Ben-Shahar, Tal. Happier: Learn the Secrets of Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.
Happier is based on a popular class Dr. Ben-Shahar teaches at Harvard University. The author refers to happiness as the ultimate currency, and in that light, it is not surprising that so many people are seeking more of it.
Ben-Shahar frames happiness as a balance of present and future benefits. Many people sacrifice present pleasure for hopes of a more desirable future; they’re rat-racers. Hedonists seek momentary pleasures without regard for the future. Those who’ve given up on finding happiness in both the present and future are nihilists. Happiness is found in a life that has future benefits that is enjoyable along the way.
Happiness is about more that just pleasure, which is hollow by itself. Happy people lead lives they find meaningful. In a sense, a meaningful life provides the ultimate future benefit. Pairing meaning with enjoyment along the way, present pleasure, leads to happiness. This doesn’t lead to a life free of negative emotions or perpetual positivity; Ben-Shahar thinks that is unrealistic and probably unfulfilling and throughout the book reminds readers of the balanced definition of happiness.
The middle section of the book tackles some of the practical matters of happiness in education, work and relationships. School is all about present sacrifice for future payoff. That mindset can send people in to careers they find to be meaningless drudgery. The same attitudes can come into relationships. Happiness in the real world sometimes means setting aside the expectations of others and society and acting on what you personally find meaningful and pleasurable. Not everyone has the luxury of putting off all obligations and doing their own thing, but nearly everyone can do something to introduce more happiness into their lives.
In closing, Ben-Shahar offers a number of “meditations.” These chapters offer exercises, of both practice and thought, for building happiness on our lives.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query present. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query present. Sort by date Show all posts
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
How to Write & Present Technical Information by Charles H. Sides
Sides, Charles H. How to Write & Present Technical Information. 2nd ed. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx, 1991.
How to Write & Present Technical Information is a brief, informal, informative guide to communicating technical information in a variety of formats. It’s for anyone who writes or presents technical information as part of their work, including, but not limited to, technical writers. Its main audience is workers in high-tech industries, but the principles are applicable to most technical information.
This book differs from some other guides to technical writing in its emphasis on audience analysis. It devotes a chapter to the subject and revisits it several times throughout. Using the recommended questions, one can profile an audience and decide what should be included or left out of a document or presentation and how to present it.
Organization is also a major issue in the books and several ways of organizing technical information are presented. Many of the chapters apply organizing principles to particular types of documents.
A variety of documents is covered in this short book. These include technical documentation, user guides, papers, articles, memos, specifications, procedures, proposals, reports, and product descriptions. It also covers the use of graphics in written documents and visual aids in presentations.
The importance of grammar is discussed, but only a few common grammatical problems are discussed. If readers are looking for a detailed guide to issues of grammar and punctuation, they’ll need to turn to a stylebook.
Though grammar and punctuation is glossed over, editing is covered in some detail. The author recommends a process of editing in layers beginning with the organizational logic (do the ideas flow and make sense?). From there, an editor moves in order to the mechanical development of topics (is the structure of parts, paragraphs and sentences correct, and does it work?), style (is it appropriate and varied?), and manuscript quality (is it orderly and clear, with enough good headings?). Proofreading is tackled last because there is a temptation to think that all the editing is done when the proofreading is done, but proofreading alone may overlook larger problems with a manuscript.
The author draws on his own experience as a technical writer and teacher of technical communications. His experience is the source of several examples and illustrations.
As you might expect from a book that is almost a decade old, some of the references to technology and software are dated. However, the principles of clear communication are the same, which makes this book hold up as a reference.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The Elements of Technical Writing by Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly
How to Write a Manual by Elizabeth Slatkin
How to Write & Present Technical Information is a brief, informal, informative guide to communicating technical information in a variety of formats. It’s for anyone who writes or presents technical information as part of their work, including, but not limited to, technical writers. Its main audience is workers in high-tech industries, but the principles are applicable to most technical information.
This book differs from some other guides to technical writing in its emphasis on audience analysis. It devotes a chapter to the subject and revisits it several times throughout. Using the recommended questions, one can profile an audience and decide what should be included or left out of a document or presentation and how to present it.
Organization is also a major issue in the books and several ways of organizing technical information are presented. Many of the chapters apply organizing principles to particular types of documents.
A variety of documents is covered in this short book. These include technical documentation, user guides, papers, articles, memos, specifications, procedures, proposals, reports, and product descriptions. It also covers the use of graphics in written documents and visual aids in presentations.
The importance of grammar is discussed, but only a few common grammatical problems are discussed. If readers are looking for a detailed guide to issues of grammar and punctuation, they’ll need to turn to a stylebook.
Though grammar and punctuation is glossed over, editing is covered in some detail. The author recommends a process of editing in layers beginning with the organizational logic (do the ideas flow and make sense?). From there, an editor moves in order to the mechanical development of topics (is the structure of parts, paragraphs and sentences correct, and does it work?), style (is it appropriate and varied?), and manuscript quality (is it orderly and clear, with enough good headings?). Proofreading is tackled last because there is a temptation to think that all the editing is done when the proofreading is done, but proofreading alone may overlook larger problems with a manuscript.
