Teach Us to Sit Still
by Tim Parks
-Jacket copy: "Overwhelmed by a crippling condition which nobody could explain or relieve, Parks follows a fruitless journey through the conventional medical system only to find relief in the most unexpected place: a breathing exercise that eventually leads him to take up meditation. This was the very last place Parks anticipated finding answers; he was about as far from New Age as you can get. As everything that he once held true is called into question, Parks confronts the relationship between his mind and body, the hectic modern world that seems to demand all our focus, and his chosen life as an intellectual and writer."
Me: Mindfulness helps Parks get over crotch pain. It was easy and interesting to read and moving and didn't feel like bullshit. The stuff about how a life of the writing and thinking affects one's body over the long term -- tensing muscles, stresses -- seemed true and important to keep in mind. At it ended, though, I would have liked to hear more about if he was able to make peace with the conflict he experienced between mindfulness and the writing life. If at all. Obviously he wrote the book; how did mindfulness inform the sitting down to write? But maybe that's beyond the scope of this book.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Thinking, Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman
- There seem to be several other books on similar topics, but is the first book I have read about biases and heuristics, so a lot of this was new to me. I really enjoyed reading it despite all the potentially boring discussion of studies and story problems. This seems like the book to read.
I've often thought that I'd love to write/read a "how to" book that talked about basic decision making and thinking, and the stuff in this book would be valuable for a book like that -- the easy errors to avoid, etc. I'm predicting that a lot of this book will stick with me for a long time, like the thing about how predictions are almost always wrong.
Incomplete list of things to remember: don't jump to conclusions from small sample sizes, don't jump to conclusions period, regression to the mean, What You See Is All There Is (WYSIATI), halo effect, priming, question substitution, repetition=familiarity=positive feelings, System 2 is lazy, experiencing self vs. remembering self, experts in low-validity environments are worse than random chance, Wall Street is bullshit, get the outside view, formulas and checklists beat intuitions...
by Daniel Kahneman
- There seem to be several other books on similar topics, but is the first book I have read about biases and heuristics, so a lot of this was new to me. I really enjoyed reading it despite all the potentially boring discussion of studies and story problems. This seems like the book to read.
I've often thought that I'd love to write/read a "how to" book that talked about basic decision making and thinking, and the stuff in this book would be valuable for a book like that -- the easy errors to avoid, etc. I'm predicting that a lot of this book will stick with me for a long time, like the thing about how predictions are almost always wrong.
Incomplete list of things to remember: don't jump to conclusions from small sample sizes, don't jump to conclusions period, regression to the mean, What You See Is All There Is (WYSIATI), halo effect, priming, question substitution, repetition=familiarity=positive feelings, System 2 is lazy, experiencing self vs. remembering self, experts in low-validity environments are worse than random chance, Wall Street is bullshit, get the outside view, formulas and checklists beat intuitions...
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany and World War II by Stanley Payne
La conquista de Alhucemas, o En el Tercio está el amor by Juan Bautista Ros Andreu (for class on Fascism in Spain)
Madrid de corte a checa by Agustín de Foxá (class)
Tras el aguila del Cesar: Elegia del tercio, 1921-1922 by Luys Santa Marina (class)
Ultra Violet: 10 Years of "Violet Days" by Chris Monroe (starred review!)
La conquista de Alhucemas, o En el Tercio está el amor by Juan Bautista Ros Andreu (for class on Fascism in Spain)
Madrid de corte a checa by Agustín de Foxá (class)
Tras el aguila del Cesar: Elegia del tercio, 1921-1922 by Luys Santa Marina (class)
Ultra Violet: 10 Years of "Violet Days" by Chris Monroe (starred review!)
You Are Not a Gadget
by Jaron Lanier
-This should be read alongside What Technology Wants, because these guys are friends and seem to be thinking of each other when they write. In both books, I think the presentation of arguments could have been stronger. I was very sympathetic to the overall "humanism" in Gadget, versus the techno-mysticism of What Technology Wants, but Gadget was at times too disorganized, too undercooked. It was like, "...and another thing...and another thing..."-- rants with inchoate arguments. Kelly's book was better organized. But both are full of over-generalizing and hippy logic. (I wish arguments were like objects, and that you could easily lay them out in front of you and arrange things and put together a structure more to your liking. A mix of Minecraft and a word processor. I'm sure there's gotta be an app for that.) Here at edge.org is a good collection of responses to Lanier.
by Jaron Lanier
-This should be read alongside What Technology Wants, because these guys are friends and seem to be thinking of each other when they write. In both books, I think the presentation of arguments could have been stronger. I was very sympathetic to the overall "humanism" in Gadget, versus the techno-mysticism of What Technology Wants, but Gadget was at times too disorganized, too undercooked. It was like, "...and another thing...and another thing..."-- rants with inchoate arguments. Kelly's book was better organized. But both are full of over-generalizing and hippy logic. (I wish arguments were like objects, and that you could easily lay them out in front of you and arrange things and put together a structure more to your liking. A mix of Minecraft and a word processor. I'm sure there's gotta be an app for that.) Here at edge.org is a good collection of responses to Lanier.
