Panashe Fundira
The gist: the author read ‘The Procrastination Equation' and was inspired to use the techniques there to supercharge their motivation (going beyond merely defeating procrastination, to being enthusiastic about their goals).
Generally solid short book, and most of the advice given send reasonable. The one major exception is the implication that people should be purposefully over-optimistic in their projections, so that they get started. I would rather know what I'm getting myself into and make the conscious choice not to pursue a goal, rather than committing to things that I'm not prepared to do.
4.5 stars. Lots of useful information on habit formation that I have started implementing and intend to continue to use. The last few chapters, wherein the author attempts to connect his habit framework to mastery, are the weakest and should be taken with a grain of salt. The preceding 17 or so chapters still make this a more than worthwhile read.
Very pop-sciency, and perhaps gives too much credence to a few studies. Constructing a coherent narrative from the scientific literature is always a perilous journey. Still, there is some useful and actionable advice (I enjoy the format of exercises at the end of each chapter to apply it's lessons) especially early on in the book.
This was pretty eye-opening, and there were some interesting stories. The breadth of experiences surrounding orgasm was remarkable. As pointed out by other reviewers, the set of authors is not very diverse; mostly college educated women in their 20s, with a sprinkling of older women, most of whom I suspect were white and middle class.
In this book, the authors build a propaganda model that describes the subservience of mainstream media to elite interests and government in the United States. They proceed to analyze the coverage of the Indochina wars and the so-called ‘emerging democracies' of Central America through their framework, thoroughly undressing the mainstream media's motives and actions in the process. A real tour de force by Chomsky and Herman.
A short pamphlet produced in the wake of the inauguration, this book contains speeches by well known activists, reminding us to stay hopeful and continue to resist, while refusing to let liberals co-opt our movements.
Perhaps the production was a tad bit hasty, as it contains several typos in its short length. I was also perplexed by all the watermarking on the book, given the fact that this book was offered for “free”. The message is one I can get behind.
Bryson takes the reader through the history of the universe to this day, as far as we understand it (or understood it in 2003). On the way, he discusses topics as diverse as cosmology, astronomy, biochemistry, particle physics, paleoanthropology, archaeology, anthropology, evolutionary biology and meteorology in layman's terms.
I was especially struck by how little we know about so many things, not least about our own bodies and the abundant life around us.
Engaging, educational, lucid and entertaining.
A short book about how “WMDs” pose a great threat to society. The book actually makes some good arguments, and its subject is relevant to a thesis I'm writing on the use machine learning in public policy, and I'm actually on board with the author's critique. However, I don't think the critique goes far enough. The problem is not the encroachment of mathematics in our lives, but the existing social and economic inequalities that are amplified by the use of sophisticated mathematical models. The author also offers no alternatives, we can hardly step back from our data-intensive society. I may be overly harsh, however, as the alternatives posed by authors usually range from very useless to less useless.
EDIT: I must admit that I wrote the above before reading the concluding arguments, where the author (mostly adequately) adresses the above concerns. As such, I've revised my rating up to 4 stars. Recommended to all, including the non-technical reader.
This book was pretty thought provoking in its discussion of how we can apply computer science to human problems. The best part of this book is its beginning, with its exposition of the Optimal Stopping problem and exploration/exploitation tradeoffs. I had some political grumbles about some of the authors' choices of examples, but that's not directly relevant to the material so I'll keep my mouth shut.
A heart wrenching account of Jeffrey Haas' and many others' quest for justice following the brutal murder of Fred Hampton, the precocious Black Panther leader. Reading this will rob you of any illusion that America's justice system is just, or that the police are meant to serve and protect all of us. On the other hand, the book shows that justice is not impossible, even if only partial justice can be achieved in our current political framework.
