The Last Thing He Told Me

By Laura Dave.

A fun and readable family mystery. After his employer is accused of fraud, a father sends his wife and his daughter cryptic messages and then vanishes. 

How To Do Nothing

By Jenny Odell.

Odell wants us to disengage from the attention economy and spend more time focusing on things that are important to you, you personally. She bristles at the thought of using this time to be more productive-- more productive according to who? For what reasons?

Your time is yours to spend. Odell urges us to use it to engage more with the world, with nature, with society, with your friends. To deeply pay attention to things, To use our will to maintain sustained attention. To build our will to guide our attention and stave off distraction. Maybe we should focus on things longer, rather than turn away the moment we become fidgety. 

After reflecting on this book for a few days, I've concluded that it is mature- grown up. Rather than preaching a system that will make everything better, Odell accepts that the tough parts of life and can't be cleanly cut away from the positive. 

 "It's tempting to conclude this book with a single recommendation about how to live. But I refuse to do that. That's because the pitfalls of the attention economy can't be avoided by logging off and refusing the influence of persuasive design techniques; they also emerge at the intersection of issues of public space, environmental, politics, class and race."

"I would be surprised if anyone who bought this book actually wants to do nothing. Only the most nihilist and coldhearted of us feels that there is nothing to do."

"peace is an endless negotiation amongst free-acting agents whose wills cannot be engineered."

"I think we also found the answer to the universe, which was, quite simply; spend more time with your friends."

"A lot of people withdraw from society, as an experiment... So I thought I would withdraw and see how enlightening it would be. But I found out that it's not enlightening. I think that what you're supposed to do is stay in the midst of life." --Agnes Martin

The Maltese falcon

By Dashiell Hammett

The most famous of all hard-boiled detective novels, "The Maltese Falcon" is a fun read. The plot revolves around an intricate web of deception, as private investigator Sam Spade navigates through conflicting accounts from various characters. What makes the story particularly engaging is watching Spade piece together the truth by comparing different versions of events, weighing what each character claims to know against what actually transpired.

Reading over other reviews of the Maltese Falcon, I see that all characters are only described through their appearance, their words and their actions. At no point does the narrator share their inner thoughts. 

In addition, main character, Sam Spade, is ultimately a good man even though he flirts with the dark side-- just enough to earn a criminals trust, but never enough it actually do something wrong. This distinction-- a main character vs a morally ambiguous main character is what distinguishes "Hard Boiled" literature from "Noir."

THE EARNED LIFE Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment by Marshall Goldsmith

by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter

Goldsmith is an executive coach. For years, I've admired is writings. Something about this book made me blanch. Maybe it's me fighting against its teachings. 

Goldsmith focuses on helping successful people become more successful. Emotionally, I don't want to be more successful in the next stage of my life. Part of me just wants to stop.

Having said that, I look at retirees who have "just stopped" and I am not envious of them. I am unsure what I want for the next stage of my life. 

So, how does Goldsmith urge us to build the life that we have earned? Some notes...

Understand yourself. Understand your Motivation (what drives you to get up in the morning), your Ability (having the aptitude and skills required to achieve a goal), your Understanding(knowing what to do and how to do it-- and what not to do) and your Confidence (The belief that you can accomplish what you set out to).

You also need Support (No one succeeds alone) and a receptive Market (People have to want you are offering)

Reduce your Choices. Focus on the wildly important. Create a process that drives the right thing for everything else. Alan Mulally's BPR is a great example of how to reduce choices and turn things into a process. You can apply a BPR to your life.

Six Factors that govern our sense of fulfillment in life:

• Achievement
• Engagement
• Happiness
• Meaning
• Purpose
• Relationships

Begin with basic questions. "What do I want to do with my life?" or "What can I do that's meaningful?" are not basic. "Where do I want to live?" is basic? "Can I afford this?" is basic. "Who are your heroes?"

Write down the names of your heroes.

Write down one-word descriptors of the values and virtues that endear you to them.

Cross out their names.

Write your names in their place.

Think Action/Ambition/Aspriation. Kind of like layered to-do lists...

Action... what you will do soon (today?)

Ambition... what you will do this quarter? Year?

Aspiration... what you want to be eventually.

Specialize. Find your one trick genius.

Foster relationships. Help people. Let them help your back. Don't be too business first. 

