The year is off to a good start with a third Krakauer book under my belt! ————— Mormonism is not a big thing here in Sweden (The are less than 10 000 Saints residing here) and this is my first close look at the Mormon faith. ————— It’s a history of Mormonism told around story […]
Thoughts on: “The Third Chimpanzee” by Jared Diamond
There is a 1.2 percent difference in DNA between humans and chimpanzees. But what is it that makes humans able to fly into space and create weapons so powerful that they can annihilate the earth as a whole? When did we separate into our own species and what triggered our evolutionary leap forward to become […]
Thoughts on: “”The River of Doubt” by Candice Millard
In 1912 Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest by some crazy saloonkeeper on his way to deliver a speech on his third term election campaign. The bullet was slowed by his spectacle case and speech manuscript in his inner pocket, which kept it from reaching his lungs or heart. With blood dripping from his […]
Quick Review: Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
What does the expression “Wherever you go, there you are” point towards? ————- Wherever you travel you always bring yourself with you. It’s easy to think that with a new job at a new company will finally make you happy. A few months later, after scoring that new job, you start to think: “if only […]
Thoughts on: “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance
I was not the only one that woke up confused with Donald Trump installed as president of the United States. ————————————————- This book has helped me understand how this could happen and why it came a such a surprise for a lot of people. ————————————————- The book is part memoir and part sociocultural analysis. J. […]
Top Books of the Year – #9
#10 Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield. —- We all have something we feel that we are meant to do but never get around to actually doing. A good place to start looking for clues of what that might be is in our early teenage years. What did you choose to do with your time before […]
Thoughts on: “The Glass Cage” by Nicholas Carr
The book is about how bad automation erode skill and create unfulfilling jobs which in turn create a self-fulfilling prophecy where previously masterful people makes mistakes pitching in for failing automated systems – human errors that turn into arguments for even more automation. —- It’s easy to discard this books as technophobic but there is […]
Thoughts on: “Open” by Andre Agassi
I’m don’t care for sports, so it felt weird for me to tune into a thick biography of some tennis star I’ve never heard of. But I’ve heard good thinks from reliable sources so I decided to go for it. —————————————— I’m glad I did! —————————————— Andre Agassi’s father was a former boxer with a […]
Thoughts on: ‘Everybody Lies – Big Data, New Day and What the Internet Can Tell Us Who We Really Are’
The premise of this book is that big data is destined to have a big impact on social sciences. By analyzing millions of peoples behavior online we get access to data is not just new, it’s honest. It shows things previously hidden and private. ——————— The research presented in this book is based on Google […]
Thoughts on: Deep Work by Cal Newport
A friend mentioned that this book might be of interest to me in a discussion we had about one of my favorite books this year; The Shallows by Nicholas Carr. —————- While Carrs book is centered around why distractions are bad for us and the science behind it, Cal Newport focuses more on the importance […]