The author draws on his own experience as a technical writer and teacher of technical communications. His experience is the source of several examples and illustrations.
As you might expect from a book that is almost a decade old, some of the references to technology and software are dated. However, the principles of clear communication are the same, which makes this book hold up as a reference.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The Elements of Technical Writing by Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly
How to Write a Manual by Elizabeth Slatkin
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Why Comics? by Hilary Chute
I enjoyed reading comic
books as a kid. Sometimes I enjoy reading them as an adult. Comics have
always been for adults (and kids, too). While popular superhero
comics have told stories of the physical and moral paragons of our fantasies,
comics have also been a place accessible to those who didn’t see themselves
represented in other media. The combination of words and pictures, sometimes
more of a juxtaposition, that are the language of comics can powerfully present
a point of view. Hilary Chute
considers the power of comics to communicate the experience of individuals and
subcultures in Why Comics?
While Chute focuses on comic books, she considers cartooning more
broadly, especially the early cartoons that appeared in British
magazines (quickly imitated in the U.S.) and
the American newspaper comic strip.
While some newspaper comics were designed to appeal to kids, many were meant to
attract adult readers. They often depicted people from poor and immigrant
communities. In addition, cartooning could also be very artistic and even in
the early days of comic strips some artists were recognized for the quality of
their images and storytelling, such as Winsor McCay
and George
Herriman.
Because Chute generally focuses on groups that were historically or
currently marginalized, much of the book focuses on underground
and independent
comics. I’ll admit that I’ve not particularly been a fan of underground
comics. My earliest introduction to underground comics in the 1980s was mostly
to 1960s and 1970s books that
featured drug
culture and bizarre or pornographic depictions of sex.
In the subsequent years, I’ve come across some incredibly good underground, literary
or artistic comics. Chute discusses some of them such as Art
Spieglman’s Maus, Marjane
Satrapi’s Persepolis and Harvey
Pekar’s American Splendor. I’m a Midwesterner and
I was amazed to see Pekar’s depictions of scenes I might see in my own town.
Comics were born as a mass media, which may explain some of the stigma
attached to them, and mainstream comics have always been produced in
factory-like manor with a division of labor (writer, penciler, inker, etc.).
Some creators were uncredited, or one name appeared on the work of many (this
practice was common in the newspaper comic strips, too). Undeground and art
comics were more often the work of an auteur, who produced the entire work.
This opened up comics to more individual perspectives that strayed farther from
the mainstream. Comics can powerfully represent personal experience or memories
because it is like memory: it mixes words and images, it can readily present
comparisons and contrasts, and it can show past, present, future, real and
imagined on the same page.
I don’t plan on adding a lot of underground comics to my reading list,
but I did enjoy Chute’s book. If someone is looking for an introduction to
comics that are outside the mainstream and done well, Why Comics? is a good place to start.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein
Lakein, Alan. How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life. 1973. New York: Signet, 1974.
How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life is a short, direct guide to practical time management. The essence of Alan Lakein’s approach is setting priorities and planning.
The early chapters of the book present techniques for identifying and setting your priorities. It addresses both big goals and manageable tasks.
I put one of these prioritizing techniques, related to my to-do list, to immediate use. This has helped me spend more time on things that are important to me. It also helped me to feel less guilty about dropping low-priority things off my to-do list. If something is unimportant, I shouldn’t waste my time on it or let it clutter my to-do list.
Lakein isn’t judgmental about priorities. He doesn’t tell you what you should be doing. The book is about helping you accomplish what is important to you.
Planning goes hand-in-hand with setting priorities. Lakein says, “Control starts with planning.” Planning is simply making decisions about what you want to do, when you want to do it, and sometimes how you want to do it. I’ve seen complicated planning systems, but Lakein keeps is simple: make a list and set priorities.
Lakein also recommends scheduling. Life is full of routine and needful things that can take over our days. Making time for the things that are important means setting aside time to do them and not doing other stuff, especially less important stuff, during that time.
The latter chapters of the book present several techniques for staying on track with your priorities. Whether you need to carve out time, get started, break down overwhelming tasks, overcome fear or get back on track when you backslide (it’s bound to happen), Lakein has helpful suggestions for overcoming these and other obstacles.
I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of Lakein earlier, especially in this time-obsessed age. Maybe it’s because his book predates fancy, leather-bound planning binders, personal digital assitants and smart phones. This may be why his methods seem simpler than some other programs. His methods are compatible with today’s popular tools for time management, though they were developed when the tools were paper lists and calendars.
Lakein’s focus is practical and he doesn’t give much attention to deep theories. His tone is often like the conversational, no-nonsense, blunt self-help books of earlier decades. This makes the book readable and useful and maybe you, like me, will find something in it you can use right away.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Steven K. Scott
How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life is a short, direct guide to practical time management. The essence of Alan Lakein’s approach is setting priorities and planning.
The early chapters of the book present techniques for identifying and setting your priorities. It addresses both big goals and manageable tasks.
