451–460 of 532 posts
Master's of Doom . Yes, I know I'm a few decades behind. I read it in part because it gets mentioned here so much. So here's another mention! If you haven't read it, it's a great story and informative too if you're a founder (on how not to run a company).
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Caveat: I would not recommend Why We Sleep for anyone suffering from insomnia. When I was dealing with sleep issues I tried reading it, hoping I'd learn something useful. But the book just kept hammering home how badly it screws you if you're not getting enough sleep. As I was trying all the recommended steps (good sleep hygiene, CBT, exercise, did an overnight sleep study, etc.) with only modest results, this basica…
I also have dealt with sleep issues. A few notes in case anyone is the same and looking for ideas. The thing that had the biggest effect for me is eliminating caffeine. It has a pretty long half life and I believe I metabolize it slower than the average person. Most sources say it is ok to consume it in the morning, but in my case even morning consumption was enough to significantly disrupt my sleep. When I got to th…
I didn’t fully eliminate caffeine, but stopped drinking it after 9AM and reduced my intake by about 50%. I’d suffered from insomnia for years, and underestimated the impact of midday coffee.
I’ve also started going up to my building’s roof or taking morning walks to get sunlight. This works even on cloudy days (increase the time outside to more like 30 mins), and it does seem to help.
I’ve also started a no-screens wind down period about 1.5 hours before bed. This was a tough change too, but I’ve replaced it with books or spending some time at the piano.
I looked at sleep as a frustrating necessity that mostly got in my way. Starting to treat it more like an important ritual has been really helpful. This didn’t come naturally, and it took some time to shift to this mindset.
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I agree that it would make a fantastic miniseries. If you read books about Native American history, Texas tribes and their interactions with Anglo settlers, northern plains tribes I can recommend a few titles. Frontier Blood - Jo Ella Powell Exley : Tells the history of the Parker family clan. Their small fort in central Texas was raided by Comanches in 1836 and one of the children kidnapped was Cynthia Ann Parker wh…
> I agree that it would make a fantastic miniseries. History is so full of fantastic stories, it's pathetic that Hollywood keeps cranking out miniseries with the same plot: There was a mysterious murder in a small town. Detective DoesntFitIn investigates and finds the town is full of secrets! Can he solve the murder before the bodies pile up?
Real life is much more complex and rich in story lines. Lose ends sometimes just fray until they have unraveled the ties that bind us. The good guys don't always win and too many times the definition of "good guy" is dependent on the reader's perspective or life's experiences.
Life may seem that it moves in cycles and that we are trapped along a circular path with a known starting and ending point. In real life it is probably more that we are looking down the long axis of an infinite spring where events do repeat cyclically but each ending is forever disconnected from the starting point by the terminal forward velocity of time so there is no going back, there is only starting over with a new opportunity to learn from mistakes you might not remember making.
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Obligatory critique about Why We Sleep, in case you haven't seen it. https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/
In fairness, you should probably also link Walker's response to Guzey and others. Some of the criticism he rebuts and some he accepts and says he will deal with it in a future version of the book.
https://sleepdiplomat.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/why-we-sleep-...
Attempt to steer the discussion a bit: has anyone read any good fiction novels lately? I like to always be reading one fiction and one non-fiction book. (My brain can't do two fiction books at once). I already have a bottomless list of recommendations of nonfiction books from threads like this.
Attempt to steer the discussion a bit: has anyone read any good fiction novels lately? I like to always be reading one fiction and one non-fiction book. (My brain can't do two fiction books at once). I already have a bottomless list of recommendations of nonfiction books from threads like this.
I recently read two books about industries that previously seemed dreadfully boring: property/casualty insurance, and community banking. I'm not sure what possessed me to read these books but I was curious about both industries since they are significant parts of the economy but I knew next to nothing about them. The banking book is called "The Most Fun I Never Want To Have Again: A Mid-Life Crisis in Community Banki…
Thanks for sharing the suggestions!
- The Long Game: been thinking a lot about how to long term plan, stick to it and revise when needed. I think this book has been helpfull in those reflections.
- The Complete Investor: just to keep thinking and working on wealth creation, I've been reading this one.
- The Language of Emotions: this one came from Kent Beck's blog. The first half is not something I might ever use (contracts, etc...) but the second part, when it develops each emotion, is nice.
- Taking the Work Out of Networking: I need to make more connections :D And I think this readining will help me out a bit and freshen perspectives on how to build those. The Long Game also has some synergy with this one.
Also, inspired by Jared Henderson lastest video on Stoicism, I've been meaning to read Lessons in Stoicism and a bit of Seneca + Epictetus (no Marcus Aurelius for now, Jared's view conviced me to keep this one for later).
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I'd like to add Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. Borrowed from wikipedia: The book attempts to explain why Eurasian and North African civilizations have survived and conquered others, while arguing against the idea that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority. Diamond argues that the gaps in power and technology between human societies originate pr…
It's an engaging book. It's also really, really rejected by historians from just about every possible angle. The AskHistorians subreddit has an entire "frequently asked questions" section dedicated to it: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/historians_views... And don't let the reddit part fool you, AskHistorians is arguably one of the most high quality history forums out there, as the mods mercilessly enforc…