101–110 of 188 posts
The first is, despite its name, a manual for countries on how to win at capitalism. A must read to understand what works and what doesn't in macroeconomics.
About Nick Lane, he's an English biochemist working on cutting-edge investigation regarding the cell and origin of life. His work is very deep and leaves me with a sense of awe, of what nature and natural selection has 'built' and why life is the way it is.
Walden, in which the author, Henry David Thoreau, builds a cabin in the woods and lives there for two years, two months, and two days. He gives up many of modern life’s luxuries and makes some incredibly profound observations on how much unnecessary bloat we have in modern life. It was published in 1854 yet remains relevant. Henry David Thoreau was part of the Transcendentalist movement, so the book reflects a lot of…
If you know you know.
- Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker helped me process a number of assaults that happened to me as a child
- Designing Data Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann helped me understand intuitively how databases work and how to use eventual consistency to handle workloads
- The Highly Sensitive Person: How To Thrive when the World Overwhelms You by Elaine Aron this helped me process my and my families neurodivergence.
- Structure And Interpretation of Computer Programs by Ableson and Sussman. Great book, it's how I learned to love Lisp. I felt like I grew 10x in skill from completing all the homework.
- Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe. This is the book that got me into powerlifting as a regular part of my fitness. I used this to heal my back, neck, and wrist pain. Changed my life.
- Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter by James Gurney. The GOAT of plein air painting himself teaches so much about how light works on complex forms. I've dog-eared this book.
- Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux. A great look into how to build and run a self organizing team. Very insightful for when I was leading several teams and needed inspiration for something other than the typical chain of command.
- The Classroom Management Book by Harry Wong. This book taught me so much about how humans work. I still apply lessons from this book 20 years later.
- Real World Haskell by O'Sullivan, Goerzen, Stewart. This taught me a lot about Haskell, and got me into all the neat effects needed to make a function pure but still handle IO/async, etc.
- Peopleware by DeMarco, Lister. My go to book for people management and a philosophy of project management
- Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement for Couples by Gottman. I love this book for teaching me how to be a better spouse and friend.
- The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Larimore, Lindauer. A great guide to building a permanent portfolio that will return consistent gains with the market. Simple in hindsight, thanks to this book. Best book on investing I've ever read.
- How to Take Smart Notes by Ahrens. Introduces the zettlekasten system for thinking and creativity. Very inspiring, got me to start a personal file that I keep going to this day, five years later.
- Twenty Small Sailboats to Take you Anywhere by Vigor. I read this book over and over, dreaming of buying a small boat and sailing around the world. Maybe this year...
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 by Hunter S. Thompson: gives a better understanding of the political contexts that led to our current politics. Somehow, we keep re-living this election over and over again.
The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Atomic Habits. It's a simple book that can be summarized in an essay, but listening to it repeatedly while driving helps me keep my life on track.
Has someone properly summarized Atomic Habits in an essay or perhaps a podcast episode? I'd rather just read an essay or listen to an episode repeatedly.
# Identity
There are only two possible foundations for long-term behavioural change: 1. a re-prioritisation of personal values 2. a substitution of an existing behavior $X$, which is based on a personal value $V$, with a different behavior $Y$, which is also based on $V$.
# Dealing with Existing Habits
Before we can effectively build new habits, we need to get a handle on our current ones. All habits serve you in some way—even the bad ones—which is why you repeat them.
# Implementation Intentions
Implementation intentions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementation_intention) have been empirically shown to be effective. The idea behind implementation intentions is to eliminate ambiguity. Explicitly write down WHEN and WHERE you will do WHAT.
Write down a list of implementation intentions for all habits you wish to develop.
# Three Layers of Behavior Change
1. Identity 2. Process 3. Outcome
Identity is what you believe, process is what you do, outcome is what you get. Systems lead to outcomes.
# Four Steps of Habit Formation
1. Cue (triggers behavior) 2. Craving (desired change of state) 3. Response (behavior performed to achieve change of state) 4. Reward (outcome delivered by response)
Of these four, only cues can reliably be manipulated. Design your environment around the habits you wish to develop. The two most common cues are time and location.
## Breaking Habits
1. Remove the cues from the environment. 2. Expose how the bad habit inadequately addresses the underlying motive that caused its formation. Clearly describe the negative consequences of the habit in writing. 3. Replace the bad habit with a good one that more effectively addresses the underlying motive.
# Habit Scorecard
You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them. To create your scorecard, write down everything you do for an entire day. At the end of the day, mark each behavior as either bad, neutral, or good.
# Underlying Motives
* *Reducing uncertainty* * Conserve energy * Social bonding * Social approval
Cravings are arbitrary manifestations of underlying motives. Evolution hasn't set up our brain to reward e.g. playing video games in particular. But it did set up our brain to reward a reduction in uncertainty. Products and services don't create fundamentally new motives, they latch on to existing ones.
# Miscellaneous
Without good health habits, you will always seem to be short on energy.
It is easier to associate a new habit with a new context, than to build a new habit in the face of competing cues.
You can break a habit, but you’re unlikely to forget it. This means that trying to resist temptation is an ineffective strategy. In the short-run, you can choose to overpower temptation. In the long-run, environmental cues overpower you.
Every day has multiple decisive moments, where split-second decisions decide how you will spend the next one to three hours. It's easier to continue what you are doing than to start it.
In deliberate thoughts, as well as in speech, always use formulations of the form "I go for a run", not "I have to go for a run", regardless of how you feel about it.
Every habit is about overcoming obstacles to get what you want. You don't want the habit itself, you want what it delivers.