131–140 of 532 posts
The Water Knife. ISBN 978-0-385-35287-1 Dystopian-future novel with a backdrop of water scarcity in the western United States. A "water knife" is a name for a security contractor who enforces water rights...
The Windup Girl (also by Bacigalupi) is interesting too.
Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss, on negotiation tactics. Much better than "Getting to Yes". The Genius of The Few by Christian and Barbara Joy O'Brien, an alternative take for garden of eden and Anunnaki compared to Sitchin Built To Sell by John Warrillow, on how to build a business you can exit with a profit. I read 30+ books in the last and this year so there are others but three is enough for this list.
Is there anything that you found convincing in it? Or is it just a fantasy without foundations (or, worse, fake foundations like Daniken)? I find Anunnaki fascinating but people who start writing about them usually stray into their pet theory away from facts.
Kind of off-path from my regular reading, but I recently got absorbed into the planted aquarium world. This book was such a great way to get acquainted with the ecology and methods required, though once you do it... It's extremely obvious that it works, and why it works: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium: A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise https://www.amazon.ca/Ecology-Planted-Aquarium-Practical-Sci... Having a…
Any guides on what kind of equipment and set up is needed to get started? I've been having thoughts of having a "slice of nature" like you said. But I don't know what's the way to get as close to a self-sufficient and passive system as possible.
Why Calories Don't Count: How We Got the Science of Weight Loss Wrong by Giles Yeo It's a good, and gentle, introduction to the biochemistry and thermodynamics of digestion, and the history of calorie estimates. https://www.amazon.com/Why-Calories-Dont-Count-Science/dp/16... Adam Ragusea interviewed him on his YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/C-H4KwoKaOc
"Fatherland" by Robert Harris, 1992. Alternative history detective novel set in a universe in which Nazi Germany won World War II. "Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. I re-read this every 4-5 years just to enjoy the discussions about quality and why it matters.
I see recommendation of that motorcycle book too often for some book about something I am not interesting about, what is interesting in it for non-motorcycle person?
Most of us don't want a new hobby of "spend a few hours ever week or so to keep my computer capable of running software", but if you hang around places like this, you'll find that plenty of people do. They can't understand why you wouldn't care enough about your computer to do some basic research into its workings and occasionally recompile the kernel or make a few trivial tweaks to a driver to get it working to your satisfaction.
No amount of "already having a hobby" or "prioritizing for things you care about most" will convince people like the author/protagonist that there's not something fundamentally wrong (but, happily, fixable) with the way you approach life.
So yeah, it's not for you and me. It's for them. And they absolutely love it.
The Goal. It's a book from the 1980's about operational management. In particular, it focuses on physical manufacturing. It's in the form of a fictitious personal tale. A plant manager struggles to save his plant from closure, and his marriage from falling apart. The lesson is about lean management. My main takeaway is the realization that when we try to optimize something, we focus on how to do something more effici…
It’s been probably a year since I read The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich, but the ideas in there have really stuck in my head. The WEIRD acronym stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. The thesis is that the Christian Church inadvertently created modern society by prohibiting polygamy and cousin marriage. The topic of polygamy is what’s really stuck in my head. Polygamy is…
Maybe, maybe not. In relationships where a larger number of people competes for one partner you still have the same emotions of jealousy, insecurity etc. Everybody wants to be the favorite one.
It was interesting to observe the dynamics of such a relationship of my friend who dated two women (one white, one black) some years ago. When you asked them then, everybody would answer they were perfectly happy. Years later it turned out both women felt increasingly uncomfortable in the situation.
It’s been probably a year since I read The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich, but the ideas in there have really stuck in my head. The WEIRD acronym stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. The thesis is that the Christian Church inadvertently created modern society by prohibiting polygamy and cousin marriage. The topic of polygamy is what’s really stuck in my head. Polygamy is…
Somewhat (by a few decades) behind the times here, but I finally found a set of Robert Caro's Years of Lyndon Johnson books at a 2nd-hand shop earlier this year. What a ride. I know it's a famous series, but I'm outside the US and so only recently became aware of its existence, and also therefore went in mostly blind as to the subject (I knew very little of LBJ prior). Am partway through the 2nd book now, with the co…
It's a beautifully written guide to artistic work, but also a manual for a mindful life. Savor every page packed with insight, subtlety and poetic aphorisms.
Also recommend The Dawn of Everything by Graeber & Wengrow, previously cited on this page.
Next will be The Matter with Things by Iain McGilchrist. The two hefty volumes are staring at me from my desk...