I put one of these prioritizing techniques, related to my to-do list, to immediate use. This has helped me spend more time on things that are important to me. It also helped me to feel less guilty about dropping low-priority things off my to-do list. If something is unimportant, I shouldn’t waste my time on it or let it clutter my to-do list.
Lakein isn’t judgmental about priorities. He doesn’t tell you what you should be doing. The book is about helping you accomplish what is important to you.
Planning goes hand-in-hand with setting priorities. Lakein says, “Control starts with planning.” Planning is simply making decisions about what you want to do, when you want to do it, and sometimes how you want to do it. I’ve seen complicated planning systems, but Lakein keeps is simple: make a list and set priorities.
Lakein also recommends scheduling. Life is full of routine and needful things that can take over our days. Making time for the things that are important means setting aside time to do them and not doing other stuff, especially less important stuff, during that time.
The latter chapters of the book present several techniques for staying on track with your priorities. Whether you need to carve out time, get started, break down overwhelming tasks, overcome fear or get back on track when you backslide (it’s bound to happen), Lakein has helpful suggestions for overcoming these and other obstacles.
I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of Lakein earlier, especially in this time-obsessed age. Maybe it’s because his book predates fancy, leather-bound planning binders, personal digital assitants and smart phones. This may be why his methods seem simpler than some other programs. His methods are compatible with today’s popular tools for time management, though they were developed when the tools were paper lists and calendars.
Lakein’s focus is practical and he doesn’t give much attention to deep theories. His tone is often like the conversational, no-nonsense, blunt self-help books of earlier decades. This makes the book readable and useful and maybe you, like me, will find something in it you can use right away.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Steven K. Scott
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Stop Whining, Start Living by Dr. Laura
Schlessinger,
Laura. Stop Whining, Start Living. New York: HarperCollins,
2008.
We make ourselves crazy.
We can stop doing it. That is the
message Laura Schlessinger, popularly known as Dr. Laura, present in her book Stop Whining, Start Living.
So much of how we make ourselves miserable is how we look at
things. Life is difficult, for some
people more than others. If we focus on
difficulties, problems, and situations we don’t like, we’ll feel the weight of
them. If instead we focus on the things
in life we enjoy, that encourage us, and the people we love and who love use,
we’ll feel the lightness of it. Perspective
doesn’t make problems go away, but a good point of view can keep us from
ignoring the good things in our lives.
Relating to this is the need for action. Our complaints don’t change the situations we
complain about. Action, especially acts
that help others, make the world better and help us feel better. As Schlessinger puts it, “ultimate meaning fullness
in our lives comes from fulfilling our obligations to others.”
Stop Whining, Start
Living presents variations on these two themes, focusing on different areas
of life, especially relationships. She devotes a chapter to marriage. Even here, a happy marriage is largely a
matter of looking at the things you love about your spouse and not accentuating
the negative. Act lovingly toward your
spouse.
As the title “doctor” implies, Schlessinger has academic
training and is licensed in marriage and family
therapy. Her book is not academic or professional in
tone. She is conversational.
Schlessinger draws many examples from communication she had
with listeners of her radio
program. Sometimes she refers to
difficult and emotionally charged situations.
These examples make her advice more powerful and approachable.
On that radio program, Schlessinger developed a reputation for
being confrontational. It comes through
in this book, too. I don’t think this comes
from meanness. She’s out to expose the thinking
that underlays complaining and present an alternative. Even in the nicest exchange, that is a little
confrontational.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be
interested in
On that radio program, Schlessinger developed a reputation for being confrontational. It comes through in this book, too. I don’t think this comes from meanness. She’s out to expose the thinking that underlays complaining and present an alternative. Even in the nicest exchange, that is a little confrontational.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
As I read Writing Down the Bones,
the writing
guide by Natalie
Goldberg that was first published in 1984,
I found myself being more courageous and honest in my writing. At least I’m
more that way in the writing I do for myself.
That is where it starts. Better writing comes from the practice of
writing. Goldberg recommends timed writing as a practice. Set the amount of
time you plan to write, even if it is as short as 10 minutes, and write as fast
and freely as you can.
I’ve been doing something similar for a while. What helped me break
through to more scary and fruitful territory is Goldberg’s advice to write a
little more. If you feel you’ve written all you can about something, write a
little more. I found it pushed me to write down thoughts and feelings I didn’t
want to admit I had. I don’t know that these confessions to myself had made me
a better writer, but when I break through I feel like I may be able to deal
with something I’ve been avoiding.
In both of these practices, writing is a kind of meditation,
which Goldberg discusses in several of the book’s short chapters. She draws on Buddhist
practices such as meditation throughout the book.
Her Buddhist practices also involve being present, which she suggests
is helpful for writers. Be present in your everyday life and in your writing.
Be attentive,
listen, and you will fill your mind with the wonderful things. These become
specific details that ground your writing in real life. Instead of writing
about something, you can write what is; your readers will conjure up on their
own the emotions associated with the experience you capture in your words.
“Whatever is in front of you is your life, so please take care of it,” Natalie Goldberg, Afterward to Writing Down the Bones
Goldberg believes writing should be tied to the rest of your life.
