fraction of the nodes on Burke’s web of knowledge.
Burke further indicates the web-like linkages between ideas by including “gateways” in his book. These marginal notations serve as a print version of a hyperlink. The book bounces around plenty if you read it straight through, so the gateways amount to a gimmick. I wasn’t tempted to read the book in any more than one of the 447 ways made possible by the gateways. If you’d like to flip back to a previous, related section, the gateways will save you a trip to the index.
The book is interesting, especially as a quick survey of the ideas that have shaped our history, especially our science and technology. It is also disorienting. Burke tries to capture the strings on the web of knowledge, the links between ideas, but it seems the one can only really see the nodes, the particular events of history and inventions. It is something like connect-the dots. Burke can show us many dots, and he does, and indicate that they are connected by leaping from one to the next, usually sensibly, but to some degree, it is still up to the reader to draw the connections.
Order this book here.
Burke, James. The Pinball Effect: How Renaissance Water Gardens Make the Carburetor Possible—and Other Journeys Through Knowledge. Boston: Little, Brown, 1996.
Reading The Pinball Effect may leave you feeling like a pinball, bouncing from one thing to another quickly. In places, it’s like a bee, tasting many flowers, but never lingering on one.
Burke is more interested in the links between ideas, innovations and inventions. He touches on many of the important technologies, science, events and movements from a broad section of history, but his subject is the more elusive connections between them.
To Burke, all knowledge is linked, so it doesn’t matter where you start. He starts with hairdressing, which leads to improvements in cruise ships. Before the journey is through, he touches on steam power, the major scientific breakthroughs of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, several political and religious movements of that time, Robin Hood, fairy tales and the telephone. That is just a fraction of the nodes on Burke’s web of knowledge.
Burke further indicates the web-like linkages between ideas by including “gateways” in his book. These marginal notations serve as a print version of a hyperlink. The book bounces around plenty if you read it straight through, so the gateways amount to a gimmick. I wasn’t tempted to read the book in any more than one of the 447 ways made possible by the gateways. If you’d like to flip back to a previous, related section, the gateways will save you a trip to the index.
The book is interesting, especially as a quick survey of the ideas that have shaped our history, especially our science and technology. It is also disorienting. Burke tries to capture the strings on the web of knowledge, the links between ideas, but it seems the one can only really see the nodes, the particular events of history and inventions. It is something like connect-the dots. Burke can show us many dots, and he does, and indicate that they are connected by leaping from one to the next, usually sensibly, but to some degree, it is still up to the reader to draw the connections.
Order this book here.
Saturday, April 7, 2018
The Gentleman Scientists by Tom Schachtman
The period of time around the American
Revolution coincided with the Enlightenment.
In Gentleman Scientists and
Revolutionaries, Tom
Schachtman endeavors to present a history
of American science
during this time and show how scientific ideas influenced the founding
fathers.
Shachtman starts with the colonial
period. Because many of the formally
educated people in America,
including clergyman,
had studied in Europe,
Enlightenment science was taught to many of the founding fathers to some degree
in their youths. As frontiersman, even in American cities and upper class,
practical knowledge was considered to be an acceptable subject along with classical
subjects. At the time, they wouldn’t have used the word “science,” nor would
they have strongly distinguished the study of science from the professions of engineering,
architecture
and medicine
or even agriculture
and skilled trades.
Americans were well-read, and the many newspapers of
the time introduced common people to scientific debate. In particular, Philadelphia
newspapers (including one operated by Benjamin
Franklin’s brother) sensationalized the debate over variolation
(inoculation) to prevent small pox. The American reputation for science was
slow to develop in the colonial period, but Franklin’s success in studying electricity
proved that the colonies could produce scientists to match the European adepts.
The Revolutionary
War did not bring scientific study to a stop, but it necessarily diverted a
lot of attention. Even so, people continued to seek scientific and technological
advances, especially if they might help the war effort.
After the war, the United States
continued to develop its scientific talent. Schacthman culminates his book in
the presidency
of Thomas
Jefferson and the period shortly after it. By this time, the nation had a
depth of scientific talent and could mount and expedition to the western edge
of the continent, start a steamboat line, and demonstrate that meteors
originated in outer space.