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
2011
^ loved reading
# did not like
FICTION
The Great Gatsby ^
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Swann's Way
by Marcel Proust
Game of Thrones ^, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords ^,
# did not like
FICTION
The Great Gatsby ^
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Swann's Way
by Marcel Proust
Game of Thrones ^, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords ^,
Feast for Crows, Dance of Dragons #
by George R.R. Martin
The True Deceiver
by Tove Jansson
The Pale King ^
by David Foster Wallace
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives #
by David Eagleman
The Metamorphosis and other stories
by Franz Kafka
(Sammy Harkham edition)
The Looking Glass Book of Stories ^#
by Various, ed. Hart Day Leavitt
The True Deceiver
by Tove Jansson
The Pale King ^
by David Foster Wallace
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives #
by David Eagleman
The Metamorphosis and other stories
by Franz Kafka
(Sammy Harkham edition)
The Looking Glass Book of Stories ^#
by Various, ed. Hart Day Leavitt
Also: New Yorker stories, and misc. short stories in collections which I didn’t finish.
Obviously the list is short this year because George RR Martin dominated with 5 giant books. I’ll admit that I loved escaping into the unpredictable and empty plotlines, but I wish I had spent a lot of that reading time on better, meatier stuff. They’re candy. But it was easier to read these books while I was in the middle of Ganges #4 and in the hangover period after than to read more demanding books; it can be dangerous letting something rewire your brain in the middle of a big project. That’s what I told myself. Still, I wish I had read more Proust or Kafka instead. (Did not like the show.)
NONFICTION
Emergence
by Steven Johnson
Pulphead ^
Obviously the list is short this year because George RR Martin dominated with 5 giant books. I’ll admit that I loved escaping into the unpredictable and empty plotlines, but I wish I had spent a lot of that reading time on better, meatier stuff. They’re candy. But it was easier to read these books while I was in the middle of Ganges #4 and in the hangover period after than to read more demanding books; it can be dangerous letting something rewire your brain in the middle of a big project. That’s what I told myself. Still, I wish I had read more Proust or Kafka instead. (Did not like the show.)
NONFICTION
Emergence
by Steven Johnson
Pulphead ^
by John Jeremiah Sullivan
Moonwalking with Einstein
by Joshua Foer
The Memory Chalet ^
by Tony Judt
Moby Duck
by Donovan Hohn
Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline ^
by Daniel Rosenberg and Anthony Grafton
All of the books in the nonfiction category are more or less recommended. (Lousy abandoned books are not listed.) I learned a lot. Moonwalking with Einstein is a terrible title. I finally read this after an article by Foer first introduced me to the idea of memory palaces in an article back in 2007. I've been obsessed with the idea and the meta-idea ever since. Memory palaces was a theme this year: Tony Judt used memory palaces to help him compose the essays in The Memory Chalet, which are wise and moving. This may be the first year in a while that I didn’t read anything about climate change — a conscious choice -- though Moby Duck was somewhat eco-apocalyptic. Cartographies of Time is great. I knew when I saw Saul Steinberg in the first few pages that it was going to be great. I can't recommend it highly enough, if you're interested in that kind of thing.
SELF HELP
Moonwalking with Einstein
by Joshua Foer
The Memory Chalet ^
by Tony Judt
Moby Duck
by Donovan Hohn
Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline ^
by Daniel Rosenberg and Anthony Grafton
All of the books in the nonfiction category are more or less recommended. (Lousy abandoned books are not listed.) I learned a lot. Moonwalking with Einstein is a terrible title. I finally read this after an article by Foer first introduced me to the idea of memory palaces in an article back in 2007. I've been obsessed with the idea and the meta-idea ever since. Memory palaces was a theme this year: Tony Judt used memory palaces to help him compose the essays in The Memory Chalet, which are wise and moving. This may be the first year in a while that I didn’t read anything about climate change — a conscious choice -- though Moby Duck was somewhat eco-apocalyptic. Cartographies of Time is great. I knew when I saw Saul Steinberg in the first few pages that it was going to be great. I can't recommend it highly enough, if you're interested in that kind of thing.