Whatever you’re doing, you’re a writer, and even though you can and should give
your full attention to the person or task in front of you, the writing mind is
still being primed for its work. And writing is work; it requires effort. Like
any worthwhile thing, you get out of it what you put into it. Writing is a
process and it needs to be approached with joy, honesty and patience if it is
to bear fruit.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer
Meltzer, Brad. The Book of Lies. New York: Grand Central, 2008.
ISBN-13: 978-0-446-57788-5
ISBN-10: 0-446-57788-X
The Book of Lies is a thriller that brings together the ancient, the old and the present. The old and the present are tied to a gun that injures a man today and killed a man in 1932. These events are also linked to a search for an ancient book, God’s mark, or reward, to Cain for repenting of his brother’s murder.
The 1932 killing was of Mitchell Siegel. He was the father of Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman. It’s true that Mitchell died during a robbery of a shop, officially of a heart attack, though family history is divided over whether this is true or whether he was shot by the robber. For the fictional tale author Brad Meltzer goes with the shooting. The fictional version of Jerry hides clues to his father’s murder, and the secret he died to protect, in an early version of Superman.
The characters are drawn into finding the clues in Superman when one is shot by the same gun that killed Mitchell Siegel. He is an ex-con and the protagonist is his son, a disgraced former customs agent. They barely stay ahead of the others who are seeking them or Cain’s book, federal agents, occultists and rivals in there own camp.
That Cain murdered Abel is from the Bible. Beyond that, Meltzer’s version of the story owes more to the occult than the Bible and may be largely from the author’s imagination. Of course, the biblical account doesn’t leave much room for a modern-day thriller.
The events surrounding the death of Jerry Siegel’s father are fictional, too, though this recent history is treated with more care. Siegel has surviving family, including his wife, and co-created the most well recognized character in comics, a medium for which Meltzer writes.
I’ll admit I’m not especially a fan of thrillers. I was drawn to this book by the Siegel connection. I found the book to be entertaining with plenty of action.
ISBN-13: 978-0-446-57788-5
ISBN-10: 0-446-57788-X
The Book of Lies is a thriller that brings together the ancient, the old and the present. The old and the present are tied to a gun that injures a man today and killed a man in 1932. These events are also linked to a search for an ancient book, God’s mark, or reward, to Cain for repenting of his brother’s murder.
The 1932 killing was of Mitchell Siegel. He was the father of Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman. It’s true that Mitchell died during a robbery of a shop, officially of a heart attack, though family history is divided over whether this is true or whether he was shot by the robber. For the fictional tale author Brad Meltzer goes with the shooting. The fictional version of Jerry hides clues to his father’s murder, and the secret he died to protect, in an early version of Superman.
The characters are drawn into finding the clues in Superman when one is shot by the same gun that killed Mitchell Siegel. He is an ex-con and the protagonist is his son, a disgraced former customs agent. They barely stay ahead of the others who are seeking them or Cain’s book, federal agents, occultists and rivals in there own camp.
That Cain murdered Abel is from the Bible. Beyond that, Meltzer’s version of the story owes more to the occult than the Bible and may be largely from the author’s imagination. Of course, the biblical account doesn’t leave much room for a modern-day thriller.
The events surrounding the death of Jerry Siegel’s father are fictional, too, though this recent history is treated with more care. Siegel has surviving family, including his wife, and co-created the most well recognized character in comics, a medium for which Meltzer writes.
I’ll admit I’m not especially a fan of thrillers. I was drawn to this book by the Siegel connection. I found the book to be entertaining with plenty of action.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Depreciation Systems by Frank K. Wolf & W. Chester Fitch
Depreciation System, by engineering
professors Frank
K. Wolf and W. Chester
Fitch, describes methods for estimating depreciation
for utilities.
Rates of regulated public utilities are usually based on balancing the public
need for affordable rates with then investor’s need for a reasonable rate of
return. While it is only one factor in setting utility rates, a reasonable
accounting of depreciation is needed to determine the rate base and assure that
the capital of the investors is recovered.
Depreciation can be estimated in several way, some more practicable and
popular than others. Wolf and Fitch present these methods in a systematic and
orderly fashion. They present a system of classification by which methods can
be compared or contrasted using a handful of more basic concepts or methods. This
permits them to be thorough, though the result is sometimes tedious.
Fortunately, they do not give equal attention to every possible combination of
elements because some are not used or are not very workable.
Some of the methods they describe have been in use for more than a
century, but the book was written in the early 1990s, so the authors assume the
readers will be using computers. Because this is mostly a matter of
spreadsheets, the computerized calculation methods hold up even after 20 years.
However, depreciation methods do not change rapidly; many depreciation
professionals are still using software that was developed in the mid-1980s,
which is still considered current (at least from a methodological point of
view).
Like most references or textbooks,
this does not make for interesting reading. I undertook the task for
professional reasons. It is a good reference, though. In some cases it may be a
little too complicated for someone new to the profession. In general, the
authors try to focus more on the concept than the more complex details (you
can’t write a reference that prescribes a solution to every problem a
depreciation professional might face), while still presenting thorough
descriptions, with examples, of the major methods in use.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in:
Wolf, Frank K., & W. Chester Fitch. Depreciation Systems. Ames, IA: Iowa
State University Press, 1994.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Proverbs
Proverbs. The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings. Most are attributed to Solomon. A couple of chapters are attributed to Agur and Lemuel’s mother.
