Andrew Jackson and the Vampires, by James Prohaska
More exciting than how it was taught in HS:
If your like me and enjoy a good historical fiction/alternate history and have a penchant for well thought out zombie and vampire literature, put this on your reading list. Anything but a Hollywood knockoff, this book does an excellent job of portraying broader historical happenings and their modern reflections on an action packed, fictitious backdrop. In contrast to "FDR American Badass," (the dvd only B movie) which becomes self mocking and low brow, "Andrew Jackson and the Vampires" maintains its dignity as it retells history and subtly comments on modern society without ever becoming overly serious. The movie that this script directs in your mind has certain elements of a western: the star, Andrew Jackson, a rugged and rebellious type, quick to fight, and quicker on the draw with his signature flintlocks. Lets hope that Tarantino directs this one.
Prohaska doesn't get bogged down in the "rules" of vampirism, but twists it to his will to put a face on evil and make a force for us all to unite against. You will get sucked in by the action, but leave wondering how much is true. In the world we live in, vampirism is purely fantasy (we hope, or it is an extraordinarily well kept secret), but the rest of the story will make you peer down the rabbit hole. What you find may be a surprising view of the world we live in today.
Showing posts with label Book Report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Report. Show all posts
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
World War Z
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks
While fashions come and go, zombies never get old. Just look at the last 5 years of movies: Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days later, Shawn of the Dead, Warm Bodies, and soon, Hollywood's rendition of World War Z. Here we have spanned horror, thriller, comedy, romantic comedy, and blockbuster action, all in zombies. There are also the slightly more sci-fi bordering on vampire ones like I am Legend, but whatever, the point is zombies are fascinating. Through zombies one can explore human nature, disaster response, and preparedness.
This review undoubtedly lacks from proper context as this is my first experience with a proper zombie novel. Sure, I've tried reading a little HP Lovecraft, but I haven't even cracked a Stephen King novel. That said, I know a good book when I find one. This is one of those books that will ruin the movie for you - once you read it, you'll see how much it will lose in translation to a movie (that said, I am looking forward to the movie). But given its quality, don't worry about seeing the movie first and then reading the book.
In a typical book, there is an introduction, plot buildup, climax, and denouement. Here, the title makes the book a forgone conclusion: there is a worldwide war as humanity fights for its survival against zombies. So how do you take a book with a known plot and keep it interesting?
Masterful writing and a unique format go a long way. The book is a collection of a UN inspectors interviews, or rather the parts of interviews that were too personal for the official report. Max Brooks demonstrates his skill as he writes in many different voices, reminiscent of Flowers for Algernon, creating a well conceived notion of the zombie apocalypse. If and when the zombie apocalypse comes, I hope this book is used by the analysts and governments in defending and rebuilding humanity.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT.
With each interview, details of the rise of the zombies and the state of humanity are revealed. Written flat out, the story would be borring, but presented as a series of unique perspectives from various times and places throughout the war, it is fascinating. A simple statement about the virus spreading through human trafficking is not nearly as exciting as hearing the internal conflict of a trafficker. Each chapter is a small window, disconected in time and space from all other chapters. It leaves the reader feeling disjointed and uniformed. But slowly, dripping with dramatic irony, enough information is acquired that the reader, like the survivors during the war, can build up a coherent picture of what is happening and what can be done.
The concept is so well thought out, it is remarkable. With such attention to detail - government attempts at coverup, societal fragmentation, the failure of standard military practice, the South Africa plan - the story leaves you with a dreadful sense of inevitability. How else could things turn out? Given the current socio-economic-political state of the world, how else could things turn out? Its a little depressing.
While the plot's ending is somewhat optimistic - the survival of humanity - it raises the question of an all too dark reality, In the face of great peril, can we put our differences aside to overcome the challenge at hand? In stories like Watchmen (spoiler) where, optimistically a common threat brings people together and ends longstanding wars and conflicts, WWZ shows a more realistic response. Even a threat like the zombie apocalypse isn't enough to immediately overcome longstanding (and often well founded) mistrust between people. Hardliners in positions of authority, in deteriorating chains of command, wield too much power and are just as likely to start a nuclear war as they are to avoid them.
