alfredkouris

It was beautiful
And holds all the secrets to life

To write more would be a very silly grown up thing to do

This was so great
I have never really read sci-fi before, and understood fiction = escapism, non-fiction = learning about the world.

I now see how shallow of an understanding of reading that is - I learnt so much about different ideologies and social systems of governance / self governance in this book in a really natural way, as opposed to a non-fiction facts-based-karl-marx-youtube-channel way.

Also, it was the first book i've read as part of a book club. Which opened my reading up to deeper themes which otherwise I would have skimmed over far too easily.

Yay for books and for learning that my belief system is flawed lol

It was too good. For the past three or so months every morning and night I entered this world

No words. Will write a proper reflection another time

So cool

It was...good...I think for me fell a little into the ‘just in case' category of information (instead of just-in-time)...so that left me bookmarking a lot in my brain for ‘remember this when you're working on that project that requires you to assign people into teams of varying sizes' or things along those lines.

Less ‘design' focused and more life focused. In terms of ‘design' it seemed like design was being used in the much broader sense; experience design (I went into this assuming it would be about graphic / user interface design), so having more of an open mind to what design actually is will help yield more fruit from the book.

So...I think i'll return to it as a reference! Nicely researched and well supported with wonderful scientific research! Design aside I never get bored reading all the cool ways scientists test things (reminded me a little of thinking fast and slow / freakonomics)

I absolutely love Brene, but this didn't actually do it for me. I got a lot more out of listening to her audiobook / talk.

However - this felt slightly different to that, and opened up the conversation in a different and what felt like more research-specific way. It feels like it caters to a slightly older audience? Unsure...

That said - it allowed me to sit with her definitions of shame and vulnerability a lot more deeply than I did when listening to her audiobook - and perhaps what I'm feeling right now is an unfamiliarity.

I get the feeling that I can't read ‘too much' of this kind of research, as every time I deliberately choose to spend more time engaging with it, I unlock something new about myself and my psyche.

I know some of the vocab she uses is slowly going to infuse itself into my life and my relationships. Yahoo! Peace xx

3.5.

It was great, and really took the lid off of how/why social and digital media generally operates. How the blogs we get are a product of the medium, a medium which prioritises page-views over anything else.

Got a bit repetitive toward the end, and I found myself saying ‘Yada yada yada' a lot whilst I skimmed (lots of repetition - we get it, blogs are dogs). But really important. ESP. The quick summary in the chapter ‘how to read a blog'

‘You can't have your news instantly and for it to be high quality and truthful' (or something along those lines)

Yahoo

Not sure what to say about this one. I'm glad I read it. Really really glad. Also a good entrance into delving deeper instead of broader for me.

Revealed a lot to me about the (and this might come across as brazen) reasons I have been well liked, socially, throughout my life...as well as the reasons and ways I work to get what I want, and often fail. All that and why I sometimes don't manage to push through certain barriers (be that because of moral or ethical reasons or because it's just not a skill that comes naturally to me).

That said, the concept of ‘play or be played' seems to ring true; and regardless of how Machiavellian I plan to be in my future years, having a framework to understand and interpret other people's behaviour and how it may affect me seems pretty crucial, especially for the industry I am moving into.

I wish I read it though and didn't consume it as an audiobook. I would have benefited from having a physical location for all of the chapters and laws that I could keep flicking back to and building a visual reference of. Think I need to do some mental filing in order to preserve the goodness.

A bit dense, and some stories that definitely could have been left out....if you want to read it, maybe read the concise version.

& remember - grain of salt. Maybe that's why I didn't find this as ‘offensive' as some people do? Or maybe I spent too much time relating it to acting..anyway..

Quick read. Dissolved myself into some fun fiction.

I really liked it. I liked how Greg is immature and says the wrong thing and that it's OK. And it's OK that his character development isn't shmick and clean. It's messy. He's an idiot. We all do stupid things.

Yay loved it

Nice intro-to-romance teenage love story aside, and looking past how idyllic the characters are (soz), John Green has this really bizarre way of slipping practical philosophy into his books?? Which I find really engaging. Thanks for the ride John

This was a mammoth read, taking about 4 months (put it down for 3 bc it hurt my brain). I'm really glad I chewed through.
The basic premise of the book is that we (human beings) believe we are entirely rational, and make choices reflecting our rationality - but there is an extremely substantial amount of evidence that confirms how wrong this is. This doesn't mean that people are irrational, but we are not “rational” by the definition used, and frequently make decisions that are in contradiction to what is ‘rational' simply because of the way information is presented, and how we are feeling at the time.

A fun example is that when assessing the decisions made by judges granting bail applications, there was a significant correlation between how close the Judge was to lunch-time and how many bail applications were granted. The hungrier they were, the less likely they were to grant a person bail. This goes against a whole lot of beliefs we hold about ourselves, and so this book fully popped the lid for me lol

Pretty dense read though, google some summaries and then hone in on specific chapters if you don't want to read the whole thing! Yahoo

I've never really read short stories before. This took me a while to get through (maybe because each time I go back i'm entering a new world?)

Some more enticing than others. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (the second last story) was my favourite. Reminded me of a short film. A lot of these stories actually made me think of scene work for actors, so in that sense it felt incredibly useful.

x

There really is something good in everything. Can't help but rate books that don't ‘hit the mark' 4* because there's always a smidgeon of pure wonder. This was a recommended reading for a philosophy subject years ago that I decided to pick up on a whim.

The chapters on free-will, language, morality and justice were stand-outs for me.
How soothing to have a conversation about extremely relevant topics (eg. Racism, sexism) but in a way that focuses on the root of what injustice is...or about the meaning of words (I'm in the middle of learning Greek)...or what makes something wrong...wrong.

So nice to return to philosophical principles but this time without the bulk of the text saying ‘insert famous philosopher' said this. Yes that's a nice place to end up - but starting just by asking the questions was awesome. If you ask questions like ‘does everybody see colours the same' or ‘why is stealing wrong' or ‘if fate exists am I responsible for my actions' then read it lol it's a good time

Peace

Goddammit. The best sage I have ever had the pleasure of reading
DEAD

As always, I finished listening to Stephen whilst looking out over Coogee beach because it felt more poetic that way
One to go. Very invested. Are books like this proof that there is a god?? A higher power?? Where did this world come from? The capacity of the human imagination is infinite