Though related proverbs are loosely grouped together, the book overall can seen disjointed. This is the partly the nature of a collection of sayings.
With the exception of a few longer, poetic sections, each proverb is a short saying, usually just a couple of lines. Often, the second line is a comparison or contrast to the first. A typical proverb may express essentially the same idea in two ways, or it may present opposite behaviors with their different results.
These sayings are intentionally short and often poetic because they are intended to be easy to remember. They are teaching tools.
What the proverbs teach are ethics. They encourage good behavior, righteousness, integrity, good character and wisdom. They discourage evil, injustice, deceit, bad character and foolishness.
The proverbs are founded on a religious understanding of the world. God exists and he has a plan for His creation. The world is a created order and understanding this order can lead to better decisions. God is just and ultimately sets everything right, even if it appears in the short-term that evil is rewarded and good has no effect.
Even though the proverbs have this religious outlook, they are not idealistic. Wisdom may begin with acknowledging God and His character, but it includes recognizing that our world is full of evil and corruption. Pitfalls abound with sexual immorality, strong drink, deceitful people, and corruption in business and government.
Living righteously in a corrupt world is not easy, and sometimes the advice on how to deal with evil and foolishness seems to conflict. While it is straightforward enough that we should never do what is evil, sometimes the proverbs advise to confront and sometime they advise to let things be. Sometimes the wisest thing is to turn tail and run.
This isn’t so much a matter of conflicting advice as recognition that wisdom isn’t a cookie-cutter approach to life. We learn wisdom over time as we mature. People are different and we learn to tailor our responses to them for the best effect. In addition, the wisest people are always learning, always seeking appropriate counsel, and always turning to God because they recognize they don’t know it all, haven’t seen it all and are far from perfect.
Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings. Most are attributed to Solomon. A couple of chapters are attributed to Agur and Lemuel’s mother.
Though related proverbs are loosely grouped together, the book overall can seen disjointed. This is the partly the nature of a collection of sayings.
With the exception of a few longer, poetic sections, each proverb is a short saying, usually just a couple of lines. Often, the second line is a comparison or contrast to the first. A typical proverb may express essentially the same idea in two ways, or it may present opposite behaviors with their different results.
These sayings are intentionally short and often poetic because they are intended to be easy to remember. They are teaching tools.
What the proverbs teach are ethics. They encourage good behavior, righteousness, integrity, good character and wisdom. They discourage evil, injustice, deceit, bad character and foolishness.
The proverbs are founded on a religious understanding of the world. God exists and he has a plan for His creation. The world is a created order and understanding this order can lead to better decisions. God is just and ultimately sets everything right, even if it appears in the short-term that evil is rewarded and good has no effect.
Even though the proverbs have this religious outlook, they are not idealistic. Wisdom may begin with acknowledging God and His character, but it includes recognizing that our world is full of evil and corruption. Pitfalls abound with sexual immorality, strong drink, deceitful people, and corruption in business and government.
Living righteously in a corrupt world is not easy, and sometimes the advice on how to deal with evil and foolishness seems to conflict. While it is straightforward enough that we should never do what is evil, sometimes the proverbs advise to confront and sometime they advise to let things be. Sometimes the wisest thing is to turn tail and run.
This isn’t so much a matter of conflicting advice as recognition that wisdom isn’t a cookie-cutter approach to life. We learn wisdom over time as we mature. People are different and we learn to tailor our responses to them for the best effect. In addition, the wisest people are always learning, always seeking appropriate counsel, and always turning to God because they recognize they don’t know it all, haven’t seen it all and are far from perfect.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow
Mlodinow, Leonard. The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives. 2008. New York: Vintage, 2009.
We are bad judges of probability. When we get beyond the most simple probabilities, our intuition is terrible. It requires a rigorous logic that can trip up even professionals we might expect to know better. It can lead us to make inappropriate judgments about others and ourselves.
That is the premise presented by Leonard Mlodinow in The Drunkard’s Walk. The title refers to a random path that describes many things in nature, like Brownian motion, and society, like the stock market.
Mlodinow describes several way how and reasons why we make false assessments of probability. To begin with, we simply have poor intuition about randomness. Our brains are biased to see patterns even if one isn’t truly there. We can look into the past and piece together how we got where we are, ignoring all the ambiguities we faced at the time, but we can’t easily identify clear marker for the future. We make value judgments based on results when the results are due as much or more to random events as to the efforts of people. Worse, we make value judgments about people even when we know a result related to them is random. With each of these problems, the author presents examples from history or scientific studies.
In contrast to these problems, Mlodinow presents the sometimes counterintuitive, but more correct, views that come from using logic and statistical inference. In this manner her present several concepts of probability and statistics such as regression to the mean, the law of large numbers, Bayesian analysis, the law of errors, and normal accident theory. This isn’t a textbook, though, so the descriptions are aimed at making people aware of the power of these methods for correcting false intuitions, not training future statisticians.
