johnfial_qr8lrr Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga, Joseph J Romm (2012) “If facts were sufficient to persuade people, then experts in science would rule the world. But facts are not, and scientists do not.” “If you want to avoid being seduced, learn the figures of seduction.” I read this book … Read more
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg (2012) Water, he said, is the most apt analogy for how a habit works. Water “hollows out for itself a channel, which grows broader and deeper; and, after having ceased to flow, it resumes, when it flows again, the … Read more
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle (2004) I read this at the end of December 2012, after being with an ex-girlfriend, and finished it in Hawaii. For the first time, after meditating consistently, I could look my parents in the eyes, and felt like more of a man. Let people … Read more
The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh (1999) Another good book on mindfulness, and while I don’t think it expresses the idea as clearly or as thoroughly as Harris’ Waking Up, it does state it simply: washing the dishes is meditation. As such, so is life — while we are doing whatever we are … Read more
Happiness (2003) A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill, Matthieu Ricard “The inability to manage our thoughts proves to be the principal cause of suffering.” Happiness takes us through the basic philosophy of meditation and suffering in Buddhism, the reasons to cultivate this skill, its benefits being researched by western science, and how to … Read more
Letters from a Stoic (c. 65CE) Lucius Annaeus Seneca “Reflect, as I am often wont to tell you, that there is nothing in such topics for us except mental gymnastics.” Letters from a Stoic… Good God, just thinking about the book makes me cringe! This was a few sparse bits of wonderfully refreshing philosophy interspersed … Read more
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (2010) Sam Kean Here Sam Kean takes us on both an academic, colorful history, and a personal tale of experiences relating the periodic table. I’d recommend this as a good introduction for … Read more
The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery (2015) Sam Kean “We crowned ourselves Homo sapiens, the wise ape, but Homo limbus might have been more apt.” For anyone even slightly interested in the brain, which should include all primates, I … Read more
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Carl Sagan “The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.” The Demon-Haunted World is nothing shy of a manifesto for science, reason, and wonder. Indeed, the balance (required!) between both healthy skepticism and wonder is Sagan’s introduction to … Read more