Like all good books, it stands well on its own but is equally interesting as a reflection of modern society.
by Max Brooks
While fashions come and go, zombies never get old. Just look at the last 5 years of movies: Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days later, Shawn of the Dead, Warm Bodies, and soon, Hollywood's rendition of World War Z. Here we have spanned horror, thriller, comedy, romantic comedy, and blockbuster action, all in zombies. There are also the slightly more sci-fi bordering on vampire ones like I am Legend, but whatever, the point is zombies are fascinating. Through zombies one can explore human nature, disaster response, and preparedness.
This review undoubtedly lacks from proper context as this is my first experience with a proper zombie novel. Sure, I've tried reading a little HP Lovecraft, but I haven't even cracked a Stephen King novel. That said, I know a good book when I find one. This is one of those books that will ruin the movie for you - once you read it, you'll see how much it will lose in translation to a movie (that said, I am looking forward to the movie). But given its quality, don't worry about seeing the movie first and then reading the book.
In a typical book, there is an introduction, plot buildup, climax, and denouement. Here, the title makes the book a forgone conclusion: there is a worldwide war as humanity fights for its survival against zombies. So how do you take a book with a known plot and keep it interesting?
Masterful writing and a unique format go a long way. The book is a collection of a UN inspectors interviews, or rather the parts of interviews that were too personal for the official report. Max Brooks demonstrates his skill as he writes in many different voices, reminiscent of Flowers for Algernon, creating a well conceived notion of the zombie apocalypse. If and when the zombie apocalypse comes, I hope this book is used by the analysts and governments in defending and rebuilding humanity.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT.
With each interview, details of the rise of the zombies and the state of humanity are revealed. Written flat out, the story would be borring, but presented as a series of unique perspectives from various times and places throughout the war, it is fascinating. A simple statement about the virus spreading through human trafficking is not nearly as exciting as hearing the internal conflict of a trafficker. Each chapter is a small window, disconected in time and space from all other chapters. It leaves the reader feeling disjointed and uniformed. But slowly, dripping with dramatic irony, enough information is acquired that the reader, like the survivors during the war, can build up a coherent picture of what is happening and what can be done.
The concept is so well thought out, it is remarkable. With such attention to detail - government attempts at coverup, societal fragmentation, the failure of standard military practice, the South Africa plan - the story leaves you with a dreadful sense of inevitability. How else could things turn out? Given the current socio-economic-political state of the world, how else could things turn out? Its a little depressing.
While the plot's ending is somewhat optimistic - the survival of humanity - it raises the question of an all too dark reality, In the face of great peril, can we put our differences aside to overcome the challenge at hand? In stories like Watchmen (spoiler) where, optimistically a common threat brings people together and ends longstanding wars and conflicts, WWZ shows a more realistic response. Even a threat like the zombie apocalypse isn't enough to immediately overcome longstanding (and often well founded) mistrust between people. Hardliners in positions of authority, in deteriorating chains of command, wield too much power and are just as likely to start a nuclear war as they are to avoid them.
Like all good books, it stands well on its own but is equally interesting as a reflection of modern society.
Thursday, February 07, 2013
Traffic
Traffic: Why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us)
Author: Tom Vanderbilt
Ironically, my introduction to the book came about while driving. On a long distance trip I was trying out a new podcast, 99% Invisible, and was particularly fascinated by the episode about "the white stripe." The interview subject was discussing how we see the roads we drive on, in this example epitomized by how long we drivers think the white dashes that mark our lanes really are. I won't ruin it for you, but I will say it was sufficiently intriguing that when I stumbled upon "Traffic" at the library, I didn't hesitate to pick it up.
Since I started reading the book, I've started driving slower - both because its safer and because I'm looking at the road a little more closely. The book is at times, overwhelming in the amount of data, or rather research conclusions that are presented. While many of us know Murphy's Law and most of us have heard of real "laws" like Moore's Law, I lost count of how many different <person's name>'s Laws were listed or how many studies were cited in Traffic. But its great to know that someone has measured the fact that we adjust the radio 10 times per hour with an average of 1.6 seconds per adjustment.
After reading this book, you'll find yourself slipping into a mediation on the billboard message, "You Aren't Stuck in Traffic, You ARE Traffic." Vanderbilt thoroughly explores the concept of traffic from its origins, to how it is being combatted, how traffic will change in the future, analogies in nature, the economics, and of course the safety. Vanderbilt gives an honest effort in tying all this together, but what is the thesis? Traffic is really complex, mostly made so by human psychology and competing interests between the individual and the system as a whole.