Scientific ideas of the time shaped the founders’ political
thinking. In particular, the Enlightenment was a period when many people
abandoned the notion that knowledge was received from authorities. Knowledge
could be discovered through observation of nature and the application of
reason. In particular, people might discover the laws of effective government
in much the way that Isaac Newton
discovered the laws of motion.
A related idea was that knowledge was tested, adjusted and improved by
experimentation. They did not imagine that they were creating a perfect
government, they were instead applying the lessons they learned from previous
experiments in ancient and European governments to a new experiment that may or
may not produce the results they hoped for. In some ways, Americans are
still participating in that same experiment.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Schachtman, Tom. Gentleman
Scientists and Revolutionaries: The Founding Fathers in the Age of
Enlightenment. New York: Palgrave
MacMillan, 2014.
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson
Johnson, Steven. The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution and the Birth of America. New York: Riverhead, 2008.
Joseph Priestly was a man of contradictions. He was an inventive scientist, one of the fathers of chemistry, who somehow clung to an ancient idea his own research undermined. He had the courage to be a heretic, but held on to religious beliefs when many of his peers embraced atheism. He was a proponent of political liberty and the American cause whose views brought him trouble even in America.
Johnson’s Invention of Air is partly a biography of Priestly. It is also an attempt to see how revolutions in ideas occur. Priestly was connected to the scientific, religious and political revolutions of the Enlightenment. As one man’s involvement in all of them suggests, they were not completely separate, nor did the intellectual leaders of the time see them as discreet.
As a biography, the book works well. The sections shift emphasis from science to religion to politics. Though Priestly was a professional clergyman and ostensibly amateur scientist most of his life, Johnson’s framework works well chronologically because of his subject’s shifting emphasis.
Johnson doesn’t hit on a new theory of idea revolutions. He suggests the outlines of one, or maybe the method of discovering it. He finds in Priestly the beginnings of a systems approach to knowledge, especially science, that crosses disciplines and switches from small-scale to large-scale and back again. The model is modern ecological and systems science, which Johnson finds rooted in the coffeehouse meetings of Enlightenment amateurs who the many areas of human knowledge and endeavor as connected and amenable to improvement through reason.
I’m not a great fan of Enlightenment thinking, but I admire that they were serious and that they saw that truth in one realm (science, religion or politics) had ramifications in others. People seem willing to throw up walls and throw up their hands just to avoid the difficulties of struggling with all these things. Science wants to be unfettered from political and religious restrictions, but only thrives in stable and free (political) environments where people see the material world as worthy of study (an essentially religious view). The political freedom we long for needs support from good and available knowledge (science) and institutions that support individual self-government (religion). Religion in particular is walled off from other areas, but scientists and politicians have too readily shrugged off ethics that were based on human sentiment, when they were accountable to no one because no one was stronger.
Stephen Johnson also wrote The Ghost Map.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Einstein’s Clocks, Poincare’s Maps: Empires of Time by Peter Galison
The Science of Leonardo by Fritjof Capra
Steam by Andrea Sutcliffe
Joseph Priestly was a man of contradictions. He was an inventive scientist, one of the fathers of chemistry, who somehow clung to an ancient idea his own research undermined. He had the courage to be a heretic, but held on to religious beliefs when many of his peers embraced atheism. He was a proponent of political liberty and the American cause whose views brought him trouble even in America.
Johnson’s Invention of Air is partly a biography of Priestly. It is also an attempt to see how revolutions in ideas occur. Priestly was connected to the scientific, religious and political revolutions of the Enlightenment. As one man’s involvement in all of them suggests, they were not completely separate, nor did the intellectual leaders of the time see them as discreet.
As a biography, the book works well. The sections shift emphasis from science to religion to politics. Though Priestly was a professional clergyman and ostensibly amateur scientist most of his life, Johnson’s framework works well chronologically because of his subject’s shifting emphasis.
Johnson doesn’t hit on a new theory of idea revolutions. He suggests the outlines of one, or maybe the method of discovering it. He finds in Priestly the beginnings of a systems approach to knowledge, especially science, that crosses disciplines and switches from small-scale to large-scale and back again. The model is modern ecological and systems science, which Johnson finds rooted in the coffeehouse meetings of Enlightenment amateurs who the many areas of human knowledge and endeavor as connected and amenable to improvement through reason.