SELF HELP
The Creative Habit
by Twyla Tharp
Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection ^
by John T. Cacioppo & William Patrick
Find Your Focus Zone #
by Lucy Jo Palladino
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey ^
by Jill Bolte Taylor
Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware
by Andy Hunt
The self-help category is comprised of books I found at the library when I’d wander around on a break from writing or drawing. The self-help section at this library is huge, many times the size of, say, the painting section. I got a lot of help from Loneliness — one of the most significant books of the year for me. My Stroke of Insight taught me (finally) to understand and begin thinking in the right/left brain model. Creative Habit and Pragmatic Thinking also both have a lot of good stuff in them. There were some lousy books too, but those aren’t listed here because I barely read them. You can tell pretty quick with this type of book whether it's going to be good or not. Focus Zone is listed because I actually read it, and it was somewhat helpful, even though it wasn't very special.
by Twyla Tharp
Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection ^
by John T. Cacioppo & William Patrick
Find Your Focus Zone #
by Lucy Jo Palladino
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey ^
by Jill Bolte Taylor
Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware
by Andy Hunt
The self-help category is comprised of books I found at the library when I’d wander around on a break from writing or drawing. The self-help section at this library is huge, many times the size of, say, the painting section. I got a lot of help from Loneliness — one of the most significant books of the year for me. My Stroke of Insight taught me (finally) to understand and begin thinking in the right/left brain model. Creative Habit and Pragmatic Thinking also both have a lot of good stuff in them. There were some lousy books too, but those aren’t listed here because I barely read them. You can tell pretty quick with this type of book whether it's going to be good or not. Focus Zone is listed because I actually read it, and it was somewhat helpful, even though it wasn't very special.
IDEAS
What Do Pictures Want? ^
by WJT Mitchell
On Trust: Art and the Temptations of Suspicion ^
by Gabriel Josipovici
The Book of God: A Response to the Bible ^
by Gabriel Josipovici
Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? #
by Leszek Kolakowski
The Grand Design #
by Stephen Hawking and Leon Mlodinow
What Technology Wants
by Kevin Kelley
This blog post here got me to read two books by Gabriel Josipovici, for which I’m very grateful. They’ll be with me for a long time. I had read WJT Mitchell’s other books in college (I have re-read Iconology, though — 3 or 4 times!) and one day I was like, “oh yeah...what is he up to?” I really enjoyed the riffing and thinking in What Pictures Want (2004), and recommend his work to any intelligent comics reader who likes thinking about the nuts and bolts of these things, or really anyone who likes thinking and reading. What Technology Wants was a good sprint through a generally optimistic argument about technology, and humanity, but it was maybe too optimistic for me. A lot to chew on. I'm going to have to think more about it before I figure out what I think. The Grand Design didn't really grab me, and Why Is There Something was an unremarkable intro to philosophy.
What Do Pictures Want? ^
by WJT Mitchell
On Trust: Art and the Temptations of Suspicion ^
by Gabriel Josipovici
The Book of God: A Response to the Bible ^
by Gabriel Josipovici
Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? #
by Leszek Kolakowski
The Grand Design #
by Stephen Hawking and Leon Mlodinow
What Technology Wants
by Kevin Kelley
This blog post here got me to read two books by Gabriel Josipovici, for which I’m very grateful. They’ll be with me for a long time. I had read WJT Mitchell’s other books in college (I have re-read Iconology, though — 3 or 4 times!) and one day I was like, “oh yeah...what is he up to?” I really enjoyed the riffing and thinking in What Pictures Want (2004), and recommend his work to any intelligent comics reader who likes thinking about the nuts and bolts of these things, or really anyone who likes thinking and reading. What Technology Wants was a good sprint through a generally optimistic argument about technology, and humanity, but it was maybe too optimistic for me. A lot to chew on. I'm going to have to think more about it before I figure out what I think. The Grand Design didn't really grab me, and Why Is There Something was an unremarkable intro to philosophy.
* * *
In terms of pure reading enjoyment, for me The Great Gatsby was #1, followed by Josipovici, then WJT Mitchell. Proust and Kafka are in their own category of, I don’t know, “the sublime” or something. Other books, like Loneliness or My Stroke weren’t masterpieces but did teach me big ideas that will probably stick with me and improve my life (“technologies!”). I liked Cartographies and Book of God so much that I bought them after reading library copies.
Many of these books were found at the library, either on the book sale shelf, or just browsing around.
I started a few other books that I never finished -- you know how it is. Maybe next year. I'm not listing comics or graphic novels because they should get their own post, as should Internet reading. (Also, for the record, I'm not listing the research reading I did for various projects.)
____
UPDATE 1/1/12: It just occurred to me that the title What do Pictures Want? contains a play on the word "want" (desire/lack -- Mitchell points this out himself several times), but What Technology Wants does not contain this double meaning, and reading that book you can see how it couldn't. I'd love to see Mitchell review and play with the ideas and ideology of Kelley's book.
Also, I had somehow forgotten about Cartographies, so I added that.