In addition to these things, the book is a history of probability and statistics. Mlodinow goes back to the people who invented, developed and popularized the knowledge he is presenting. Many of these people are unusual characters. For instance, he introduces the battling Bernoullis, a family of mathematicians I was first introduced to through my background in hydraulics, who are colorful and combative enough to make an interesting subject by himself or herself. We get to meet some interesting gamblers, too.
Throughout the book, Mlodinow is building to the argument he presents in the final chapter. Namely, we should not judge people mainly by their results, whether or not they are successful or have failed, are rich or poor, are at the top or at the bottom. People with little difference in ability can have great differences in success due to random factors. We shouldn’t put too much stock in those that success or be to harsh with those who don’t.
We should take courage for ourselves, too. The more attempts we make, the more likely we are to eventually have a success.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Chance by Amir Aczel
The Numbers Game by Michael Blastland & Andrew Dilnot
The Pinball Effect by James Burke
The Unfinished Game by Keith Devlin
War Against the Weak by Edwin Black
We are bad judges of probability. When we get beyond the most simple probabilities, our intuition is terrible. It requires a rigorous logic that can trip up even professionals we might expect to know better. It can lead us to make inappropriate judgments about others and ourselves.
That is the premise presented by Leonard Mlodinow in The Drunkard’s Walk. The title refers to a random path that describes many things in nature, like Brownian motion, and society, like the stock market.
Mlodinow describes several way how and reasons why we make false assessments of probability. To begin with, we simply have poor intuition about randomness. Our brains are biased to see patterns even if one isn’t truly there. We can look into the past and piece together how we got where we are, ignoring all the ambiguities we faced at the time, but we can’t easily identify clear marker for the future. We make value judgments based on results when the results are due as much or more to random events as to the efforts of people. Worse, we make value judgments about people even when we know a result related to them is random. With each of these problems, the author presents examples from history or scientific studies.
In contrast to these problems, Mlodinow presents the sometimes counterintuitive, but more correct, views that come from using logic and statistical inference. In this manner her present several concepts of probability and statistics such as regression to the mean, the law of large numbers, Bayesian analysis, the law of errors, and normal accident theory. This isn’t a textbook, though, so the descriptions are aimed at making people aware of the power of these methods for correcting false intuitions, not training future statisticians.
In addition to these things, the book is a history of probability and statistics. Mlodinow goes back to the people who invented, developed and popularized the knowledge he is presenting. Many of these people are unusual characters. For instance, he introduces the battling Bernoullis, a family of mathematicians I was first introduced to through my background in hydraulics, who are colorful and combative enough to make an interesting subject by himself or herself. We get to meet some interesting gamblers, too.
Throughout the book, Mlodinow is building to the argument he presents in the final chapter. Namely, we should not judge people mainly by their results, whether or not they are successful or have failed, are rich or poor, are at the top or at the bottom. People with little difference in ability can have great differences in success due to random factors. We shouldn’t put too much stock in those that success or be to harsh with those who don’t.
We should take courage for ourselves, too. The more attempts we make, the more likely we are to eventually have a success.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Chance by Amir Aczel
The Numbers Game by Michael Blastland & Andrew Dilnot
The Pinball Effect by James Burke
The Unfinished Game by Keith Devlin
War Against the Weak by Edwin Black
Sunday, July 10, 2016
I Am Spock by Leonard Nimoy
Leonard
Nimoy is well known for his portrayal of Spock on Star Trek television
series and films.
As a Vulcan,
Spock is of a long-lived species, and his appearance in the 2009
reboot film and its 2013
sequel (Into Darkness) makes him a link
between the new adventures and their predecessors. The actor passed away last
year (2015).
I Am Spock is Nimoy’s memoir relating
to his career as an actor
and a director.
Of course, Spock and Star Trek play
an important role in that career, though Nimoy does not limit his reminiscence
to the franchise.
Throughout the book, Nimoy imagines conversations with Spock. As an
actor in a series where writers and directors change, he saw himself as a
protector of the character (and suggested that other actors take similar
attitudes to such characters). This made him passionate about a character known
for being dispassionate. At the same time, he had the reasonable fear of being
type casted and being unable to get other parts.
Fortunately, Nimoy was able to move on to other things after the three
seasons of the original Star Trek
series. On series television, he played Paris on Mission Impossible. He also had
guest roles on a number of other shows. He also worked on the stage. One gets
the impression for the book that Nimoy had relatively few interruptions in his
career after bringing Spock to life, though not always with the steady paycheck
that comes from being on a series.
Nimoy became interested in directing and tried his hand directing a few
episodes of television shows. He got his chance to direct a feature film with Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
This was a success and he was offered the helm of the next film, The Voyage Home. He also had a great
success as director of Three Men and a Baby.
As a Trek fan, I’m obviously
interested in that part of his career. Even so, I found it almost a relief to
break from that and read about Nimoy’s other projects. Though he does not
present himself as religious, he seemed particularly to relish projects that
provided a connection to his Jewish heritage.