The Light Fantastic

By Terry Pratchett

A fun fantasy novel from Pratchett‘s Discworld series

One The Edge

Silver's book brings out the ranting nerd in me. It's the kind of work that compels me to engage deeply with its content. While I don't agree with everything, it provides plenty to contemplate.

The book examines people who think like gamblers (in the most positive sense of the word) – whether they're actual gamblers, venture capitalists, cryptocurrency enthusiasts, startup CEOs, or technologists building potentially world-altering AI.

Some key insights from the book: People would benefit from taking more calculated risks in their lives. Many avoid risk because they struggle to evaluate it properly. Is there a 1% edge with a 10x payoff? Or is it a one-in-ten-million chance of winning the lottery? Did a penny stock with a weak business plan grow by 10x? Did it collapse? Failing to distinguish the actual risks in these scenarios, and going by your gut or feelings, indicates carelessness rather than calculated risk-taking. Understanding the Kelly Criterion becomes essential here.

Regarding intuition, Silver suggests you need hundreds or thousands of relevant experiences before truly trusting your gut on a topic. A professional poker player's intuition differs dramatically from an amateur's, and they can cite numerous experiences that shaped their instincts.

Will AI become so advanced that it destroys us? While the book doesn't provide a definitive answer, it has convinced me otherwise. Though I agree AI will be transformative, the idea that AI will destroy us stems from an oversimplified model of the future – one that assumes powerful future AI might rebel, therefore we should fear it. Silver points out that such simplistic models of the future are almost always wrong.

Consider this historical parallel: Millennia ago, imagine a philosopher and metallurgist discussing their craft. The philosopher warns that metal will eventually create guns and bombs, suggesting they slow metallurgical progress. The counterargument? Metallurgy would improve lives in countless ways, including providing tools to manage those very weapons. Similarly, AI will enhance our lives while potentially offering solutions to manage destructive AI.

Silver's interview with SBF during the FTX bankruptcy provides fascinating reading, though my takeaway remains unchanged: there are still no compelling reasons to buy cryptocurrencies.

The book explores the deeper implications of thinking like a gambler. While investors might reject a startup with ten risks as too dangerous, a CEO views those same ten items as problems to solve. Leaders like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk approach innovation this way – seeing problems as challenges to overcome regardless of risk. They abhor index, insurance or diverse style investing. They could have survivorship bias, though they are billionaires and I am not, so who am I to argue.

Silver concludes by examining "gamified casino capitalism" – where future technology, including AI, primarily exists to capture our attention (think social media feeds) rather than genuinely improving our lives or economy. Where we invest based on some sort of risk/reward analysis and not because we actually believe in the investment. Silver advocates for a future emphasizing agency (We have meaningful choices in our lives), plurality (Many types of people live and work together), and reciprocity (We help each other).

The Night of the Gun

By David Carr

I came across this book because it was referenced in other works I’ve read about addiction, and I found its concept intriguing. With many addicts in my life, I’ve come to appreciate different perspectives on the topic.

David Carr, after achieving sobriety, became a successful investigative journalist. Eventually, he made a startling realization about his past: different people had wildely conflicting accounts of events in his life. Using his skills as a reporter, he decided to investigate his own life to answer the question—what kind of addict was he?

The book offers some excellent insights into how unreliable our memories can be and how we reshape them to protect our self-image. It’s fascinating to consider how little of our own past we truly recall and how much of it we unconsciously rewrite.

However, I found the detailed stories of Carr’s substance abuse less compelling. Some addicts revel in recounting their escapades with drugs and alcohol, their eyes lighting up as they share their wild experiences. Carr seems to be one of those addicts.

As someone who has never struggled with addiction, I just didn’t connect with these parts. Reading about outrageous incidents fueled by cocaine or alcohol felt unremarkable to me—just more of the same. Because of this, I skimmed over much of the book’s addiction-related anecdotes.

Quotes...

"Personal narrative is not simply opening up a vein and letting the blood flow toward anyone willing to stare. The historical self is created to keep dissonance at bay and render the subject palatable to the present."

"People remember what they can live with more often than how they lived."

"Drugs, its seems to me, do not conjure up demons, they access them. Was I faking it then, or am I faking it now?, Which, you may ask, of my two selves did I make up?"

"The defining characteristic of recovery from addiction, or any other chronic health issue, is that you are fine until you are not."