(Cross posted to the Balloonist.)
I started a few other books that I never finished -- you know how it is. Maybe next year. I'm not listing comics or graphic novels because they should get their own post, as should Internet reading. (Also, for the record, I'm not listing the research reading I did for various projects.)
____
UPDATE 1/1/12: It just occurred to me that the title What do Pictures Want? contains a play on the word "want" (desire/lack -- Mitchell points this out himself several times), but What Technology Wants does not contain this double meaning, and reading that book you can see how it couldn't. I'd love to see Mitchell review and play with the ideas and ideology of Kelley's book.
Also, I had somehow forgotten about Cartographies, so I added that.
(Cross posted to the Balloonist.)
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Monday, May 02, 2011
I don't remember if I posted about it, but months ago I tried reading
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
by David Eagleman
which you'd think would be right up my alley...a Calvino-esque parade of various possible afterlives. I did not like it, however. I could barely get through it, which is pretty bad for such a short book. I skipped around. I found many of the "thought experiments" pseudo-profound and predictably unpredictable...if that makes sense. I was unmoved by the attempts at deepness and heaviness and ultimately annoyed. Maybe it's one of those things where it's too close to something I would want to do, so I am extra demanding and mentally re-writing it into "my" book. And it does have a few good moments, too, sure.
Anyways, I just saw an article in the New Yorker about the author, who is a neuroscientist and Guggenheim recipient. Seems like an interesting guy, and I'm going to try to learn more about his work. The book did in fact feel to me like how a scientific mind would try to write playfully. I wish I could put into words what writers like Calvino or Borges are able to do (even in translation) that "Sum" can't pull off, but I just don't have the time to sort that out right now.
In the NYer article Brian Eno makes an appearance--he liked this book and struck up an email conversation with Eagleman. Sigh!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
by Leszek Kolakowski
-I like the size of this book. The content was ho-hum, merely summaries of different major philosophers' ideas, ending with some questions to think about. Pretty unremarkable, even boring. Only notable thing for me was that Kierkegaard came out looking pretty great in his chapter (as far as that goes). Husserl made into almost a joke. Not recommended unless you need short explanations of different philosophers--even then, I'm sure there's more readable books out there.
by Leszek Kolakowski
-I like the size of this book. The content was ho-hum, merely summaries of different major philosophers' ideas, ending with some questions to think about. Pretty unremarkable, even boring. Only notable thing for me was that Kierkegaard came out looking pretty great in his chapter (as far as that goes). Husserl made into almost a joke. Not recommended unless you need short explanations of different philosophers--even then, I'm sure there's more readable books out there.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Emergence
by Steven Johnson
-quick read, a lot of old info in this...2001.
I liked how this part went back to the good old "cyberspace" vision of William Gibson without mentioning Gibson at all:
"Imagine the universe of HTML documents as a kind of city spread out across a vast landscape...so confusing...that the mapmakers (the Yahoos and Googles of the world) would generate almost as much interest..."
People say, "Where's my jetpack? Where's my flying car?" I'm always thinking, "Where's my cyberspace??"
I liked how this part went back to the good old "cyberspace" vision of William Gibson without mentioning Gibson at all:
"Imagine the universe of HTML documents as a kind of city spread out across a vast landscape...so confusing...that the mapmakers (the Yahoos and Googles of the world) would generate almost as much interest..."
People say, "Where's my jetpack? Where's my flying car?" I'm always thinking, "Where's my cyberspace??"
I liked his other book "Invention of Air." There's a podcast somewhere where he talks to Brian Eno that I remember enjoying. But I think I first learned of his books from Cosma Shalizi (link).
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
The Best American Comics Criticism
ed. Ben Schwartz
-I was annoyed by this book. The title claims far too much for what it is. The choices are sometimes bewildering stunts, often mediocre, though of course many are fine. It ends up seeming silly and like a half-assed editing job. If the title was supposed to be taken seriously, it's half-assed; if not, it should have had a humbler name.
ed. Ben Schwartz
-I was annoyed by this book. The title claims far too much for what it is. The choices are sometimes bewildering stunts, often mediocre, though of course many are fine. It ends up seeming silly and like a half-assed editing job. If the title was supposed to be taken seriously, it's half-assed; if not, it should have had a humbler name.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Love of a Good Woman
by Alice Munro
by Alice Munro
-Another book sale pickup, begun randomly one night a few weeks ago. If I could go back and give myself advice about this book, I'd recommend just the first three stories, esp. the first–the title story, which was pretty awesome. All the stories are of course well-crafted and the characters varied and vivid, but after the first three, maybe not weird enough. For a dude, reading these stories about women and the various kinds of relationships with men and with each other–the loves of "good women"– was definitely wandering outside usual zones of research.
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