Where does traffic come from? That question depends a lot on who you ask. Asking how to fix it gets even more complex. In Traffic, we learn about Shoup and his theory that free parking is ruining society; or rather, because of the massive subsidies for roads and undervaluation of parking, we get lots of traffic. First, without any parking spaces or place to put your car, there will be no traffic, second, people trolling for free street parking drive more slowly and have a higher accident risk thereby creating both traffic and major economic damage. The theory continues.
In Traffic we get an inside look at the windowless rooms and quirky personalities that manage traffic in places like LA. But we also get a look at how efficiently our roads operate and how people try to design them better. Often designers are foiled by human psychology, but occasionally they take advantage of it. For example, stop lights are quite dangerous - there is nothing but a social norm to stop people from running red lights (as is often done in, say, China, which is also really slows things down) - and inefficient in that, for a moment, everyone has a red while the intersection clears. Why not use a roundabout that solves both these problems? Or another question is why big, wide roads with huge lines of sight are more dangerous? The work of a Dutch road designer, described as famous, showcases clever design and understanding of human psychology can lead to excellent results. The designer created roundabouts, so traffic is always flowing, combined with his signature style of integrating the road into the community. Not limited to roundabouts, the designer, instead of making huge sight lines with tons of space, which encourages speeding since it doesn't feel like we are going fast, makes the driver a part of the community. That is, instead of wondering why you have to slow down from 55 to 30 on a two lane road going through an unincorporated town, you slow down to 20 mph naturally because the road is narrow and lined with shops and park space and the sidewalk has no curb and abuts with the road and you make eye contact with passing cyclists and pedestrians.
Perhaps the thesis that ties this book together is the examination of the relationship between individual people, how their psychology influences their behavior in cars, and their interaction with society while driving. The diversity of issues addressed within the book make it difficult to write any sort of succinct review or summary. Read the book, you won't be disappointed
Author: Tom Vanderbilt
Ironically, my introduction to the book came about while driving. On a long distance trip I was trying out a new podcast, 99% Invisible, and was particularly fascinated by the episode about "the white stripe." The interview subject was discussing how we see the roads we drive on, in this example epitomized by how long we drivers think the white dashes that mark our lanes really are. I won't ruin it for you, but I will say it was sufficiently intriguing that when I stumbled upon "Traffic" at the library, I didn't hesitate to pick it up.
Since I started reading the book, I've started driving slower - both because its safer and because I'm looking at the road a little more closely. The book is at times, overwhelming in the amount of data, or rather research conclusions that are presented. While many of us know Murphy's Law and most of us have heard of real "laws" like Moore's Law, I lost count of how many different <person's name>'s Laws were listed or how many studies were cited in Traffic. But its great to know that someone has measured the fact that we adjust the radio 10 times per hour with an average of 1.6 seconds per adjustment.
After reading this book, you'll find yourself slipping into a mediation on the billboard message, "You Aren't Stuck in Traffic, You ARE Traffic." Vanderbilt thoroughly explores the concept of traffic from its origins, to how it is being combatted, how traffic will change in the future, analogies in nature, the economics, and of course the safety. Vanderbilt gives an honest effort in tying all this together, but what is the thesis? Traffic is really complex, mostly made so by human psychology and competing interests between the individual and the system as a whole.
Where does traffic come from? That question depends a lot on who you ask. Asking how to fix it gets even more complex. In Traffic, we learn about Shoup and his theory that free parking is ruining society; or rather, because of the massive subsidies for roads and undervaluation of parking, we get lots of traffic. First, without any parking spaces or place to put your car, there will be no traffic, second, people trolling for free street parking drive more slowly and have a higher accident risk thereby creating both traffic and major economic damage. The theory continues.