I’m not a great fan of Enlightenment thinking, but I admire that they were serious and that they saw that truth in one realm (science, religion or politics) had ramifications in others. People seem willing to throw up walls and throw up their hands just to avoid the difficulties of struggling with all these things. Science wants to be unfettered from political and religious restrictions, but only thrives in stable and free (political) environments where people see the material world as worthy of study (an essentially religious view). The political freedom we long for needs support from good and available knowledge (science) and institutions that support individual self-government (religion). Religion in particular is walled off from other areas, but scientists and politicians have too readily shrugged off ethics that were based on human sentiment, when they were accountable to no one because no one was stronger.
Stephen Johnson also wrote The Ghost Map.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Einstein’s Clocks, Poincare’s Maps: Empires of Time by Peter Galison
The Science of Leonardo by Fritjof Capra
Steam by Andrea Sutcliffe
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel by Frances & Joseph Gies
Among many the Middle
Ages, between the Classical
period and the Renaissance,
is still thought of as the Dark Ages. In their book Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel, Frances and
Joseph Gies
summarize scholarship that shows that the Medieval period
was one of commercial
and technological
advancement that welcomed invention and the dispersion of knowledge.
The authors present a history
of technology beginning with the contributions of Greek and Roman civilization
and culminating with European developments
on the cusp of the Age of
Discovery. The period in between is
sometimes called the Dark Ages because of the lack of documentary history, the
loss of the centralizing influence of Roman Empire,
and the loss of Greek texts and knowledge in much of Europe. The Gieses attempt to debunk the notion that
this time was “dark” in the sense of being backward, especially superstitious,
and lacking in advancement in knowledge, commerce, science,
and especially technology.
From a technological point of view, the Middle Ages didn’t inherit from
the Greeks or Romans much more than they might have learned for more ancient
civilizations. The Greeks little
esteemed the useful arts. The Romans
were very practical adopters of technology, and they certainly did things on a
large scale, but their main contribution was size and organization. Medieval Europe more fruitfully borrowed and
built upon technology from China. Ancient China had very advance technology in
comparison to contemporary civilizations, and the spice trade aided the
transmission of technology, in the form of both devices and ideas, from East to
West.
I think some of the greatest advances in this period occurred in architecture
and materials. In architecture, builders
began to move away from Roman circular arches to something more like true
arches. This, along with the flying
buttress, another Medieval development, made a new architecture of more open
and brighter spaces possible.
Materials greatly improved, too, especially iron. Either directly or as an idea, iron-making
technology moved from China to Europe.
The blast furnace gave Europeans the ability to make cast iron. Though casting iron parts was in their grasp,
the more significant issue was that a lot more iron could be made. Iron tools and parts made a host of other
technology practicable.
Technological changes led to cultural changes, too. Improved applications of animal
and water
power to agriculture
and food production led to a transition away from slavery to a serf-tenant
system in which the people who worked the field had a right to portion of their
production. Agricultural surpluses led
to the development of cities along with a decline of bound serfs rise of free
tradesmen. The development of
manufacturing led to all kinds of trade and improvements in commercial
practices including double-entry bookkeeping.
I think this book may be a good introduction to the history of
technology for people seeking an entry point to the field. It is neither too technical nor too academic
in its style. It covers a period of
history that is not as well covered by other popular books. It also acknowledges and summarizes the
technology of the immediately preceding and succeeding ages, so it covers a
very wide timeframe.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Gies, Frances, & Joseph Gies. Cathedral,
Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
Links related to Medieval science and technology
Grotesque mummy head reveals advanced medieval science
Google
Links related to Medieval science and technology
Grotesque mummy head reveals advanced medieval science
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Why Science Does Not Disprove God by Amir Aczel
New
Atheism is a movement that arose after the attacks of September
11, 2001. Proponents of the movement blame religion
for nearly all the violence and
disorder in the world, and they aim to eliminate it and any belief in God. Many New
Atheism writers call upon science
for proofs that there is no God, such as biologist Richard
Dawkins and physicist
Lawrence
M. Krauss. These arguments have been picked up by Sam Harris, Daniel Dennet
and old-school atheist
Christopher
Hitchens.
Amir
D. Aczel, a mathematician
and science writer,
argued that these authors misappropriated science for this purpose, sometimes
misapplying it, misrepresenting it, or propagating misunderstandings. He
presented his arguments in Why Science
Does Not Disprove God.