Even the distinctive Vulcan salute was taken by Nimoy from a temple ceremony he
observed as a child.
The book was published in 1995,
so it covers the period up to the sixth Star
Trek film, The Undiscovered Country, and his
appearance on two episodes of The Next Generation. He gave no hint
of imagining that he would reprise the role of Spock 14 years later.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Amazing Fantastic Incredible by Stan Lee, Peter David & Colleen Doran
When a book is entitled Amazing
Fantastic Incredible, Stan Lee must
be involved. That is the title of Lee’s graphic
novel memoir,
co-written with Peter David
with art
by Colleen
Doran, about his long career in comic
books.
Lee has a career in comic books going back the Golden Age.
He started working in comics soon after they became a popular medium. Few
people have had a career in comic books as long as Lee’s, partly because he is
still working. No one has been the public face of comic books, or a spokesman
and promotor for the medium, as much as Lee.
Because Lee’s career in comics is well known, at least among fans, some
of the more interesting parts of the memoir deal with other aspects of his
life. He depicts himself as being crazy in love with his wife, Joan, even after
decades of marriage.
He recalls himself as a lonely kid during the Great Depression,
who took refuge in books and the world of his own imagination. He retelling of
his army service during World War II,
mostly serving as a writer stateside, is mostly humorous.
I suspect Lee’s humor has a lot to do with his popularity. He comes
across as self-aggrandizing with a self-deprecating wink.
Even so, Lee’s status as a comics celebrity has sparked criticism in
some circles. He was the face of Marvel Comics,
and so has taken the heat for the way the publisher treated the artist who
worked for him (comics publishers treated artists shabbily for decades). Maybe
he could have done more for the artists who worked for him, and maybe he would
have been unemployed if he tried. Lee doesn’t get into this matter much, but
when he does he shifts the blame to publisher Martin
Goodman.
Lee addresses some of his most famous characters and the artists who
co-created them. Some might see his recognition of co-creators as a defense
against detractors who say he has claimed too much credit. I think the book
presents the situation the way Lee would like to remember, and the way he would
like others to remember it. I think he genuinely liked and admired many of the
people he worked with. Throughout the book, Jack Kirby is
depicted as handsome, powerful and dynamic, almost like a superhero, even when
there was a rift if their personal and professional relationship.
This is a memoir, not an autobiography.
Lee and his collaborators do not attempt to independently confirm memories,
though they straightforward about some memories being fuzzy. A few scenes a
clearly constructed to present information in a manner more interesting than
direct exposition, though they may have had some root in an actual event. Lee’s
conversations with his boyhood self are plainly fictional; I thought they
tended to be the weakest parts of the book, though they were functional.
Fans of Lee will probably enjoy the book. Someone who wants a brief and
easy history
of comics, and isn’t too concerned about the lopsidedness that would naturally
come with Lee’s perspective, might also like it. Lee would know, he was there.
Stan Lee also wrote Spider-Man with Steve Ditko. Peter
David also wrote Writing for Comics with Peter David.
If you’re interested in this
book, you may also be interested in
Lee, Stan, Peter David & Colleen Doran. Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir. New York: Touchstone, 2015.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine N. Aron
At the end of sixth grade, my English teacher,
Mrs. Lumsden, gave out “unusual awards.”
I was awarded “Best Observer.” It is one of the signs that I am a highly
sensitive person, and it is one of the happier memories related to my trait.
Research
psychologist
Elaine N.
Aron describes highly sensitive people, or HSPs, in her book The Highly Sensitive Person. HSPs, which make up about 15 to 20 percent of
the population, are people with more responsive nervous system, who notice
smaller stimuli and react more strongly to stimuli.
Aron is careful to distinguish the physiological trait of high
sensitivity from inhibition, introversion,
and shyness. Okay, HSPs are often, or appear to be,
introverted and shy. Aron reframes HSP
behavior as a response to overstimulation.
Everyone has an optimal level of arousal, and because HSPs are aroused
more by smaller stimuli, which are abundant and can even include our own
emotional responses to experiences, they are more easily aroused more than is
optimum for them. Everyone withdraws (is
shy) when faced with too much arousal, and everyone needs time to quietly
process (introversion).
Let me give you an example from my own life. When I was a young child, I was very
emotional. I was easily overwhelmed, to
the point of losing self-control,
by my own emotions and the experiences that triggered them. When I was in fifth grade, I found a model
for managing it: Mr.
Spock of Star Trek. He was person (or Vulcan or
half-Vulcan) with intense emotions that used various practices of logical thinking, meditation, art
and study to discipline
himself and control his own behavior.
Yes, at that age it meant repressing my emotions and withdrawing from
others to some degree. I gained a sense
of self-control and space to think. It
was a little patch of high ground above the flood. As a kid on the verge of puberty, it was
precious to me.
That challenge hasn’t diminished as an adult. How can I enjoy the sensory and emotional
richness I can experience without being carried away by it? How can I take notice of the little things
that make me pause without getting jumpy?
How can I pursue the challenging and meaningful work that attracts me
without being exhausted by distractions and the social demands
organizations? These are questions all
HSPs must answer.