In Traffic we get an inside look at the windowless rooms and quirky personalities that manage traffic in places like LA. But we also get a look at how efficiently our roads operate and how people try to design them better. Often designers are foiled by human psychology, but occasionally they take advantage of it. For example, stop lights are quite dangerous - there is nothing but a social norm to stop people from running red lights (as is often done in, say, China, which is also really slows things down) - and inefficient in that, for a moment, everyone has a red while the intersection clears. Why not use a roundabout that solves both these problems? Or another question is why big, wide roads with huge lines of sight are more dangerous? The work of a Dutch road designer, described as famous, showcases clever design and understanding of human psychology can lead to excellent results. The designer created roundabouts, so traffic is always flowing, combined with his signature style of integrating the road into the community. Not limited to roundabouts, the designer, instead of making huge sight lines with tons of space, which encourages speeding since it doesn't feel like we are going fast, makes the driver a part of the community. That is, instead of wondering why you have to slow down from 55 to 30 on a two lane road going through an unincorporated town, you slow down to 20 mph naturally because the road is narrow and lined with shops and park space and the sidewalk has no curb and abuts with the road and you make eye contact with passing cyclists and pedestrians.
Perhaps the thesis that ties this book together is the examination of the relationship between individual people, how their psychology influences their behavior in cars, and their interaction with society while driving. The diversity of issues addressed within the book make it difficult to write any sort of succinct review or summary. Read the book, you won't be disappointed
Saturday, November 03, 2012
The Lathe of Heaven
The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. Le Guin
This was a fascinating little sci-fi book. It perfectly embodies what I see as the power of sci-fi: to explore humanity through the introduction of bizarre and fantastical alterations to our world. The story follows George Orr as he attempts to come to grips with his strange ability to have "effective" dreams that change the world. Read on for further discussion that may present some spoilers.
As a more complete summary, the book documents the struggle of George Orr to control his dreams and fight their exploitation by his psychiatrist, Dr. Haber. His psychiatrist aims to make George dream effectively under hypnosis so as to study the effect. Using a new tool called the "augmenter," Haber directs George via hypnosis to effectively dream a world into existence in which Haber himself is a researcher of growing power and importance. Taking things further, Haber tries to direct George to dream a more peaceful and perfect world. Each time, however, his attempts are foiled as George's dreams follow the directions but foil their purpose - for example, the war in the middle east is ended, but only as humanity unites against aliens or overpopulation is solved but only by a great plague that wiped out most of the population. Eventually, Haber directs George to the obvious solution of effectively dreaming to end his ability to dream effectively. Perhaps due to his unwillingness to relinquish power, Haber further directs George to transfer the ability to effectively dream on to Haber himself. Haber's resulting nightmare mixes each of the worlds George has dreamed into a single point in space and time.
The ties this book has to eastern philosophy are made obvious throughout. There are quotes at the beginning of each chapter from Chuang Tzu as well as more subtle references to Taoist tenants like that of the "uncarved block." George Orr is a very Taoist person - seemingly unassuming and easily manipulated, but impossible to budge when pushed; not one to push in any given direction but looking to follow the path and natural order (even in mixed up realities). Further, he works with, not against, his surroundings to achieve a harmony in his life despite the ever changing and turbulent world in which he finds himself. There are also some implications of Hindu-like "Brahman" as George works with the (now) friendly aliens to understand the nature of effective dreaming.
What is the knowledge to be taken away from this book? Perhaps that solving the worlds problems is more difficult than we can immagine - even with unlimited power to develop a solution, there are many ways for things to go awry. Perhaps that humans must fight their tendencies towards greed and power. But most of all, I think it mirrors many of the lessons of Taoism and other eastern philosophy: to work with, not against, the world to become comfortable with your role. I don't mean that we are each a mysterious cog in the machine of the world trying to figure out where we fit, but I think this book demonstrates, through bizarre circumstances, the necessity to be cognizant of the Way and how to work with the people and the world around you in an organic way to create an environment of peace and harmony.
This was a fascinating little sci-fi book. It perfectly embodies what I see as the power of sci-fi: to explore humanity through the introduction of bizarre and fantastical alterations to our world. The story follows George Orr as he attempts to come to grips with his strange ability to have "effective" dreams that change the world. Read on for further discussion that may present some spoilers.
As a more complete summary, the book documents the struggle of George Orr to control his dreams and fight their exploitation by his psychiatrist, Dr. Haber. His psychiatrist aims to make George dream effectively under hypnosis so as to study the effect. Using a new tool called the "augmenter," Haber directs George via hypnosis to effectively dream a world into existence in which Haber himself is a researcher of growing power and importance. Taking things further, Haber tries to direct George to dream a more peaceful and perfect world. Each time, however, his attempts are foiled as George's dreams follow the directions but foil their purpose - for example, the war in the middle east is ended, but only as humanity unites against aliens or overpopulation is solved but only by a great plague that wiped out most of the population. Eventually, Haber directs George to the obvious solution of effectively dreaming to end his ability to dream effectively. Perhaps due to his unwillingness to relinquish power, Haber further directs George to transfer the ability to effectively dream on to Haber himself. Haber's resulting nightmare mixes each of the worlds George has dreamed into a single point in space and time.