Aczel’s perspective is very scientific, though he respects religion. He
accepts the prevailing theories of cosmology that our universe began in the Big Bang. He
accepts that evolutionary
processes have produced higher and more complicated life forms from simpler
ones though natural
selection.
Aczel begins by addressing the archeological support for Biblical history.
While he does not suggest that there is evidence of Biblical miracles, there
is a lot of evidence supporting the historical narratives of the Bible. While
New Atheism argues there is no archeological evidence to support the Bible,
Aczel shows that there is abundant support for the history described in it.
Another popular argument of the New Atheists is that quantum
theory demonstrates that the universe arose spontaneously out of nothing.
Aczel describes how quantum theory actually shows that we cannot know some
details about the earliest moments of the universe following the Big Bang and
that it cannot at all address what was before the Big Bang. No theory of
physics supposes it came from nothing. Some argue that it arose spontaneously,
but it still occurred in due to physical process in a medium that existed
before the universe, which itself raises many of the same questions of origins.
This points to the crux of Aczel’s argument. Science, math, and logic all point to
their own limitations. There are huge unanswered, important questions in science,
not the least of which is what is consciousness
and how it came to be. We may not be able to answer such questions and there is
certainly some knowledge that is not accessible to us. New Atheism proponents
present science as having firm answers to these questions when it sometimes
only has speculation or no real answers at all. Science may someday uncover
some of this knowledge, but in can’t uncover all of it.
While he demonstrates that science doesn’t, and cannot, disprove God,
he does not suggest that it can or will prove the existence of God. Aczel
believes that God may be outside of what can be known through science,
mathematics or even the human mind.
Aczel still has a great appreciation for science, and he wants others
to appreciate it, too. His argument with New Atheism is that its proponents
misuse science and misdirect people. He would rather we engage science for all
the great knowledge it can bring us, not coopt it in a crusade against religion
or a debate about God it may never be able to answer.
Why Science Does Not Disprove God
is not written in a technical style. Most people should be able to understand
it even if they have very little scientific education.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Amir D. Aczel also wrote
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Future Bright by Martin E. Martinez
Higher intelligence
is linked to higher achievement. The demands of our world and culture are
calling for higher achievement to address increasingly complex problems. As
individuals and societies, we should strive to increase intelligence, which is
possible, to arm ourselves to overcome these challenges. This is the opinion
advanced by education
professor Martin E.
Martinez in his book Future Bright.
Martinez builds his case by starting with the link between intelligence
and achievement. He cites studies that indicate that in school,
work,
and personal life, achievement is positively correlated to intelligence.
He moves on to describe what intelligence is, drawing on historic and
current theories and research. A significant portion of the book is devoted to
defining and understanding intelligence. The prevailing model is hierarchical. A
single general intelligence is linked to achievement in all areas. There are
also different types of intelligence that are linked to success in clusters of
specific skills. Intelligence is affected by both genetics and the environment,
and by both individual and cultural factors. If you are looking for a primer on
intelligence that covers a lot of ground relatively briefly, you can find it in
these chapters.
The hope that Martinez offers is that intelligence is, in part,
learned, and it can be increased. Two major types of intelligence, most
strongly related to general intelligence, are fluid and crystalline intelligence.
Fluid intelligence is related to successfully dealing with novel situations.
The heart of fluid intelligence is problem
solving. Crystalline intelligence is
structured knowledge, such as is attained from formal education. It is not
merely an accumulation of facts; it is an organized mental repository of useful
information. The primary skill for crystalline intelligence is critical
thinking, the ability distinguish credible, worthy, and useful ideas.
Problems solving and critical thinking are skills that can be learned
and improved. Similarly, we can learn new information. By these means fluid and
crystalline intelligence, and with them general intelligence, can be increased.
Intelligence is not the only determinant of success, for many
intelligent people are not successful. Another important factor is what
Martinez call “effective character.”
These are personality
traits that Martinez suggests can be learned or improved in most people. The
critical trait is conscientiousness.
Conscientiousness is associated with setting and pursuing goals, working
with diligence, and seeking excellence.