Aron doesn’t always give a simple answer, but she does show readers how
to find the answers for themselves. Relationships
and work
present all manner of highly arousing situations that can drain an HSP. Aron provides information on how to approach
these challenges in ways that acknowledge your trait of high sensitivity, with
its weakness and the many strengths that can be brought to bear on the problem.
These problems can be exacerbated for HSPs who had rough childhoods,
which is all too common. (I’m fortunate
that I had accepting and tolerant parents.
I suspect there are several HSPs scattered in my extended family,
which fits with high sensitivity generally being inherited.) Therapy can be very helpful for HSPs who need
to deal with these issues. Aron provides
recommendations on what kind of therapies may be most useful to HSPs.
I suspect most of the readers of this book will be HSPs. If you’re not an HSP, you probably know
one. If you think your spouse,
close friend,
or employee
is an HSP, it may be worthwhile to read this book. HSPs have a lot of strengths they would
happily bring to your relationship or business
if they are given the opportunity and a little quiet space in which to thrive.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Friday, May 15, 2020
The Boom by Russell Gold
The great expansion of natural gas wells that was brought about by new technologies—directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking)—in the last few decades has meant
that a lot more people are physically closer to the energy industry. In 2013, more than 15 million Americans lived within a mile of a fracked
well. Journalist Russell Gold has a personal connection to this
change in the energy landscape; his parents own property in Pennsylvania that they leased out for natural gas
drilling.
In his book, The Boom, Gold explores the history of the oil
and gas industry, and the development of key technologies, that led to the
present abundance of natural gas. This interesting and long history energy
exploration and development has attracted colorful characters.
The natural gas boom has
also created opportunities and challenges. For one thing, fracked wells can
produce a lot more natural gas and get it from rock formations that were
previously considered too impermeable to economically give up the gas they
stored. Now we get gas from these rocks and the natural gas supply that once
seemed limited now seems enourmous, and prices for natural gas have dropped in
response.
In addition, natural gas
produces less carbon dioxide and other pollutants than burning of other fuels such as coal. Even though the U.S. has not participated in
international carbon-control protocols, the growth of natural gas as a fuel,
replacing other energy sources, has made the U.S. one of the few countries to
come close to meeting goals for carbon reduction.
Even so, natural gas is
a fossil fuel that carries some of the problems of its cousins. For instance,
natural gas is mostly methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. Releases of methane reduce some of
the gains made by switching from coal or other less clean-burning fuels to gas.
Cheap gas also makes alternative energy sources such as solar or wind less economically attractive, which may delay the
development of these resources.
Gold seems to balance
these issues. Natural gas is a superior fuel to coal from the perspective of
air quality and climate change. It is probably also necessary to use natural
gas as a bridge to solar and wind as a way to provide stability as these
naturally variable energy sources, along with the energy storage needed to make them truly feasible,
are improved. Other problems with gas, such as potential threats to water quality, can be mitigated with existing
technology, better rules and careful management.
If you’re interested in
this book, you may also be interested in
Gold, Russell. The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American
Energy Revolution and Changed the World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014.
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Faith by Jimmy Carter
President
Jimmy Carter is well known for his Christian faith. Excepting a handful of famous pastors, Carter is one of the few Americans who is known as a Christian almost as
much as he is known for other things; this is especially extraordinary for a
former president.
Faith is the title and subject of his
recent book. He addresses religious faith, but other types of faith are
important to him as well.
For instance, each
person need faith in himself to take action with hope to achieve positive
results. We need faith in each other to live, work and trade together peaceably.
We even need some degree
of faith in government. If we hope to achieve the ultimate
purposes of government, justice, equality under the law and peace, we have to believe it can be done.
Especially in a republic we need to believe we can achieve these goals through
our institutions, laws and the people we elect to represent us.
“A country will have authority and influence because of moral factors, not its military strength; because it can be humble and not blatant and arrogant, because our peple and our country want to serve others and not dominate others. And a nation without morality will soon lose its influence around the world.”-Jimmy Carter, Faith (quoting a speech he presented in 1978)
There are also personal goals that require faith. Justice and
equality may be the highest goals we can expect from government, but we want
more. If we also hope for love, humility, generosity and kindness, we need another kind of faith.
For many, including
Carter, this is religious faith. We find in religion reasons to believe that
things like love are real and worthy of pursuing, even if we don’t always get
it right.
For Christians, this
faith is founded on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the proof of God’s loving mercy and grace. It all starts with God,
and we can hope to be better people through the empowerment of God and our
grateful response to His love demonstrated in Jesus Christ. As Carter puts it,
“It is not what we do for God that is important but what God does for us. Faith
brings about good works, but doing good things does not result in faith."
For Carter, Jesus is
worthy of consideration as an example of the ideal in human character. Being
like Christ is being a better human being. As a Christian and Protestant, Carter believes he has a personal
relationship with an ever-present Christ. The faith that underlies Carter’s
career and achievements as a politician, philanthropist and peacemaker is that he does not walk
alone, but he walks with a living Christ and with other believers who seek to
follow Him and see His good will done in our time.
If you’re interested in
this book, you may also be interested in
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)