The ties this book has to eastern philosophy are made obvious throughout. There are quotes at the beginning of each chapter from Chuang Tzu as well as more subtle references to Taoist tenants like that of the "uncarved block." George Orr is a very Taoist person - seemingly unassuming and easily manipulated, but impossible to budge when pushed; not one to push in any given direction but looking to follow the path and natural order (even in mixed up realities). Further, he works with, not against, his surroundings to achieve a harmony in his life despite the ever changing and turbulent world in which he finds himself. There are also some implications of Hindu-like "Brahman" as George works with the (now) friendly aliens to understand the nature of effective dreaming.
What is the knowledge to be taken away from this book? Perhaps that solving the worlds problems is more difficult than we can immagine - even with unlimited power to develop a solution, there are many ways for things to go awry. Perhaps that humans must fight their tendencies towards greed and power. But most of all, I think it mirrors many of the lessons of Taoism and other eastern philosophy: to work with, not against, the world to become comfortable with your role. I don't mean that we are each a mysterious cog in the machine of the world trying to figure out where we fit, but I think this book demonstrates, through bizarre circumstances, the necessity to be cognizant of the Way and how to work with the people and the world around you in an organic way to create an environment of peace and harmony.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Malcom Gladwell: Blowing Up
This book is good. Check it out!
Blowing Up:
This story compares and contrasts two archetypical and polar opposite investment bankers. One who is a knowledgeable gambler, your typical Wallstreeter, the other is Nassim Taleb (of the Black Swan fame) who trades in options. One can apparently make money by trading options – betting that the price of a stock will rise or fall. Here, my lack of financial knowledge clouds the details of how this works, but apparently it does. Nassim’s idea is that by having a balance of options (bets?) that a stock will go up and others that a stock will fall ensures that he wins – kind of like MPT, but with options. From the article, it sounds as though his portfolio value experiences drastic increases when the market goes haywire, but generally slowly bleeds in value.
This story compares and contrasts two archetypical and polar opposite investment bankers. One who is a knowledgeable gambler, your typical Wallstreeter, the other is Nassim Taleb (of the Black Swan fame) who trades in options. One can apparently make money by trading options – betting that the price of a stock will rise or fall. Here, my lack of financial knowledge clouds the details of how this works, but apparently it does. Nassim’s idea is that by having a balance of options (bets?) that a stock will go up and others that a stock will fall ensures that he wins – kind of like MPT, but with options. From the article, it sounds as though his portfolio value experiences drastic increases when the market goes haywire, but generally slowly bleeds in value.
This whole story was curious. The pin stripe Wallstreeter goes through
booms and busts, living large and then losing the shirt off his back. Nassim’s strategy makes for a hell of a
payday, just widely separated and sporadic in nature. No matter how well balanced (stocks, bonds,
international markets and REITs) your portfolio, if the market crashes, so does
the value of your portfolio. But with
Nassim’s options, you can cash in on a market crash. It seems like Nassim’s options allow you a
perfect negative correlation – that is, you could buy stock of company X and
watch its value grow with the company, but also buy an option betting the value
will drop; if the first half of your investment works, the second doesn’t, but
if the second half works, the first doesn’t.
I wonder if there is a way to buy a small but significant set of options
betting on a crash such that it would offset your losses in the event of a
market crash. Your portfolio value might
look like this:
This plot compares returns of a standard 7% return (red) to
a simplified options balanced model (blue), assuming in both cases a $5,000 per year contribution (Roth IRA).
The options balanced model has a 5% compound interest return, where I
assume the extra 2% is spent on options to balance your portfolio. Then, depending on a random number (if rand()
> 0.9), the market experiences a crash.
Your Portfolio loses half its value, but if you have options, you get a
bonus ($50,000). It’s a back of the
envelope style calculation, so I doubt the numbers are right, but it seems like
an interesting idea. I’m guessing the
devil is in the details – how much time can you spend buying options and how
much of a return can you expect from your options? But it’s an interesting idea and perhaps
someone will offer an interesting financial product to simplify this (option index
insurance?).
