The Art of Thinking Clearly

Reading this book at the moment.

This book is a compilation of mental fallacies we tend to commit. There are 99 of them mentioned in the book. I have encountered a number of them in others books like Black Swan and such. But this book summarizes them in nice succinct chapters.

There is a taste of it. In this talk, the author mentioned 3 of them.

 

Paper Promises

Just read this:

In brief, the message I gathered is : We are in deep shit - And that's an understatement!

It talks about the departure of the gold standard, Bretton Wood system and how we end up like this. Rather pessimistic. But we should see it coming. Everyday we are confronted with the rising prices of the things we buy,  and of our assets (This may not be a good thing) . The debt incurred is unsustainable! Argg...

Listen to what the author says in an interview here:
 


 I would also like to refer to another book I read, and a its related video  - The Ascent of Money
http://ykwee.blogspot.sg/2011/12/i-never-knew-financial-history-can-be.html

The book is on financial history and I think of it as some sort of prequel to The Paper Promises.

Outlier

I have been sitting on this book for a long long time despite many friends' recommendation. Finally manage to get down to finish this AMAZING book - Outlier !

Malcolm Gladwell explains beautifully a simple yet very important point - how people become successful. This has profound implications in life (and policy-making)

This is a brief introduction.

The chinese has a succinct way of explaining how people become successful - 天时地利人和. This concept is so simple. But Malcolm Gladwell uses superb examples to illustrate this concept in such a convincing way that this book change my perspective of successful people and their path to success.

Emperor of All Maladies: A biography of cancer

This is one of the most depressing bookings I have read. I am still struggling the finish it's last few chapters.

Quite some time ago, I vague remember reading gothic fiction like Dracula, Frankenstein and Notre Dame of Paris. That was almost suicidal. 

But this book is notch more painful -  because it is real!

It gives a history of cancer and illustrates the struggle by the patients, doctors and scientists. It personifies the diseases as a person. As we find out more about it, as it evolves and grow. It's use of metaphors is immaculate. Hugely informative: it contains blend of anecdotes of struggles and histories of scientific discoveries and innovation.

The result is an awesome pulitzer prizing winning book (in 2011 for general non-fiction).

As you read this book, you will understand more about the nature of this disease. You will feel jolts of pain as well as hope intertwining in you. You will face life together with its suffering; you will cherish life even more.

The review and preview by Google is given below:

http://books.google.com.sg/books/about/The_Emperor_of_All_Maladies.html?id=5rF_31RVTnMC&redir_esc=y

Practical Ethics by Peter Singer

One of the most thought-provoking I have ever read. Very intelligent!

Makes me look at the meat I eat in a very different way. And many more ...


Preview below:

Practical Ethics Peter Singer pdf

Found at ebookbrowse.com

This one is the 2nd edition. The google book review page is here.

In the 3rd edition, I believe, there is an additional chapter on climate change. 

The Ascent of Money

I never knew financial history can be so interesting... with so many juicy gossips.

History from a financial perspective. A highly recommended watch:

Episode 1 - 5:


(There are 6 episodes, pity the 6th episodes in missing in the above video... Oh here it is:)

Episode 6:


And I highly recommended read too:

Can't fully understand the concept of securities and options. Shall make a mental note to ask my friends in banking and finance.

2 great scientists and science educator!

Just bought 2 books from Kinokuniya and will be spending my next few weeks savoring them. The authors are 2 living scientists I respect the most. They are the heroes of science education  : making science so accessible to the public, yet never compromising its rigor.

Walter Lewin

Read this ... and realize that science is all around us. I can't find any more apt title for this book. The title is self explanatory - For the Love of Physics.

He just retired a few months ago and this is his farewell lecture based on the book (loosely, I think)




Richard Dawkins

The next book is Magic of Reality. This books describes myths and folklores ( we heard quite a number of them in our childhood) from all of the world, and then, it provides scientific explanations to them. This is actually meant for children.  Well, I am still a child at heart and am sure will enjoy reading it and the nice pictures inside.

Richard Dawkins also has made a number of films, some of which are controversial, I must say. Below is a series of lectures he gave in 1991. This is the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children. You can click on the print screen below to go to its YouTube playlist. This is an excellent example of how science can be interesting and be made so fascinating to children.

On Statistics

Two recommendations:

1. An interesting read on statistics - Drunkards Walk, How Randoness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Milodinow, a physicist.

A brief look: The author talks about his book.

2. Visualizing statistics!

For those who want to try out the software Gapminder, here is the link:

http://www.gapminder.org/desktop/

于丹

I'm beginning to be a fan of 于丹, a professor from 北京师范大学 (Beijing Normal University, a very renowned teacher training college in China.)

I can never imagine myself reading Chinese books, let alone Chinese books on classics philosophy. I'm actually drawn to the books she wrote. Although I took a long time to read them, I really enjoyed them and learnt a thing or two from old chinese sayings. Wow.


She has written 3 books in this series

1. 论语心得
2. 庄子心得
3. 论语感悟

Read this first two. Hope to finish the 3rd before my next semester of night studies start in August. ( Yeah, my reading is slow) Then again, 欲速则不达. I'm taking my time. It's not how much I have read, It's how I have learnt.

Then again there is always the dvd. ha ha.

For snippet of the intro lecture:
http://space.tv.cctv.com/act/video.jsp?videoId=VIDE1202286926340461
here is the link to the series of the 3rd book:
http://space.tv.cctv.com/act/platform/view/page/composePage.jsp?pageId=PAGE1197624456765101

alternative: go to youtube and search for 于丹.

Next - Michael Crichton

Finally managed to find time to read a fiction book- Next by Michael Crichton. Didn't have that much time when taking night lessons. Anyway, this a good book but not really fantastic compared to his previous Prey. Is probably because of the theme - genetic engineering.Prefer Prey which is about Nanoparticles, more physics related. I highly recommend this book. This is by far my fastest reading book ever, consider my reading speed is really slow.
Another recent book is State of Fear, about climate change and Tsunami! This book is released about a year before the Asian Tsunami striked. Guess what - it's about people trying to create Tsunami, terrorism, and effect of media ...


What I like about Michael Crichton books is that it is so related to the current science issues. Even though they are fiction, the books are so well researched that all of them seems so real that they could actually happen.

In Praise of Slow

Just finished reading the book In Praise of Slow. I am so inspired to slurrr , I mean , slow down the pace of life to sloth speed. The book argues that by slowing down, you can actually achieve more, do things better - ironically faster and more efficient. You will appreciate life more. I suppose this will be my new year resolution for year 2007.I am doing my part for the slow culture; I have lent the book to a friend after finishing it. And of course, blogging it is another way of spreading the slow culture. Here are the different covers of the book in different languages.

http://www.inpraiseofslow.com/slow/gallery.php?galid=1

Enjoy

Slowly

If you finish this book in a week, you have not read it yet.