Martinez offers several strategies for increasing intelligence. One
that is in keeping with the motivation behind this blog is to increase
crystalline intelligence (structured knowledge) by reading books. A work as
long a book must be structured well to be coherent from beginning to end. In
addition, effective written communication presents ideas in a manner that lends
itself to analysis by critical thinking. Nonfiction
books are especially useful for cultivating crystalline intelligence.
Though the strategies are aimed at the individual, he discusses how
some of them are adaptable to parenting
and schools. Because Martinez in the early chapters suggests societal benefits
to higher intelligence, it makes sense that his book would also include
suggestions for policy
and cultural adaptions.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Martinez, Martin E. Future Bright:
A Transforming Vision of Human Intelligence. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2013.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Learn Better by Ulrich Boser
Learning
is not easy. It takes effort. Too often, people squander their effort on
ineffective activities. Ulrich Boser
seeks to correct this by describing effective, research-based learning
techniques in Learn Better.
Learning begins with value. You won’t
put effort into learning something you don’t care about. When I was in third
grade, I found very little value in memorizing how to spell words or recite
multiplication tables. When my teacher tied my performance on multiplication
tables to my attendance of recess, something I valued quite a bit, I found the
will to exert myself.
“Motivation is the first step in acquiring any sort of skill,” Ulrich Boser, Learn Better
Once you’ve squared away the motivation, you can get on with the doing
of learing. Learing is at heart doing. It is a mental activity, though it is
often paired with, supported by, or supportive of physical activity. If you’re
actually learning, you’re probably experience some struggle and feel like your
pushing yourself a little, but not so much that you’re lost.
In a sense, Boser’s book is organized around different types of doing
appropriate for different stages of learning. In the early stages of learning,
you decide what you want to learn and plan you learning process. When you have
a foundation, you can concentrate on improvement. As your skills improve, you
can shift to deepening your knowledge and exploring more complex applications.
The best experts add to this a strong sense of the patterns and connections.
From beginning to end, learning requires humility, and
the people who sustain and grow mastery over time evaluate their knowledge and
reflect on what they are doing.
The book is full of ideas you can use. For instance, I created for
myself a simple process of spaced-out learning to polish some skills I wanted
to improve at work. When I started writing reviews and summaries of books, even
before I started this blog, it was because I found I could remember the major
points better if I summarized them in my own words, even if I did not return to
my notes. I was using form of retrieval practice, which is one of several
techniques Boser describes.
Though Boser draws on research, the book is intended for a broad
audience. If you’re looking to improve your own learning or for ways your
children or employees can get more out of their learning efforts, you’re likely
to find something you can understand and use in Learn Better.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Monday, September 12, 2011
The Victory of Reason by Rodney Stark
Stark, Rodney. The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success. New York: Random House, 2005.
Rodney Stark argues in The Victory of Reason that the West grew to prominence in science, technology, commerce, and power because of its foundations in Christianity. Personal freedom, democracy, and capitalism grew and eventually flourished in Western Civilization because Christianity provided a philosophy and set of beliefs that such things were possible, achievable, and valuable. These things failed, stumbled, and declined in other parts of the world because the cultures, particularly religions, that prevailed there supported philosophies and beliefs that lead another direction.
It starts with a notion of God that is almost unique to Christianity: God is a being of reason. Therefore they could use human reason, however imperfect, to understand God and increase our understanding of Him. Christian theology wasn’t simply asserting scripture, but reasoning about God and His Word to increase, refine, and improve knowledge and doctrine.
The Christian faith embraced progress through reason in doctrine. Christians looked forward to becoming progressively better believers. God is immutable, but those who believe Him can grow in understanding as they mature and with successive generations. This religion of belief contrasted with religions of practice, which inherently looked backward to established law.
These foundational beliefs in reason and progress carried over into Christian views of the physical world. It was a real place made by God. In addition, because God created the world using His reason, we can understand it using ours, just as we can use reason to increase our understanding of God. This belief gave impetus to modern science. Some credit goes to the ancient Greek philosophers, some of who had faith in reason and others in experimentation, though not both at the same time. Islamic philosophers admired, preserved and closely studied the Greeks. However, it was Christians who took these resources and added their own worldview to create modern science. Early scientists were Christians, often supported by the church directly or through universities, which were connected to the church at the time. Western nations gained a lead in science that they still hold.
