The Organized Mind

By Daniel J Levitin.

 

Put a key tray by the front door.

 

I read this book about six months ago.  Looking over my notes, I realized that I hadn't written about it and now I couldn't remember what it was all about. After going over it again, I think it's safe to summarize that this book is about the neurobiology behind why putting a key tray is a smart thing to do.

 

A few other things to remember….

 

1.      Organize your physical environment to do as much remembering for you as possible. Junk drawers are OK. If they get too large you need to categorize again. You also need a way to call out "unassimilated" items.

a.      A mislabeled item or location is worse than an unlabeled item

b.      If there is an existing standard, then use it.

c.      Don't keep what you can't use.

2.      Gricean Maximus about orderly cooperative speach…

a.      Quantity. Make sure your contribution to a conversation are as informative as required. Do not make your contribution more informative than required

b.      Quality. Do not say what you believe to be false. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence

c.      Manner. Avoid obscure expressions. Avoid Ambiguity. Be brief. (Avoid unnecessary prolixity) Be orderly.

d.      Relation. Make your contributions relevant.

3.      Think Baysean. Think statistical.

 

 

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Me, Myself & Us

By Brian R. Little

In Jan I wrote...

A deep discussion of personality theory, and how much 'we' shape our lives. What makes a hardy person? A creative person? A proactive person? I must read this again in a year.

Five months later while perusing through the new reads section of the library, I came upon this book again. I didn't remember it though. It looked interesting, so I checked it out.

I got Deja vu reading the first chapter. I had a feeling of Presque vu, I looked this book up in the blog, and found, that yes, yes I had read this book before.

This book is hard for me to summarize. Perhaps what I want to take away is that, of course we have our personality traits. We may be extraverts, or open to new experiences, or consciences, or whatever. Beyond all that, we are flexible. We can learn. We can grow. An introvert can act extroverted for a while. There my be a cost to this, but there is no harm. You can choose your response, especially if you are aware of who you are.

So, have a dialog with yourself. Reflect on yourself. Know yourself. Beaware than your default responses are not all that you are capable of.

The Fabric of the Cosmos

Time, as we know it, may not be experienced the same way by atoms and other small particles. The other way around, the cosmos as experienced by small particles, may be very different than what we experience. But, small particles do not live in isolation. When they get together, they create new things—like time for example.

 

There is a lot in this book. And as fascinating as it is, I'm not sure what to do with it. What does it mean to me that the world may have 11 dimensions?

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Dataclysm

By Christian Rudder

 

Black women don't talk about tanning.

 

This book is about some of the fascinating insights that big data can give us. Christian had access to many big data sets--- OK Cupid profiles, Facebook, Match.com, etc

 

IT raises a scary point—even if we guard our privacy, small leaks, perhaps by our friends, can tell the world much about us. Am I gay or straight can be learned as much from my facebook friends as from anything I reveal.

That, and that black women don't talk about tanning.

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How Stella Saved the Farm.

It's the job of the innovator to conduct disciplined experiments.

 

Innovation often has to be run as a second business within the main business from the ground up, otherwise priorities conflict.

 

 

 

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