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Malcom Gladwell: John Rock’s Error
Now this was a fascinating story! I don’t even know what insight to draw from this story. Mostly it’s just fascinating and I think more people should know about this stuff. It’s the story of the Pill, women’s birth
control. This story has it all –
science, fiction, politics, and betrayal.
As with Gladwell’s other articles, this weaves together several plot
lines: of the Pill inventor, John Rock, the religious perspective (of the
inventor and the Pope), the science of menstruation, and cancer. Trying to summarize this succinctly will be a
challenge, but here it goes.
John Rock was a devout Catholic and wanted to help people
utilize the rhythm method, a natural form of birth control condoned by the
church. His solution was a “natural”
one, the use of natural hormones in a pill that allowed for predictable periods
of fertility. Somehow he and his
coworkers decided on a 4 week cycle.
This is curious because it raises the question of how frequent
menstruation is naturally. An academic
spent a few years studying the Dogon people of Mali, in Africa who were
determined to be, for all practical purposes, unchanged by the modernization of
the rest of the world. Women from this
culture rarely menstruated as they spent most of their time either pregnant or
breast feeding (which inhibits menstruation).
To cut to the chase, The Dogon women averaged one period per year until
age 35, then four per year until menopause for a lifetime total of about 100
menstruations. This is roughly 25% of
the average contemporary Western women who menstruates some 350 to 400 times
per year!
Ok, enough about menstruation. Why does this matter you ask – cancer. Every period corresponds to the production of
huge numbers of cells. More cell growth
and production means more chances for cells to wrong. American women are six times more likely to
have breast cancer than corresponding Japanese women. Why?
The fact that Japanese women started menstruation two years later (16
years old rather than 14) accounts for 40% of the difference. Throw in higher weight at menopause and lower
estrogen production (which could be due to their lower fat diet) and there is
no difference. Fortunately researchers
are working on other forms of birth control that work to reduce lifetime
menstruations.
The book: Malcom Gladwell's What the Dog Saw.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Malcom Gladwell: The Ketchup Conundrum (or Lord of the Recipes)
The Ketchup Conundrum (or Lord of the Recipes):
This was a fascinating story of the development of the
phrase and underlying idea that when it comes to food, there is no single
perfect recipe, but rather there are a set of perfect recipes. Essentially, a clever guy in the food science
industry, Howard Moskowitz, developed a code that, given the input of taste
test groups and their preferences, could optimize the (in this case) spaghetti
sauce recipe to maximize the score for each of 4 groups that were recognized. This was revolutionary in that it challenged
the idea of a perfect recipe that would please everyone. Well, with one exception: ketchup, there is only one and like a black hole or singularity, it has its own rules that no one understands. What other “single recipes to rule them all”
ideas do we have in our daily lives? Perhaps
politics – each group has an idea on how to solve a problem, perhaps a plan to
please each group rather than one plan that pleases only a few (obviously there are issues with maximizing funding and
mutual exclusivity of ideas).
The idea was revolutionary to the food industry, but it
seems mundane from an engineering perspective:
choose the number of sauces you want to make and then choose your
optimization criteria. The food industry
chose 1 recipe and optimized to 1 testing group. That
would be like designing one type of motor for all vehicles: everyone could still get around, and a lot of
folks would be happy. But by
understanding specialization (trucking vs. commuter cars vs. luxury vehicles),
one could modify the one design and please each individual group more.
The other cool thing to take away from this: the basic taste of Umami. Sure, we've all heard of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, but I'd never heard of umami before. Cool!
The other cool thing to take away from this: the basic taste of Umami. Sure, we've all heard of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, but I'd never heard of umami before. Cool!
Malcom Gladwell: What the Dog Saw and other adventures
Perhaps I will get around to re-reading “The Tipping Point”
and “Blink,” and continue on to “Outliers.”
But in the mean time, I’ll focus on my current read, “What the Dog
Saw.”
The book is a collection of his articles from The New
Yorker. In many of the articles,
Gladwell weaves together seemingly unrelated stories, into a coherent story
that challenges the conventional mindset.
It seems as though the book is much the same, that while each topic is
different, the way he approaches the problems is similar and there is some
larger message to take away. Its hard to
describe what it might be other than “out of the box” or “lateral” thinking,
but its something. How does one better
describe that and apply it in the context of their own life?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)