Progress carried over to social and political issues as well. In particular, Christian beliefs about human equality made the church a leader in the abolition of slavery in Europe and later the Americas. It also gave rise to increasingly democratic governments, personal freedoms, and property rights. This created an environment where capitalism could flourish. Capitalism love technological development, and it didn’t hurt that it was growing in cultures that were amenable to science, and these things grew together creating new levels of freedom, opportunity, and wealth. Christian theologians had the flexibility and reasoning power to adapt doctrine to these new developments while remaining true to received scripture.
Stark supports his arguments with examples from history. One of the more interesting things about the book is the way he compares examples from the Christian world to counterexample from other cultures, such as China or Islam. China was a prominent, technologically advance culture that did not hold its lead. Islam preserved Greek knowledge during Europe’s supposedly dark ages, but did not advance. It was the late bloomers in the Christian West who had the philosophical tools to build success upon success. He also contrasts the winners and decliners in Europe and the Americas, showing how successful and wealthy nations became that way by embracing religious liberty, democracy, and capitalism, while those that declined held to or recreated feudal systems.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Copernicus’ Secret by Jack Repcheck
Descarte’s Secret Notebook by Amir D. Aczel
God Wants You to Be Rich by Paul Zane Pilzer
How We Got Here by Andy Kessler
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization by Anthony Esolen
The Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Steven K. Scott
The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek
Rodney Stark argues in The Victory of Reason that the West grew to prominence in science, technology, commerce, and power because of its foundations in Christianity. Personal freedom, democracy, and capitalism grew and eventually flourished in Western Civilization because Christianity provided a philosophy and set of beliefs that such things were possible, achievable, and valuable. These things failed, stumbled, and declined in other parts of the world because the cultures, particularly religions, that prevailed there supported philosophies and beliefs that lead another direction.
It starts with a notion of God that is almost unique to Christianity: God is a being of reason. Therefore they could use human reason, however imperfect, to understand God and increase our understanding of Him. Christian theology wasn’t simply asserting scripture, but reasoning about God and His Word to increase, refine, and improve knowledge and doctrine.
The Christian faith embraced progress through reason in doctrine. Christians looked forward to becoming progressively better believers. God is immutable, but those who believe Him can grow in understanding as they mature and with successive generations. This religion of belief contrasted with religions of practice, which inherently looked backward to established law.
These foundational beliefs in reason and progress carried over into Christian views of the physical world. It was a real place made by God. In addition, because God created the world using His reason, we can understand it using ours, just as we can use reason to increase our understanding of God. This belief gave impetus to modern science. Some credit goes to the ancient Greek philosophers, some of who had faith in reason and others in experimentation, though not both at the same time. Islamic philosophers admired, preserved and closely studied the Greeks. However, it was Christians who took these resources and added their own worldview to create modern science. Early scientists were Christians, often supported by the church directly or through universities, which were connected to the church at the time. Western nations gained a lead in science that they still hold.
Progress carried over to social and political issues as well. In particular, Christian beliefs about human equality made the church a leader in the abolition of slavery in Europe and later the Americas. It also gave rise to increasingly democratic governments, personal freedoms, and property rights. This created an environment where capitalism could flourish. Capitalism love technological development, and it didn’t hurt that it was growing in cultures that were amenable to science, and these things grew together creating new levels of freedom, opportunity, and wealth. Christian theologians had the flexibility and reasoning power to adapt doctrine to these new developments while remaining true to received scripture.
Stark supports his arguments with examples from history. One of the more interesting things about the book is the way he compares examples from the Christian world to counterexample from other cultures, such as China or Islam. China was a prominent, technologically advance culture that did not hold its lead. Islam preserved Greek knowledge during Europe’s supposedly dark ages, but did not advance. It was the late bloomers in the Christian West who had the philosophical tools to build success upon success. He also contrasts the winners and decliners in Europe and the Americas, showing how successful and wealthy nations became that way by embracing religious liberty, democracy, and capitalism, while those that declined held to or recreated feudal systems.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Copernicus’ Secret by Jack Repcheck
Descarte’s Secret Notebook by Amir D. Aczel
God Wants You to Be Rich by Paul Zane Pilzer
How We Got Here by Andy Kessler
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization by Anthony Esolen
The Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Steven K. Scott
The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek
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